Salesforce B2C Commerce

In the current digital era, businesses of all sizes must have a strong and scalable e-commerce platform. Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud is a favored choice for organizations aiming to offer their customers a smooth online purchasing journey. But what exactly is the architecture of Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud, and how does it work?

Background

Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud provides a cloud-based e-commerce solution, giving companies comprehensive tools for creating and maintaining outstanding online storefronts.  Originally known as Demandware, it was acquired by Salesforce and integrated into its ecosystem of products. While B2C Commerce Cloud shares some similarities with the core Salesforce platform, particularly in its emphasis on customer relationship management (CRM), it’s important to understand that its underlying architecture is distinct. This architecture is designed specifically to handle the complexities and demands of modern e-commerce.

Key Architectural Components

Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud is made up of these components:

  • Database (Oracle): B2C Commerce Cloud leverages a robust Oracle database to store all your critical business data, including product information, customer details, order history, and more. This ensures data integrity, scalability, and reliability for your online store.
  • File System (Accessible via WebDAV): The platform provides a file system accessible via WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning). Through a familiar web interface, this allows you to manage and store various file assets, such as product images, marketing materials, and other downloadable content.
  • Web and App Servers: B2C Commerce Cloud utilizes web and application servers to handle incoming requests from customer browsers and applications. These servers are responsible for providing the storefront content and functionality, guaranteeing a seamless experience for your customers.
  • Load Balancer and Firewall: The Load Balancer and Firewall work together to spread out traffic among several web servers, which prevents any one server from becoming overwhelmed. This arrangement maintains the best possible performance and scalability for your e-commerce site, particularly during high traffic. Additionally, a firewall safeguards your store from unauthorized access and malicious attacks.
  • Cloudflare (eCDN): B2C Commerce Cloud integrates with Cloudflare, a content delivery network (eCDN) service. This service stores static assets like images and JavaScript files on servers across different locations. By serving content from servers nearer to users, Cloudflare considerably enhances the loading speed of websites for a worldwide audience.
  • Standard Features: B2C Commerce Cloud offers a comprehensive set of standard features out-of-the-box, including product management, order management, customer account management, promotions, marketing tools, and more. These features provide a solid foundation for building and managing your online store.
  • Rhino Engine: The Rhino Engine is a powerful JavaScript engine that executes server-side JavaScript code within the B2C Commerce Cloud platform. This allows developers to develop bespoke features and logic specifically designed for your business requirements.
  • Einstein: B2C Commerce Cloud incorporates Salesforce’s Einstein, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool suite. Einstein provides features like product recommendations, search personalization, and customer segmentation, allowing you to deliver a more intelligent and engaging shopping experience.
  • SCAPI/OCAPI: SCAPI (Storefront Content API) and OCAPI (Order Cloud API) are powerful APIs that enable developers to integrate B2C Commerce Cloud with external systems. SCAPI facilitates the exchange of storefront content, such as product information and promotions, while OCAPI manages order data and functionality.
  • Account Manager: The Account Manager is a web-based interface that provides administrators with a centralized console for managing various aspects of your B2C Commerce Cloud account. This includes user management, security settings, configuration options, and monitoring tools.
  • Composable Storefront: B2C Commerce Cloud embraces a composable storefront architecture. This means the storefront functionality is modular and can be assembled using various components. This strategy provides more adaptability for personalization, enabling you to fine-tune the appearance and ambiance of your online store so it aligns flawlessly with your brand’s identity.
  • Log Center: The Log Center is a centralized repository for all system logs generated by B2C Commerce Cloud. These records offer a crucial understanding of system operations, user actions, and possible problems. You can leverage the Log Center for troubleshooting, monitoring, and auditing.
  • Reports & Dashboards: B2C Commerce Cloud provides extensive reporting and dashboard tools. These tools allow you to monitor crucial metrics like sales numbers, the cost of acquiring customers, and the efficiency of marketing campaigns. Access to this information allows you to base your decisions on data and enhance your online store’s performance for better outcomes.
  • Control Center: The Control Center is a web-based interface that allows administrators to manage the deployment and configuration of your B2C Commerce Cloud storefronts. You can use the Control Center to stage changes, schedule deployments, and manage different storefront environments.

Benefits of a Headless Storefront Architecture

Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud’s headless storefront architecture offers several key advantages for businesses seeking to create exceptional online shopping experiences:

  • Ultimate Flexibility: Perhaps the biggest benefit is flexibility. Decoupling the front end (how things look) from the back end (how things work) means you’re not tied to a specific set of templates or themes. You can build any shopping experience you imagine using your chosen web technologies and frameworks.
  • Enhanced Omnichannel Experiences: A headless architecture empowers you to design touchpoints beyond a traditional website. This allows you to connect your e-commerce engine to mobile apps, in-store kiosks, voice assistants, or even innovative new technologies as they emerge.
  • Faster Innovation & Iteration:  Since front-end and back-end changes don’t affect each other, developers can experiment, try new things, and roll out updates quickly.  This accelerates your ability to provide the latest features to customers.
  • Improved Performance: Headless sites often load faster, especially on mobile devices. You gain fine-grained control to optimize the front-end experience for speed without being weighed down by the commerce engine.
  • Enhanced Personalization: With a headless approach, you have more control over collected customer data. Use this data to deliver highly personalized product recommendations, content, and offers, leading to better engagement and conversions.
  • Future-Proofing: A headless architecture safeguards your store against shifting technology trends. If you decide to switch to a new front-end framework in the future, you won’t have to overhaul your entire e-commerce infrastructure.

Conclusion

Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud is a robust and expandable e-commerce solution designed to assist businesses across the spectrum in offering their customers a smooth online purchasing journey. To improve it, you can go through these practice questions. 

The platform’s headless storefront architecture gives businesses the flexibility to create a custom user experience, and its integration with other Salesforce products can help companies improve their customer relationships and marketing efforts.