# E-Commerce & Omnichannel Commerce

_Last updated: 2026-08-10_

## Market overview

- US e-commerce ~19% of total retail sales and growing [unsourced]
- BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In Store) now standard expectation across hardline retail [unsourced]
- Same-day delivery race: Amazon, Walmart, Target competing; THD/Lowe's investing in Pro same-day job-site delivery [unsourced]
- Headless/composable commerce gaining traction for flexibility, but Azure-native backends are an advantage [unsourced]

## Named account e-commerce posture

- **The Home Depot:** HD.com is a major e-commerce business (>$15B online [unsourced]); unified commerce across online + store + Pro is the strategic priority; Magic Apron gen AI deployed for customer/associate product queries
- **Lowe's:** Lowes.com with strong Pro digital tools; Lowe's for Pros portal; virtual room/design tools; One Roof media integration
- **Staples:** Staples.com + Staples Business Advantage portal (B2B e-procurement); the B2B portal is the core revenue engine; competing directly with Amazon Business
- **TJX:** Minimal e-commerce by design; treasure-hunt model doesn't translate well online; tjmaxx.com/marshalls.com exist but not a strategic growth driver [unsourced]
- **Coca-Cola System:** B2B2C through My Coke Rewards; direct ordering through CONA platforms for on-premise (restaurant/foodservice) customers; Freestyle machine digital engagement

## Key tech battleground: Commerce platforms

- **Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC):** Dominant in large retail; strong SI ecosystem; Agentforce AI add-on
- **SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris):** Common in SAP ERP shops and European retailers
- **Adobe Commerce (Magento):** Mid-market + DTC; strong in content-rich retail
- **VTEX:** Growing in Latin America; some US enterprise
- **Microsoft D365 Commerce:** Competing for unified POS + e-commerce; strongest argument when D365 SCM/Finance already in seat; single data model is the pitch
- **Headless/composable:** commercetools, Contentful — cloud-agnostic frontends but Azure-native backends preferred

## Key SE displacement angle: D365 Commerce

When to pitch D365 Commerce:
- D365 Finance/SCM already in the account → single vendor, unified data model, no integration middleware
- Account is frustrated with Salesforce/SAP Commerce licensing complexity
- Account needs unified POS + e-commerce + call center on one platform
- Microsoft 365 + Teams already deployed → lower change management friction

## AI in e-commerce (SE angle)

- **Semantic/vector search:** Azure AI Search replacing Elasticsearch/Lucidworks for product search — active displacement; faster relevance tuning, native AOAI integration
- **AI recommendations:** Azure Personalizer / custom AOAI models vs. AWS Personalize, GCP Recommendations AI
- **Visual search:** Azure AI Vision for "shop by photo" features at THD/Lowe's (home product identification)
- **Conversational commerce:** Copilot Studio for retail chatbots — order status, product questions, B2B account management
- **B2B quoting:** AOAI for dynamic quote generation (Staples Business Advantage)