THIRD EDITION

State of
Commerce
Insights and trends from 2,700 B2B and B2C
commerce leaders and 1.5 billion customers worldwide.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 2

What You’ll Find

in This Report
Salesforce surveyed 2,700 commerce leaders
and analyzed B2C and B2B buyer behavior
of over 1.5 billion customers worldwide to
uncover trends such as:

• The strategic priorities of commerce

organizations and the challenges
holding them back
• How organizations are evaluating,
investing in, and implementing artificial
intelligence — and specifically generative
artificial intelligence
• Payment type preference among
buyers and adoption trajectories
among organizations

Methodology
Practitioner insights in this report come from
a double-anonymous survey conducted 2,700 commerce leaders
from October 6 through November 8, 2023. surveyed worldwide
The survey generated 2,700 responses from
commerce decision-makers across a range of
departments in North America, Asia-Pacific,
South America, and Europe. All respondents
are third-party panelists. See page 33 for
further survey demographics.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 3

What You’ll Find

in This Report
Buying activity was collected from websites
operating on Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
To qualify for inclusion, a digital commerce
site must have conducted transactions
throughout the analysis period (Q4 2022
through Q3 2023) and met a monthly
minimum visit and order threshold.
Additional data hygiene factors were applied
to ensure consistent metric calculation.
Buying data from over

1.5 billion
Any forecasts within this report are forward-
looking projections based on current and
prior values and do not guarantee future
performance or results. This data is not B2B and B2C customers
indicative of the operational performance
of Commerce Cloud or its reported financial
worldwide
metrics, including GMV growth and
comparable customer GMV growth.

Due to rounding, not all percentage totals

in this report equal 100%. Comparison
64
countries
represented
calculations are made from total (not
rounded) numbers.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 4

What You’ll Find

in This Report
In several parts of this report, we classify survey respondents
across the following tiers of commerce performance.

20% 37%
Digital Laggards Digital Leaders
Digital laggards disagree or Digital leaders strongly agree
are neutral that their companies their companies can attribute
can attribute overall success overall success to ecommerce
to ecommerce

49%
Digital Moderates
Digital moderates somewhat
agree their companies can
attribute overall success
to ecommerce
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 5

Contents

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

Introduction | Organizations Embrace and Grapple with the Continued Rise of Ecommerce . . . . . . . . . 07

Chapter 1 | Commerce’s AI Revolution Is in Full Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 2 | The Quest for Trust and Scale Continues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 3 | Commerce Capabilities Span the Entire Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 4 | Shifting Customer Expectations Drive Constant Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Survey Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 6

Executive Summary

Introduction | Organizations Embrace and Grapple with the Continued Rise of Ecommerce
Ecommerce demand continues to climb. Organizations are investing in resources, but not necessarily to the extent
warranted. Fifty-four percent of overall revenue is expected to come from digital channels within the next two years.

01 Commerce’s AI Revolution Is in Full Swing

A staggering 97% of commerce organizations are at least considering the use of artificial intelligence, but
challenges around strategy, security, and data management stand in the way of the technology's full potential.
Seventeen percent of ecommerce orders were influenced by artificial intelligence in Q3 2023.

02 The Quest for Trust and Scale Continues

Businesses are striving to maintain customer trust in the midst of globalization and the rise of AI.
Sixty-eight percent of customers say advances in AI make trust in companies more important.

03 Commerce Capabilities Span the Entire Business

Led by high-performing organizations, commerce is being embedded across different parts of the
customer journey. Thirty-eight percent of digital leaders say customer service drives substantial
incremental revenue, versus 19% of digital laggards.

