SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris) for B2B eCommerce
Key takeaways
- Learn more about implementing SAP B2B eСommerce solutions into your business to boost sales as enterprises do.
- Discover SAP Hybris development nuances and milestones.
- Check the estimate for development and factors that influence the total cost.
The mission of any business is problem-solving and profit. B2B selling embraces not only service providers, but wholesalers of goods, distributors selling to resellers and others. Due to Hybris, B2B commerce can go online and engage in business activities as a B2C e-Commerce shop providing services and goods for businesses. Such SAP Hybris e-Commerce approach cultivates wholesale distribution online.
Implementation of SAP Hybris B2B commerce
Today doing B2B business is associated with SAP Hybris implementation due to the fact that plug-and-play Hybris solutions of web development are comprehensive and worth the cost. Due to out-of-the-box accelerators and the availability of hundreds of extensions for Hybris in the SAP marketplace, SAP B2B eСommerce implementation goes faster than ever.
Is it worth implementing Hybris into your digital commerce business? Should businesses consider SAP for e-Commerce? How much does it cost to develop a website on Hybris?
E-Commerce B2B website consists of various components and development stages. Set of features, development time, project staff, client’s specifications, and other valuable causes hold a lot of sway over the cost. We made market research, sorted out the entire process of Hybris B2B website development, and provide you with a breakdown of spending for projects of different levels of complexity.
Project kickoff
Development of B2B e-Commerce has plenty of similarities with B2C. First, we will go through project kickoff stages which are permanent in web development on Hybris in our company.
Find out our article about SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris) for B2C eCommerce.
Business requirements. We are always determined to obtain the most precise requirements to please a client. Among ways of communication are audio/video calls, e-mail correspondence, and face-to-face meetings with customers. We often initiate on-site meetings with clients to collect needs. Since the cost of implementing SAP e-Commerce B2B projects on Hybris is reasonably high and runs up to several hundred thousand euros, it is right to meet for discussing details privately, given that they are expected in large numbers because of the scope and breadth of e-Commerce solutions capabilities.
Statement of work. SOW is among the most powerful PM tools in Hybris web development. It is a maximum detailed document with all requirements, desired features, and user acceptance criteria. We prepare a draft and show it to the client. After discussing the SOW, adjustments are made collaboratively with the client, and the final approved version of the expected e-Commerce solution on Hybris will be grounds for an estimation.
Estimation. There are two types of estimates we provide: rough and detailed depending on if this is a first call of the client or if we have initial data in SOW. Evaluation based on the SOW includes the full list of primary e-Commerce functionality of development time on Hybris in hours within min and max values. An extra coefficient for collaboration loss, deployment, internal testing, unit testing, QA and PM specialists’ engagement is taken into account. Estimation defines the cost of Hybris e-Commerce website development and implementation by reason of development process components. That is what this article is devoted to.
SAP Hybris e-Commerce development: What makes up a B2B website on Hybris?
TIMELINE
After getting the estimate approved, a staff of the project team is assigned. Then we proceed to time frames. A four-week Sprint Zero (or Iteration Zero, Inception Sprint as it is called as well) follows, and the project is split up into user stories, which in their turn are distributed over the necessary amount of two-week sprints. A single coherent work plan of e-Commerce development on Hybris is ready to be taken up by the client.
The minimum time for web development with Hybris out-of-the-box features takes usually 300 hours. Often clients are inclined to favor Hybris ordering SAP e-commerce solutions of different complexity for their particular ambitions.
Go deeper with figures on the basic Hybris e-Commerce platform in our article.
SAP e-Commerce B2B FEATURE SET
If you are reading this article, then you are very concerned about the evolution of your business. The Hybris platform is rich in e-Commerce features to translate your offbeat ideas into action. Even a small online store opens the door to many possibilities for business. Let’s consider a comprehensive list of features often demanded in development on Hybris with SAP B2B commerce solutions to time spent.
