Ecommerce Platforms and Order Management Systems ...€¦ · It’s Complicated! How Do You Know? 47.2% Source: Internet Retailer 2016 Ecommerce Survey Nearly half of the retailers

Ecommerce Platforms and Order Management Systems:Considerations and Tactics

Arthur McManusSenior Vice President

Rodney WoodruffVP Engineering

It’s Complicated!

How Do You Know?

47.2%

Source: Internet Retailer 2016 Ecommerce Survey

Nearly half of the retailers surveyed want to re-platform

52.8%

IRCE 2018- Ecom Tech Workshop Ecommerce Platforms Considerations and Tactics 2

Should you upgrade your technology?

AGENDA

• Ecommerce Platform and Order Management Systems Evaluations

• Replatforming Requirements for Selection

• Running Successful Implementations


FitForCommerceSpecialized consultancy founded to help businesses accelerate growth by leveraging digital.

Trusted advisor to hundreds of retailers.

Digital Diligence™Our philosophy and methodology based on an investment and due diligence mindset for decision-making to ensure success.

We are the help.

Curated digital innovation tracking and applied market advice to businesses in a CDO-on-demand service.

Benchmarking ofTop 120 Retailers for Web, Mobile, Storecapabilities

IRCE 2018- Ecom Tech Workshop Ecommerce Platforms Considerations and Tactics 4IRCE 2018- Ecom Tech Workshop Ecommerce Platforms Considerations and Tactics

Ecommerce Platforms (ECP) and Order Management Systems (OMS) Evaluations


STRATEGIC DILIGENCE & KNOWLEDGE GATHERING

eCommerceSite Evaluation

Strategic Analysis

Market Landscape& Assessment

REQUIREMENTS DILIGENCE SELECTION DILIGENCE IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW

RequirementsDefinition

WorkflowDefinition

Optional:Design Wireframes

RFP Development & Long List Creation

RFP Distribution, Response & Analysis

Provider(s) Selection

Optional:Contract(s) Assistance

ImplementationCoaching

Project/SelectionReview

FeedbackProject MgmtAssistance

LAUNCH !

Site Metrics Summary Document

RequirementsDefinition Grid

RequirementsDefinition Summary

System ContextDiagram

Site WorkflowDocument

RFP(s)

Long List ofTargeted Providers

Short List ofTargeted Providers

RFP(s)Tracking

RFP(s) ComparativeAnalysis

Finalists &Recommendations

Client SMEs/Functional Owners

Consultants eCommerce IndustryBest Practices

eCommerce Technology/Services

Providers

Chosen eCommerceProvider(s)

NewWebstore

Site Eval

Strategic DiligenceDocuments

Strategy Selection Implementation

Ecommerce Platforms Considerations and Tactics 6IRCE 2018- Ecom Tech Workshop

Evaluation Process

• 3 year strategy to achieve targeted online growth

• Formalize RFP to vendors

• Compare apples to apples

Self Assessment and Gap Analysis

Market AssessmentBenchmark

• Define Functional Requirements in Detail

Commerce Strategy

Competitive Analysis and Corporate Strategy

Requirements

Knowledge Gathering:Commerce Ecosystem Landscape

ECOMMERCE PLATFORM (ECP) Replacement

• Local landscape - Market sizing

//

Selection

Technologies Services Providers (SIs) Delivery Models


Time for a Change?

Market Assessment and Commerce Strategy:

Falling behind the competition and retail partners

▪ Don’t have the tools?

Missing benchmarks and/or not exhibiting best practices

▪ Desire to expand Omni-Channel capabilities – BOPUS, Endless Isle, Ship from store etc.

▪ Increased B2B needs

▪ Growing internationally

▪ Mobile first approach

▪ Desire to offer more “flash sales” business model

▪ Potential acquisition strategy

Evolving Go-To-Market Strategy


What’s Your North Star?