04 Shifting Customer Expectations Drive Constant Evolution

Customers’ payment preferences are shifting rapidly, and companies are struggling to keep up.
Digital wallet transactions grew by 62% in Q3 2023 versus the same quarter in 2022.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 7

Introduction

Organizations
Embrace and
Grapple with the
Continued Rise of
Ecommerce
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 8

Commerce’s Digital B2B and B2C’s Digitally-Driven Revenue

Revolution Marches On Steadily Increases as Traffic Climbs

Ecommerce is well on its way to Estimated Share of Revenue from Digital Channels (Mean)
delivering the majority of sales revenue across B2C B2B
most industries. Commerce professionals
Two years ago Currently Two years from now
expect the share of revenue from digital
channels to cross this significant threshold
within the next two years, reflecting B2C and
B2B buyers’ growing preferences for buying —
and engaging more broadly — online.
55% 53%

53% of customers prefer to 44%

41%

engage digitally.* 32%

30%

Salesforce Commerce Cloud same-site traffic

data reflects this sentiment, with growth
Total Total Total
particularly strong among B2B companies
and in Latin America. 31% 42% 54%

Year-Over-Year Same-Site Ecommerce Traffic Growth

B2C B2B APAC EMEA Latin America North America

Q4 2022 Q1 2023 Q2 2023 Q3 2023

23% 22% 24%

17% 18%

8% 8% 9% 10% 9% 9%
6% 7% 5%
7% 6% 6% 6% 5% 5% 6% 6% 4%
0%

Total Total Total Total

8 %
9 %
6 %
5%
*Source: Salesforce State of the Connected Customer,
Sixth Edition, August 2023.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 9

AI — and Data to
Power It — Become
Commerce Priorities AI Tops the List of Commerce Priorities as
Inflation Remains a Key Pain Point
While perennial priorities like revenue
Top Commerce Organizational Priorities
growth and customer base expansion
remain, B2C and B2B organizations are 1 Implementing artificial intelligence
adding to their to-do lists. Their new
top priority? Implementing AI. This also
2 Growing revenue
helps explain the relative high priority on 3 Expanding customer base
improving data use and management.
4 Improving data use and management
Although inflation is heading in a positive
5 Improving staff productivity
direction in many major markets as
of this writing, it remains top-of-mind
as commerce organizations navigate Top Commerce Organizational Challenges
key challenges to achieving their goals. 1 Inflation
Though easing, supply chain challenges
continue to cause concern. And of 2 Changes in customer behavior
course, ever-present changes in customer
3 Competitive pressures
behavior and the competitive landscape
can prove daunting. 4 Supply chain challenges
5 Shifts in customer demand
64% of respondents (e.g., due to peak seasons)
say meeting customer
expectations is harder
than ever.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 10

Demand Commerce Resources Grow,

Growth Outpaces But Not as Much as Demand
Resource Growth Changes to the Following Over Past Two Years
Increase Stay the same Decrease
The vast majority of commerce
professionals have seen — and foresee — Internal demand for
79% 16% 5%
ecommerce services
continued rise in demand both from their
end customers and the internal teams
Ecommerce
they work with. While most organizations order volume
73% 23% 4%

are increasing resources to meet this

demand, a significantly lower share of
Budget dedicated
69% 25% 5%
professionals say those resources are to ecommerce
proportionately allocated — particularly
when it comes to staffing. Headcount dedicated
59% 36% 5%
to ecommerce

65% of respondents say

they’re being asked to do
more with less. Expected Changes to the Following Over Next Two Years
Increase Stay the same Decrease

Internal demand for

78% 19% 3%
ecommerce services

Ecommerce
77% 20% 3%
order volume

Budget dedicated
72% 23% 5%
to ecommerce

Headcount dedicated
62% 34% 4%
to ecommerce
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 11

01

Commerce’s
AI Revolution
Is in Full Swing
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 12

01 Businesses Seek Competitive

Generative AI Use Cases Abound in
Advantage with AI Customer-Facing Roles
AI is emerging as a key tool for commerce organizations Most Common AI Use Cases in Commerce*
as they seek increased productivity and revenue, alike.
Nearly half (48%) are experimenting with AI and 29%
1 Write product descriptions
have fully implemented it, with common use cases 2 Optimize merchandising
emerging for teams and their peers in marketing, sales,
and service.
3 Optimize channel strategy

