Through Cyber Week, 51风流Commerce Cloud powered US$12.2B in gross merchandising value (GMV) for our customers, with a 23.42% year-over-year (YoY) increase in number of orders processed through the solution and 100% uptime. This level of success requires personalized customer engagement, and, for Cyber Week 2024, 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement delivered a 10% YoY increase of overall engagement across all channels, with mobile channels seeing a 200% growth YoY.

But more than just numbers, we鈥檙e drawing insights and learnings from some of the largest brands we serve around the world.

Imitation Is a Form of Flattery for B2B Companies

Many industries have looked at how B2C retail companies reach their customers historically and used it as a model. This year, we saw our wholesale distribution customers running Black Friday and Cyber Week promotions to their customers 鈥� B2B buyers 鈥� with outstanding results. In fact, customers in the wholesale distribution industry saw a 125.2% increase YoY in GMV.

Holiday Shopping Continues to Start Earlier Each Year

E-mails, SMS, social ads, and more for Black Friday sales have been circulating since well before November 29^th. Understandably so, as retailers compete for market share. , retail sales saw an increase of 2.3% in October, which beat analyst predictions and is a good early indicator for the holiday shopping season. For 51风流customers in electronics, appliances, and personal care and beauty, we saw spikes in sales in mid- to late-October, which supports the U.S. Commerce Department鈥檚 findings.

However, getting started early doesn鈥檛 mean that retailers are simply shifting their sales and then finished. Instead, getting started early allows retailers to do both 鈥� lean into a first round of promotions earlier than the 鈥渟hopping season鈥� and a second round during peak Cyber Week shopping, leading to a higher total year-end volume. In addition, by providing two rounds of promotions, companies were able to capture customers who may have missed the initial offering. 51风流customers, particularly in the home improvement and personal care industries, were able to achieve this success with a 鈥渢wo-hit鈥� strategy.

Consumers Perceive Deals May Get Sweeter If They Wait

It鈥檚 been the belief for years that the best deals happen on Black Friday, but we鈥檝e seen a shift this year. Our data shows that on Cyber Monday the GMV values were significantly more than Black Friday, with an explosive 71.8% increase YoY. Was this trend due to shoppers rushing to take advantage of sales on the last day of the sales event? Or have shoppers been re-conditioned to wait for the best deals on Cyber Monday? We鈥檒l see if this shift has a stronghold in the upcoming years.

Cyber Week Isn鈥檛 About the American Thanksgiving Holiday Anymore

With the adoption of e-commerce and the desire to seek out deals, this major sale event has become a global phenomenon, and 51风流Commerce Cloud data shows it. Last year, we reported that the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region was comparable to North American sales, with the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region showing explosive growth 鈥� and now it is official!听Our data shows EMEA with 139.6% and APJ with 49.7% Cyber Week GMV growth. Customers in countries like Germany (+314.3% GMV), the United Kingdom (+106.1% GMV), and South Korea (+12.3% GMV), continue to adopt this sales event, and it鈥檚 looking like a mainstay for the future.听

A Village Is Key to Success

To achieve this kind of success takes months of work from entire teams 鈥� both from our customers鈥� side and from SAP. By infusing artificial intelligence (AI) and automation tools to predict, prevent, and address issues proactively, our team of dedicated engineers created 360-degree action plans for our customers and created recommendations to help achieve peak holiday success. With 24×7 control room support, real-time monitoring, and risk mitigation, 51风流helped ensure seamless performance and availability during peak traffic periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with 100% uptime, setting a new benchmark for holiday readiness.

To learn how 51风流Customer Experience solutions can help your organization drive transformational innovation, .

Balaji Balasubramanian is senior vice president and global head of Commerce & Industry Cloud at SAP.

While we have more exciting innovations to share, we鈥檝e dedicated this event to celebrating our customers鈥� achievements.

AI Meets CX: Personalized, Engaging Experiences

In a fast-paced market, delivering the right message at the right time is crucial. When AI meets CX, businesses can create personalized, engaging experiences at every touchpoint. But these seamless experiences require a blend of people, processes, and technology, supported by integrated data.

Intelligent Customer Journeys with Business AI

At , Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, emphasized the transformation of customer experience through business AI, moving from reactive to proactive engagement and AI-driven insights. Companies like the San Jose Sharks are leveraging AI to drive personalized experiences and exceptional customer value.

San Jose Sharks: MVP Experiences

The San Jose Sharks are embracing digitalization and AI to create MVP experiences throughout the customer journey. By integrating vast amounts of data from various sources such as hockey games, concerts, food, and merchandising, they form a holistic view of their customers. The Sharks鈥� use of 51风流CX solutions, including 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement, 51风流Sales Cloud, 51风流CX AI Toolkit, 51风流Customer Data Platform, and 51风流Customer Data Cloud, significantly enhanced customer engagement. This strategic approach led to impressive results, with season membership renewal rates increasing to 87% and open rates soaring from 26% to 80%.

Online Metals: AI as a Game Changer

Greg Raece, president of Online Metals, believes that AI will revolutionize the company鈥檚 sales approach. With a diverse customer base ranging from hobbyists to Fortune 500 companies, Online Metals is constantly evolving to meet emerging trends and ensure customers receive the right materials quickly and hassle-free. Raece firmly believes that AI will change the way Online Metals sells to customers. To better engage customers and enhance its online merchandising and sales strategies, Online Metals has joined forces with SAP. Using 51风流Commerce Cloud and 51风流Emarsys Customer Enagement, it successfully increased conversions, average order value, and website traffic.

Unleash Potential with a Harmonized Suite

Captivating customer experiences require visibility into the back office, front office, and everywhere in between. Companies like Universal Destinations & Experiences benefit from the seamless integration of 51风流CX solutions with existing ERP systems, helping to enhance overall customer experience.

Universal Destinations & Experiences: Omnichannel Excellence

For Universal Destinations & Experiences, making people happy is priority number one.
When planning its new resort in Beijing, China, Universal wanted to focus on the full guest journey 鈥� before, during, and after their visit. It needed a scalable platform with true omnichannel capabilities to support its diverse business, including theme parks, food, and retail. By leveraging 51风流S/4HANA with 51风流Commerce Cloud, Universal is creating a seamless and immersive experience for millions of guests, allowing them to live out their movie dreams.

Nokia: Elevating Wireless Technology

Nokia, once known for its iconic phones, now leads in telecommunications innovation and is partnering with NASA to further advance wireless technology. To ensure efficiency and accuracy in delivering complex solutions, Nokia digitized its order management processes. By integrating 51风流S/4HANA with 51风流Commerce Cloud and 51风流Order Management Services, Nokia achieved faster deliveries, precise invoicing, and seamless billing, securing a competitive edge and driving ongoing success.

MACO Group: Efficient Sales Transformation

With thousands of global customers and 25,000 products associated with 40,000 components, door and window seller MACO Group has a wealth of data. The construction industry has been disrupted by global events, prompting MACO to digitize its operations for more efficient and effective sales. MACO鈥檚 transformation involved combining its 51风流S/4HANA and CRM capabilities with 51风流Sales Cloud, enabling it to move faster and with greater accuracy.

New Strategic Partnerships

51风流CX solutions continue to help add value and bring business AI to life through innovative collaboration and integration. At 51风流CX LIVE in 2024, we announced two new partnerships with Gainsight and ChannelEngine.

By integrating 51风流Sales Cloud with Gainsight, companies can unify data and intelligence for a comprehensive customer view and a seamless journey. With human-first AI capabilities, automation, and standardized workflows, Gainsight and 51风流customers can dedicate more time to clients and less to administrative tasks. Learn more.

The integration between ChannelEngine and 51风流Order Management Services can enable merchants to increase revenue and profitability by automating and optimizing third-party marketplace operations. 51风流users can now effortlessly activate over 950 new sales channels and expand into global markets. Learn more.