Mobile First Omnichannel

•Clienteling / CRM

•Integration with POS

•Order Management

•Enterprise Fulfillment

•360 view of the customer for marketing and customer service

User Experience

•Personalization

•Merchandising

•Enhanced Search

•Engaging and Useful Content

Content Management

•User Generated

•Content Management Systems (CMS)

•Product Information Mgmt (PIM)

Social Media Integration

Enhanced Customer Service

•Customer-Managed Tasks

International B2B, B2B2C



• Formalize RFP to vendors

• Compare apples to apples



• Define Functional Requirements in Detail

Commerce Strategy


Requirements




//

Selection



Time for a Change?

Self Assessment:

Limited Scalability - inability to handle increased demand

▪ Can’t support Omni-Channel Strategy?

Non existing OMS capabilities

▪ Can’t do what you want? – Difficult to maintain

▪ Poor user experience tools

▪ Requires IT support for business user enhancements

▪ Poor business administration/user tools

Growing platform deficiencies

▪ Too expensive? Low ROI?

Increasing internal costs





Commerce Strategy


Requirements




//

Selection



Technologies

ECP

Merchandising PIM

ERPMarketing

OMS

CRM WMS

Customer Service CMS

Mobile/Social In-store/POS

Platforms

Point SolutionsBest-of-breed

Micro Services

Home Grown

Service Providers

TypesCategoriesSystems Integrators

Digital Agencies

End-to-end Providers

Delivery Models

SaaS/PaaS

Licensed/On Premise

Licensed/Hosted

Headless

Hybrid

Custom Development


Knowledge Gathering: Commerce Ecosystem Landscape


ECP OMS

WMS

CRM

Site Search

Ratings & Reviews

Merchandising

Marketing

SEO/SEM

CSEs

Affiliate

Email

Social

Mobile

Data/Analytics

Personalization

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

ContentLoyalty

Bundling

Assortment

Searchandising

Recommendations

Payments

CMS

Customer Care

Call Center

CRMCustomer Satisfaction

MeasurementGifting

Security Fraud

Hosting

Logistics

FulfillmentReturns

Inventory

Chat

CDNPerformance

Customer Insights

Digital Galaxy

MCP

Omnichannel

Global

Data WH

ERP

Display Advertising

PIMDAM

Instagram YouTube

UGC

SnapchatRetargeting

Chatbots

AI/Machine Learning

Payments

Stores

Clienteling

BOPIS BORIS

ROPIS

Video

Voice

Same-Day

AR/VR Marketplaces

Size & Fit

Feed Mgmt. AdvertisingAttribution

Predictive AnalysisBI

Localization

Campaign Mgmt.

Dropship

Amazon

Retailer-Operated

Configurator

Influencer

Cross-Border

Tax

GDPRPCI

Major Technology Components and Integrations

CustomerCRM

Marketing

Webstore(ECP / CMS)

Order Mgmt(OMS)

FulfillmentWMS

ERP

CustomerService

Customers/ordersInventory

Shipping info

Tracking info

SalesTracking

info

Inventory

Price/Stock Qty.

MerchandisingCatalog

Pricing

Content

Images

Traffic

Retail(POS)

Mobile store(MCP)

Catalog

Product InfoMgmt (PIM)

Cust/Order

© FitForCommerce


SMB EnterpriseMid Market Large

$0 $30 MM $75 MM $200 MM $1 Billion

Customer Tiers Annual Online Revenue

SMB: $0 – 30 SMB, Mid-Market: $25 – 75 MM, Large $60 – 200 MM, Enterprise $200 MM +

ECP Landscape by Market Focus


**Not a complete list**


$0 $30 MM $75 MM $200 MM $1 Billion



OMS Landscape by Market Focus



Understanding Service Providers Ecosystem


•Experience

•Fill your capabilities gaps

•Repeatable process

•Hosting and/or ongoing services support

Why to Use

•Implement new platform and related technology

•Integrate with internal and third-party systems

•Serve as an extension of your internal teams

Roles They Play

•Experience with both new and existing technology

•Number of developers certified in new technology

•Strong project management

•Methodology that is compatible with internal teams

Skillsets to Consider

•Location

•Company size

•Industry experience

•On-shore/off-shore development teams

•Satisfied clients

Other Considerations

• Implementation, integration and migration services• UI/UX design• Information architecture design• Hosting services• Post-implementation support