84% of respondents believe AI gives Most Common AI Use Cases in Marketing*

organizations a competitive advantage. 1 Write marketing content

2 Personalize messaging
Status of Artificial Intelligence in Ecommerce Operations
Digital leaders Digital moderates Digital laggards
3 Expanding customer base

No intentions Evaluating AI Experimenting Fully Most Common AI Use Cases in Sales*

to use AI with AI implemented AI
1 Write sales communications
2 Sales forecasting
3 Sales reporting

Most Common AI Use Cases in Service*

46% 45%
39%
31%
1 Automate service communications
28%

17%
2 Write service content
13%

2%
3 Analyze service data
Total Total Total Total

3% 20% 48% 29%

*Source: Salesforce Generative AI Snapshot Research Series, May-June 2023.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 13

01 Early AI Investments
Yield Tangible Results
AI Investments Are Paying Dividends
AI adoption is nascent in commerce
organizations — only 19% have fully Extent to Which AI is Credited with Improvements to the Following
implemented it in their workflows so far. Major improvement Moderate improvement
But among that group, the benefits to Minor improvement No improvement Don't know
internal processes and productivity
are notable. Operational 3%
43% 41% 13%
efficiency 1%

Commerce professionals 2%
Employee
using AI estimate it saves productivity
41% 43% 13%
0%
them an average of 6.4
hours per week.* Revenue
41% 43% 14%
2%
growth 1%

AI is helping early adopters do more with

Employee 3%
less, with 84% seeing at least moderate satisfaction/ 39% 43% 14%
experience 1%
levels of improvement to operational
efficiency and employee productivity,
Base: Respondents at organizations that have fully
for example. implemented artificial intelligence.

*Source: Salesforce Generative AI Snapshot Research Series,

May-June 2023.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 14

01 Personalization Takes
a Big Step with AI
AI Is Already Improving the Customer Experience
In addition to saving time and increasing
productivity, early AI adopters are Extent to Which AI is Credited with Improvements to the Following
seeing positive effects on the customer Major improvement Moderate improvement
experience — not to mention sales. Minor improvement No improvement Don't know

Sites built on the Salesforce Commerce Customer 3%

Cloud with AI recommendations enabled satisfaction/ 42% 40% 14%
1%
experience
saw 17% of sales influenced by AI
recommendations in Q3 2023. That figure Product 2%
39% 43% 13%
is even higher in the Asia-Pacific region discovery 1%

(25%) and North America (19%). This

real-world example maps to the 82% Customer
39% 41% 16%
2%
loyalty 1%
of commerce organizations with AI who
report at least moderate levels of benefit to
2%
product discovery. Personalization 37% 45% 16%
1%

Base: Respondents at organizations that have fully

implemented artificial intelligence.

17%
share of ecommerce
orders already
influenced by AI
in Q3 2023*

*Among orders placed on sites hosted on Commerce Cloud

with Einstein recommendations enabled.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 15

01 Barriers Keep
Businesses from
Realizing AI’s Security and Trust Concerns Prompt Second Thoughts on AI

Full Potential Extent to Which the Following Factors Challenge AI

Adoption or Value Maximization
While AI’s benefits are demonstrable, Major challenge Moderate challenge Minor challenge No challenge at all
the fact that just 1 in 5 commerce
organizations have fully implemented Security/trust
31% 41% 20% 8%
concerns
hints at obstacles.

