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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SAP Japan has been at the helm of many Japanese enterprises’ digitization, providing cutting-edge business software to help them navigate the journey to becoming intelligent, sustainable enterprises. Most recently, the local subsidiary of the German software enterprise has introduced new cloud-based products to help customers in the country innovate and drive business transformation amid the ever-changing customer profile and business operations needs.

Latest SAP Products to Back Digitization of Japanese Enterprises 

SAP Warehouse Robotics

SAP Warehouse Robotics, which enables SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) application users to integrate almost any warehouse robot, has now been made available in Japan. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) The solution addresses manufacturers’ challenge in operating multiple heterogenous robots by utilizing one software stack. SAP Warehouse Robotics centralizes management and instruction coordination of each robot that has different roles and capabilities. 

Here are some of the features and benefits of SAP Warehouse Robotics:

• Drives cost-effective and simple warehouse automation by integrating a new generation of collaborative robots with SAP EWM, a modern, flexible warehouse management system (WMS) that allows enterprises to manage a high volume of goods while running agile operations made possible by digitalized and accelerated warehouse processes

• Faster collaborative development with robots, cutting months to weeks, and expanding robot connections easier

• Supports the changing robotics needs in Japan by driving automation in managing complex material handling and kitting tasks, significantly reducing on-site labor support and allowing rapid on-site work scale expansion

SAP Japan mentioned the company’s plan to utilize SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud, a manufacturing execution system (MES) based on near real-time data and analytics, to help businesses maximize the number of robots from the warehouse site to the manufacturing site.

“We support the realization of next-generation distribution warehouses and smart factories that have been utilized in Japan,” stated the company.

New “Group Management Function” for Customer IDs 

Starting in June, a new feature in the SAP Customer Data Cloud focused on enhancing the group management function for customer IDs can be utilized by Japanese companies. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) SAP Customer Data Cloud, comprised of Customer Identity, Customer Consent, and CIAM (Customer Identity and Access Management) for B2B solutions, allows enterprises to identify their consumers, securely, across channels and devices. The solution enhancement is designed to enable enterprises to improve corporate marketing activities and protect customers’ personal information. 

Here are some of the key features of the added “Group Management Function” in SAP Customer Data Cloud:

• Enables businesses to manage multiple IDs in groups 

• Allows service contractors and users to add end-users, which supports data sharing to enable companies to create specific marketing activities

• Manages consent necessary for conducting marketing activities for individuals

• Enhances security with the capability of individual authentication

• Recognizes the person of authority within the group such as obtaining proxy consent from parents to market to minors

• Unique ID provides important data such as payment information

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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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