With the release of Marketplacer’s newest eCommerce connector, Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) customers now have the opportunity to increase market penetration and revenue through the quick and easy integration of the Marketplacer platform with their existing Salesforce platform.
Before we dive into exactly what these advanced capabilities mean for SFCC customers, let’s take a brief look at the retail landscape, what a marketplace is, and why this type of functionality is so critical for today’s brands.
Online retail and the rise of the marketplace
Retail has always been a fast-paced industry. Today, the rate of technological change and consumer expectation is further intensifying the competition, with pioneering digital-first marketplace companies forcing retailers to adapt and evolve to the changing times if they want to remain competitive.
One way online sellers are boosting their profile, and success, is by deploying a marketplace. Marketplace technologies provide the mechanisms needed to turn suppliers into sellers, expand product offerings, implement strategies such as shipment from drop-ship sellers, create endless aisles and roll out modern revenue models such as recurring memberships.
When integrated, these features help to transform a conventional commerce store into a thriving marketplace. Leveraging the valuable data and insights generated through the platform alongside this new flexibility and agility, operators are well-placed to quickly service customers with new ranges and products that meet their needs. This, in turn, inspires loyalty among existing customers and creates a go-to destination that will appeal to a wider customer base.
The advantage of connecting with Marketplacer
At Marketplacer, our purpose-built marketplace software has been refined over the past decade to ensure our customers have the necessary tools and functionality to launch a scalable marketplace. As part of this process, we also leverage our industry knowledge and leadership in marketplace technology, solution development and integration to align our partners’ innovations with specific business needs.
And this is where the Salesforce Commerce Cloud Connector comes in. Our partnership with Salesforce is all about assisting their customers to diversify their ecommerce offering. Once installed, the connector provides a native, bi-directional integration between Marketplacer and SFCC for product data, order data and changes in shipping status. And because it is a ready-to-install app, the SFCC Connector frees operators from the demands of managing a complex technical roadmap, drastically reducing the cost and time to integrate Marketplacer with SFCC.
This means SFCC customers get the best of both worlds. They can continue to leverage the best-in-class artificial intelligence, search and personalization of SFCC while adding the ability to expand product and category range, achieving an endless aisle with Marketplacer
Overall, the SFCC connector lowers the barrier of entry, making it much easier for Salesforce Commerce Cloud customers to experiment with third party range extension, dropship, or marketplace provisions – all by simply plugging in a new service to your ecommerce platform.
SFCC and Marketplacer working together
Once deployed this integration ensures you get all the features of the flexible, trusted Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform plus the advanced marketplace capabilities of the Marketplacer platform:
- Seller management inc. simple seller onboarding, and seller reporting
- Order management covering the order lifecycle
- Purpose-built marketplace advert engine
- SEO-friendly, customized category architecture
- Allows customers to return their purchases direct to the seller
- Sellers can choose from basic shipping rules, free shipping, or integration into a 3rd party provider
- Automated email subscription services, promotions engine, and customer wishlists.
- Generate and monetize leads for your sellers
- Fully automated seller payout system
- Integration to your existing sites SEO and GA environment
What the SFCC connector looks like in action
SurfStitch, the go-to platform for all things coastal lifestyle, wanted to expand their product offerings for not just existing categories but also new categories. To achieve this, they required a marketplace platform that would seamlessly integrate and complement the advanced capability of SFCC. Marketplacer gave SurfStitch the ability to develop a full-fledged marketplace complete with a rich expended product offering and a faultless third-party dropship experience.
With the two platforms seamless synced, SurfStitch has been able to launch experiments with marketplace functions far more quickly than ever before. For example, knowing their customers enjoyed active, outdoor lifestyles they were able to quickly add both skincare and activewear categories to their site. And as new category opportunities present, SurfStitch has all the functionality needed to act quickly and expand.
It’s been transformational for SurfStitch. This is what Justin Hillberg, SurfStitch’s Managing Director said about the integration:
“What started 12 years ago as a business catering to a core surf community, and the cultures that surround it, has evolved into a global platform for everything Costal Lifestyle. It’s been the powerful combination of utilizing Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Marketplacer platform to effectively integrate and scale third-party sellers to help us expand into new categories faster than what could be achieved organically.”
“Through the tight management of inventory levels combined with the rapid growth in our Marketplace assortment we have recorded our most profitable year on record and are able to deliver strong operating cash flow to our shareholders. As we look to accelerate growth, our marketplace strategy is a leading pillar as we are able to aggressively move into new categories without the heavy inventory risk. With this strategy in play, we are optimistic about the scalability of the business model. While we have come a long way in a short space of time, we feel like we’re just getting started and Marketplacer and Salesforce Commerce Cloud are critical to our future plans.”
If you are a Salesforce Commerce Cloud looking to add marketplace functionality to your platform while substantially reducing the time and money barrier to going to market, Marketplacer can help.