Typical features used in a B2B Hybris e-Commerce platform over development time
| Feature | Hours |
|---|---|
| Setting up Hybris (out-of-the-box admin tools) | 8 |
| B2B accelerator generation | 20 |
| Accelerator customization | 32 |
| Custom CMS components | 56 |
| Filling with items (products, goods, etc.) | 20 |
| Payment integration advanced options: multiple payment options, invoice management) | 96 |
| Shipping integration (advanced options: flat rates, freight rates, dropshipping, regional shipping) | 80 |
| Integrating tax provider (mandatory for the USA, optional for all countries) | 80 |
| Integration with ERP* (advanced options) | 104 |
| Advanced search | 80 |
| Vouchers, coupons, promos, personal discounts management | 40 |
| Country branding | min 120 hours per country |
Inaccessible to B2B online store owners made on different platforms, management of basic items in Hybris B2B store is available (products, goods, etc.) in Backoffice directly or in an external ERP system, e.g., SAP ECC. If the changes are made in the SAP ECC system at first, then they will be synced automatically and displayed there as well. B2B Accelerator is not enough to be set up; it will require customization to use it at full capacity.
Get more insights on the potential of Hybris Backoffice tools.
Hybris C4C (SAP Cloud for Customer) is invented to ensure omnichannel service based on personalized and real-time insights. It can be integrated optionally into the online B2B Hybris store of any size. A Hybris C4C mobile app is available for use as well.
Integration of payment providers can’t be avoided in contrast to shipping and tax providers which are optional to be connected initially. When integrating tax providers into the SAP Hybris e-Commerce platform, you should pay attention to the lack of coincidence in the tax systems of different countries. For example, the US taxes come in different sizes depending on the group of goods, state of purchasing, or other factors. So-called “sales tax” varies from item to item and is assessed on the total sale price in a separate paragraph. It is well-founded to connect tax providers as a part of a typical set of features for even a small B2B e-shop for the US market. Well, that’s the thing about B2B e-Commerce development we want you to pay attention to.
In Europe, VAT is included in the cost of goods for end users. While trading in B2B, VAT is charged from a buyer at the rate applicable to the country he is located in. 80% of B2B VAT payers are not charged tax. In that way, the business has two options: 1) to make a note in the checkout process that the price is not considered final and depends on the legislation in force; 2) to integrate a tax provider module which on the one hand, requires an additional commitment of time and effort from staff, on the other hand, keeps your end clients satisfied with total price without any hint of a misunderstanding. To learn more, we recommend reading the article on payment integrations in Hybris.
Integration with ERP can be attributed to the advanced options. In most cases, the Hybris SAP will be implemented with Data Hub as it is a perfectly fitted mediator to Hybris and SAP ECC (SAP ERP) as well as for other ERPs. Developers specialized in this type of integration with Data Hub expertise are in high demand in the European market primarily. It resulted from the increased popularity of SAP solutions for businesses in this area. In either case, Java developers with strong experience in Hybris technology will suffice to integrate a new SAP Hybris platform with your operating ERP system.
Customer’s team training. After the online store is done, we embark on training the clients’ team. Training on the e-Commerce system always takes from 8 to 40 hours per month depending on the complexity of the Hybris solution. Training takes place on DevOps and content management issues. It happens in-house developers are not allowed to log in with administrator access rights in particular cases. To provide appropriate support for the system, the rights are granted to Aimprosoft developers only.
Country branding (or nation branding) is one of the most time-consuming highlights. Actually, it is to develop a new online store for every country reusing all features of the current website. But here’s the trick. For example, there is a payment provider favored only in the USA, but not used in Germany. Sometimes payment providers are chosen to be compliant with local legislation. It will need a great deal of Hybris e-Commerce website developers’ time to integrate a different provider for every branded store. With Hybris, B2B commerce benefits from time and cost-saving delivery and market entry.
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
People make all the difference. It is important not to let a tough dev team slide by if you had found it already. Hybris’s e-Commerce development concern requires engaging a professional project team that will get things done, cope with tasks clearly and correctly, is firm in its commitments, and be nifty in the ways of how best to take forward.
At Aimprosoft people follow the rule: consider every project from three fronts. Every Hybris retail solution is screened with a checklist below:
- As a developer — do I like the code I write, the structure of it, whether it is concise and feasible and can I understand the code in 6 months if I stop working on it right now?
