A recent Deloitte study focused on electric mobility, mobility services, and consumer preferences when purchasing a vehicle revealed that despite the skyrocketing e-commerce during the pandemic, the majority of car buyers still prefer the physical shopping experience of buying directly from authorized dealers. However, there is also a growth opportunity in virtual purchasing as the surveyed consumers have found increasing value in the convenience and user-friendliness of buying online. China (23%), South Korea (22%), and India (21%) prefer to purchase their next car by combining physical and virtual purchasing processes.

smart Europe GmbH (smart Europe), a global smart joint venture between Geely Holding (Geely) and Mercedes-Benz AG (Mercedes-Benz), formally registered as ‘smart Automobile Co. Ltd.’ (smart) in Hangzhou Bay, Ningbo, China, sees the same trend in the automobile industry, especially for the Direct-to-Consumer vehicle market. 

Björn Schick, CXO and member of the executive board of smart Europe, detailed:

“Our assumption is that there will always be people who visit physical dealerships to “feel” a car and test-drive it. But it won’t be long before they become the minority and more people start configuring and ordering their cars online – in just a few quick steps.”

As a global pioneer in urban mobility with a focus on supplying, selling, and servicing new-generation vehicles, smart Europe is driving innovation in the industry by providing a new business model that would cater to emerging climate-conscious, city-dwelling, digital consumers.

SAP Commerce Cloud Advancing Business Processes and CX Journey

Schick highlighted that smart Europe aims to reinvent and recalibrate the company’s dealership model with car dealers remaining a key element in its sales strategy. Harnessing a new e-commerce platform powered by SAP Commerce Cloud, the relatively new company intends to bring car buyers’ shopping experience to the next level.

SAP Commerce Cloud is a cloud software solution specifically designed for large enterprises with advanced B2B, B2C, and B2B2C use cases. The modern, scalable e-commerce platform enables companies to build customer loyalty, enhanced customer experiences, and drive growth by simplifying the selling and buying processes.

“Our business model is based on direct business with consumers, whom we address through an omnichannel approach so that we can sell our cars virtually and physically on a single platform,” he said. “SAP Commerce Cloud lets us map all the country-specific tax and legal requirements so that we can manage all the processes for our business across Europe on a single platform.”

smart Europe’s e-commerce platform can be accessed by its employees, car dealers, and even by repair shops to share pertinent customer data. As SAP Commerce Cloud natively integrates with SAP Customer Data Cloud, the new platform has the capability to deliver hyper-personalized content on the front end such as relevant data per country and customer segment creating a more detailed customer profile. Moreover, the two SAP solutions serve as the foundation not only for authenticating and verifying customers but also for managing customer consent.

In addition, smart Europe also leverages SAP Customer Identity and Access Management solutions for customer consent statements in compliance with GDPR (the EU General Data Protection Regulation) and the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub application as the digital twin of a smart car, providing 360-degree visibility into both the customer and their vehicle.

“This shows that the new platform is much more than a marketing and sales tool. It is practically part of the product,” stressed Schick.

“Having opportunities like this on the horizon makes working with SAP particularly compelling. We’re on an innovation journey, interacting closely with SAP on what else the solutions might be able to do in the future,” he added.

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The recent DBS Digital Readiness survey involving around 2,600 corporate treasurers, C-suite executives, and business owners entrepreneurs across 13 markets in APAC including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam revealed that businesses in the APAC region are continuing on the momentum of digitalisation. In India, one in two of companies surveyed have already slated their digital transformation strategy including those large companies with an annual turnover of over $1 billion equivalent and middle-market companies with an annual turnover of between $200 million and $1 billion equivalent.

Reflecting the massive modernisation of Indian companies, Kulmeet Bawa, President and MD for SAP Indian Subcontinent, stated in an interview with Business Standard that last year was SAP India’s best performance in the firm’s history– achieving triple-digit growth in three out of the four quarters of 2021 and becoming the largest contributor in the customer adoption of RISE with SAP and cloud transition. In line with SAP’s holistic pivot to a cloud company, Bawa aims to grow the company’s cloud business in India by 23-26 per cent in 2022 and reach a €22 billion revenue by 2025.

