Sitecore OrderCloud vs Sitecore Experience Commerce

It is a question asked by many regarding the difference between Sitecore OrderCloud and Sitecore Experience Commerce. Sitecore already had Sitecore Experience Commerce and recently it has acquired OrderCloud which was formerly known as Four51.

Let us take a look at both Sitecore OrderCloud and Sitecore Experience Commerce one by one.

What is Sitecore OrderCloud?

OrderCloud was created in order to solve complex business problems specifically for B2X marketplace businesses. It is an API-based, headless CMS platform that allows you create eCommerce platforms with ease and speed. Sitecore OrderCloud is a next-gen platform which is completely based on MACH architecture. MACH Architecture allows individual functions to separately and independently be developed and deployed.

The cloud-native nature of Sitecore OrderCloud allows you to easily and seamlessly integrate with other systems, allows scalability, and gives you freedom to connect with other services such as mobile applications, social media, etc. It is built to scale when more than 6 million products are onboarded on the eCommerce platform.

The strength is unbelievable as OrderCloud was built just for large organizations who want digital transformation for their retail, eCommerce business. You can extend your business to any and every touchpoint through Sitecore OrderCloud.

Some of the major features of Sitecore OrderCloud:

Order Management, Product Management, Vendor Management – You can onboard, manage and regulate multiple order processes and customer buying journeys, administrate vendor onboarding and their functions, as well as product management for your eCommerce business. This feature also includes eCommerce catalog management.

World-class Security – When dealing with an eCommerce business, you deal with a lot of sensitive and confidential information. Product information, vendor details, customer buying patterns, customer data and order data. This leads to privacy and security concerns. These concerns are addressed by Sitecore OrderCloud as it is compliant with all rules and regulations required by law for ensuring data security and safety.

Cloud-native Infrastructure – Sitecore OrderCloud is cloud-native in nature which makes it easier for the developers to build a platform without worrying about external factors causing hindrance towards the development process. Everything is implemented online, the entire development, deployment and the management. This makes it safer as well as convenient.

Time and Cost Saving – Every business wants to save money and time. Even when in the business of profit, it is better to always come up with solutions that save time and cost. Sitecore OrderCloud allows you to reduce the cost of ownership and make your development process quicker. Let us just say, using Sitecore OrderCloud, you can develop an eCommerce portal within 1 month.

Headless Integrations – Due to its headless integrations, OrderCloud makes your platform flexible as well as future-proof. It’s micro-services-based MACH architecture makes your platform functionalities such as front-end and back-end independent. This means if there are upgrades or changes required and you want to modify the platform, you can do that without disturbing the other. This also reduces the down-time during errors.

Sitecore OrderCloud is an emerging eCommerce platform with headless integrations that allows you freedom to completely customize your platform and add your own unique features to it for delivering an exceptional experience to your customers.

What is Sitecore Experience Commerce?

Sitecore Experience Commerce was introduced as back as 2014 and it was formerly known as Commerceserver.net before Sitecore acquired it. It has had several upgrades, iterations and changes since it was introduced on the market. Each time it has come up with increased capabilities, better performance, and even a newly built framework with the Version 9 release. Today, the latest version of Sitecore Experiene Commerce is 10.1.

The latest version offers a variety of benefits including data archiving options and optimization of the commerce redis cache. This framework is specific to the B2C market.

Some of the major features of Sitecore Experience Commerce:

Extreme Personalization – This feature allows you to provide personalized experiences for customers designed based on their preferences, likes and wants. It tracks each and every data including abandoned carts on the platform to understand the customer behavior, their buying process and to thoroughly understand their decision-making process when it comes to purchasing e-retail.

Flexibility – One more major advantage is that Sitecore Commerce offers flexibility. It can even form a very powerful Digital Experience Platform by merging it with Sitecore XP Solution. There are also many configurations available for Salesforce Marketing Cloud, ERPs, etc.

Marketing Automation – Through Sitecore Commerce, you can also automate your marketing efforts. You can fully customize and capture the active users in the market. This can be of assistance to your business as it allows us to identify cross-sells, reorders, and upsells.

OrderCloud does have more features and benefits comparatively and also does have a few similar features to that of Sitecore Commerce. But one of the major differences that we noticed is that OrderCloud has an API-based framework which makes service integrations very easy. It allows parallel development of both front-end and back-end side by side.

Having a headless approach creates an easier way for you to develop solutions. OrderCloud also guarantees faster and quicker delivery of your platform.

Both Sitecore OrderCloud and Sitecore Commerce are great Sitecore solutions provided by sitecore development companies. Both of them have features and capabilities that are beneficial and empower your B2X business by delivering enhanced customer experience.

Maulik Dudharejia - Co-Founder & CMO - ADDACT

Sitecore MVP 2021-23 || Digital Transformation Strategist || Marketer

Maulik Dudharejia is a visionary author, co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer, and a digital transformation expert with over 12+ years' of experience. He leverages industry certifications to translate complex tech concepts into engaging writing. His areas of expertise include Sitecore, IoT, and IT Service Management. Maulik offers valuable insights and strategies to help readers navigate the evolving tech landscape.