Adobe Commerce vs Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Choosing the Best Ecommerce Platform for Your Business Needs

Selecting the right enterprise ecommerce platform for your specific business needs is no easy task, especially if your choice narrows down to such giants as Adobe Commerce vs Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC). 

Both platforms have their own unique ecosystems. 

Both offer excellent opportunities for seamless customer experience and business growth. 

And both come with a quite hefty price tag. 

Your concern as for which platform to choose is understandable. Elogic has been in the ecommerce development market for 14+ years and has consulted over 200 companies on the right solution for their business issues.

Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of Salesforce Commerce Cloud vs Adobe Commerce and find which platform you can benefit most from. 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud vs Adobe: A Face-Off Comparison

Both Adobe and Salesforce have established themselves as premier ecommerce solutions, each with unique strengths and capabilities. Recognized in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce platforms, these platforms have been consistently placed in the Leader Quadrant for three consecutive years. 

Launched in 2008, Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento) quickly became a go-to solution for businesses seeking flexibility and scalability. In 2018, Adobe acquired Magento, rebranding it as Adobe Commerce and building an ecosystem around Adobe, which significantly enhanced its personalization and analytics capabilities. 

Magento powers over 250,000 merchants worldwide, including notable brands like Nike, Ford, Lenovo, Nestlé, Canon, Helly Hansen, and Paul Smith. 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC), originally known as Demandware, was acquired by Salesforce in 2016. This platform is now a core component of Salesforce’s Digital 360 suite, providing seamless integration with Salesforce CRM and marketing tools. 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud serves giants like Adidas, Puma, and Coca-Cola, leveraging its robust AI and CRM integrations to enhance customer engagement and operational efficiency.

Both platforms meet the diverse needs of midsize and enterprise-level organizations in many geographies and industries. The difference between Adobe Commerce Cloud vs Salesforce is that Adobe is usually a go-to choice for enterprises who look for flexibility and customizations, while SFCC will work best for businesses that already use other Salesforce solutions for their customer management.

Before digging deeper, check out a side-by-side comparison table highlighting key features and capabilities of Adobe Commerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Adobe (Magento) vs Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Deep Analysis

To help you determine which platform aligns best with your strategic goals and operational needs, we would like to explain in detail the distinct features, deployment options, integrations, checkout processes, overall flexibility of both platforms, pricing, etc.  

Pricing 

Adobe Commerce Cloud offers several pricing tiers and is designed to cater to different business needs, ranging from small businesses to large enterprises. The primary pricing structures include:

• Starter Edition costs around $20,000 per year, which makes it ideal for small businesses with basic requirements.
• Professional Edition is approximately $40,000 per year. It includes B2B features and marketing automation tools.
• Business Edition is around $60,000 per year. It offers advanced B2B capabilities, analytics, and customization.
• Enterprise Edition. The platform offers custom pricing plans for large enterprises, which usually start at $125,000 per year. This edition can be tailored for merchants with sophisticated needs.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce Commerce Cloud offers different pricing models based on a percentage of gross merchandise value (GMV). The pricing tiers include:

• B2C Commerce:
  • Starter Plan: 1% of GMV, designed for smaller businesses or startups.
  • Growth Plan: 2% of GMV, suitable for growing businesses with higher transaction volumes.
  • Custom pricing for large enterprises with extensive requirements.
• B2B Commerce:
  • Pricing is custom and usually higher than B2C plans due to additional features and support required for B2B operations.

Read more: Salesforce Pricing Plans: A Guide to Choose the Solution That’s Worth Your Money 

Hosting and Deployment

Adobe Commerce (Magento) offers two popular hosting options: an on-premise one and a managed cloud solution hosted on AWS. This includes automatic updates, security patches, and scalability features, and can handle high traffic volumes and extensive product catalogs. This makes a great choice for large enterprises and businesses with significant growth potential. 