A Future-Ready CX with SAP

51风流customers are rapidly leveraging AI-powered solutions to create superior customer experiences, improve operational efficiency, and drive business growth. By integrating 51风流into their operations, they are driving innovation and achieving measurable success. 

Our approach is simple yet powerful: connected, insightful, adaptive, and industry-tailored. By prioritizing responsible innovation, especially in handling customer data and interactions, we can ensure our AI solutions are built on trust, privacy, ethics, and security. I鈥檓 proud that 51风流is integral to our customers鈥� achievements, and the 51风流CX team remains committed to delivering products and features that drive outcomes and delightful customer experiences.

I invite you to view the and .

Ritu Bhargava is president and chief product officer for 51风流Industries and Customer Experience.

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FC Bayern uses innovative 51风流tools to improve fan data management, customer interactions, and team performance. Learn more.

颅颅颅鈥淲e are a local club in Bavaria, but have fans around the globe,鈥� says Stefan Mennerich, the club鈥檚 director for digital media and communications. In addition to its 1,200 employees in Munich, New York, Shanghai, and Bangkok, the club has around 175 million followers on its social media and its own media platforms.

Mennerich says the club鈥檚 digital and media platforms are very important because fans expect to be able to interact with their club wherever they are. 鈥淭hey want to send us their feedback and they want to receive feedback.鈥�

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Fans Are Everything

The fans are at the center of everything FC Bayern does, Mennerich confirms: 鈥淥ur aim is to optimize all the processes for them, so they have the best user experience. Technology helps us with personalization, with the sales processes, with content 鈥� with everything.鈥�

He says the club chose 51风流as its technology partner for several reasons, including the fact that FC Bayern has different businesses. 鈥淲e have ticketing, we have merchandising, we have fan experience, we have digital platforms, and 51风流is able to deliver the best solutions for all these areas.鈥�

He also cites SAP鈥檚 commitment to continuously develop its cloud-based platforms and says this makes the digital experience 鈥渂etter and better every day.鈥�

The club uses the 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement solution to capture fan data and create newsletters and personalized content for them, and the 51风流Customer Checkout application for point-of-sale management and real-time sales and stock updates.

鈥淲e have around 50,000 transactions every match day in the Allianz Arena, and we use 51风流Customer Checkout for that,鈥� Mennerich explains. 鈥淔ans can buy their merchandise articles, they can buy food or beverages, they can walk into our restaurants and pay there with 51风流Customer Checkout.鈥�

Separately, 51风流Event Ticketing software handles ticketing at FC Bayern; not just for football fans, but also for its basketball team and museum. The club also uses 51风流tools for its employees. For example, the AI-infused 51风流SuccessFactors HCM suite gives employees and managers access to an expanding array of human capital management tools.

Personalization

Looking ahead, Mennerich says he believes personalization will become even more important.

鈥淲e want to become better and better and better with personalization. We want to be able to really contact the people one by one, and not to speak about target groups in the future. We want to interact in a truly personal way with the fans.鈥�

He believes that embedding artificial intelligence capabilities in 51风流solutions will help achieve this aim and that overall, AI will help FC Bayern become more efficient, lower costs, and meet the expectations of the fans.

鈥淥ur biggest aim for the future on the horizon of FC Bayern is to meet every single expectation of any single fan around the globe, be it in Tokyo, be it in Rio de Janeiro, or be it in Munich,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want to meet the expectations of the fans, and this expectation should be met in real time. This is our big aim for the future.鈥�

Lessons Learned at FC Bayern

If other organizations want to learn from FC Bayern, Mennerich says one lesson is that with a good technology partner like SAP, even midsize companies with broad business activities like FC Bayern can cover all the bases and be able to be competitive.

鈥淚 think what we are good at is meeting fan expectations via digital platforms,鈥� he says. For that, interactive communication is very important. 鈥淵ou always have to take into account what the fans, other organizations, and customers really expect and want from you. You have to be able to deliver that via digital platforms.鈥�

Key to BrandAlley鈥檚 success is its deep understanding of its members and the impressive fact that 70% of these customers keep coming back for more. Fifty-two percent of them buy instantly, purchasing an average of three items, or 拢140 of value.

Michelle Hurney, head of Marketing at BrandAlley, explains the company鈥檚 core principle: 鈥淲e launch up to 40 campaigns every day that offer up to 75% off on some of the best brands such as Reiss, Dyson, Levi鈥檚, and many more.鈥� Campaigns are exclusively for members and interested customers have to sign up to browse the website and to shop. Registration is free.

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Focus on Brand Fans

鈥淲e have been rethinking the way we identify our best customers, moving away from the traditional view of the most valuable customers being those who spend the most,鈥� Hurney says. For BrandAlley, the true value lies in its brand advocates who provide more than just what they鈥檙e spending. She refers to them as brand fans: 鈥淚t’s about who they’re recommending to BrandAlley. When they tell their friends and family about our site, that鈥檚 where the real value is. Word-of-mouth marketing happens to be one of the most effective ways to acquire new customers.鈥�

To segment its customers, BrandAlley doesn鈥檛 only rely on the lifetime value of a customer (total amount spent by one customer), but accrues the amount spent across a customer鈥檚 connections and network. 鈥淭hrough the Advocacy Intelligence platform, we’re tracking the true economic value, or 鈥榚xtended customer revenue鈥� of our VIPs, the people who are sharing their favorite brands,鈥� Hurney adds. 鈥淭his way, we can engage and reward them, and keep them doing what they’re doing.鈥� According to her, other insights become visible as well, like the fact that customers overall are spending less these days while customers from referrals spend more on average and are also far more likely to recommend.

Integration of Mention Me Tactics with 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement

To identify these advocates BrandAlley is working with 51风流partner Mention Me, the world鈥檚 first customer advocacy intelligence platform. The Mention Me platform uses advanced AI technology to track and provide detailed insights into customers鈥� advocacy behaviors, like recommending products or services to others. Additionally, the solution includes prebuilt Mention Me advocacy tactics that can allow companies to quickly build personalized campaigns through various channels designed to motivate fans to share and recommend more frequently. Prebuilt workflows make the integration of Mention Me鈥檚 unique advocacy data with 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement seamless and easy.  

Kat Wray, director of Strategic Partnerships at Mention Me, explains the benefits: 鈥淥ur integration feeds Mention Me鈥檚 first-party AI-powered advocacy data into 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement in real time to identify BrandAlley鈥檚 current and future brand advocates and activate them to drive growth. The combination of advocacy know-how and AI-based insights with 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement have led to a 25% increase of the repeat purchase rate at BrandAlley.鈥�

The overall improvements are impressive: since the go-live of the solution in September, BrandAlley鈥檚 customer base has grown, with 12% more customers acquired organically through referrals and a 拢9.6 million increase in new customer revenue. Customers who are referred to the brand spend 63% more in their first six months, are two times more likely to purchase again, and are three times more likely to refer their friends.

Wray explains how advocacy insights impact customer engagements: 鈥淭raditionally one would offer a discount code to a customer who is about to defect, together with a message along the lines of 鈥榃e’ve not seen you for a while, here鈥檚 a discount to come back.鈥� Based on advocacy data, we can now see that some of these customers might not be ready to spend but are more than happy to share and recommend the brand to friends instead 鈥� driving indirect revenue. They aren鈥檛 inactive customers but engaged advocates.鈥�  

Machine Learning Advances Customer Loyalty

鈥淎t Mention Me, we use AI and machine learning to optimize referrals. We have our own AI engine with predictive capabilities that enable marketers to focus their activities on specific customer cohorts,鈥� Wray says. She explains that it is key to understand that not all customers are ready to refer; some people just aren’t at that stage yet, but future advocacy behavior of specific individuals can be predicted. Machine learning also identifies a customer’s propensity to refer at a given moment. Customers with a high propensity to refer will be encouraged to do so. Once brand loyal, customers鈥� propensity to refer grows, and sometimes so does their propensity to purchase again.

