1. For Merchandisers: Product Readiness for B2C Commerce
Customers have long asked for Product Readiness Checks for Salesforce B2C Commerce. Business Manager provides iconography to help inform business users of product readiness, but it still requires manual work for users to take products offline that don't meet the criteria. It also doesn't scale to give a single view when catalogs are shared across sites.
For more than a decade, Astound’s response as a Salesforce partner has been, “A product information management (PIM) system helps with that.” But then Salesforce went ahead and released such a feature on Commerce on Core.
Ideally, a framework similar to the Product Readiness feature that was introduced for B2B and D2C Commerce would be implemented for B2C Commerce.
Vote for this idea on the IdeaExchange.
2. For Developers: API-first B2C Commerce
This one is a particular passion of mine.
On Trailhead, Salesforce states the follow regarding its approach to application programming interfaces (APIs):
“API-first means building a robust API for a feature before focusing on designing its UI. . . . Salesforce knows that its customers and partners are always thinking of new ways to extend Salesforce functionality and exciting apps to build for the AppExchange. Providing a comprehensive toolbox for developing on the platform is a top priority.”
This idea is simply an extension of that statement. Make the Salesforce B2C Commerce platform API-first, especially in terms of its RESTful APIs. Provide full RESTful APIs for all critical system objects, including Product, Pricebook, Inventory, Basket, Content Asset, Campaigns, Promotions, and more.
- For Data APIs, full create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations in pre-prod environments
- For Shop APIs, full CRUD operations in all environments
- Critically, any elements or attributes that can be imported or exported via XML or internal APIs for these objects should be exposed as RESTful APIs. There is currently a large disparity here.
Vote for this idea on the IdeaExchange.
3. For Everyone: Trial Sandboxes for B2C Commerce
Currently, you must have a partner or customer agreement to access a Salesforce B2C Commerce environment.
This idea is to provide a mechanism for anyone to request a free trial/educational-use-only B2C Commerce sandbox where:
- A customer or partner agreement is not required
- A Trailhead login is required
- The sandboxes can be automatically “slept” after lack of use and automatically deleted thereafter
Benefits:
- Broaden the community, enabling external contractors and people between jobs to stay fresh on the platform
- Enable people to learn the B2C platform hands-on and at their own pace
- Enable integrated learning on Trailhead similar to verification exercises in Salesforce Core on Trailhead
Vote for this idea on the IdeaExchange.
The theme of this wishlist might seem simple on its face—improve the quality of life of merchandisers, administrators, architects, and developers working on the Salesforce B2C Commerce platform. By automating product readiness, providing robust APIs, and opening up sandbox access to the public, customers and partners can speed time to market and maximize ROI in a number of ways.
But really, I believe each of these improvements would level up innovation on Commerce Cloud. Each will inevitably improve customer satisfaction and, ultimately, the longevity of the product.
What items are on your Commerce Cloud roadmap wishlist? Consult with a Salesforce-certified expert today to discuss how Astound can help turn your wishlist into reality. And if you're attending Salesforce Connections 2023, be sure to join Kyle and Senior Technical Director Dedric Guest for a can't-miss session on Salesforce B2B and B2C Commerce and order management best practices. “Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Well-Architected” is happening Wednesday, June 7, at 4:30 p.m. CT.