Lack of AI skills
Notably, 70% of respondents say poor within organization
26% 43% 22% 8%
data integration and harmonization is
at least a moderate pain point on the
Lack of defined
road to AI implementation. This could be 26% 41% 24% 9%
AI strategy
explained in part by the fact that, with
an average of 1,061 apps across a given
Poor data quality 25% 41% 24% 10%
enterprise, only 29% are connected.*
What’s more, many firms lack a defined
Poor data
AI strategy or the skills on staff to make integration and 24% 44% 23% 8%
the most of it. harmonization

However, security and trust concerns Change

23% 43% 24% 9%
management
stand apart as the greatest roadblock of
all, highlighting the importance of ethical
Deprioritization
strategies and the responsible use of AI. against other 21% 46% 24% 9%
initiatives

*Source: Salesforce Connectivity Benchmark Report,

February 2023.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 16

02

The Quest for

Trust and Scale
Continues
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 17

02 A Crisis of Customer A Gap Emerges Between Corporate

Trust Deepens as Confidence and Customer Trust
AI Evolves
Digital leaders Digital moderates Digital laggards
Businesses — and society, more generally
91%
— were in a crisis of trust before the rise of
83%
generative AI and the release of ChatGPT in 62%
late 2022. Since then, the stakes have only
increased. Forty-nine percent of customers 82% 17%
say they don’t generally trust companies, of commerce
professionals have but of customers fully
trust companies
and 68% say advances in AI make trust in full confidence
to use their data
they safeguard
companies more important.* customer data
responsibly*

While 56% of customers remain open to

the use of AI to improve their experiences,
only a small sliver are confident that
companies will use the technology ethically
— or the data it relies on responsibly. Yet the
majority of commerce professionals — even Digital leaders Digital moderates Digital laggards
those at underperforming companies —
believe they both safeguard customer data 91%
and have established ethical AI guidelines, 81%

indicating a lack of effective and transparent 59%

communication on the role of AI in

80%
their operations. of commerce
professionals have but
13%
of customers fully
full confidence their trust companies to
organizations have use AI ethically*
ethical AI guidelines

*Source: Salesforce State of the Connected Customer,

Sixth Edition, August 2023.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 18

02 Quality Commerce A “Good” Digital Experience Is Multifaceted

Experiences Foster Trust
10%
Regardless of how — or if — they use AI, Below average
commerce organizations seeking to foster
customer trust have a common first step:
ensuring a great overall experience. This
is critical to building good will and earning Self-Assessed
Digital Experiences 46%
customer loyalty. Compared to Competitive
Competitors differentiators

74% of shoppers will abandon 44%

a brand after three or fewer On part

bad experiences.*

Increasingly, a good experience Respondents Who Consider the Following as Top Factors of Good Digital Experience
is synonymous with good digital
experience — a multifaceted equation Easy site
45%
navigation
that boils down to factors of ease,
functionality, and personalization. Yet Good search
43%
functionality
only 10% of commerce professionals
view their experience as falling short
Fast load times 42%
from the competition, indicating some
introspection may be needed. Eighty-five Uptime and
39%
percent of respondents believe their availability

companies’ digital experiences

are excellent representations of Personalization 39%

their brands.
Mobile
37%
functionality

Self-service
35%
capabilities

*Source: Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report, Fifth Edition,

August 2023.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 19

02 Site Outages Remain a “Busy Season” Varies by Industry

Risk to Revenue Loss
Busiest Quietest
Uptime may seem like table stakes for any Ecommerce Month Ecommerce Month
ecommerce site, but it’s hardly a given.
Media Medical device
JAN
Manufacturing
36% of ecommerce organizations
have experienced a site outage FEB
Media Automotive
Consumer
Retail Transportation

Communication Healthcare Restaurants

over the past year. Goods

MAR Medical device

Sixty-six percent of site outages resulted in

substantial revenue loss, according to our
APR
survey respondents, and 57% occurred
during a particularly busy time for their sites.
MAY
But what constitutes the “busy season” is
not an easy answer, with ebbs and flows of
ecommerce varying widely by industry. JUN Automotive

Health & Financial

Beauty Services
JUL Healthcare
Technology

AUG Communication

SEPT

OCT

Restaurants Technology
NOV Health & Transportation
Beauty

Consumer Financial
Goods Services
DEC
Retail Manufacturing
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 20

02 Global Ecommerce Truly Global Commerce Remains

Growth Meets Cross- Out-of-Reach for Many Companies
Border Challenges
33%
Anywhere
If a company has ecommerce, there’s a legally allowed 34%
good chance that its customer base isn’t Domestic only

limited to its home nation’s borders. Sixty- Where

Companies
six percent of commerce organizations sell Sell
internationally, opening expanded markets
and revenue opportunities.

