Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, announced new innovations across its Commerce Cloud platform that enable companies to bring artificial intelligence, visual search, inventory availability services and more to an entirely new generation of commerce experiences.
“Salesforce Commerce Cloud enables us to leverage the power of voice search and connect with anyone looking for the right outfit, wherever he is. With Salesforce, Perry Ellis launched the ‘Ask Perry Ellis’ Skill, a voice-activated personal stylist powered by Amazon Alexa to provide fashion assistance and connect the shopper to the right outfit at the right time. This was possible with Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform APIs and developer tools that we’ve been able to use to reach consumers and offer tailored style suggestions within their day-to-day life,” said Vincent Panzanella, vice president of marketing & communications, Perry Ellis.
Today’s consumers want to access and buy the products, services, and experiences they desire, anytime and anywhere. They have fitness monitors and digital personal assistants, and they stay connected to and engage with brands through social media, marketing emails, chatbots, and customer service experiences. And they expect to learn about and purchase the product or experience they are looking for in those moments.
Companies want to create a smart, easy commerce experience for every channel, but most do not have a central commerce platform that gives them the agility and flexibility to deliver. Salesforce and Deloitte research shows that, on average, retailers use 39 disparate systems to manage customer engagement, including point of sale, mobile, call center, email marketing, social media, and more. Because all of these roads to making a purchase ultimately bring the shopper back to an eCommerce site, brands risk losing a consumer they’ve managed to engage on one channel because they’re asking them to transact on another.
The expanded Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform consists of a powerful set of APIs, platform services and developer tools that empower companies to embed intelligent commerce experiences into every touchpoint to drive growth. Now, companies will be able to:
Extend Einstein AI-powered commerce and image search everywhere
New Einstein Recommendations API: This will allow merchants to quickly integrate Einstein-powered product recommendations beyond their eCommerce site. With intelligent recommendations in mobile apps, clienteling devices and across marketing and customer service channels, merchants can power personalized and consistent experiences no matter how or where shoppers interact with the brand.
New Einstein Visual Search: Now shoppers will be able to “snap and search” for products using images, not text. Shoppers can search based on photos or screenshots from their mobile phone, which will return the same product or most relevant option available based on the image uploaded.
Activate inventory in real time across every channel
New High-scale Inventory Availability Service: This new platform service enables companies to activate in-store and fulfillment center inventory across digital channels at a massive scale–all in real time. This means companies can launch programs like browse by store or buy online, pick-up in store as well as support high-volume requests required for spike periods like flash sales and holidays.
Innovate commerce experiences faster
New On-demand Developer Sandboxes: Provide added agility so development teams can deliver innovation to the business faster. Developer Sandboxes can be spun up in minutes, improving productivity and giving developers more consistency within their test and deployment process.
New Commerce API Explorer: This new one-stop-shop for all Commerce APIs in a single portal and easy-to-use user interface allows developers to design and test new experiences more efficiently.
New Commerce Cloud Developer Trailhead Trail: With this new free online learning resource, developers can educate themselves on the core elements of developing on the Commerce Cloud platform.
Dynamic commerce experiences
With Salesforce, Michaels has launched new branded eCommerce sites, unified our in-store and online experience, and integrated user-generated content from social media. “We are also bringing together commerce, service, and marketing to drive more effective audience engagement and ensure that every customer communication is timely and relevant,” said Steve Carlotti, executive vice president of marketing, The Michaels Companies, Inc.
Salesforce enables us with the tools we need to personalize customer engagement. We re-launched Spalding.com with Commerce Cloud’s Storefront Reference Architecture and launched U Design, an experience that enables customers to laser-engrave their favorite NBA team logos and personal text on the products, resulting in an immediate, exponential improvement in eCommerce conversion. “With Commerce Cloud, we can deepen our relationships with our customers by connecting them to products, information and unique experiences,” said Matt Day, digital marketing & eCommerce manager for Spalding.
Commerce Cloud connected to the world’s #1 CRM platform, giving brands a single view of the customer and the ability to build great experiences across marketing, commerce, and service. Brands are also empowered to quickly create and scale trusted apps with Heroku, integrate data with Mulesoft, and leverage the Salesforce DX developer experience framework for high-performance agile application development.
Digital commerce no longer starts with just a shopping cart. “With Salesforce Commerce Cloud, companies have a trusted partner who can help them meet their customers wherever they are and deliver commerce everywhere through a platform full of AI-powered commerce services, APIs and a robust partner ecosystem,” said Mike Micucci, CEO of Commerce Cloud at Salesforce.