Modernising CX with SAP Cloud Software

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, one of the leading oil and gas companies in India with a robust network of around 19,000 retail outlets across the country, is among the companies that have recently embarked on a cloud transformation journey with SAP India. Leveraging SAP Commerce Cloud, BPCL launched “Project Anubhav” centred on delivering a unified, world-class customer experience based on convenience, personalisation, and trust.

Rahul Tandon, Head Digital Transformation, BPCL, explained that with innovation and customer-centricity as part of the company’s core values, BCPL prides itself on being an industry leader harnessing cutting-edge technologies to deliver convenient, personalised, and excellent services to customers and stakeholders. Commenting about the partnership with SAP, he said:

“We are elated to partner with SAP India in building the core of our customer engagement platform on SAP technologies which will provide customers with a unified view of all of Bharat Petroleum’s products and services across business units.”

SAP Commerce Cloud is a cloud software solution specifically designed for large enterprises with advanced B2B, B2C, and B2B2C use cases. The modern, scalable e-commerce platform enables companies to build customer loyalty, enhanced customer experiences, and drive growth by simplifying the selling and buying processes.

Through SAP Commerce Cloud, BPCL has enhanced the customer experience by :

• Delivering a personalised and single view of BPCL’s products, programmes, and offerings 
• Streamlining customer on-boarding, ordering, payments, fulfilments processes, among many
• Providing a single view of customers across 6 business lines, which enhances the BPCL’s capability to cross-sell, upsell and customise products and services

Rajeev Singh, Vice President, Public Sector & Utilities, SAP India Head, expressed:

“BPCL is powering India’s economy, they carry an innovative and efficient approach towards easing & energising the lives of their customers and welfare of the nation. We are honoured to collaborate with BPCL in its journey to enhance customer experience and also boost the ‘Digital India’ concept at scale.”

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Changi Airport Group (CAG), the manager of a leading air hub in Asia Singapore Changi Airport, bagged the Best Innovation Award- The Disruptor in the recently concluded SAP Best Run Awards for Southeast Asia (SEA) for the successful deployment of SAP Commerce Cloud that enabled the Group to revamp iShopChangi.com (ISC), Changi Airport’s online shopping portal. With SAP Commerce Cloud as the Commerce Engine for ISC, the Group was able to overhaul the 5-year-old legacy platform and build a sustainable travel retail marketplace.

E-commerce is steadily growing in the Asia Pacific, largely fuelled by China, Indonesia, and India (Changi’s five key markets). The region’s massive digital transformation has advanced digital retail, resulting in the emergence of numerous online retail brands and online marketplaces. Today, more than ever, enterprises aim to provide a seamless omnichannel experience to gain a competitive edge, attract customers, and increase brand loyalty.

Recognising Challenges

Changi Travel Retail grew faster than passenger growth before COVID-19. Anticipating the changing retail landscape including changing traveller profiles, the arrival of the digital consumers, renewed competition, new business models, and Changi’s very own transformation, the Group embarked on a digital transformation journey dubbed as “Project Sunbird” to support the growing market opportunity for e-retail, unlock new sources of consumer value, and seize the opportunities to access incremental revenue pools to serve traveller needs. 

To do so, the organisation needed to urgently address key issues and limitations of its platform iShopChangi.com such as:

• Technology limitation to deliver CAG’s value proposition to retailers and consumers 
• Immature Commerce and Order Management System 
• The platform was not scalable to enable ISC’s growth ambition 
• Lack of suite of APIs to enable easy integration with other products/platforms 
• Limited marketplace capabilities to scale tenants and product range 
• Complex and limiting promotions configuration 
• Custom and bespoke legacy application

Deploying SAP E-Commerce Solution

The project was directed at implementing a commerce platform that is sustainable for the next five years based on business needs, with a capacity of up to two million transactions per annum. CAG selected SAP Commerce Cloud, a modern, scalable e-commerce platform, as the commerce engine to revamp ISC. The implementation was completed in a short period of 10 months due to the maturity of the capabilities and APIs of SAP Commerce Cloud, enabling CAG to ramp up its business initiatives at a faster pace.