Asked about BrandAlley鈥檚 next step regarding advocacy management, Hurney answers: 鈥淎s we build on our strategic partnerships with Mention Me and 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement, we鈥檙e excited to see how our shift of focus from VIPs to 鈥榲ery important advocates鈥� will play an even greater role in our marketing and growth strategy.鈥�

Top photo courtesy of BrandAlley

These innovative capabilities, from planning to personalization, will provide retailers with holistic customer insights and data analysis to adapt and thrive amid rapid market changes.

鈥淭hese AI-driven retail capabilities build on SAP鈥檚 industry-tailored, intelligent customer experience (CX) strategy, which provides companies with deeply integrated functionalities to enable their most critical business processes and customer journeys,鈥� said Ritu Bhargava, president and chief product officer, Industries and CX, SAP. 鈥淪AP鈥檚 composable architecture unlocks the creative potential of retailers, allowing them to cherry-pick capabilities tailored to their unique needs and rapidly innovate and respond to market demands, ultimately helping them to supercharge profitable growth.鈥�

The new capabilities include SAP鈥檚 unmatched industry expertise and embedded 51风流Business AI technology to deliver true end-to-end retail solutions. AI is only as good as the data that powers it, and SAP鈥檚 ability to integrate experiential and operational data across the enterprise enables more insightful, AI-driven decision-making for businesses. This integration produces more intelligent, personalized experiences for customers, as the best retail outcomes require great CX.

鈥淚n today鈥檚 environment, it鈥檚 critical to have insight across the business, which is why Swarovski has continued to adopt and leverage SAP鈥檚 end-to-end solutions, enabling us to connect our business processes,鈥� said Lea Sonderegger, chief digital officer and chief information officer, Swarovski. 鈥淪ince leveraging 51风流software, we鈥檝e had the flexibility and security to support continuous innovation, which offers us a consistent foundation for cultivating unique Swarovski customer loyalty across all touch points and innovating to create unique customer experiences.鈥�

鈥淩etailers and brands that achieve growth and profitability in today鈥檚 economy will bring together rich enterprise data and AI-embedded applications to enable everyone across their company to deliver amazing, personalized experiences to the right customer, on the right channel, at the right time,鈥� said Leslie Hand, group vice president, Retail & Financial Insights, IDC. 鈥淚DC anticipates more aggressive investment by retailers than we鈥檝e seen in years, and working with a strategic partner that understands and can deliver end-to-end capabilities is essential for buyers.鈥�

Examples of some of the newest capabilities include:

• 51风流Predictive Demand Planning: This solution will provide retailers with more accurate and longer-range demand forecasts across channels using a self-learning demand model. Besides enabling scalable, cost-efficient, high-volume calculations, it will offer precise forecasting and automatically identify and consider a variety of demand factors and external data. The solution will provide apps for forecast configuration, analysis, adjustment and simulation and offer intelligent alerting with root causes and recommendations.
• 51风流Predictive Replenishment: 51风流is adding store replenishment capabilities in a phased approach to its existing solution. The capability will replenish inventory in stores and distribution centers for an optimized, multilevel supply chain across flexible planning horizons. It will consider demand volatility, business targets, rules and constraints to determine optimal order quantities with the lowest expected costs. The capabilities improve fulfillment efficiency and on-time delivery by providing planners with a central tool to create order and delivery patterns for product flows within the supply network.
  
  Example use case: A grocer wants to establish a highly automated approach for replenishing yogurt to lower costs and waste while improving customer service. SAP鈥檚 new solutions will automatically forecast and schedule replenishment orders with the correct quantities for the right locations while keeping costs low. Business users can then review and accept intelligent recommendations and transfer to the procurement system to create purchase orders, as well as understand any issue, address it quickly and avoid problems in the future.
• 51风流Order Management for sourcing and availability: With , organizations can determine the optimal sourcing strategies to deliver customer satisfaction and minimize fulfillment costs. Business users can configure strategies aligned to their unique goals, including delivery time, utilized capacity, cost to ship and shipments per order and then run simulations to test the strategies before implementation.
• 51风流Order Management foundation: With this foundation, available now, business users can create omnichannel order flows that respond to business events, such as a fraud hold, delivery or in-store pickup activity, using an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop workflow automation tool. Additionally, retailers can customize event triggers based on their unique business processes, and the corresponding actions can take place within the order management system or relevant system of customer engagement.
  
  Example use case: A coffee retailer is offering its customers real-time fulfillment updates. ensures a streamlined operation, which efficiently coordinates with the required insights to fulfill customers’ needs, even in complex cases for various items, such as subscriptions, in-store pickup and sourcing accessories. 51风流Order Management for sourcing and availability also provides a centralized view of inventory to ensure customer demand is always met.
• TikTok and LinkedIn integrations for digital ads: The platform now integrates TikTok and LinkedIn for targeted digital ads. Marketers are empowered to segment customers, quickly engage leads, optimize ad spend, boost acquisition and retention, enhance the omnichannel retail experience and build trusted relationships for growth. Retailers can easily create, sync and expand audiences; connect with consumers on preferred social channels; complement campaigns with personalized ads on TikTok and LinkedIn for conversion; and use data-driven insights to convert leads and reengage at-risk customers.

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Media Contact:
Jillian Baker, +1 (212) 653-9600, jillian.baker@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP鈥檚 2022 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
漏 2024 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

Through Cyber Week, customers achieved over a 35% year-over-year (YoY) increase in the number of orders processed, an astounding amount of $110 million in peak gross merchandising value (GMV) per minute, and a 9.3% YoY increase in overall site traffic. Essential for driving site traffic and increasing conversions is customer engagement, and on Cyber Weekend, supported customers with a nine percent YoY increase of overall send volume across all channels. What鈥檚 more, 51风流Commerce Cloud customers achieved a 5.04% higher conversion rate versus 2022, and retailers saw a 5.2% higher conversion rate during Cyber Week.

This success was possible due to the reliability, scalability, and intelligence of for individually curated shopping journeys across the globe.

But at SAP, it is not just about the numbers. Deriving insights from data is at the heart of 51风流and the start to the holiday shopping season provided a treasure trove of learnings and understanding about how people are shopping and how retailers can optimize their experiences.

By serving some of the largest brands in the world through this holiday season, here is what we learned.

Insight One: The Definition of 鈥淗oliday Season鈥� Is Expanding

Traditionally, Black Friday is considered as a starting point for the holiday shopping season. However, recent research has revealed the holiday shopping is starting sooner and extending over the course of several weeks.

According to , an 51风流commerce media partner,  the longest path to purchase during the holidays is . This includes Singles Day, originated in China, on November 11 and El Buen Fin, Mexico鈥檚 version of Cyber Weekend from November 17 to November 20.

In 2023, 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement saw a spike on Singles Day, nearly surpassing 1 billion customer engagements — for example, email, SMS, mobile push, and web push — two weeks ahead of Black Friday. This figure was then eclipsed not once but twice during El Buen Fin, which saw overall an approximate 30% YoY increase in messages delivered.

When looking at just email growth during this season, the growth of volume for the entire month of November was nearly twice what it was for Cyber Weekend. This not only underscores that holiday shopping is starting earlier, but how brands are scaling up sooner and avoiding sharp peaks, which is a win for deliverability too.

Newly emerging celebrations and extended shopping seasons also mean a higher and longer strain on e-commerce sites. However, 51风流Commerce Cloud prepared the customers to combat this challenge during these peak sales times leading up to Cyber Week, and delivered 100% uptime. In fact, customers that ran holiday sales events during El Buen Fin achieved 112% growth in conversion rate, with 10% higher traffic volume compared to the regular daily average of 2023.

