Which platform will you choose for your ecommerce page? Your decision has a significant impact on the functionality of your site, plus the ease of updating and maintenance on your end. Choosing a cloud-based platform offers you some advantages—you won’t experience the same blips caused by hardware failures, such as power supply outages, motherboard failure or insufficient RAM. Plus, platforms hosted on a cloud make it easy to scale up quickly and handle increased site traffic. Black Friday? Holiday shopping? Super sales? No problem—your cloud-based platform can take it!
The ecommerce technology you select to support your site is a big decision and not one to be taken lightly! As you narrow down your options, note that Oracle has a rich tech history of research and development—with much insight, talent, and innovation behind their products. Oracle Commerce Cloud (OCC) is being developed actively, with frequent releases. But as with any major decision, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons into your final decision.
Today, in our Oracle Commerce Cloud review, we will discuss the pros and cons of the platform. We will also provide a pricing comparison to other leading ecommerce technologies for 2019.
Oracle Commerce Cloud: Advantages (Pros)
Here’s what you need to know about the features and capabilities of this ecommerce platform:
Robust and user-friendly. The resounding opinion is that OCC is easy to use, with minimal-to-no need to overwhelm your support staff. It features functionalities and page designs with limited programming and development requirements on the back end. The dashboards are easily customizable, and the search tool is one of the best in the industry. If you’re not a tech expert, OCC has you covered.
International capabilities. Do you need several multinational sites with multilingual capabilities? That’s no problem with OCC—you can quickly build as many online shops as you need, with language capabilities to address a global target market.
Ability to optimize conversion rates. To which items will your shoppers respond best? You can find out by conducting A/B split tests, and OCC makes it easy—with no programming requirements. You can easily test for the best marketing results, and the OCC system automatically implements your winning variable—live and in real time.
Accessible through multiple channels. OCC is compatible for viewing by desktop, laptop, smartphone and mobile device. More and more, the world runs on mobile—and with OCC, you can make it easier and more convenient for shoppers to visit your storefront.
Easy transition. If you’re currently running on an on-premise hosted platform, Oracle has designed its platform to make transition to the cloud as hassle-free as possible.
Excellent customer service. If you have a question or need support, the OCC service team is available around the clock by email or phone.
Oracle Commerce Cloud: Disadvantages (Cons)
Are the following something you can live with, given the rich array of advantages? Consider the following:
No integrated development environment (IDE). Unfortunately, what happens outside the cloud, stays outside the cloud… requiring you to download any changes you make in your IDE to the cloud. Conversely, code changes you make within the cloud need to be transitioned back into the IDE.
Performance difficulties. Because OCC is cloud-based, it has standard issues related to the cloud and not experienced by platforms run on dedicated server hardware. This includes network slowness, and decreased performance and memory, depending on how much sharing is happening on the cloud. Cloud providers have the potential to oversell to multiple customers, which can rob the cloud of speed and space.
Security concerns. Shared clouds can result in users being able to access the virtual machines of other users—a security risk not present when using platforms hosted on dedicated in-house servers.
Cost prohibitive. OCC pricing is best suited for a medium- to large-size company that has a wide selection of products and a large customer base. Site maintenance is equally as pricey.
Pricing Comparison 2019
Oracle offers flexible subscription pricing models for OCC, with fees based on annual page views, historic performance and growth goals. The company strives for transparent and predictable pricing. They also offer revenue sharing based on a negotiated percentage. Pricing information and quotes are available by contacting the vendor.
Final Thoughts on Oracle Commerce Cloud
Regardless of your platform of choice, running your ecommerce site is easier with the proper support staff in place. Whether your selected platform is easy to handle or requires in-depth technical savvy, you can rest assured business is running smoothly with highly qualified developers, designers, project leads, project managers and more. This leaves you free to do what you do best—run your business.
Jarvis Cole is deeply rooted in the ecommerce space, with extensive industry experienced and global offices. We have a specialized team that eats, sleeps, and breathes Oracle Commerce recruitment. We’ll help you find and place the right staff based on your unique business needs. To learn more and speak with one of our experienced recruiters, contact us today!