• Same as SIs PLUS• Branding• Creative design• Digital marketing functions

Ideal for companies with strong creative, merchandising and marketing teams

• Cover the breadth of the ecommerce ecosystem from product photography to fulfillment

• Includes everything listed under SIs and Digital Agencies• Condense time-to-market

Ideal for companies wishing to completely outsource, shorten time-to-market or in need of a major overhaul

Ideal for companies with a need to outsource creative and marketing functions

Source: FitForCommerce Digital Commerce Services Report, January 2018


$0 $30 MM $75 MM $200 MM $1 Billion



SI/Digital Agency Landscape by Market Focus



Technology and Delivery Models


Compare – Gap Analysis

Moment of Truth

Future Needs – Current Systems = GAP

It’s Easy, Right?

Take your strategy and objectives and map them to your systems

and processes

✓ Is the gap big enough to warrant a new platform? ✓ Is an additional point solution needed? ✓ Can the current platform be modified?✓ Is it worth it?


22

Uh-oh…. I Need to Re-platform


Manage and Run the RFP Process

Make sure you have the time to devote to a comprehensive RFP process

Based on a sampling of FitForCommerce engagements


25%

35%

40%

Ecom Selection Level of Effort

Strategy

Requirements

Selection

Brand/Retailer

•Executive management

•Ecommerce

•Marketing

•Merchandising

•Fulfillment

•Customer Service

• IT

•…

Provider

•ECP/OMS

•Solution Architect

•Client Engagement Mgr.

•Partner Mgr.

•SI/Digital Agency

•Project Mgr.

• Integration Architect

Consultant

•Technical Lead

•PMO

•SME/Functional expert(s)

•Vertical industry expert(s)

Typical Resources Required


Company Type, Size, Complexity

• Wholesaler, distributer, pureplay retailer, etc.

• Number of subsidiaries, BUs, internal stakeholders

• IT Complexity

• B2C, B2B, B2B2C, etc.

• …

Project Scope

• Number of Systems in Selection

• OMS

• CMS

• CRM

• …

• SI/Digital Agency selection

• ...

Integrations

• Supply chain

• ERP

• Legacy systems

• Payment systems

• Fulfillment

• Customer Service

• CRM

• MarTech

• …

Global Footprint

• Multiple currencies

• Multiple languages

• Local customs

• Privacy laws

• …

ECP/OMS Complication Drivers



Strategic Analysis




WorkflowDefinition









LAUNCH !






RFP(s)



RFP(s)Tracking






Providers


NewWebstore

Site Eval




Evaluation Process

Replatforming Requirements for Selection


Determine, define, and rank your needs✓ Consider short- and long-term strategies

✓ Ensure all stakeholders are involved in requirements gathering

✓ Rank them (500+) in order of priority; classify by need, want, or nice to have.

✓ Identify requirements for managing the site.

✓ Include systems, such as order management, data and processes your eCommerce system will integrate within the back end.

✓ Choose the best solution approach and/or model.

Requirements-Based Selection


Run the Process!

Perform the RFP process like a funnel with many steps

• Nice long list of providers at the top

• Narrow down based on RFP responses – compare

• Narrow down based on your interactions with providers (presentations, onsite meetings, etc.)

• Narrow down based on finalist meetings


Building Requirements

Long List

Request for Proposal

Comparative Results

Short List

Finalist Selection

Make Your Decision

Functional

✓Which platform most closely matches my requirements▪ Lower customizations means less risk (schedule / scope / budget)

✓ Look at the provider’s roadmap▪ Does it align with your vision?

Financial

✓ Is the 3-5 yr TCO within your budget?

Cultural

✓Do you have rapport?✓Does the team seem eager, are they engaged?✓Do they respond quickly?


✓ How the vendor’s implementation team guides the process.

✓ What didn’t go as expected?✓ What was the timing promised for

implementation? What was the actual time for implementation?

✓ If it took longer than expected… Why?✓ Was the provider on budget?✓ Understand that every IT project has its

challenges; ask about how the vendor approached these situations

Check References!!