- As a user — do I please the website, whether it is comfortable, user-friendly, would I buy via this website or choose that of competitor’s, more satisfying?
- As a customer — do I agree to pay for the result a dollar?
An implementation cost will be up to the e-Commerce website developers to a greater extent.
EXPERTISE AND SKILLS LEVEL
Finally, we get to the expertise and skills level which are must-haves for SAP e-Commerce development and Hybris implementation specialists.
Project kickoff always begins with gathering requirements by business analytics which will go down in the SOW and detail estimation. Apart from the analysis of underlying data, you may need the services of a UI/UX designer to pass the corporate colors of your website and make it look beautiful with any resolution of the screen. Smartphones and tablets are more popular as devices for browsing products both in B2C and B2C. This calls for the responsiveness of the SAP Hybris e-Commerce website. The Hybris designer is involved before or after web development is done.
As for the skill level of backend developers favor middle-senior specialists in order not to make time-and-money investments in Juniors. Usually, it takes 1-2 months. Old-hand developers of the Middle or Senior level must be skilled with Java EE, Hybris experience, deep understanding of e-Commerce website projects. At the moment we talk about Hybris, SAP isn’t most often left on the sidelines. Therefore, SAP ecosystem experience (SAP ECC, SAP Hybris C4C) would be a plus for B2B Hybris devs.
A frontend developer is not enough to be the only right expert in his field. He also has to have the expertise with large platforms and Hybris including spreading design components across all web pages. The Hybris C4C experience is not critical there.
All skills mentioned above (both of back and frontend devs) are vital for the terms and quality of the project because a lack of one of the skills retards the process of official project release and increases a lot of iterative feedback.
A DevOps works part-time but is fragmental. Their engagement is decisive at the launch and in the final stage to ensure the stability of the project and its extension. They have an extremely busy workload during UAT and go-live stages when it is required to stand by almost 24/7.
Finally, QAs and PMs should be experienced with e-Commerce projects to get their job done in full. No supernatural SAP B2B solution deployment skills are expected. However, there are available niche specialists for hiring experienced in Hybris solutions.
Read also: Our tips on how to build an eCommerce mobile app
SAP HYBRIS LICENSE COSTS
A B2B website development cost depends on whether you should pay for a software license. There are two points.
You have the option to host on SAP Commerce Cloud B2B or your servers, e.g., AWS EC2 instances. It is given below figures for hosting spending you should be ready to accept on AWS. SAP SE provides a subscription license where hosting spending is included in a monthly fee. The point is that you will be charged for each user of your operating SAP Hybris e-Commerce platform along with payment for every single core of your CPU (Central Process Unit) rented in SAP Hybris. The information about SAP Hybris license cost is sensitive. For more information about license costs, please, ask our consultants.
POST-RELEASE EXPENSES/SUPPORT
It is expected to require the assistance of developers after you get the project released. The e-Commerce website went live and it might appear issues in the newly-fledged Hybris solution you need developers’ help.
Updates. Our developers keep abreast of critical updates of infrastructure (servers, external APIs) on their own. The initiative may be taken by the client or from our side.
You may be interested in how to build a REST API in SAP Hybris Commerce.
System support (customer support or any). Developers or DevOps at Aimprosoft monitor your B2B Hybris website to work in normal mode 24/7 up and running. Also, they are in charge of making regular backups, automated deployment tools, and notifications about issues encountered.
Hybris administration support.It comes to admin panel usage. There are several reasons why Hybris developers may be required. For example, to restore order, access to a user account, the payment isn’t charged, and others. At Aimprosoft we work on the following agreed principles which influence the B2B e-commerce platform cost. If the issue is iterative, then the Hybris developer fixes it and writes a tech guide for the client’s project team which will help them to extricate issues. If the issue is valid for one occasion only, there is no need for drafting any document.
