Managing a monolithic storefront is never easy, especially with the dynamically changing market and shifting consumer demands. Such storefronts have integrated and rigid frontend and backend layers, with almost no flexibility that could have allowed scaling on the go and adaptation. That’s why several e-commerce businesses have started to shift the paradigm to a lightweight, flexible, expandable, flexible, adaptable, and scalable platform, SAP Spartacus.
Considered as one of the best SAP systems released in the market so far, Spartacus allows businesses to design and launch a personalized storefront with better omnichannel customer experience, higher performance metrics, and customized features. Although it does sound quite tempting, one should acknowledge the facts that make it ideal for developing and launching a commerce storefront. Considering this, we have explained the reasons for which Spartacus is now being considered the gateway to the commerce revolution.
What is Spartacus?
Spartacus is basically a storefront based on the Angular programming language and designed specifically for SAP Commerce Cloud. It interacts with the commerce platform via different sorts of REST APIs, which is why the interaction is faster, more reliable, and doesn’t require any in-depth coding. Even though Spartacus comes with tons of pre-developed features, developers can extend and customize the components per the business requirements.
Spartacus and its upgraded architecture
Unlike other commerce platforms being used in the market, Spartacus has an extensible architecture that allows easy and hassle-free integration with both SAP-based and non-SAP tools required for business continuity. All the involved layers are decoupled from one another, meaning they can be treated as separate entities for higher modularity, enhanced flexibility, and an exceptional level of scalability and expandability. Considering that the architectural layers have been upgraded, it is crucial to have a basic idea about the same before working with the storefront. Having said that, we have discussed the three major layers involved with Spartacus architecture below.
1. The frontend layer of the storefront application
The frontend layer of Spartacus is made with various JavaScript-based libraries. Developers need to import these libraries to the Angular storefront for extending the functionalities. One of the best facts about the libraries is that they can be customized easily to meet the business specifics and offer an exclusive buying journey experience to the customers.
2. Rest API layer for interaction
As already discussed, the frontend and backend layers of Spartacus are decoupled from one another. This means they do not interact directly. To establish a seamless and fast-paced communication, a middle layer of REST APIs is used. Here, the API requests are triggered as soon as someone takes an action on the frontend layer. These requests communicate with the Commerce Cloud layer or any other third-party external platform and generate the corresponding responses. Due to the use of APIs, Spartacus can easily access the interfaces, systems, and other components of the SAP Commerce Cloud layer or any other integrated platform.
3. Backend commerce layer with business logic
Lastly, we have the base core layer of the SAP Commerce Cloud platform being hosted either on the cloud server or the on-premise server as per the business preference. Its main function is to process business logic as per the API requests being triggered at the front end. Apart from this, it is also responsible for handling critical commerce workflows, like pricing and promotions, order management, product catalog updates, and many more.
Features of Spartacus specific to the commerce industry
Now that we have discussed the architectural layers of Spartacus that make it an ideal solution for commerce storefronts, let’s focus on its upgraded features. This will further highlight the crucial role Spartacus plays in delivering optimal performance and customer experience for any e-commerce business.
Headless architecture
First of all, Spartacus has a headless architecture, meaning the frontend interface is completely decoupled from the backend business logic layer. As a result, they function independently from one another and the communication system is handled through commerce APIs. Also, the decoupled architecture allows developers to focus on either the frontend or backend layer independently without having to deal with the other one.
Product content management system
Spartacus comes with a built-in product content management system that fetches all types of content related to a product and renders the same on the front-end layer. Since APIs are implemented for communication, professionals won’t have to store any type of static data in the database concerning the products. All content pieces related to the products are rendered in real-time, allowing businesses to provide in-depth and accurate product information.
Omnichannel order management system
The entire order management system works in an omnichannel manner across all touchpoints integrated with the commerce business. In other words, the orders are processed uniformly, regardless of their origin, and enhance customer experience throughout.
CPQ integration
CPQ or Configure, Price, and Quote functionality allows businesses to configure products and services on the go as per consumer demands. Furthermore, it allows developers to generate dynamic and custom price quotes based on consumer requests from the frontend, thereby increasing the efficiency of the sales funnel and generating higher revenues.
Conclusion
With this in-depth guide about SAP Spartacus, it will become easier for businesses to migrate their system to this Angular-based commerce platform and leverage the OOTBs to create personalized consumer experiences throughout. However, before doing so, having clarification about the involved technologies and challenges is crucial. This will minimize failure risks and any last-minute changes that might create hurdles in Spartacus’s operations.