Here are some of the remarkable outcomes of the SAP Commerce Cloud implementation:

• Merchant expansion by 5x, SKU expansion by 3x, and customer base expansion by more than 70,000– all in just six months
• Increased stability and scalability to manage twice the transactions of previous systems with no lag
• 150{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase in transaction volume for both peak and average periods
• More robust security and controls
• Merchants and CAG users can have ease of access to the various platforms via SAP SSO
• Improved workflow and processing times of orders
• Faster/real-time reporting and analytics

“We launched our new platform in the middle of 2020. This has enabled us to pivot and scale the business beyond pre-COVID levels, serving our customers amidst the pandemic,” said Teo, Chew Hoon, Group Senior Vice President, Airside Concessions.

CAG won the Best Innovation Award against two equally commendable contenders from Vietnam: Golden Gate Trade & Service JSC and Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company.

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Sinar Mas Land is Indonesia’s first property developer to implement an SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) solution in an effort to focus on data-based aspects in order to serve consumers strategically and appropriately.

Through the company’s integrated CRM system, prospective customers can browse its website in a secure and comfortable environment. Data is then passed on to SAP Marketing Cloud where developers can create more accurate segments.

On the other hand, Hindustan Zinc Limited launched Evolve as India’s first non-ferrous metal buying digital marketplace by a producer with a goal to reshape how metal marketing is done in the country.

Powered by SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris) and SAP Business Technology Platform, Evolve connects communities and buyers on a single platform and aims to provide a hassle-free experience with a “three-click buying option.” The project was awarded the Customer Excellence – Sales, Marketing & Service Award at the SAP ACE Awards in 2020.

Hindustan Zinc Revolutionises Non-Ferrous Metal Buying Experience

Chetan Trivedi, CIO at Hindustan Zinc Limited (Vedanta Group), said during an online discussion that the functionality is delivered to the company’s smallest customers first. By utilising SAP Customer Experience solutions, Hindustan Zinc successfully deployed the platform to the smallest customers in India.

On top of running SAP ERP at the core, Trivedi expounded on why the company chose SAP Hybris out of many options available in the market. He stated:

“The most important aspect was that the platform should be very robust, should be reaching functionality (from the entire order-to-cash scenario, customer onboarding to delivery) and should be future-ready as well.”

Within a year of going live, Hindustan Zinc has already achieved the following results:

• Served over 135 unique customers
• Gained more than 400 new customers registered with the platform
• Processed 1,500 orders which turn out to be around $17 to $20 million sales
• Achieved 92{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} customer satisfaction from a feedback survey of smaller customers who purchased through the platform

Meanwhile, in terms of business outcomes and the metrics to support the results the company has delivered, Trivedi said:

“We want to achieve 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} sales through a digital channel as Hindustan Zinc. And that means everything that we sell, whether it is finished goods or a by-product, should be sold through digital media.”

Dubbing the project as “digital disruption,” Grant Clinch, Chief Operating Officer of SAP Customer Experience APJ, is thrilled that the platform was deployed to Hindustan Zinc’s smallest customers first. He further said:

“I am really pleased that this (Evolve project) is based on SAP Commerce and SAP Customer Experience platforms. I am really looking forward to continuing the journey with Hindustan Zinc with Vedanta Group and continuing to grow into the future our strategic partnership between the organisations.” 

Sinar Mas Land Utilises SAP Customer Experience Solutions

In a session during the SAPPHIRE NOW 2021 virtual event, Sinar Mas Land’s Chief Transformation Officer Mulyawan Gani also shared that the company ended up choosing CRM solutions from SAP mainly for two reasons. He explained:

“The first is about modularity. The fact that you can actually cherry-pick from the whole bundle of CX solutions within SAP really helps because sometimes when you look at the modules that are available, you don’t really need to deploy everything at once because the whole solution is end to end.”

Gani added that integration also drove them to select SAP to partner in their CX journey type of platform. Sinar Mas Group has relied on SAP as a backend for its ERP systems for the longest time. He shared:

“When we look at the whole platform, it doesn’t make sense for us to choose another platform where there is a lot of massive integrations needed to be done.”

In response to the shift in demographics and consumer behavior of the property industry, Sinar Mas Land also began using SAP Customer Data Cloud which is integrated with SAP Marketing Cloud, SAP Sales and Service Cloud, as well as Qualtrics to run data-based marketing.

“Having one integrated platform is not only cheaper, more efficient, but more importantly, it allows us to focus on things that matter the most — our customers,” Gani emphasised.