Hosting spendings. The amount of payment for hosting services depends on the client’s preferences concerning the hosting provider and be on top of this stuff. In most cases, we manage and create Hybris instances (websites), and they are hosted in Amazon Cloud Services (EC2, RDS, S3, etc.). The Simple Monthly Calculator can estimate the cost expected to be paid by the client for Amazon Cloud Services. This charge is included neither in the support services cost nor in the cost of B2B website development. We are committed to calculating the monthly payment and sending a separate bill in due time. Using Amazon Calculator, it is quite easy to get a shareable link of estimation hosting spending. For example, the maintenance of a small e-Commerce shop will cost you around $4 400, for the medium you will pay $8 000, and you will be charged $18 100 monthly for an enterprise-level online store.
Overall, hosting for clients of enterprise-level can be quite costly, especially if you keep a park of environments (QA, Stage, Prod, etc.). We at Aimprosoft are interested in the efficient use of resources by Hybris clients without losing the quality of SAP B2B e-Commerce development. Thus, we offer alternatives to be considered as hosting providers. For example, RackSpace hosts 40% of companies in the Fortune 100. As we experienced, it benefits enterprise-level businesses. Otherwise, you can opt for Hetzner, and be charged only for hardware, and enlist the support of our DevOps to set up and configure the systems provided by AWS. In this case, you’ll be charged once, and the monthly fee will be less.
Development assistance. It happens clients want to have bells and whistles. Often extra features require over time that it is provided in the agreed monthly quota. To deal with it, we create a change request paper where the desired updates are described. After the agreement of the action plan, developers get to work. For instance, if the task is estimated for 2-4 working hours, then it is resolved within the monthly quota. Before launching the development process, the number of manhours for Aimprosoft support of the client’s project is entered in the SOW.
FROM SCRATCH OR MIGRATION
It all depends. The cost of the B2B e-Commerce platform will vary on the scope of work to be. In case a client doesn’t have anything except the desire to create an e-Commerce store then the development will be accomplished from scratch. If the client has the store running on a platform different from Hybris, then we take into account extra time for data migration (users, orders, products, prices, discounts, etc.) to the total time for e-store development.
The last case describes the migration of websites between two Hybris versions to upgrade. Time-consuming will be much less than building from scratch. For example, consumption of time and cost for the country branding of e-store of enterprise-level is comparable to migration process factors. Here the SAP Hybris license cost depends on major version changes, an arrangement with the vendor, and acceptable discounts if any. Migration of Data Hub from the old to the newer version is within the purview of Aimprosoft developers as well.
Check out this comparison of Hybris VS Salesforce VS Shopify to clarify pricing and feature set.
Now you know why Hybris differs in cost. In the next paragraph, we are going to shed light on B2B Hybris development rates over the globe.
RATES AROUND THE GLOBE
SAP for e-Commerce with B2B Hybris web development solutions at its core is gaining rapid popularity. And the impact of demand for SAP Hybris developers is clearly felt. Speaking about the cost in this article, we would like to cover rates over the globe you may see searching for a development team.
The rate of B2B e-Commerce development services often depends on the experience and expertise of specialists and their skill level. Undoubtedly, geography has to be seen as essential in this regard, for without taking into account the location of the country’s IT hubs development is possible to be misestimated.
Concerning the hourly rates over the globe in 2022, the situation is as follows:
- in Western Europe countries like Germany it will cost you from €95 per hour for the SAP Hybris developer with all taxes included;
- US developers of the same level will bill $110 and more for their services;
- a UK rate starts from £65 per hour according to the recent data;
- Eastern Europe (inc. Ukraine) offers $40-55 and over for average-priced talents.
Now we are well informed about rates on the market of Hybris e-Commerce solutions development in the most favorable IT locations of the world. Note, that rates of developers do not include the SAP Hybris license cost. Let’s figure out the cost of an online B2B store based on Hybris then.
How much does it cost to create an e-Commerce B2B website on Hybris?
Serious companies don’t hold forth on scribbled calculations based on a hunch. Every single case is unique and has to be scrutinized. Nevertheless, we would like to provide guidance on the implementation cost of Hybris B2B platform development dividing websites into three types of complexity — simple, middle, and of enterprise level. To value the rate of a full-fledged online store we will take a min average value across countries.