Insight Two: Email Still Reigns, But Omnichannel Engagement Is Rapidly Growing

While overall 2023 holiday sales are expected to , online sales are expected to double and . More digitally advanced customer journeys and increasingly tech-savvy buyers present an exciting opportunity for businesses to engage with shoppers more often and on their preferred channels.

Aiming to capitalize on this opportunity and remain top of mind with shoppers, 51风流Emarsys customers sent a record number of omnichannel messages, resulting in a nine percent YoY increase in customer engagements from 2022. Email remained the top promotional channel in terms of volume and saw a respectable 10% YoY increase.

In addition to email, brands are also now investing heavily in omnichannel engagement strategies to meet customers where they prefer to shop. Mobile messages like SMS (35% YoY increase) and in-app (15% YoY increase) were utilized effectively alongside email, as were Web channel engagements, like Web push, which saw a whopping 74% increase in usage in 2023.

Insight Three: Personalization Proves Less is More

It is important to acknowledge that success does not equate to the quantity of messages, but also the quality. Bucking the notion that more is simply better, marketers using 51风流Emarsys increased utilization of data-driven segmentation by 20% compared to Cyber Weekend 2022, enabling more targeted offers and personalized messages. While conversion rates would naturally be expected to dip given the extra volume, this targeted and personalized approach contributed to minimal or no change compared to baseline conversion rates during a typical weekend.

Similarly, AI-powered product recommendations, delivered across channels, and also helped consumers find the right product or best deal  among the seemingly limitless choices — with confidence and ease. 

With consumers shopping for an extended period on more channels, brands have both an obligation to meet them where they are in their journey and an opportunity to earn their business and loyalty by investing in data-driven, omnichannel strategies that better match them with personalized offers on the items they wish to buy.

Insight Four: B2B Shoppers Share the Holiday Fever During Cyber Week

Black Friday is usually seen as an influential opportunity to create a revenue boost for retailers. However, 51风流has the privilege of working with many B2B commerce companies in addition to a large number of retailers.

According to our data, other industries outside of retail also experience the benefits of Black Friday and Cyber Monday pushes. While the retail industry had the highest volume of orders, consumer products and wholesale distribution came in close behind. Additionally, the chemicals industry saw a huge spike in AOV over the weekend and achieved a GMV increase of 51% YoY, while life sciences industry saw more than 120% YoY GMV growth.

These data points indicate that Cyber Week trends are no longer limited to retailers, as various industries now achieve bigger sales volume and revenue during this period. Moving forward, organizations across all industries must put their best foot forward during Cyber Weekend activities to support profitable growth.

Insight Five: Black Friday Isn鈥檛 Just About the U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday Anymore

The data from 51风流Commerce Cloud also reflects the globalization trend. While North America led the biggest GMV number on Black Friday, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region is comparable. In fact, the highest number of orders, about 800,000, was placed in EMEA. Additionally, the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region on Cyber Monday achieved over 130% growth in conversion rate compared to last year.

51风流Emarsys customers were also ready to leverage this trend and engage with customers around the world. On Cyber Monday, total send volumes saw significant YoY increases in multiple regions: by 20% in EMEA, over 27% in Middle and Eastern Europe (MEE), and over 15% in Asia.

The data also highlighted differences in how consumers shop and buy in different regions. Unsurprisingly email continued to be the most used channel across the board, though EMEA proved to be the only region, outside of the Americas, that saw high growth in email volume year-on-year with a 13% increase.

The MEE region saw a slight decrease in the use of email (-12% YoY) in favor of SMS, mobile push, and in-app messages. In APJ, where a mobile-first mindset is often the norm, usage of in-app (58% YoY growth) and mobile push (176% YoY growth) went up significantly compared to email growth (two percent YoY). Even in EMEA, SMS (53% YoY growth) and in-app (388% YoY growth) mobile messages outpaced email growth, underscoring the importance of an omnichannel strategy.

This data illustrates the global influence of Black Friday, what used to be considered an U.S.-specific sales event. For businesses across the globe, it is crucial to recognize this shift and consider customer behaviors, so they can adapt and evolve their commerce and channel engagement strategies to gain customer loyalty and boost profitability.

Next Step

As market trends evolve, organizations must proactively adopt strategies for profitable and sustainable growth. With the right blend of modern technologies, agile business processes, and customer centric strategies, businesses significantly benefit from extended shopping season, through personalized omnichannel engagements, increased conversions, and lifelong customer loyalty. 

Moreover, with the right choice of cloud technologies, organizations can remain secure and compliant, while delivering reliable, scalable, and personalized experiences that are optimized for their industries.

To learn more about how 51风流Customer Experience solutions can help, please .

Balaji Balasubramanian is senior vice president and global head of Commerce and Industry Cloud at SAP.

*All data presented here is approximate and is based on various assumptions. All data is unaudited and is subject to adjustment. All financial figures are in USD. Data represents online and offline sales made by 51风流global merchants.

These new capabilities will help businesses automate time-consuming tasks and quickly analyze data from across the enterprise to gain valuable, actionable insights that deliver more intelligent, personalized experiences for customers.

Unlike other generative AI technologies that only utilize the data found in one siloed system, these new AI capabilities leverage SAP鈥檚 wealth of experiential and operational data, as well as data from third-party sources, to provide businesses with a holistic view of their customers. Proactive, contextual, AI-powered insights from across the enterprise help organizations optimize business processes and adapt to unique business needs and rapid changes in the market.

鈥淧utting customers at the center of business transformation requires delivering a strong, personalized customer experience with intelligent CX,鈥� said Ritu Bhargava, President and Chief Product Officer, 51风流Industries and 51风流CX, SAP. 鈥淭hese new AI capabilities within the 51风流CX portfolio will allow businesses to unlock their full potential, improve customer loyalty, solidify themselves as industry leaders and reap the benefits of generative AI with intelligent CX solutions that have a tangible impact on businesses. These capabilities are the next step in redefining intelligence to deliver a delightful customer experience, effortlessly.鈥�

The new capabilities, which include tailored use cases for commerce, sales, customer service and marketing teams, are the next step in delivering intelligent CX and enabling teams to work more effectively and efficiently. This will help ensure customers can deliver exceptional customer experiences that differentiate their businesses, create brand loyalty, deepen customer relationships and ultimately drive profitability. These new capabilities, which can be applied across the entire 51风流CX portfolio, include the ability to:

Automate Labor-Intensive Tasks with Curated Role-Based AI Tools
New AI capabilities include more than 10 CX role鈥揵ased tools that aim to increase productivity and efficiency by automating routine tasks, leaving time for more nuanced aspects of business. For the service team, when a customer issue arises, AI can help summarize the situation and align the team on the problem, provide an overview of customer sentiment, suggest a solution and even track how quickly the issue is resolved. This step increases efficiency, boosting the business鈥� bottom line and giving workers more time to focus on strategic initiatives.

Supercharge Catalog Management and Product Discovery with AI
Catalog health is one of the most arduous tasks for commerce managers. Items that are not tagged properly won鈥檛 show up in searches and incomplete product recommendations take away from conversions. Commerce managers can ensure high levels of product visibility and discoverability by using the new AI capabilities to review product tags and catalogs, generate and customize product descriptions and help guide customers to the right choice for their needs.

Retrieve Answers in Natural Language with Proactive AI
Using AI to identify and answer customer questions within conversations will free up sales and service teams to focus on more value-adding tasks. For example, a salesperson might receive an e-mail from a customer asking about products. This new capability, intelligent Q&A, reads the e-mail, points out the important questions and gives the salesperson a suggested written response that includes the latest product information.

Surface Customer Profile Intelligence in Context
About 76% of global consumers prefer personalized marketing communications,, an 51风流company, showing that it is imperative for businesses to have a 360-degree view of their customers. With AI-generated customer profiles supported by the real-time 51风流Customer Data Platform, businesses can combine data from all business applications and surface these profiles to customer-facing teams. This holistic view allows workers to quickly understand customer preferences, enabling a more personalized and relevant service. If a customer reports a delayed delivery, front-line workers can use the AI-generated customer summary, which includes information on order histories, previous interactions and preferences, to quickly resolve issues and provide a better customer experience.