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Virgin Megastore, Sundiro Honda, and GPP will now be able to provide seamless omnichannel buying experiences for their customers using SAP Commerce Cloud. The cloud-native solution will fulfill the growing e-commerce needs of the entertainment retailing chain, motorcycle manufacturer, and Jin Jiang International Hotel’s supply chain platform, respectively.

Part of the SAP Customer Experience portfolio — which integrates different solutions for sales, customer relationship management (CRM), and marketing — the e-commerce platform helps enterprises develop solutions to allow for smooth buying experiences and streamlined processes, from search to sale.

Many retailers are now looking into their supply chain efficiency and digital competence as the demand for personalised shopping experience and attentive online customer support increases significantly. The e-commerce platform powered by SAP enables businesses to shift to digital commerce now that restrictions are still in place for in-store shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition, the solution offers a smooth-running digital approach to retail operations worldwide so that customers can save time and enjoy convenient buying experiences online.

Nuno Pedro, Head of Commerce at SAP Customer Experience, has stated in the announcement that:

“Retailers today have an incredible opportunity to understand, engage and transact with consumers if they greet their customers with a robust e-commerce platform from the moment the customer signals interest.”

Moreover, Pedro explained that by providing the same outstanding service and ambiance that shoppers value in physical retail stores, the e-commerce solution gives respect to the consumers throughout their online shopping experience.

Delivering Exceptional E-Commerce Experiences Through SAP Commerce Cloud

Joining other retailers that have decided to shift to digital commerce by utilising SAP’s solution, the following companies can now take advantage of the e-commerce platform:

GPP is Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotel Group’s one-stop hotel material purchasing platform. Aiming to innovate a new business and source of revenue for hotel supplies, GPP has decided to implement SAP’s solution to develop an automated platform. By utilising the e-commerce platform, GPP consistently managed the Chinese hotel tourism giant’s business operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Established in 2018 by Deloitte China Consulting to support their client’s vision, GPP is a project made possible by SAP’s technologies and Deloitte China’s top-quality services.

Another company that has adopted the e-commerce solution to manage its rapid business growth is Sundiro Honda, a joint venture between Chinese private capital company Sundiro Investment Ltd. and Honda. The Shanghai-based electric vehicle and motorcycle manufacturer has built a digitalised platform to develop its dealership services, improve customer engagement, and enhance the new business model in the automotive sector.

Virgin Megastore is an international entertainment lifestyle retailer that currently operates over 35 stores across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The retailer has implemented the solution to address customers’ preferences for convenient shopping experiences. With the expansion of its online sales operations, the company has attracted a new generation of tech-savvy shoppers by providing a compelling omnichannel experience. Additionally, the retailing chain maximises other SAP applications such as SAP ERP ECC 6.0 – Controlling (CO) and SAP ERP ECC 6.0.

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The last quarter of 2020 opened with back-to-back recognitions for select SAP applications from distinguished independent research bodies. The German software firm has been named a Leader in “The Forrester Wave: Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM), Q4 2020” and in the “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B Digital Commerce Platforms 2020 Vendor Assessment”.

IDC MarketScape Report

This year is the second time SAP has been recognised as a Leader in the “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B Digital Commerce Platforms 2020 Vendor Assessment”. 

Designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market, IDC MarketScape’s vendor assessment model applies a research methodology that utilises a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria. 

In the recent report, aside from the comprehensive assessment framework, IDC MarketScape also gathered customer feedback via surveys and phone interviews. SAP took the leadership position based on its strategies and capabilities against 17 other vendors offering B2B digital commerce platforms. The report stated:

According to the report, SAP received an above average rating from customers when asked whether SAP Commerce Cloud is ‘built for the future.’ The SAP Commerce Cloud offers sourcing, consignment, complex ordering, delivery options, products, services, and pricing solutions that support B2C use cases and complex B2B scenarios.

“Consider SAP if you are an enterprise looking for an all-in-one digital commerce platform that can handle complex enterprise requirements and can support both B2B and B2C business models or you use SAP for other CX applications. Consider it if your organization is primarily focused on differentiating by building a unique and highly customized commerce experience with a platform offering deep functionality,” the report further noted.

