Magento B2B Leads the Pack

We get excited when our Partners succeed. Their success is our success, and it’s extremely gratifying to see third parties recognize the value that one of our Partners brings. When we found out that Forrester named Magento a B2B Leader in their Q3 2017 evaluation of B2B eCommerce suites for midsize organizations, we were ecstatic. Magento B2B is transforming the midmarket, and we’re thrilled to be part of that transformation. 

Magento has developed a strong B2B eCommerce module as part of version 2.2. The Magento B2B offering combined with Corevist’s interface to SAP makes for a compelling alternative to Hybris. We’ve explained in this post how we will support the Magento B2B module with specific features in our SAP integrations. The picture is by no means complete. We’ve engaged in a dialogue with Magento on the needs of SAP companies when it comes to eCommerce—and there are some amazing things in the works.

But just how good is Magento for SAP eCommerce, according to Forrester? Let’s look at 3 specific points which the report calls out.

1. Magento B2B and Hybris Both Named Leaders

“Magento Commerce targets the midmarket with a partner-driven cloud offering.” (p. 10)

We love the words “partner-driven.” That’s us, Corevist. We’re official Magento Technology Partners integrating Magento to SAP. Our app is cloud-hosted, and it brings all the amazing B2B functionality of Magento to SAP companies—allowing them to leverage their SAP investment for eCommerce without buying Hybris.  

Magento is, indeed, targeting the midmarket, which also happens to be our sweet spot. For companies doing $5-500 million in annual revenue (and, say, $5-50 million of that through eCommerce), it’s difficult to justify the $2 million annual price tag of Hybris. Where SAP’s flagship eCommerce offering requires 12 fulltime employees just to keep everything shipshape, 1/3 of Corevist clients (who are typically integrated to Magento) have no dedicated IT resources whatsoever dedicated to supporting eCommerce.

2. Hybris: Too Big and Too Slow

Forrester criticized Hybris’s value proposition to midmarket firms:

“The B2B midmarket is a segment that prefers low TCO [total cost of ownership] and fast TTM [time to market]—both of which have been challenges for SAP Hybris.” (p. 12)

Wow. It was so refreshing to see this reflected in a Forrester report. We’ve heard it again and again from our prospects and clients over the years. We knew this was the dark underbelly of the industry—the reality that Hybris isn’t cutting it for midmarket firms, even though they may be pressured to buy it. That’s why we got into the business—to disrupt SAP B2B eCommerce.

That’s exactly what we’re doing with our Magento-SAP integrations. As B2B eCommerce solutions become further consumerized (and commoditized), the technology becomes democratized (available to smaller and smaller companies). The barrier to entry is getting lower and lower. In other words, the age of the B2B eCommerce ox is over. The age of the thoroughbred is here—and for SAP companies, that thoroughbred is SAP + Corevist + Magento.

3. Hybris Standard Edition: No Omnichannel Order Management

“We evaluated the Standard Edition cloud version, which offers impressive capability out of the box but lacks key functionality such as omnichannel order management (OMS)…” (p. 12)

To be fair, the new Magento B2B module also doesn’t include omnichannel OMS out of the box—by definition, it can only see orders placed inside of Magento. But since all order data (from every channel) resides in SAP, why not leverage that data alongside Magento to track all orders?

Companies that implement Magento can do just that with Corevist’s eTrack Module. This standalone module presents all order data from SAP in one easy-to-use interface. You can track orders, shipments, and more—all with real-time SAP data. The module is a great complement to a Magento-SAP eCommerce integration, and the TCO of a modular solution like this is far lower than the cost of implementing OMS in Hybris.

Magento B2B: A Welcome Alternative to Hybris

For all of these reasons, Magento for SAP B2B eCommerce presents incredible value over Hybris. Corevist integrates Magento to SAP on day 1 and goes into production in 90 days if our clients can dedicate themselves to delivering value quickly. In fact, our first module can go into production in as little as 30 days. The full price tag of a Magento-SAP integration is a fraction of the cost of Hybris—literally a fraction. (Ask us about our pricing.) This fast TTM (time to market) plus the low TCO (total cost of ownership) of Magento make it a no-brainer for midmarket B2B firms running SAP.

The Takeaway

Forrester’s proclamation of Magento B2B as a leader marks a new day in eCommerce for midmarket firms. If you’ve delayed B2B eCommerce because of the prohibitive cost of Hybris, or because you were worried about interfacing with SAP, you can put those worries aside. With a Magento integration to SAP, you can leverage your SAP data, live, in real time, to do eCommerce. It will simplify life for your IT department, and Marketing will love the control of rich content and product information which Magento offers. It’s a win-win for everyone.

If you’d like to learn more about Magento for SAP companies, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.