33%
Foreign sales drive an estimated Select
international
39% of revenue, on average, countries

at companies that sell

internationally. Extent to Which the Following Factors Challenge International Ecommerce
Major challenge Moderate challenge Minor challenge No challenge at all

However, just because a company sells

Tax 28% 43% 22% 7%
internationally doesn’t mean it’s truly global.
Only one-third of commerce organizations
Cultural
sell wherever legally allowed — and one- sensitivities
25% 42% 23% 10%

third have no international presence at all.

A myriad of factors keep organizations from
Customs 25% 42% 23% 10%
expanding their customer base to its true
potential, led predominantly by challenges
related to cross-border sales tax calculations Shipping 22% 45% 23% 10%

and remittances.
Currency
20% 42% 27% 10%
conversions

Language
19% 37% 30% 14%
translations
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 21

03

Commerce
Capabilities
Span the Entire
Business
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 22

03 Commerce Gets
Embedded throughout
the Customer Journey Embedded Commerce Goes Mainstream

Organizations Selling through the Following Channels

Ecommerce is not limited to a website or
mobile app. The bulk of organizations now Digital leaders Digital moderates Digital laggards

incorporate transaction functionality into

Order-on-behalf-of capabilities
the flow of business across sales, service, for customer service agents

and marketing touchpoints. Businesses do Total 55%

this by using innovative tools that infuse 53% 53%

51%
opportunities to up-sell, cross-sell, and
retarget at every stage of the buyer journey. Shoppable social media posts or ads

Total 55%

59% of shoppers say they’ve 51% 42%

51%

completed a transaction on
social media — up from 15% Sales rep-initiated communication
linking to a reordering portal
in 2021.* Total 52%

50% 50%

These cross-functional commerce 45%

touchpoints, referred together as “embedded

Payment capture in marketing emails
commerce,” have a substantial effect
Total 53%
on companies’ top lines. Commerce
48%
41%
48%
professionals in our survey with such 42%
capabilities estimate that 41% of their overall
Payment capture by field technicians average estimated
transactions occur through these channels. share of transactions
Total 43%
through embedded
42% 42%
39%
commerce

*Source: Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report, Fifth Edition,

August 2023.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 23

SPOTLIGHT: Service-Augmented Commerce

Customer Service Makes a Splash at Top Companies
Joins Commerce to Extent to Which Customer Service Drives Incremental Revenue
Drive Revenue Substantial Fair bit Little None

Customer service is an increasingly important All respondents 29% 46% 19% 5%

way for businesses to differentiate their

commerce experiences. Companies are turning
Digital leaders 38% 45% 13% 4%
the service center into a profit center through
tactics such as up-selling and cross-selling.
Digital moderates 27% 48% 20% 5%

75% of customers have made

purchase decisions based on Digital laggards 19% 45% 28% 7%
customer service quality.

Embedding commerce within customer

service is paying off particularly well among
Digital leaders Digital moderates Digital laggards
digital leaders — where 38% of respondents
view customer service as driving a substantial
91%
amount of incremental revenue. This is in 83%
contrast to just 19% of digital laggards who 62%
say the same.
81%
of commerce
This discrepancy across performance levels professionals have
is mirrored among service professionals from complete views of sales/
ecommerce data*
a related survey. Service teams have varying
degrees of access to the sales and ecommerce
data that help uncover opportunities for
incremental revenue.

*Source: Salesforce State of Service, Fifth Edition, September 2022.