Bob Stutz, President, Customer Experience at SAP highlighted that the tremendous shift seen in the B2B market is in sync with the B2C commerce. He explained:

“Consumers and now businesses are in control of their e-commerce experience, and they expect the best. With SAP Commerce Cloud, organizations courting business buyers can be sure they are offering a top-notch digital commerce experience and building lasting relationships.”

The Forrester Wave Report

SAP took the Leader position against 12 other vendors in “The Forrester Wave: Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM), Q4 2020″. SAP was recognised for the CIAM capabilities in its SAP Customer Data Cloud solution portfolio, which includes SAP Customer Consent, SAP Customer Data Platform, SAP Customer Identity, and SAP Customer Profile.

The report highlighted that CIAM customers should consider vendors with the ability to enable seamless, frictionless customer privacy and consent management; integration with identity verification systems; and the ability to scale to large numbers of users in both technology and price. It further stated:

“[SAP’s] solution offers outstanding consent management, expansive customer self-service, and a very well thought through CIAM administration interface.”

Stutz explained the essence of building trust in managing customer data. He said:

“Trustworthiness in the management of customer data is incredibly important, and organizations must provide transparency and deliver personal data control to customers while engaging in new ways and using different channels.

“SAP Customer Data Cloud has native integrations and completely secure, seamless consent management built-in, which enables organizations to handle customer data respectfully, while still deriving valuable insights.”

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The transition to SAP Commerce Cloud is part of Nihon Kohden’s “Transform 2020” mid-term business plan under its long-term vision “Change 2020-The Global Leader of Medical Solutions” to achieve the top share of applicable global markets. 

“Transform 2020” came about to resolve issues on profitability under its previous mid-term business plan, “Strong Growth 2017.” Financial Results for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2017—the last year of “Strong Growth 2017″—were below its targets for consolidated sales, operating income, and return on equity and; affected the company’s upfront investment burden. As part of its new mid-term plan, the company strategizes to improve profitability and achieve further growth in its core business by utilizing cloud technology solutions to expand its B2B market share.

With GyanSys as its systems integrator, the Japanese manufacturing company aims to build an expansive e-commerce platform that draws on high-levels of expertise to improve customer satisfaction, while reducing TCO and accelerating time-to-value. Rajkishore Una, President & CEO of GyanSys, says:

“GyanSys is excited to partner with Nihon Kohden and committed to deliver their e-commerce program successfully with our best practice-led agile implementation methodology. We will leverage our SAP and Salesforce implementation expertise to help Nihon Kohden derive the most value from this strategic digital initiative.”

In its first phase, the strategic cloud transformation will focus on strengthening Nihon Kohden’s business structure in the USA, which the company considers the world’s largest market and center of cutting-edge medical care. The program will begin with enabling account executives to sell products more efficiently with a guided configuration and quotation. According to Ashish Patil, Senior Director & Head of IT at Nihon Kohden America:

“Nihon Kohden is excited to start our e-commerce journey with GyanSys as our partner to build a scalable e-commerce platform. This platform will accelerate and increase the accuracy and compliance by enabling guided configuration and quote process.”

Utilizing SAP Commerce Cloud B2B Accelerators, the company can adapt the system to suit its specific requirements, significantly streamline sales and internal processes, and allow for quick market release. The e-commerce solution automates order-processing, allows for self-service account management for multiple users and go-to customizations for catalogs and pricing.

The cloud transformation initiative also comes at an opportune time for the company as it launches a new line of patient triage solutions—the NK-HealthProtect—designed to help healthcare providers during a public health threat such as the COVID-19 crisis. With SAP Commerce Cloud, the company can integrate an omnichannel commerce cloud solution that will enable it to reach potential markets quickly and efficiently on a global scale, and transform its operations to achieve a highly profitable structure. 

About Nihon Kohden

Founded in 1951, Nihon Kohden is one of the world’s top medical electronic equipment manufacturers and has the largest share of electroencephalographs in the market. The company exports to more than 120 countries and regions. Its key innovative technologies include: pulse oximetry to non-invasively measure SpO2, CO2 sensor specifically designed for non-intubated patients, estimated Continuous Cardiac Output (esCCO), and biphasic type defibrillators.

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SAP Hong Kong has been finding applicable solutions to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic in Hong Kong to ensure businesses still run best. In the retail industry, today more than ever, much less foot traffic has forced companies including brick and mortar retailers to shift and rely on digital retail platforms to reach and cater to customers.