• Add budget… and prepare to negotiate

• Align SLAs to expectations

• Consider penalty clauses for missed milestones

• Ensure provider identifies specific implementation team for your project

• Document project milestone payment terms

• Engage expert software & services legal counsel

• Look at both upfront and long-term annual costs


Prepare to Negotiate

• Most retailers & brands update ecommerce platforms and/or OMS every 3-4 years

• Costs to re-platform can range as high as $4 million+ for large, complex enterprises taking up to 12-24 months

• Costs of smaller projects often range $400K -$1M and can be implemented in 6-12 months

• Replatform Impacts KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) such as conversion, AOV, SEO, etc.

• Ensure you minimize the replatforming impact to KPIs

Re-platforming Can Be Disruptive


33

Implementation

Keys to Successful Implementations




Strategic Analysis




WorkflowDefinition









LAUNCH !






RFP(s)



RFP(s)Tracking






Providers


NewWebstore

Site Eval




Evaluation Process

Running Successful Implementations

1. Management Doesn’t Know Tech

2. Build Your Crew

3. Somethings Old, Somethings New

4. You Aren’t Going to Need It

5. You Site Is Already Too Slow

6. It’s In the Box, You Have to Get It Out

35IRCE 2018- Ecom Tech Workshop Ecommerce Platforms Considerations and Tactics

Management

Doesn’t Know

Tech

But, they better care about what is being built.

1. Upper Management should kick off this project with the whole

team to show their complete buy-in.

2. Management should also show confidence in the eCommerce

Project Team.

3. You should communicate to management early, in detailed

fashion, and often with statuses as the project progresses and

not just at milestones. Don’t just share the good stuff. Give

management a chance to help.

4. They won’t always care about the tech but should care about the

team morale and pay careful attention to Features, Change

Requests and whether what is being delivered is on-brand and

focused on the consumer.


Team Members should include someone from …Build

Your

Crew(s)Marketing

Human

Resource

s

Product

ManagementFinance

Engineering

Project

Management

Analytics

User

Experience

Retail

Operations


Build

Your

Crew(s)

cont’d …

Make sure you have people who …

1. Know how the eCommerce system will interact with all other systems. They

need to understand the eCommerce system from the frontend all the way to

fulfillment across all channels.

2. Are experts in their specific domain and how that domain operates within the

company.

3. Are focused on delivering the new platform and not several other jobs.

4. Have been empowered to make decisions without unnecessary red tape.

5. Get along, empower each other and can receive constructive criticism.

6. Feel responsible for the project’s budget.


Build

Your

Crew(s)

cont’d …

Your crew(s) should also include:

1. Store Personnel

2. Warehouse Personnel

3. Traditional IT

4. Customer Service

5. Consultants and Freelancers to fill any gaps or holes in team

knowledge and skills

Also, be aware that:

1. In some companies, marketing, product management and

analytics are all the same person or team.

2. Many organizations still rely on “Traditional IT” to implement all

tech projects.


Build

Your

Crew(s)

cont’d …

Lastly, don’t forget …

The Employee you just remembered actually still works at your

company. 😀


Somethings

Old,

Somethings

New

Avoid chasing new technologies or the latest trend. Instead, …

1. Take inventory of your existing systems.

2. Determine how those systems interact today.

3. Determine how those systems need to be modified to support the

new eCommerce or Omni/Multichannel initiative.

4. Remember that all systems don’t need to be replaced or modified.

5. Remember that your existing systems, as outdated as they may

be, helped the company be as successful as it today.

Online

Content Management

System

(CMS)

eCommerce

Analytics

Personalization

Offline

Point of Sale

(POS)

Traffic Counters

Payment

Loss Prevention

Somethings Old …

Enterprise

ERP

Customer Relationship Management

(CRM)

Product Information Management (PIM)

Customer Service

Order Management System (OMS)

Warehouse Management System (WMS)

Merchandise Planning Systems (MPS)


Somethings

New

“Somethings New” is more about the “How” and less about the

“What”

A. Best project management process

B. Best software architectures

C. Best deployment architectures


Somethings

New

Best

Project

Management

Process

SCRUM – Agile Project Management

From Kamos: http://bit.ly/2rLUsgA

Somethings

New

Best

Software

Architectures

Headless/API Commerce and Microservices

From: Fit For Commerce, Demystifying Microservices, http://bit.ly/2jZjBRk

1. Separates the content presentation layer (content and experience management systems) from

the business logic and functional layer (existing ecommerce stack, integration, and commerce

management).