鈥淥rganizations are looking for a trusted platform technology and AI partner which they can adapt and grow with today as well as thrive with in the future,鈥� said Alan Webber, Program Vice President, Digital Platform Ecosystems, IDC. 鈥淪AP鈥檚 approach to connecting data across the enterprise, both in 51风流systems and beyond, provides a foundation customers can build on for the long term. Furthermore, SAP鈥檚 decades-long experience designing business processes from AI can be leveraged to reduce AI鈥檚 time to value.鈥�

51风流is also infusing AI capabilities into existing products across the 51风流CX portfolio with the ability to:

Fortify Customer Identity and Access Management with AI
The 51风流Customer Identity and Access Management solutions are debuting new AI risk-based authentication capabilities. These new functions secure user identity data and help prevent threats by gaining intelligence across all digital properties and brands. Users will have a unified customer view and consent profile, making data connected and adaptable for real-time customer engagements. Providing this level of customer data privacy and security is essential to preserving our customers鈥� trust. 51风流solutions hold our customers鈥� most sensitive data, so we take this extremely seriously and it remains our top priority.

Create Personalized Content Creation Powered by Generative AI
Using generative AI, the 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement platform gives marketers the ability to create targeted, compelling email content that delivers the right message to the right audience. The 51风流Sales Cloud and 51风流Service Cloud solutions will also embed two new generative AI capabilities: AI-generated summary and e-mail response generation will help users identify relevant information, have more effective customer interactions and ultimately deliver superior customer service.

To learn more about these capabilities, read 鈥�Revolutionizing Customer Experience: The AI Advantage.鈥�

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Media Contact:
Jillian Baker, +1 (516) 554-4450, jillian.baker@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room;听press@sap.com

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP鈥檚 2022 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
漏 2023 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see  for additional trademark information and notices.

When I鈥檓 in the market for new sport shoes, I stick to the brand that I know is the most comfortable for me. There鈥檚 nothing worse than buying a pair of sneakers and going jogging with them for the first time, only to realize in the first few minutes of your run that they don鈥檛 fit properly.

On the other hand, if I鈥檓 shopping for groceries, it鈥檚 how healthy the product is, then the selection, freshness, and price that matter the most. Time is also a factor 鈥� the quicker I can find exactly what I need, the better.

But what happens if another sport shoe manufacturer sets up a loyalty program, allowing me to collect points and offering discounts? Or, what if a new grocery store opens that allows me to save even more time by eliminating the checkout counter? Would that make me change my buying behavior?

What I鈥檓 talking about is loyalty in the context of customer experience. It鈥檚 different for every industry. How can you as a supplier or service provider ensure that you are offering the best experience possible to your customers?

Loyalty Is a Very Noisy Space

Recently, I spoke to Riad Hijal, head of Commerce Solution Management at 51风流Customer Experience. 鈥淟oyalty is a very noisy space. I think for retailers, for example, to be successful and ultimately drive customer lifetime value through loyalty, they need to cut through that noise,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e as consumers are faced with dozens of rewards or loyalty accounts 鈥� most of them aren鈥檛 really driving any kind of real modification in behavior. We don鈥檛 buy more just because we have a loyalty account with someone and are collecting points; we are merely using it as a discount mechanism. That鈥檚 how to do loyalty wrong.鈥�

Loyalty requires a reimagination of the loyalty experience and underlying process. To stand out from the crowd, companies need to be leveraging measurement. In addition, what are the themes that we need to focus on to rethink loyalty to truly drive long-term customer value? What does the measurement look like? According to Hijal, historically, efficient and tangible measurement has been lacking in loyalty programs due to the complexity of the topic.

What Should Loyalty Solutions Really Be Offering?

By leveraging data and analytics, a loyalty platform helps businesses understand why customers regard certain experiences as more memorable and important than others. This allows businesses to dig deeper into the different elements of behavior-driven customer loyalty.

And, the truth is, data is siloed within a multitude of systems within your organization. As a company, you need to be able to reconcile all of it, across both transactional and behavioral dimensions so that you can understand which customers are truly profitable and worth your focus. With 51风流Customer Data Platform, for example, which is part of RISE with SAP, you can prioritize your customers with intelligent insights delivered by the platform. See more about 51风流Customer Data Platform in .

As such, there are key capabilities necessary for modern experiential loyalty platforms. These are rewards and incentive management, personalization, gamification, communication and engagement, feedback and surveys, data-driven insights, and integration and convenience.

PUMA and Mention Me: An Industry Cloud Solution

As a leading sports brand, PUMA wanted to transform its fan base to a key growth-driver by not only attracting new customers, but also improving brand awareness and loyalty.听Mention Me, an industry cloud partner solution, in combination with 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement, helped PUMA launch referral programs in six European countries.

PUMA has integrated Mention Me with 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement, its customer relationship management (CRM) platform. This helps equip PUMA to serve seamless customer journeys that drive more referrals, such as sending reward reminders and encouraging referrers to introduce more friends. PUMA is also able to feed first-party referral data into the CRM platform in real time 鈥� growing its database and giving a whole new level of insight. The combination of these solutions is giving the company remarkable growth, increasing its ROI through referral to six times its investment just nine months after launching the campaigns. .

Valora: Revolutionizing Convenience Store Shopping

Valora wanted to better meet customer needs by combining the convenience of a physical store with the simplicity of a digital business model. This was the beginning of its newest brand of cashier-free convenience store 鈥� avec box. To help realize the project, Valora chose 51风流Customer Experience solutions, used the rich knowledge available with 51风流Services and Support, and worked with Webtiser AG and Pagnos GmbH on a proof of concept. The goal was to start with a single store, using a minimal viable product collaboration approach, then scale the solution further.

Now, Valora is winning new customers by offering them an even more convenient and flexible shopping experience 鈥� without the hassle of waiting in line at the cash register. Plus, with customers registering with the avec app, Valora is able to get new insight into what customers want. Not only does make it possible to give personalized recommendations, but it is also now easier than ever for Valora to reward customer loyalty and keep people coming back for more. .

Measurement Is Key

Effectively measuring and then learning from customer behavior with loyalty solutions to improve reward experiences is the key to taking customer loyalty to the next level. 鈥淪ince loyalty is such a mature space, measurement is key,鈥� said Hijal. 鈥淢ost loyalty programs are abundant and don’t achieve much, but focusing on measurement is what the next generation of loyalty programs is all about.鈥�

Speaking of next generation, 51风流Customer Experience solutions are also artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning-fueled. These types of insights can help you make each customer feel like they are your only customer. They can help you engage and understand consumers on their terms while respecting their privacy preferences during the customer journey, to retain and upsell using machine learning and smart automation.

So, the next time I鈥檓 in the market for sports shoes, maybe the AI-fueled loyalty program will be able to convince me to try something new鈥nd stick with it.

Sven Denecken is senior vice president and chief marketing and solutions officer for 51风流Industries and CX.

Interconnection is the first aspect of the intelligent 51风流Customer Experience (51风流CX) portfolio, bringing operational and contextual data to the individual engagement.

In a changing world, both customers and utilities are forced to adapt:

• The customer has unprecedented access to smart devices
• Energy and water providers are asking consumers for usage flexibility and conservation
• Programs are available and mandated to support home and business owners with decarbonization investments
• The utility is deeply involved in distributed electric generation, energy storage, and decarbonization

Staying connected constantly with customers is a critical factor for succeeding in the energy transition.