Now that there is a surge in online commerce, SAP Hong Kong is able to help local companies shift to digital commerce through SAP Commerce Cloud. As part of the SAP Customer Experience solutions, SAP Commerce Cloud helps companies create a personalised shopping experience for their customers. 

Fabian Padilla Crisol, Managing Director at SAP Hong Kong said:

“People movement around Hong Kong and foot traffic to shopping hubs have slowed down significantly since the outbreak of COVID-19.”

“It has quickly become essential for companies to optimise and expand online retail operations through e-commerce channels. SAP Commerce Cloud is a complete solution that supports companies to tackle business and operational challenges. Its flexibility and scalability help them launch and improve online business, and fast deployment makes our customers well-positioned to capture opportunities,” he added.

SAP Commerce Cloud, which is supported by omnichannel capabilities and a data centre in Hong Kong, enables optimisation of online retail operations and scalability of a business. It is a single commerce solution that offers comprehensive e-commerce experience with end-to-end commerce processes. The platform uses a type system to organise data such as product information, customer data, addresses or orders making the customer experience seamless.

SAP Commerce Cloud has prebuilt integrations with SAP S/4HANA, SAP ERP, SAP C/4HANA, and other SAP applications.

A number of major retailers in Hong Kong are utilising SAP’s e-commerce solutions to help them engage with customers while creating a meaningful and consistent shopping experience. Here are some of the companies that leverage the capabilities of SAP Commerce Cloud:

Asia Miles, Asia’s travel and lifestyle rewards programme, has enhanced its Lifestyle Award Redemption platform. Powered by SAP Commerce Cloud, the platform provides its members with a smarter and more rewarding online shopping experience. Now enhanced and made user-friendly, it gives members much flexibility when redeeming lifestyle products and experiences from their Miles.

The largest 24-hour online shopping mall in Hong Kong, HKTVMall, provides a comprehensive online shopping experience to its thousands of customers by leveraging SAP’s commerce solution. Aside from connecting and integrating HKTVmall’s commercial channels, handling content, catalogs, and order, the SAP solution also provides customer-facing search functionality and integrates with HKTVmall’s backend ordering and transaction systems. 

Foodwise, Hong Kong’s first top online supermarket committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its customers, utilises an e-commerce platform powered by SAP across its citywide seven-store operations. Now, Foodwise offers a personalised digital customer experience that integrates digital and physical customer touchpoints onto a single platform. The platform powers an omnichannel storefront with search and navigation, recommendations, shopping cart, wish list and checkout functions, and product content management.

SAP’s innovative approach to modern commerce has made it a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce for the fifth consecutive time last August 2019.

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Ernst & Young (EY) announced via PR Newswire that they are currently supporting Blockchain Wine Pte Ltd, a company based in Singapore, in operating its wine marketplace. The latter has recently launched the wine marketplace aptly named ‘TATTOO,’ which stands for ‘traceability, authenticity, transparency, trade, origin, and opinion.’

The said marketplace was developed to become accessible for consumers from the Asia Pacific region. It leverages EY’s ObsChain blockchain platform, which functioned as a place for consumers to purchase premium wine products. At present, the TATTOO Wine marketplace offers a wide selection of wines from countries such as Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, and the United States. Their ultimate goal is to assist wineries of varying sizes from everywhere else in the world in offering their products to the Asia Pacific market by utilising the blockchain and e-commerce technologies.

The marketplace featured a secure, blockchain-based platform that will use digital tokens. These digital tokens identify the authenticity, provenance, and quality of both new and vintage wines. In the process, it will also reduce, even eliminate, the need for intermediaries while promoting cost efficiency.

Blockchain Wine Pte. Ltd.’s Founder and Chairman, Tim Tse, echoed the purpose of the marketplace and pointed out the traceability of the product from the point of origin to the consumer or buyer through direct delivery. He was quoted saying:

“TATTOO helps reduce layers of distribution and helps address the issues of counterfeit wines, optimizes supply chains, facilitates trade, and empowers both wineries and consumers.”