 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 24

03 Retail Stores Emerge as

Fulfillment Centers
Shoppers Blur the Line Between Physical
A sale doesn’t mean anything if the order and Digital Commerce
doesn’t get into the customer’s hands.
And, as has been the case for some time, Consumers Who Have Done the Following*
ecommerce fulfillment is not limited to
direct shipping. Purchased a product
57%
online to pick up in-store

More and more, the retail store is being Went to a store to return a
53%
used as a fulfillment center. According to a product purchased online

recent survey of consumers, most (57%)

Purchased a product to
shoppers have elected to buy online be shipped from a store
49%

and pick-up-in-store (BOPIS), and nearly

as many have returned a product they
bought online to a store.

*Source: Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report, Fifth Edition,

August 2023.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 25

03 Businesses Run Into

Compliance and Data Privacy Are
Post-Purchase Obstacles Top Order Fulfillment Pain Points
Customers expect a lot when it comes Top Order Fulfillment Challenges
to the post-purchase experience. Free (Based on Rankings of "Major Challenge")
shipping, simple and/or free returns, and
Digital Leaders
sustainable business practices are all
factors that make shoppers more likely to 1 Compliance and data privacy
buy from a brand.* Keeping up with these
expectations is proving to be a tall order
2 Sustainability
for businesses. 3 Customer expectations exceed capabilities
While digital leaders are less likely than
Digital Moderates
laggards to struggle with order routing
or inflexible fulfillment technology, 1 Compliance and data privacy
respondents across the board struggle 2 Sustainability
with compliance and data privacy. To
fulfill with trust, businesses need to keep 3 Customer expectations exceed capabilities
up with vendor and shipping guidelines,
and protect sensitive customer data Digital Laggards

like delivery addresses. This signals the 1 Compliance and data privacy
familiar refrain that data management is a
critical ecommerce pain point. 2 Inefficient order routing
3 Inflexible technology

*Source: Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report, Fifth Edition,

August 2023.
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 26

03 Companies Gain
Efficiency with AI
and Automation for Commerce Automation Has Reached Critical Mass

Order Management Extent to Which the Following Processes Are Automated

Completely automated Mostly automated Mostly manual Completely manual
In an era in which fulfillment can take many
Order status
forms across many touchpoints, manual monitoring and 5%
32% 48% 14%
processes for managing inventory, order reporting

routing and status monitoring, and returns

management quickly become unpractical. Order routing 30% 51% 15% 5%

Today, the vast majority of commerce

Inventory
organizations have at least partially management
30% 49% 16% 4%

automated these processes, with pluralities

describing them as completely automated.
Returns
27% 49% 19% 5%
Order status monitoring and reporting is, management
by one interpretation, the most automated
of these workflows, with the majority of
companies putting these tools in the hands
of customers.

75% of commerce
organizations have self-service
order support capabilities.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 27

04

Shifting Customer
Expectations Drive
Constant Evolution
 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 28

04 Companies Security Tops the List of Factors

Seek Agility, but Hampering Digital Storefront Evolution
Roadblocks Abound Extent to Which the Following Factors Challenge Digital Storefront Maintenance
Major challenge Moderate challenge Minor challenge No challenge at all
With constantly shifting product offerings,
business needs, and customer expectations, Security concerns 29% 39% 25% 7%
agility is a tenet of any high-performing
commerce organization. Still, updating the Inadequate integration
23% 42% 28% 8%
between systems
storefront experience is more often a crawl
than a sprint. Just 5% of organizations can Customer expectations
23% 42% 28% 7%
exceed capabilities
make changes within minutes, and 63%
must wait days or longer. Inability to easily add
21% 42% 29% 9%
new sales channels

Security concerns remain a barrier. The Inadequate flexibility

21% 41% 29% 8%
(i.e., unable to customize)
second biggest challenge is inadequate
integration between the myriad systems that Inadequate agility
20% 42% 30% 8%
(i.e., unable to make changes)
fill front- and back-end customer engagement
functions — a related study found that 10 Slow load times 20% 39% 31% 10%
systems are used on average.*

