Preface
It’s been some time we have been working on commerce implementations, and I am writing this to highlight some of the things which we noticed while working with our clients/partners. These might sound basic mistake but will render your solution un-upgradable, you will not be able to use the platform fully and it will be costly and time-consuming fix the issues and you might not be able to launch the site at all.
Having XP on top of XC is what makes this platform so unique. But #XC is not XP
We came across a lot of commerce implementations and haven’t found anyone to be built according to or compliant with the best practices. Sitecore Commerce IS NOT Sitecore XP and not having it implemented correctly will not allow to reap the benefits of the platform.
Being a Sitecore expert doesn’t automatically means that one is an expert on Sitecore Commerce. In fact, having a Sitecore development model mindset has caused 90% of the issues in the first place. Developers spend time reading the source code and trying to implement it in the usual XP way. Wasting time learning the platform and then implementing it wrong, this always results in rework, which is costly and frustrating.
Looks can be deceiving
Sometimes, we have seen the sites built all shiny and glossy only to be found that under the hood it is not making use of the platform as it should be and just patched to read the commerce data using Sitecore items in the way which is similar to we used to do with Sitecore XP.
Sitecore Commerce is built for extensibility. It should always, I repeat always, should be extended and not overwritten. I understand there might be scenarios/places where the extension is not possible those should be exceptions and noted to be taken care of while upgrading.
A properly implemented Sitecore Commerce Solution is a win-win for everyone – Who doesn’t want a happy client? The implementor is benefitted as they are going to create modules (Plugins in Sitecore Commerce) which can be reused in other implementations.
Recently, we have been working for a client and created a functionality, which covers SXA frontend, Connect layers, promotions, and new views (screens in business tools). Except for 1% of the code at the front end, 99% of the functionality is driven via an extension to the OOB code. All I can disclose is, it was a complex piece of functionality we built against the OOB SDK and will be used across 3 websites without changing a single line of code.
How do I know if something is wrong?
Typical symptoms of incorrect implementation are –
- Slow unresponsive Storefront
- Sporadic error popping up now and then
- Missing commerce Analytics
- Analytics captured but not being able to use the data for personalization
- Marketing Automation plans not working
- Hike in the resources’ usage by Commerce Engine
- Business tools not working or have missing data
- Orders not showing up in business tools
- Payment information is not showing up or no new related plugins created
- Content editor is not working.
Out of Box (OOB) features should always work
There is not excuse that any of the OOB functionality stops working. Unless you have decided that you are not using Sitecore Commerce, all of the OOB functionality should work for you and all the additional features including rendering data to the front-end, adding features connect layer, adding/removing features to Commerce Engine should be extensions to OOB functionality.
In summary, you should be able to add/remove any new features easily without much of the development effort. If that is not the case, then probably you haven’t done it right.
How we can help?
At Assurex we are committed to delivering Sitecore Commerce solution built as per the best practices.
If you are currently in the middle of your implementation and be Assured, our Assure.360 can help you identify gaps and remedial action needed before it’s too late. We can further scope and chart out a plan of rescue and help you implement that plan.
Or before you start your Commerce journey, please get in touch to know more about Assure.Implement service which guarantees the solution built as per the best practices, else we will fix it for free.
If you are looking at in-house development our hand-on training delivered by expert commerce architects can help your team get started.
In fact, we are so confident in our delivery, we will deliver agreed scope at a fixed cost and promise that you will not pay a penny more.