Globally, utilities have been driven to expand and shift, and there is no end in sight. While energy and water suppliers must embrace sustainability goals, the industry is developing new business models. Utilities are becoming retailers for commodity and non-commodity offerings. To their consumers, the utility is a trusted partner and welcome advisor when investing in home energy and storage or electric transportation, or simply subscribing to bundled home service offerings for energy, water, telecommunication, transportation, and other services.

This means that a utility company faces what seems to be contradicting goals: optimizing classic customer operations for stable and reliable energy and water supply, while at the same time innovating the customer experience with speed.

To meet these two important goals — optimize and innovate — companies are specifically demanding better customer solutions.

On the one hand, customer service must maintain, if not improve, customer satisfaction while lowering cost-to-serve. Automation of manual tasks, digital channels, and process excellence are key. On the other hand, innovating customer experience can be tricky for a utility. Traditionally, especially in regulated markets, the energy and water supplier did not need to focus on nurturing customer relations and growing a market share. Time-to-market, digital storefronts, and third-party collaboration can be challenging for the classic utilities culture. Consumer technology has grown rapidly. People now come with smart devices and expectations, and are used to seamless shopping experiences.

To be competitive, utilities must learn and adopt best practices from other industries, including retail, electronics, and automotive. Introducing new products and services requires a state-of-the-art marketing and sales execution setup.

Customers expect individual — and respectful — communications and offerings. Insight is the next aspect in the 51风流Customer Experience portfolio, with timely, meaningful, and predictive data to anticipate, support, and optimize customer interactions. A best-of-suite business solution with end-to-end process for lead to cash and service request to resolve enables both, optimizing the back office and innovating the front office.

“Our utilities customers have the goal to build customer intimacy and involve their respective end customers in the energy transition journey, including them becoming energy generators and contributors to the grid as well,” says Daniela Sellmann, global vice president and head of the at SAP. “This can only be achieved if the front and back office come together to get a 360-degree view of the end customers. That is why we strategically invest in our customer experience solution for utilities.”

51风流is unmatched in combining enterprise resource planning (ERP) with CX solutions in the industry context. CX includes several applications, connecting service, sales, marketing, e-commerce, and customer data on a solid and flexible platform. SAP鈥檚 continued focus on delivering and innovating industry-tailored CX solutions is visible both in the current product portfolio and road maps.

With the , launched in 2022, utilities customer service teams in the office, on the road, and at home can easily connect to their customers. A redesigned agent desktop runs at greater speed, scalability, and availability. The extends 51风流Service Cloud with native integration to meter to cash in the 51风流for Utilities portfolio, the core of energy and water back-office processes.

51风流Sales Cloud equips sales teams with the right tools in today鈥檚 complex selling environment. When used in combination, 51风流Service Cloud and 51风流Sales Cloud can .

Innovative products require an online presence, which is where 51风流Commerce Cloud, subscription management add-on, delivers a store front and e-commerce platform suited and ready for any utility offering.

51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement is the new marketing solution to personalize interactions and 51风流has an exciting road map for utilities-specific analytics and tactics, with pre-built content for listening to signals during customer journeys and context-sensitive responses.

The partner ecosystem plays a critical role delivering 51风流Customer Experience solutions, not only with implementation services but also enhancing 51风流offering with apps; for example, through 51风流store.

“We now have more than 14 apps built for 51风流for Utilities and CX, covering multiple scenarios for customer data, service, sales, marketing, deregulation, or CPQ and product management to meet specific needs,”says Edgar Kauter, managing director at Power Reply Germany. “As an industry cloud partner, we see SAP’s investment in CX and the industries and we value the innovation. Utilities can easily see how the standard 51风流portfolio, together with our standardized apps and implementation services, provides not only a quicker time to value, but also cost-efficient processes.”

A seamless customer experience requires a seamless organization and a seamless solution. Any integrated front office and back office requires adaptive measures, the third aspect of听 intelligent CX from SAP. Adaption means that feature-rich 51风流applications can be personalized, extended, integrated, and composed with other apps; for example, industry cloud partners.

51风流is on a mission to help make utilities businesses more customer-centric. Discover , and explore road maps to discover how 51风流plans to improve the integration design of sales orders for utilities commodity contracts in 51风流S/4HANA听.

Robert Straubinger is chief solution expert for Solution Management Utilities at SAP.

But clever use of the right data can help you deliver that improved customer experience 鈥� so your customers don鈥檛 find it elsewhere, according to David Witts, senior CRM manager for PUMA. And the global apparel company has enjoyed great success with referral data.

鈥淭hat adds a whole new level to who is not just buying 鈥� but who is referring 鈥� and who are our real brand advocates,鈥� Witts told 51风流on the NRF 2023 show floor. 鈥淲e need to rethink how we define loyalty.鈥�

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Redefining Customer Loyalty

鈥淲e might have a customer who, in our original segmentation, is a lapsed customer, but we see that they鈥檙e referring all of their friends who are then buying from us,鈥� Witts said in . 鈥淭hat changes the way we perceive the value of that customer 鈥� and changes the way that we want to communicate with them.鈥�

Customer segmentation is the grouping together of people with similar characteristics, making it easier for organizations to personalize communications, products, and more. First-party referral data is especially useful to PUMA for segmentation and communication, according to Witts.

鈥淚t changes the way we think about who a customer is,鈥� Witts said. 鈥淚f we see customers who are referring people regularly, that makes them much more of a brand advocate.鈥�

Enter PUMA鈥檚 referral program, which influences how the company communicates and rewards brand advocates, according to Witts. The referral program was inspired by two company goals: increase customer lifetime value and cultivate relationships with customers.

鈥淎dding a referral program just seemed to fit with both of those goals,鈥� Witts said. 鈥淚f we see that they鈥檙e not showing any interest in buying from us but they鈥檙e still referring their friends, that changes the way we think about them, so that they鈥檙e much more valuable to us.鈥�

Creating Opportunities

Beyond e-commerce, the right data can offer insights that reinvigorate brick-and-mortar locations, too, as Macy鈥檚 Inc. Chairman and CEO Jeff Gennette noted. Data can reveal where you鈥檙e succeeding and what needs attention.

鈥淐ustomers are looking for ideas about the way that they can take a work look and translate it into a night look. They鈥檙e looking for opportunities,鈥� Gannette said during . 鈥淐reating opportunities for them, from a merchandising perspective, has given our stores a center of gravity that they didn鈥檛 have a year ago…We鈥檙e always working on it; we鈥檙e never done.鈥�

And pandemic-driven changes in the economy offered a chance for Saks OFF 5th 鈥渢o make bold new changes鈥� and adjust its thinking, according to President and CEO Paige Thomas. The department store chain dug into its data to discover who was engaging with the brand, what they were looking for, and more about their lifestyles 鈥� all to better understand relevant demographics.

鈥淲e had this kind of wonderful discovery of a really fast-growing segment within our customer base, and this segment was a high earner, very fashion-driven, and shopped everywhere,鈥� Thomas said during . 鈥淚t really gave us a bull鈥檚-eye as an organization to say, 鈥楬ow do we think about our merchandising strategy? How do we think about our marketing strategy? How do we think about our customer experience?鈥欌��

The Right Message at the Right Time

Data, analytics, and other tech are helping PUMA discover who is interested in buying and what they鈥檙e interested in buying, according to Witts. It also helps them hyper-personalize communication.

鈥淲e want to talk to the right customer with the right message at the right time through the right channel…That鈥檚 what we can do with ,鈥� Witts said, noting that PUMA can see which e-mails a customer opens, ignores, and clicks through. 鈥淭hrough all that, we can start to build that picture of each individual customer and then tailor our communications to send them things that they want to see.鈥�

Providing a differentiated customer experience has always been vital for PUMA, according to Witts. And making everything more personalized and relevant will be crucial to PUMA鈥檚 future success.

