Dive Brief:
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Cloud computing company Salesforce announced on Wednesday a new cloud product that allows retailers to track customers and boost online sales.
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The service, called Commerce Cloud, brings retailers predictive intelligence, helping them deliver personalized product recommendations, search results and other experiences for shoppers across the web, mobile, social media and in stores.
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The Commerce Cloud capabilities were added to Salesforce's lineup thanks to the company’s $2.8 billion acquisition of e-commerce platform company Demandware in May.
Dive Insight:
Salesforce's new product is a step toward de-siloing data and operations to allow greater connections between brands and customers regardless of where they shop — something many retailers continue to struggle with. While mobile shopping is on the rise, Salesforce acknowledges that 90% of purchases are still made in stores.
The new product, Commerce Cloud, fulfills the expectations the company had when it picked up Demandware earlier this year. In June, Andy Hoar, Forrester principal analyst serving e-business and channel strategy, told Retail Dive in an email that the acquisition gives Salesforce a "just-add-water e-commerce with an impressive client list, $100M+ in incremental revenue and a leadership team experienced in this industry.” He also predicted, “At first, Salesforce will focus on B2C eCommerce, but I can assure you B2B e-commerce won't be far behind.”
Salesforce and Demandware already had many clients in common, but Demandware, with a list of major retailers and brands including Lands' End and Design Within Reach, helps Salesforce fill the e-commerce gap in its solutions portfolio and can offer retailers a more complete package. As Salesforce grows beyond its core business, it's also put into competition with big names in the retail technology space including Shopify, Amazon and eBay.
In a statement, CEO of Salesforce Commerce Cloud Jeff Barnett put it this way: “The connected customer is transforming commerce, creating new opportunities for brands to transform the buying experience.”
