Unified Commerce

The last 10 years have shown a radical transformation of the main Go To Market models adopted by companies, taking shape as an irreversible evolution that has affected almost all product sectors.

It was not just an acceleration linked to the ‘introduction of digital’, in the broadest sense of the term, thanks to or because of the pandemic, but rather a new, different and now consolidated way of interacting, communicating and, of course, buying what both individuals and companies have adopted.

Simplifying as much as possible, it can be said that sales channels have conformed to the new pressing needs dictated by the market, integrating and, in some cases, almost merging. On the one hand, there has been a need on the part of consumers to search for and purchase goods and services in a new ‘static mobility’, i.e. through the most diverse ‘mobile devices’, albeit in static contexts such as their own homes, and, on the other hand, that of companies that have been able to and had to seek and find new sales approaches to meet the needs of their customers.

Concisely, just as individuals have suddenly become accustomed to socialising and buying in a new ‘semi-virtual’ or ‘semi-physical’ way, at the same time, companies have had to rethink their contacts, including sales, with their customers.

In this scenario, only those companies that have been able to adapt to this new model have gained a real competitive advantage.

What and how have they done this?

What is meant by this term?

An extremely simple and at the same time articulated concept. It refers to being able to adopt a unique, integrated and unified sales approach to the Customer. Just as the Customer must be able to interact with the company that offers them a service or a product, receiving the same “buying experience”, regardless of how they encounter the company, the company itself must be able to access customers by benefiting from the integration and above all the coherence of all direct and indirect, physical and virtual B2B and B2C sales channels.

In this way, the Customer must be able to look for the product independently from intermediaries and sales channels and, at the same time, the company must be able to govern, monitor and manage with the same approach all its commercial network in order to satisfy the purchase needs of the consumer. The focus should be on what is defined as the Customer Journey.

A Unified Commerce approach can be considered as the evolution of models based on mono/multi-channel and omni-channel.

The channels through which a company relates with its customers can no longer be managed with separate approaches and tools and, consequently, sales systems such as:

• – B2B solutions (online sales through retailers);
• – Physical Showrooms (mainly B2B sales in dedicated spaces);
• – Virtual Showroom (mainly B2B virtual sales);
• – B2C Solutions (online sales to the final customer);
• – Market Place (multi-store online);
• – Solutions to manage Corner or Shop in Shop in GDO or Department Store (specific spaces in shared environments)
• – Retail solutions mono-brand or multi-brand, static, temporary or itinerant (through physical sales through stores);
• – Phygital models (B2C online sales with Seller-Customer interaction);
• – X2X solutions (bidirectional sales between marketplaces and retailers)
• – ….

must evolve, integrating, from a purely IT point of view, “merging” into a single approach, making the Customer feel the same purchase experience. Companies, today, operate in an ecosystem that is both physical and virtual, oriented to B2B and B2C channels, also integrated bi-directionally with off-line and on-line Martekplaces. This “fusion context” represents a prerequisite from which it is necessary to start by placing the Customer, with his purchasing experience, at the center.

SYS-DAT’s many years of experience in solutions for companies, and in particular for the management of solutions for sales networks, has enabled the creation of a Unified Commerce platform, X-Commerce, capable of integrating and merging all channels and, consequently, sales tools.

The X-Commerce SYS-DAT solution integrates the following solutions in a single platform allowing the company to enable individual modules, and therefore approaches, according to the real needs dictated by the evolution of the business but always maintaining process integrity and absolute consistency:

• B2B Wholsale&Retail;
• Virtual Showroom;
• B2C;
• Retail in Store;
• HUB Market Place (integrator between company and main B2B and B2C marketplaces);
• B2B2C;
• CRM (B2B and B2B);
• Analytics&Forecasting.

The advantages for companies in adopting X-Commerce are as undisputed as they are essential and differential elements today. Uniformity and standardization of product information, real and future stock, physical and virtual, integration of internal and external logistics, interoperability between different channels being able to prepare flexible commercial policies, uniformity in the dissemination of information and centralized marketing actions are just some of the benefits!

The line is traced and the evolution is clear: we will soon arrive at “X2X models”.

What is meant by X2X? It refers to the fact that anyone, as long as they are enabled, will be able to sell products and services of any kind by drawing on a variety of physical and virtual platforms by marrying the logic of “infinite shelf” (I sell any product regardless of the real stock knowing that at some of my partners exists …). In this way, even the smallest realities will be able to benefit from the same opportunities as the big ones by making simple commercial agreements. The B2B2C platform is an example and with X-Commerce all this is now possible!

In summary, X-Commerce opens up new business models: companies can think of selling products that they do not have physically but that they propose by virtue of simple trade agreements.

Matteo Neuroni – CEO – SYS-DAT Group