2. Allows companies to ”turn on” only the components that they need.

3. Microservices go one step further, by separating every element within each layer, enabling even

more flexibility, customization, shoppable experiences, and freedom for innovation.

4. Microservices, because they are deployed individually, allows services to scale independent of

the other services.


Somethings

New

Best

Software

Architectures

I’m sad because my

eCommerce platform is

monolithic!

That’s ok because …

1. You can take advantage of key components of

Headless Commerce strategies.

2. You can implement an API Layer over time to

expose key functionality from the monolithic

system.

3. New ”pure play” API first eCommerce

Platforms are emerging.


Somethings

New

Best

Deployment

Architectures

Deployment architectures continue to evolve …

From: http://bit.ly/2k9bxxC


Somethings

New

Best

Deployment

Architectures

The end goal is Microservices …

From: http://bit.ly/2Gsm2Vs

Old New


Somethings

New

Platforms

On

A

Scale

eCommerce Platforms on a Scale

On-Premise/Private Cloud

Broadleaf

Hybris

Magento

Platform/Software as a Service (PaaS/SaaS)

Demandware

Oracle Commerce Cloud

Headless/API Commerce

Commerce Tools

Skava


Somethings

New

Platforms

On

A

Scale

eCommerce Platforms on a Scale


You

Aren’t

Gonna

Need

It

From: http://bit.ly/2rVdpyn


You

Aren’t

Gonna

Need

It

YAGNI: “You Aren’t Gonna Need It” is a principle of extreme

programming (XP) that states a programmer should not add

functionality until deemed necessary. Basically, “Always implement

things when you actually need them, never when you just foresee

that you need them.” (Wikipedia)

1. Be religious about only implementing what you really need to get

to a Minimum Loveable Product.

2. Talk to developers every day. They will always stray and

implement stuff that isn’t really needed. Repetition will trigger an

innate developer efficiency algorithm. “This is the 2nd time I have

done this manually. So, I am going to build something real quick

…”

3. Make sure project team members know how features become

requirements.


http://bit.ly/2Kx5cHf

Your

Site

Is

Already

Too

Slow0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Automotive Business Classifieds Finance Media Retail Technology Travel

2018 Website Average Load TimesSource: https://www.machmetrics.com/speed-blog/average-page-load-times-websites-2018

United States United Kingdom Germany Japan

This chart is from this year …


Your

Site

Is

Already

Too

Slow ,

cont’d

So, focus on site performance from day one and allow the

engineering team to actually invest in the performance. Some

techniques and technologies to consider:

1. Progressive Enhancement

2. Single Page Application (SPA)

3. Responsive Web Design (RWD)

4. Adaptive Web Design (AWD)

5. Content Distribution Network (CDN)

6. Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

7. Extremely capable and competent Engineers and Technical

Leads


It’s

In the

Box,

You

Have to

Get It

Out

NOTHING COMES “OUT OF THE BOX”. PERIOD, FULL STOP!!!!!

ANYONE WHO SAYS THIS IS IMMEDIATELY SUSPICIOUS!

From: http://bit.ly/2rRIHpF

Your engineering team will have to work to expose the functionality for

actual use. This is where much of the time and costs will be incurred.


It’s

In the

Box,

You

Have to

Get It

Out

Some eCommerce

Platforms try to be

everything:

Some eCommerce

Platforms try to be:

They include everything that

is required. You just add

people and servers.

You have to partner with 3rd

parties and other tech to

deliver the final solution.


Some

Final

Points

1. Content is Queen. Remember the SEO!

2. Change Requests (CRs) cost money!

3. Be See-through.

4. If you build it, they will hack it.

5. Remember to build tools for the folks who do the work.

6. You still need to talk to your customers.

7. Be the opposite of pennywise and pound foolish.

8. Slow down to move fast.

9. Middleware is your friend.


Q&A

Arthur McManus

Senior Vice President, FitForCommerce

[email protected]

Rodney Woodruff

VP Engineering, Weight Watchers

[email protected]

For additional questions:

[email protected]