鈥淭here鈥檚 some really exciting things that we鈥檝e seen through 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement and through 51风流at that predictive analytics [and] AI level. I think it鈥檚 just going to make it all so much easier,鈥� Witts said. 鈥淎nd as we move into more of a loyalty space, that鈥檚 absolutely going to be key for us.鈥�

Derek Klobucher is a video producer at SAP.

Over the past decades, the fashion industry underwent a technological revolution, reshaping the way retailers and brands engage with their customers. Personalization lies at the center of this transformation. By customizing the shopping experience for consumers, retailers stand out from their competition and foster greater customer loyalty. of consumers say personalization directly influences their decision to purchase from a brand, and 78% say it impacts their likelihood of making repeat purchases and referring the brand to friends and family.

Historically, fashion retailers relied primarily on traditional marketing techniques, such as print advertisements and in-store displays, to attract customers. However, with the rise of e-commerce and the Internet, customers now want and expect a personalized shopping experience that meets their individual needs and preferences. Customers are looking for seamless integration across multiple channels, including brick-and-mortar stores, online Web sites, mobile apps, and social media.

Omnichannel retail provides customers with the flexibility to shop whenever and wherever they want, and it provides businesses with in-depth data on customers’ shopping habits and preferences. With this information, fashion retailers can build a comprehensive profile of each customer, which can then be used to create targeted marketing campaigns, product recommendations, and personalized shopping experiences. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning also enhance the customer experience. By analyzing customer data, AI can predict the likelihood of a customer making a purchase, offer real-time suggestions, check in post-purchase, and follow up for customer feedback. Enhanced customer understanding leads to better marketing decisions and better business outcomes.

51风流solutions play a prominent role in the execution of timely and impactful personalization, connecting customer data from demand to delivery and bringing sustainable, intelligent enterprises to life 鈥� from the back office to the front office.

Dive deeper into five solutions shaping the future of customer experience 鈥� in fashion retail and beyond.

• 51风流S/4HANA Retail can store all the data needed to deliver exceptional customer experiences, providing the foundation for the rest of the solutions and bringing the overall experience to life. With real-time customer and sales information, businesses can connect and transform retail processes across the entire value chain.
• : This omnichannel customer engagement platform can empower marketers to build, launch, and scale personalized cross-channel campaigns that scale business outcomes. The platform helped scale its marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) operations to identify and target high-value segments and grow the CRM database. It also matches in-store and online data to enhance its customer identification capabilities.
• : This solution can provide businesses with a trusted e-commerce platform that unlocks innovation at scale. With access to enterprise-wide data, retailers can boost profits and customer satisfaction. With 51风流Commerce Cloud, created a unified e-commerce platform that connects customers to the right products faster than ever 鈥� reducing the loading time of pages from seconds to milliseconds, which results in fewer customers abandoning items in their shopping carts. It also provides data insights that help Carhartt鈥檚 merchandising team optimize its product placement strategy.
• : With enterprise-wide customer insights from 51风流Customer Data Platform, businesses can meet customer expectations by delivering personalized engagements while also increasing conversion and improving customer retention. Take millennials and Gen Z shoppers for example, which represent in purchasing power. These groups show growing interest in sustainable products. With the right technology, retailers can capture more detail around their sustainability preferences and shopping habits and then use the data to make sustainability transparent across their value chains and improve the customer experience in the process. Candy Company uses 51风流Customer Data Platform to dig deeper into its consumer base. With greater insights into consumer behavior, Ferrara discovered a strong link between its Trolli brand and gamers. Ferrara used this information to shape future promotions and sweepstakes. With deeper knowledge of its customers, Ferrara created a brand fan program and significantly increased earned media value.
• : Turn the challenge of returns into an opportunity with 51风流Intelligent Returns Management, an industry cloud solution from SAP. It can not only make the returns experience easy, flexible, and free for customers, it can also protect your business鈥� bottom line and improve customer retention. Gain insights around the kind of products that are selling and those that are not. With a more granular look into the colors, styles, and sizes of items that customers return, the business can make more sustainable decisions about design and production.

Curious how your business can leverage the full potential of these five solutions, and others, to improve your customers鈥� experiences and drive long-term business success?

On February 15th, during New York City鈥檚 Fashion Week, 51风流opened the doors of the redesigned 51风流Experience Center, home to the S.Fashion Experience Lab. During the opening event, Andre Bechtold, senior vice president and head of Solution and Innovation Experience at SAP, shared that, 鈥�51风流Experience Centers offer visitors a visual and immersive experience that makes innovation tangible.鈥� From a personalized perfume machine and augmented reality (AR) 听displays to virtual fitting rooms and AI-powered personal shopping assistants and robotics, the retail store of tomorrow reimagines the future of fashion.

this permanent location year-round, physically or virtually, to discover how 51风流helps retailers optimize their businesses and connect with their customers in a digital-first world. into the solutions above, along with many others, to learn how you can offer unique and personalized customer experiences that reinforce long-lasting customer relationships and grow lifetime value for your business.

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Kelly Cannon is part of Content Creation and Strategy at SAP.

Images via Andreas de Groot, Purple

The fashion industry contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and creates massive amounts of waste. One study found that the footwear industry alone is responsible for 1.4% of , and despite efforts to recycle , 90% of them end up in a landfill at the end of their life.

The Fashion Industry Faces a Global Reckoning

Consumers, investors, and governments are finally recognizing the link between fashion and the detrimental impacts of climate change, sparking a growing market for sustainable shoes and apparel.

At SAP, we believe the future of fashion will be sustainable, responsible, and conscious.

Who Is the Sustainable, Modern Retailer?

Sustainable retailers seek ways to identify and appeal to customers who are searching for eco-friendly products. Sustainable business practices help retailers differentiate and gain customer loyalty by offering greater transparency on individual product life cycles.

As more retailers put sustainability at the center of their processes, they also need to go a step further and deliver high-quality experiences to their eco-conscious consumers. Through hyper personalization, seamless omnichannel shopping, and unique in-person experiences, sustainable fashion companies can build enduring, long-term customer relationships by offering their customers what they want 鈥� maybe even before they know it 鈥� in unique and innovative ways.

So鈥�,鈥� how can fashion retailers leverage data-driven insights and predictive systems to鈥� differentiate themselves from their 鈥媍ompetition? It starts with hyper personalization.

Taking Marketing Personalization to the Next Level to Generate Interest

Seventy-one percent of consumers expect companies to deliver 鈥�,鈥� and a similar portion say it is frustrating when this does not happen. 鈥嬧赌婤asic segmentation鈥嬧赌� targeting to create value for customers will no longer suffice. Shoppers desire and expect proactive and personalized engagements across every touchpoint. And now, with technology solutions like , retailers can deliver personalized, real-time engagements at scale to grow customer lifetime value and turn shoppers into loyal customers for life.

Let鈥檚 take Brianna, a 32-year-old, eco-conscious sneaker enthusiast. She receives a targeted advertisement from one of her favorite brands, S.Fashion. She clicks on the ad and explores the Web site. The personalized Web experience serves relevant content, including a small infographic describing the environmental and social impact of each item. Content dynamically rearranges based on her behavior. She adds a pair of shoes, with the option to customize, to her shopping cart. Her phone rings, and she abandons the checkout 鈥嬧赌媝rocess.

What鈥檚 next?

Creating Seamless Omnichannel Experiences to Keep the Buyer Engaged

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated fashion brands鈥� transition from offline to online shopping channels. And now, these same brands are finding innovative ways to bring these journeys together. With , businesses can engage customers on any device, unlocking business agility and innovation at scale.

Seamless omnichannel shopping helps retailers reduce costs, improve agility, and increase consumer satisfaction by optimizing, streamlining, and integrating online and offline experiences. While bringing customers a dynamic and innovative buying journey, an omnichannel approach gives retailers a centralized view of inventory, improves fulfillment and delivery times, and simultaneously lowers the amount of carbon emitted during the delivery process.鈥疻ith solutions like , retailers can elevate customer engagement through unified customer data from all online and offline sources.