APPROXIMATE VALUES OF HYBRIS B2B WEBSITE COST BY SIZE AND COUNTRIES
| Business size, cost | USA >$110 per hour | Western Europe >€95 per hour | United Kingdom >£65 per hour | Eastern Europe >$40 per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 40 000 | 35 000 | 24 000 | 15 000 |
| Middle | 90 000 | 80 000 | 55 000 | 34 000 |
| Enterprise | 135 000 | 120 000 | 83 000 | 52 000 |
A simple B2B website has a basic set of features with all necessary options for online trading as following: B2B accelerator customized a bit, filling the data with basic items, key integrations (payment, shipping, tax). The ERP system can be connected upon request. Setting up Hybris is out of the box and requires only a little help from the developer. An example of a simple B2B website is the General Electric website of industrial solutions a company offers.
Another illustration of an SAP e-Commerce website of middle size is Sonny’s Direct. Besides features included in GE, it is enriched with advanced options of payment and shipping integrations. Also, there is an advanced search and option of vouchers, coupons, promos, and personal discounts management for B2B clients.
And the most complex and almighty SAP e-Commerce solution is completed in the enterprise-level online platform for B2B. All possible features that can blow your mind are there. Having an online store like this, you are able to make the current website an attractive target for consumers through country branding capabilities. GE Empowers website for customer service needs is an excellent example of it as well as an Italian manufacturer of sports sunglasses, goggles and apparel Oakley.
Finally, you have a fairly complete breakdown of Hybris B2B website development with a very vivid picture of real e-Commerce players. All that’s left is to roll out the red carpet and greet your new business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the SAP e-commerce solution?
SAP SE acquired a Hybris platform for B2B e-commerce in 2013. SAP SE began to develop a sales and marketing suite with SAP customer experience capabilities for B2B, going beyond an online store in its traditional sense. SAP SE’s e-commerce solution provides headless omnichannel capabilities for online and offline trade symbiosis.
What language is Hybris written in?
The core technology of Hybris is Java, with some Javascript in the frontend. The Spring MVC framework is used for storefronts. So if you’re thinking about developers, any Java dev can grasp Hybris to create online stores of B2B or B2C focus and custom functionality.
Can I transform my Hybris e-commerce system from B2B to B2B2C?
Yes, Hybris supports the transformation technically. However, before shifting to B2B2C, you should start with transforming your business models and adding a layer of B2C customer support besides B2B clients. Think out a marketplace logic, login, and feature set.
Is SAP Hybris relevant for B2B e-commerce in 2022?
Definitely yes. SAP Commerce Cloud covers all the features you need for online wholesale. At the same time, customers receive multi-channel interaction with a large number of suppliers, partners, wholesale buyers, and manufacturing and trading enterprises. SAP Hybris makes it possible to transform from B2B and B2C and thereby open up even more adaptive opportunities and use cases for businesses in the online sales environment.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C e-commerce systems on Hybris?
SAP Hybris B2B commerce is an industry-specific e-Commerce solution that allows you to quickly launch a multifunctional online store to work with retail customers. SAP Hybris B2B Commerce is an industry solution that covers capabilities necessary for a robust online store for multichannel interaction with a large number of suppliers, partners, and wholesale customers, as well as production and trading enterprises striving to develop their own online sales channel actively.
What is the difference between multichannel and omnichannel?
Multichannel is a strategy when a company uses multiple communication channels to attract and communicate with customers. Omnichannel is an integrated concept when different sales channels are combined into one seamless system. It allows you to connect customer data at every stage to track customer behavior. The latter is realized in Hybris quite enough.
How can I migrate to the SAP Hybris platform?
The migration process is defined as the movement of the entire e-commerce system with business and backend data to the SAP Hybris e-commerce system performed by experienced developers. So if you want to migrate from one platform to SAP Hybris, then you need to treat it as the development from scratch. But due to a wide enough set of features in Hybris out-of-the-box, it is done much faster.
What is an omnichannel for B2B e-Commerce?
B2B clients are humans behind companies. So it is expected to be a human-oriented buying experience when all touchpoints are coordinated into one system during a multichannel customer journey. B2B omnichannel sales cover m-Commerce, web commerce, communication via phone, and SAP B2B portal, POS, and other selling methods depending on the industry peculiarities.