Adobe Commerce Cloud uses Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), which allows development teams to push updates and new features without managing the underlying infrastructure. Moreover, due to its open-source architecture, developers can modify the core code and integrate it with third-party systems and applications.

Adobe Commerce Cloud also supports headless commerce, which allows businesses to decouple the front-end and back-end systems. This API-based architecture enables you to deliver unique and engaging user experiences across various channels and devices. 

Businesses that need a lot of customization and have the tech know-how to tweak their ecommerce platform will benefit greatly from Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento). Its ability to manage intricate product catalogs also makes it a good fit for businesses with extensive ecommerce requirements.

Read more: What is Adobe Commerce Cloud? – Features And Benefits 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud operates on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, offering you a fully managed environment that simplifies your ecommerce management. It takes care of hosting, security, and maintenance, thus reducing the operational burden on your business. The platform uses multi-tenant architecture, meaning multiple independent users share a single instance of the software application.

Thanks to automatic updates, the platform ensures that businesses always have access to the latest features and security updates (the platform offers advanced security features, including DDoS protection and data encryption). Salesforce’s cloud infrastructure also automatically scales to handle increased traffic, ensuring consistent performance during peak times.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud supports headless commerce through its API-first approach. This enables you to build and deliver tailored experiences across multiple channels without being tied to a specific front-end technology.

The platform’s headless capabilities allow for seamless integration with other Salesforce products, such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud to provide you with a full view of your customers’ journey.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is best suited for enterprises seeking a unified solution that integrates seamlessly with their existing Salesforce solutions. Also, the platform can be an optimal choice for companies preferring simplified management to extensive customization.

Read more: Salesforce Commerce Cloud from A to Z: Definition, Pricing, Features, and Benefits 

Checkout 

Adobe Commerce Cloud supports a wide range of payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, ACH, bank transfers, and more. The platform also handles recurring payments and subscriptions, making it suitable for businesses with diverse product offerings. To reduce cart abandonment rates and enhance customers’ experience whenever they are, Adobe Commerce Cloud enables businesses to accept payments in multiple currencies.

Besides multi-language support, here’s what you get with Adobe Commerce Cloud:

• Customizable checkout flow: modify the checkout steps, add or remove fields, and design the checkout process to fit their unique requirements.
• One-page checkout: simplify the process for customers and reduce your cart abandonment rates.
• Guest checkout: complete your purchases without creating an account, which is a great fit for first-time shoppers.

Retailers looking for specialized checkout features can also leverage Magento’s open-source architecture to further tailor processes precisely to their needs.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud accepts a variety of payment options, including credit cards, digital wallets (such as Apple Pay and Google Pay), and alternative payment methods. The platform’s integration with Salesforce Payments simplifies the payment process and enhances security. The platform supports multiple currencies, enabling businesses to sell internationally with ease – it automatically handles currency conversion and updates exchange rates, ensuring accurate pricing for global customers.

Similar to Adobe, Salesforce Commerce Cloud provides robust multi-language support, allowing businesses to localize their content and checkout. The features that differ the platform from Magento are as follows:

• Einstein AI recommendations: Salesforce uses its AI engine, Einstein, to provide personalized product recommendations during the checkout process.
• Mobile-optimized checkout: The platform provides a mobile-friendly checkout experience, crucial for businesses targeting customers who shop on their mobile devices.
• B2B checkout features: Salesforce Commerce Cloud includes specialized B2B checkout functionalities, such as contract pricing and purchase order approvals.
• Unified customer experience. With its seamless integration into the Salesforce ecosystem, businesses can leverage customer data across various touchpoints.

Companies that heavily rely on data insights and personalized customer interactions are likely to find Salesforce Commerce Cloud with its AI-driven recommendations a tempting option. Besides, merchants targeting mobile shoppers will appreciate Salesforce’s mobile-optimized checkout.