In Brianna鈥檚 case, a few days after the targeted advertisement she receives an e-mail from S.Fashion, sharing details about a shoe customization event happening at the store in her city with live music and a sustainable fashion show. Brianna registers, suddenly remembering her abandoned shopping cart. She buys the sneakers and chooses to 鈥渃lick and collect鈥� in store, so she can customize them onsite with different colors, fabrics, and patterns. The online and offline integration guarantees the correct sneakers are at the store, which serves as a micro-fulfillment center, maintaining appropriate stock levels for in-store and online purchases.

Reimagining the In-Store Retail Experience through Experiential Marketing

Today, online shopping offers convenience, while in-store shopping adds value with a memorable customer experience. Both serve as critical customer engagement channels. To compete, physical stores are reimagining the in-store experience and the role it plays in cementing lifelong customer relationships and driving increased consumer spending. Through experiential marketing, brick-and-mortar stores can add value to their customers in unique ways while increasing sales 鈥� customers spend 31% more than those purchasing online 鈥� and building brand equity.

Brianna arrives at the S.Fashion event, instantly engrossed in the music coming from the DJ located next to a long catwalk with models wearing the latest sustainable sneaker designs. Brianna checks in using a QR code that provides Maria, a friendly staff member, with Brianna鈥檚 customer profile and alerts her about Brianna鈥檚 purchase. Maria greets Brianna and shows her some of S.Fashion鈥檚 latest product offerings and takes her on a digital journey through the sneaker production process. Brianna is excited to learn how S.Fashion鈥檚 technology solutions provide sustainability insights at every step of the product life cycle, making it easier for her, as a customer, to make climate-friendly purchasing decisions鈥嬧赌�. Maria brings Brianna the shoes she bought online and takes her to the shoe customization table where she watches her one-of-a-kind shoes come to life right before the fashion show begins.

The Foundation of a Loyal Customer Base

Insight-driven personalization, seamless omnichannel shopping, and engaging in-store experiences lay the foundation for a loyal customer base and deliver growth and profitability. In the example of S.Fashion, this sustainable sneaker company personalizes its engagements, bridges its online and offline interactions, and hosts sustainable fashion shows and sneaker customization events that drive sales, loyalty, and brand evangelism.

In case you missed NRF and want to learn more about SAP鈥檚 retail technology ecosystem in an immersive fashion experience, follow 51风流Experience Center on for exciting news about the opening of 51风流Experience Center NYC on February 15.

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Kelly Cannon is head of Industry Thought Leadership at SAP.

We鈥檝e seen how, in today鈥檚 fast-paced, digital-first world, the demands placed on sales and marketing teams are greater than ever and buyer expectations are at an all-time high. This makes successful account engagement critical.

The problem is that sales and marketing teams selling to businesses are often operating separately from each other, using siloed tech stacks to manage buyer engagement. Having disconnected systems brings about a host of technical, data, and process barriers that reduce speed to market, limit personalization, hinder growth and revenue, and, most importantly, degrade the customer experience.

On top of this, sales teams are having to navigate exceedingly complex sales cycles that often involve buying centers with distinct consideration sets and buyer journeys that extend across multiple digital and physical touch points. Meanwhile, marketers are being tasked to drive more revenue for the business, prove their impact, and provide more relevant one-to-one experiences 鈥� all with less budget and resources.

By introducing the account engagement option, we are helping . With our unified solutions, sales and marketing teams will be able to collaboratively execute account engagement strategies at scale, resulting in more seamless customer experiences and better business results.

Solving Common Challenges with a Unified Solution

Sales and marketing teams have their respective goals, but they also have shared goals of engaging and converting more customers, increasing customer lifetime value, and driving revenue for the business.

Through two-way native integration between and the account engagement option for 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement, sales and marketing teams can act upon a unified, single view of their accounts and business contacts. With a shared view of the customer, teams can better align their account engagement strategies to accelerate sales cycles, improve closure rates, and increase customer lifetime value. This ultimately helps solve the broader business goals of growth and revenue.

Collaborative account engagement has unique, positive benefits for sales and marketing teams respectively; whether you鈥檙e in sales or marketing, collaborative account engagement is all upside.

How 51风流Customer Experience Brings Value to Sales and Marketing Teams

How will account engagement help sales and marketing teams? What will it provide for businesses?

Teams using this option will be able to integrate with 51风流Sales Cloud, allowing them to bring together their data, process, and user experiences, and benefit from:

• Integrated, fully aligned sales and marketing account engagement
• Improved account segmentation and targeting
• Collaborative campaign development and execution
• More scalable, marketing-led, one-to-one sales interactions
• Pre-built strategies and tactics that accelerate time to market
• Real-time customer insights that drive real-time engagement
• Reporting and analytics to view and measure marketing鈥檚 impact on sales

Marketing teams will continue to benefit from the speed, simplicity, and scale that 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement offers them, while sales teams will gain improved collaboration and visibility into marketing campaigns without having to leave 51风流Sales Cloud, which means sales, marketing, and the whole business win.

Learn More About the Benefits of Collaborative Account Engagement

51风流Customer Experience is all about helping businesses make each customer experience they deliver matter. It is also about providing integrated solutions that drive customer growth and revenue at any scale. This account engagement option propels us further on this path by helping businesses achieve their business-critical goals while also enabling sales and marketing teams to work smarter, more efficiently, and more collaboratively to deliver exceptional experiences.

To learn more about the power of collaborative account engagement, read “.” And to learn more about how the account engagement option for 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement helps clients accelerate performance and generate more revenue, .

Joanna Milliken is CEO of 51风流Emarsys Customer Engagement.

鈥淚t is vital that brands learn from the data-driven, digital-first approach they took in 2020 and incorporate these learnings into all elements of their omnichannel marketing,鈥� said Sara Richter, Emarsys CMO. 鈥淲ith 91% of consumers saying they are more likely to buy from brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations, personalization is an essential part of this approach. We believe that this report, and our Leader placement within it, validates our vision for personalized, customer-centric commerce and that we offer the right technologies to help brands connect the dots and produce a true 1:1 customer experience.鈥�

According to Gartner, 鈥淧ersonalization remains a priority for digital marketing leaders. Relevant and timely messaging is key to educating customers, minimizing friction and building confidence in brand interactions. The report recognizes 51风流for its industry-specific templates to ease user adoption as well as measurement and reporting and service and support.鈥�

鈥淲e believe our position as a Leader in this report validates the overall features of the 51风流Customer Experience portfolio,鈥� said Sameer Patel, chief marketing and solutions officer for 51风流Customer Experience. 鈥淲ith the integration of Emarsys, 51风流Customer Experience powers a foundation of omnichannel personalized engagement, meeting customers where and when they choose to engage, on their preferred channels and on their terms.鈥�

Acquired by 51风流in 2020, Emarsys empowers digital marketing leaders and business owners with an omnichannel customer engagement platform built to accelerate business outcomes. By rapidly aligning desired business results with proven omnichannel customer engagement strategies, the platform enables brands to accelerate time to value, deliver superior one-on-one experiences and produce measurable results fast. The customer engagement platform is part of the larger 51风流Customer Experience portfolio, which also includes the 51风流Marketing Cloud, 51风流Commerce Cloud, 51风流Sales Cloud, 51风流Service Cloud and 51风流Customer Data Cloud solutions.

To learn more, download a of the report, including Gartner鈥檚 in-depth analysis of the personalization engines landscape.

Visit the . Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

Media Contacts:
Susan Miller, SAP, +1 (610) 661-9225, susan.miller@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com
Ben Musgrove, Wildfire, +44208408800, emarsys@wildfirepr.com, UTC

*Gartner, 鈥淢agic Quadrant for Personalization Engines,鈥� ,听,听, July 19, 听2021.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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