As greater numbers of customers shop online, more and more businesses turn to ecommerce to further increase sales. Previously, only large companies had online storefronts, but now, medium- and small-sized businesses are increasingly developing online shopping platforms. One recent push for ecommerce is the trend of customers shopping online to pick up products in-store.
To assist businesses with ecommerce, companies developed software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to streamline technical aspects. Two such companies are Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) and Oracle CX Commerce. Currently, SFCC has a larger market share in the ecommerce sector, but Oracle CX Commerce also has a solid product offering.
In this article, we’ll compare Salesforce Commerce Cloud with Oracle CX Commerce. We’ll cover some of the basic similarities and differences of each platform, along with pros and cons of each product. We’ll also discuss reasons why a company might pick one ecommerce platform over the other.
Advantages of ecommerce solutions
Both Oracle CX Commerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud offer cloud-based, SaaS applications for your company to create and manage ecommerce storefronts. Both solutions offer ways to customize storefronts, manage inventory, handle sales, and integrate various ecommerce features.
One significant advantage both products offer is an online-based platform. A company using a SaaS ecommerce product can focus on the business of selling products instead of delving into the technical mechanics of operating websites and performing technical upgrades. Both products also provide ways for your company to offer online purchasing for in-store pickup.
Basic operations of SFCC and Oracle CX Commerce
Product similarities
SFCC and Oracle CX Commerce have certain commonalities in terms of operations like:
- Quote-based pricing: Neither company publishes its pricing online. Instead, you need to contact SFCC or Oracle CX Commerce to obtain a quote for pricing
- B2B and B2C support: Oracle CX Commerce and SFCC both support B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) ecommerce sites. However, SFCC has separate products for each business model, while Oracle CX Commerce integrates both into one product offering
Differences between SFCC and Oracle CX Commerce
These two ecommerce platforms also have several key differences in their operations:
- Support: Each company offers different types and levels of support. It’s best to work with each company to compare its current setup
- Frontend Languages: Oracle CX Commerce supports only English on the backend. SFCC supports many additional languages, including Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and French. Note that this is only on the backend for storefront creation and maintenance. Frontend storefronts can operate in a multitude of languages and currencies on both platforms
- Available devices: Both platforms are available on Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Mac, and web-based platforms. Oracle CX Commerce is also available on Windows Mobile
However, because both companies are ecommerce products, the true tests of similarities and differences are in ecommerce related topics.
Integrations
One of the primary factors for your company to consider when choosing an ecommerce vendor is integration options. Ecommerce platforms don’t stand alone and need to integrate with additional platforms for content management, customer relationship management (CRM), and marketing tools. Each platform takes a different technological approach to integrations.
Oracle CX Commerce: The API-first approach
Oracle CX Commerce was built with an API-first perspective. All communications in and out of Oracle CX Commerce happen via a REST API, which makes integrations with other API-based products straightforward. Having an API-first approach increases the flexibility of the program, which has several pros and cons. For example:
- Pro: You can choose various products from companies that fit your needs. Due to the API-first approach, products tend to integrate well
- Con: This system can get complicated quickly. Picking and choosing products, verifying compatibility, and monitoring integrations can all be time-consuming and require specialized knowledge
Salesforce Commerce Cloud: The suite approach
SFCC takes a different approach. Since it began as Demandware in 2004, the product design is not an API-first mentality. Instead, Salesforce offers a suite of in-house products that take care of CRM, content management, and marketing.
- Pro: Products integrate well, as they’re designed to work together in a software suite
- Con: This approach can get expensive due to add-ons. Additionally, your company may not need as many tools as Salesforce offers — or tools that are as robust
Storefront development
Due to Oracle CX Commerce being a much newer product, site development is in JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, and NodeJS. Most web developers are familiar with these frameworks.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud, on the other hand, is in ISML (Internet Store Markup Language), Digital Script (.ds, a server-side language based on JavaScript), and some JavaScript.
With this in mind, Oracle CX Commerce is more approachable for web developers since it’s API-friendly and uses common languages. SFCC, conversely, has a development learning curve, and in many instances, companies hire out development to third-party organizations.
Learn more →The same holds true for basic site design. Oracle CX Commerce has better tools for out-of-the-box, drag-and-drop storefront creation with customization. SFCC’s site design process is more labor-intensive.
Choosing an ecommerce platform
Choosing the right ecommerce solution depends on your company’s needs. Several factors go into consideration:
Pricing
Salesforce Commerce Cloud tends to be more expensive, but it also has more features than Oracle CX Commerce.
Integration capabilities
Oracle CX Commerce integrates well with other ecommerce components due to its API-first construction. Oracle has the CX Suite available for additional ecommerce products, but users can choose other products too. SFCC is slightly more difficult to integrate with non-Salesforce platforms, but there is an entire Salesforce suite of products designed for ecommerce integration.
Documentation and support
Based on customer feedback, the best platform in terms of documentation is undecided. Customers of both SFCC and Oracle CX mentioned that the systems can be quite complex, and finding documentation can be difficult.
Conclusion
We covered some of the basic attributes of SFCC and Oracle CX Commerce and discussed some of the primary features of each platform. We also looked at some of the biggest differences between the two products. Both SFCC and Oracle CX Commerce have many features to assist companies with ecommerce storefronts.
You should investigate all technical details, support offerings, pricing, and feature specifics to determine which option is the best fit for your company.
LogRocket: See the technical and UX reasons for why users don’t complete a step in your ecommerce flow.
LogRocket is like a DVR for web and mobile apps and websites, recording literally everything that happens on your ecommerce app. Instead of guessing why users don’t convert, LogRocket proactively surfaces the root cause of issues that are preventing conversion in your funnel, such as JavaScript errors or dead clicks. LogRocket also monitors your app’s performance, reporting metrics like client CPU load, client memory usage, and more.
Start proactively monitoring your ecommerce apps — try for free.