Third-Party Integrations

Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento) boasts a vast marketplace of over 5,800 free and paid extensions, allowing you to enhance functionality with third-party integrations for payment, shipping, marketing, and more. Merchants that use different software and need a universal platform to integrate with their existing systems may find Magento a very tempting option.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud, in its turn, offers robust integrations within its proprietary ecosystem (including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud). Businesses already using Salesforce products will definitely benefit from the seamless integration with other Salesforce solutions.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud also supports numerous third-party integrations through its API capabilities, letting you connect your existing tools and systems effectively.

Support

Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento) and Salesforce Commerce Cloud offer comprehensive support, but they cater to different needs and business sizes. 

Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento)

• High-tier support: Adobe Commerce Cloud provides dedicated technical support for high-tier subscriptions. This includes access to Magento experts who can assist with complex technical issues, customizations, and performance optimization. Businesses on high-tier plans can take advantage from 24/7 support, proactive monitoring, and advanced troubleshooting. 
• Low-tier support: For businesses on lower-tier plans, Adobe Commerce Cloud offers extensive community resources, including forums, documentation, and tutorials. The platform also provides access to a comprehensive help center and knowledge base, where users can find solutions to common problems and step-by-step guides for various tasks.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

• High-tier support. Salesforce Commerce Cloud offers premier support services for high-tier subscribers, including 24/7 technical support, dedicated account managers, and priority case handling. High-tier users also have access to Salesforce’s customer success programs, which include personalized training, strategic planning sessions, and regular check-ins.
• Low-tier support. Salesforce provides extensive learning resources through its Trailhead platform. This is a self-paced, interactive learning tool that offers modules and trails that cover a wide range of topics, helping you understand and deploy Salesforce Commerce Cloud effectively. Similar to Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud has a robust community and detailed documentation. Users on lower-tier plans can access forums, best practice guides, and detailed technical documents to resolve issues and improve their platform knowledge.

Overall, both Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe offer robust support both for large enterprises and growing businesses.

Omnichannel Commerce

By leveraging omnichannel features, you can provide a consistent and personalized customer experience, increase engagement and loyalty, collect valuable data from your customers, boost conversion rates, and gain a competitive advantage. 

For seamless mobile integration, Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento) has an adaptable design – the websites look and perform well on mobile devices. The platform supports Progressive Web Apps (PWA), which offer a mobile app-like experience through the web. 

Note that Magento also offers extensions to integrate with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. As for email integration, Magento smoothly integrates with popular marketing platforms, enabling you to run targeted email campaigns, automate email workflows, and personalize communications.

Read more: Magento Omnichannel: A Future-Proof Solution for Retail

Salesforce Commerce Cloud boasts a mobile-first design. It’s built with a mobile-first approach to deliver flawless performance on mobile devices. Moreover, Salesforce’s mobile SDKs allow you to create custom mobile apps that integrate with your ecommerce platform. 

Just like its competitor, Salesforce Commerce Cloud works with different social media management tools and integrates with Salesforce Marketing Cloud which provides advanced email marketing capabilities.

So Which Solution Should You Go For: Adobe or SFCC?

Both Adobe Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Commerce Cloud have established themselves as superior ecommerce solutions, each with unique strengths and capabilities. 

Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento) stands out for its flexibility and extensive customization options, making it ideal for businesses with unique requirements and complex products. By deploying the Magento PaaS model, you can modify your ecommerce platform as you need. 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud, in turn, excels in providing a unified customer experience with its SaaS model, which includes automatic updates, advanced security features, and integration with extensive Salesforce’s ecosystem. It will be a perfect option for those using Salesforce CRM and looking for a better integration with Salesforce suite.

In summary, businesses with complex, customizable needs and technical expertise should consider Adobe Commerce Cloud for its flexibility and control. Meanwhile, businesses seeking a robust, integrated solution with advanced AI capabilities and minimal infrastructure management should opt for Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

If you’re still having second thoughts on which solution to choose, reach out to us! Our specialists at Elogic will save you tons of time researching the topic on the web and will help you choose the right solution to support your business growth.