While the platform is based on EY’s OpsChain platform, the user-friendly experience was made possible by the SAP Commerce solution. This brings us back to the timely launch of SAP’s newest data centre in Singapore, which aims to support the deployment of platform-enabling businesses in the region. The wine marketplace allows a two-way process: for wineries to upload catalogs of their products and for consumers to browse and purchase from the given selections.

Meanwhile, the shipments are tracked and managed on the public Etherium Mainnet, a blockchain protocol that is developed and deployed to areas where transactions are broadcasted, verified, and then recorded. The EY Opschain features the integration of the commerce front-end and onboarding tools, which allow wineries to link their respective production systems to the Ethereum blockchain.

SAP Director for Blockchain Exploration, Thomas Uhde, shared that the project was one of the first commerce integrations of SAP software to a blockchain platform. He noted that there is “great potential in bringing scalable consumer-friendly front-end on a blockchain-based digital market.”

Waddesdon Wine Rothschild Collection’s CEO, Christopher Campbell, shared his excitement on the future of the marketplace:

“Waddesdon Wine markets wines from the Rothschild chateaux and other prestigious chateaux. We look forward to offering our wines within the TATTOO marketplace.”

EY’s Global Blockchain Leader, Paul Brody, shared his thoughts on the standing of the current era in terms of production data and the Ethereum Mainnet. He said:

“…thousands of companies will routinely be pushing production data onto the Ethereum Mainnet – creating, offering, and selling digital tokens that represent their products and services to consumers. This is what the mainstreaming of blockchain business looks like today.”

With the coming of this marketplace platform, the distribution and purchase of wines from all over the world are made more accessible and more convenient, especially for enthusiasts with no capacity to travel and make a purchase.

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SAP has launched its newest Singapore Data Centre for SAP Commerce Cloud market across the Asia Pacific region last 17 October 2019. The centre intends to support the deployment of the platform enabling businesses in the region to adopt digital commerce strategies and deliver superior customer experiences.

The data centre in Singapore is said to work with existing centres in Australia, China, and Hong Kong to ensure customers can deploy the platform with minimal latency and performance issues for a better online shopping experience.

SAP Commerce Cloud is a single commerce solution that offers personalized, comprehensive e-commerce experience with end-to-end commerce processes. It supports all go-to-market models such as retail, direct to consumer (B2C), indirect via distributors or resellers (B2B2C), and selling to organizations (B2B). The platform uses a type system to organize data, for example, product information, customer data, addresses or orders, making the customer experience seamless.

The Forrester Wave: B2C Commerce Suites, Q3 2018 report has recognised SAP Commerce Cloud as a Leader in B2C Commerce and B2B Commerce Analysis. The report said:

 “SAP Commerce Cloud … delivers a full-featured suite that leverages the strengths of the SAP ecosystem and integration with the SAP S/4HANA and SAP C/4HANA applications.” 

APAC’s Booming Digital Commerce

In recent years, the APAC region has shown to have some of the world’s fastest developing economies and most digitally savvy populations. Businesses look at digital commerce as its source of growth opportunities. 

In a report released by Fitch Solutions, an industry-leading provider of credit, debt market, and macro intelligence solutions, the digital commerce sales in APAC are forecasted to achieve 14.2{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} growth year on year reaching US$1.2 trillion in 2019 and US$1.77 trillion by 2022. Similarly, Southeast Asia’s Internet economy is anticipated to grow thrice its current annual size and reach US$300 billion by 2024 according to e-Conomy SEA report, a multi-year research program launched by Google and Temasek and joined by Bain & Company in 2019.

SAP strategically selected Singapore as the location of its newest data centre because of the country’s geopolitical stability and its adherence to data privacy. It will be the default data centre for customers in Southeast Asia and India.

 “APAC’s digital commerce environment offers businesses unprecedented growth opportunities and with our goal of helping our customers master their transition to the experience economy, the region has become a key market for SAP. With the new Singapore Data Centre, we will be better positioned to support our customers as they tap into our best-in-class commerce cloud solution,” said Atul Tuli, Vice President of SAP Southeast Asia in the press release.

SAP Commerce Cloud has prebuilt integrations with SAP S/4HANA, SAP ERP, SAP C/4HANA, and other SAP applications. The SAP’s commerce solution that promises to provide superior omnichannel experience boasts of its portfolio such as:

SAP Product Content Hub

SAP Upscale Commerce

SAP Commerce Cloud, context-driven service

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