Time Required to Implement Changes to Digital Storefront

42%

31%

19%

5% 2%

Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months

*Source: Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report, Fifth Edition,
August 2023.
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 29

SPOTLIGHT: Commerce Teams Embrace Composability

The pressure for commerce teams to adapt to changing needs and expectations is only rising, but inflexible architecture and
strained IT teams prevent them from doing so. IT teams are increasingly incorporating composable architectures — those in which
applications or services are built from modular and reusable components like APIs — as part of their efforts to improve. This growing
strategy, in which reusable components are like building blocks for creating new applications, has the potential to ease the ongoing
pain points around inflexible digital storefronts, but time will tell if the projected surge in adoption will become reality.

Teams Turn to Composable Architectures for Much-Needed Flexibility

65 % 46%
of customers 12% 26 %
of IT teams have
implemented
of IT teams
expect companies but of customers can support all but composable
to adapt to their say most companies architecture, and
development requests
changing needs and
expectations
consistently do this from the business* 43%
plan to*

*Source: Salesforce State of IT, Third Edition, July 2023.

 SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 30

04 Digital Payment Types Enter a New Era

Credit cards remain the default option for most buyers, but digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay are crossing
a threshold. Year-over-year transactions using these digital wallets are growing each quarter even as tried-and-true options like gift
cards and credit cards see slight downticks in use.

This trend is reflected by the share of commerce organizations accepting the most dominant player in digital wallets — Apple Pay —
which ticked up by 10 percentage points since 2022. In contrast, the share of vendors that accept once white-hot cryptocurrency
payments has remained flat.

Digital Wallets Are Surging as a Payment of Choice

Organizations Accepting the Following Payment Types Year-Over-Year Payment Type Transaction Trends
2022 2024 Credit cards Paypal Buy Now Pay Later Digital Wallets

Cash or Bank Transfer Gift Cards/Loyalty Points

76% 62%
74% 70%
69% 70%
64% 52%
64% 49% 48%
58%
54% 55%
52% 51%
49% 49%

30% 30%

5%
2% 1% 1% 0% 0%
-2% -3% -2%
-4% -5%-3% -5%
-8% -9% -7% -8%
-12% -13% -12%
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 SALESFORCE RESE ARCH S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 31

04 Payment Type Implementation Remains an Uphill Battle

Even as customer preferences for payment types evolve quickly, implementation can be a hurdle. Fewer than two-thirds of
organizations can handle commercial purchase orders, for example, and fewer than half can accept foreign currency. Fraud
prevention remains the top sticking point for new payment implementation, with expense and time considerations rounding out
the top three challenges.

Fraud, Expense, and Time Hold Companies Back from Embracing New Payment Types

Respondents Who Cite the Following Obstacles to

New Payment Type Implementation
Digital leaders Digital moderates Digital laggards

68% 49%
62% 42%
51% 39%
50%

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SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 32

Survey
Demographics
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 33

Survey Demographics
Country Industry Department
Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4% Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11% C-level executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40%
Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Consumer packaged goods . . . . . . . 8% Vice president . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%
Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Health and beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3% Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31%
France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Healthcare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6%
Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Insurance/banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6%
Customer Base
Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4% Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Media and communications . . . . . . 4% B2B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50%
Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Medical devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3% B2C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50%
Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4%
New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4% Retail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%
Portugal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4% Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%
Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Telecommunications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4%
Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Travel, transportation,
United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% and hospitality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8%
United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11% Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1%

Company Size
100 to 200 employees . . . . . . . . . . 13%
201 to 500 employees . . . . . . . . . . 26%
501 to 3,500 employees . . . . . . . . . 38%
3,501 to 10,000 employees . . . . . . 19%
10,001+ employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4%
SALESFORCE S TAT E O F CO M M E R C E , 3 R D E DI T I O N 34

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