#ExploreHybris – SAP Hybris Commerce and Marketing Integration

In the #ExploreHybris series, Apollogic experts share their knowledge concerning the possibilities for the most efficient possible use and extending the SAP Hybris Marketing system. It is a comprehensive platform for Marketing Automation used to manage marketing activities and relations with customers.

From this article you will learn:

• What are the possibilities of integrating SAP Hybris Commerce and Marketing?

• What information can be transferred from the Hybris Commerce e-store to the SAP Hybris Marketing?

• How to efficiently take advantage of recommendation models in an online store based on SAP Hybris Commerce?

What is SAP Hybris Commerce?

SAP Hybris Commerce is a comprehensive sales solution in the B2B and B2C sectors with the usage of the omnichannel model, meaning providing the client with the same high quality in all sales channels. It includes a number of useful modules such as: product manager, real-time active customer service module, tools for employees making managing the platform easier, and the function of an online store.

Advantages of the SAP Hybris Commerce:

• Omnichanneling
• Advanced customer interaction module
• Advanced product catalogue
• Efficient and scalable environment – the possibility to manage many stores with various product catalogues, using one platform
• An easy and comprehensive integration with SAP systems – ERP, Marketing, CRM, HANA, and other external platforms

SAP Hybris Marketing and SAP Hybris Commerce integration – Business Case

Business Case: Our goal was to create the basics of an online store offering musical items, including one type of active recommendation model. We’ve assumed that on a product’s page the client will be offered other items, viewed together with the current one, most often, within one web session.

The product with the absolutely most shared views was supposed to be displayed at the beginning of the list. The remaining items were supposed to be displayed sorted by their categories and by their price increasing. Additionally, the products present in the cart at a given moment of time should be omitted when displaying recommendations.

The possibilities of systems integration

Preparing the communication between the SAP Hybris and SAP ERP systems included the installation of proper integration related extensions on the Hybris Commerce platform. The following step consisted in configuring all three systems (yMarketing, yCommerce, and SAP ERP).

The ERP system played the role of a basic data source. We’ve created a product base in it, including information concerning the prices and a division into categories. With the help of the SAP Data Hub tool, we have replicated this data into the store catalog in SAP Hybris Commerce. Apart from that, the ERP system functioned as a database with information concerning the customers. They were automatically migrated to the system after registering in the online store.

When communicating the SAP Hybris Commerce with SAP Hybris Marketing systems we’ve used a new and alternative tool – Expressway. It is used to transfer data concerning products, customers, opinions, carts, and orders. Additionally, when using special extensions, Hybris Marketing received also data concerning client’s behaviour in the online store.

Our integration scenario assumed using two non-standard elements. The first one consisted of importing the product classification system from the SAP ERP as the basic categories in Hybris Commerce. This allowed for an easier usage of their hierarchy for example in order to navigate in the online store. The second step consisted of an extension containing information concerning prices for the functions of sending products from SAP Hybris Commerce to Marketing.

In the previous #ExploreHybris articles we’ve described creating recommendations in Hybris Marketing. In this post, we present how to use them in practice – from gathering user online store interaction data to sharing the recommendations created basing on that data.

E-commerce interactions

Data concerning the users’ navigation and their behavior in the online store may be saved and transferred to Hybris Marketing system in order to be processed further there.

SAP Hybris Commerce includes the possibility to register and transfer the following types of actions to Hybris Marketing:

• Viewing a product/ category page
• Adding a product to the cart, or removing a product
• Leaving a cart (adding products to it and then leaving the site)
• Placing an order
• Viewing/ writing an opinion
• Viewing recommendations, clicking on a recommended offer

Interactions are sent to SAP Hybris Marketing where they are processed in real time by recommendation scenarios. Depending on the needs, the transferring may be done in real time, immediately after a user’s action or in defined time cycles.

Product recommendations in SAP Hybris Commerce

SAP Hybris Commerce product recommendations are handled by a special element of the product’s page. This element can be easily configured by the person managing the website’s content. All it takes is to select the displayed text and indicate a recommendation created with Hybris Marketing:

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Every time the user loads a product page the recommendation module sends a request for the indicated scenario to the SAP Hybris Marketing system. Whereas, the return message includes products according to it:

Comparing the displayed model in Hybris Commerce with an overview of the recommendation scenario’s execution for the same product in Hybris Marketing, it may be stated that the recommendation display model assumed by us was correctly performed by the systems:

This way, before using the specific recommendation model in the online store, we can always test it first in Hybris Marketing system using the above tool.

In return we receive from commerce system data informing about the efficiency of the used recommendation scenario, which can be analyzed in a dedicated “Manage Recommendations” app, that was sent to the SAP Hybris Marketing:

• Recommendation Impressions – a number representing the number of recommendations generated in the Hybris Commerce system with the use of a particular recommendation scenario
• Click-Through Rate – an indicator informing about what part of the recommended products has interested the client (the client must click on the product recommendation)
• Conversion Rate – an indicator informing about what number of recommendations clicked on by the client has led to a purchase ( the client has one week to purchase the recommended item).

Generating Customer Journey based on interactions

The “Customer Journey Insight” app in the SAP Hybris Marketing system allows to view and analyze the specific sequence of interactions performed by the customer with the use of various information channels (social media, web, phone, commerce, e-mail), which leads to a specific event such as  purchase, leaving the cart, or conversion of  recommendation into a purchase.
 

Basing on the diagram generated by the app, the user has the opportunity to create target groups of customers for which similar interaction paths have been observed. This allows for more efficient marketing actions toward a specific group of clients. These may be for example:

• Creating a target group which members perform a purchase after receiving a recommendation in an e-mail
• Creating a target group which members perform a purchase basing on recommendations displayed in an online store
• Generating a target group which members perform a purchase basing on online store reviews

See the video in which we present customer behaviours presented with the model (you can choose both English and Polish subtitles):