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Re-Platform to a Future-Ready E-Commerce Solution

Streamline your journey from evaluation to implementation and ensure your business selects a platform built for the future.

Why Modernize Your E-Commerce Platform?

HCL Commerce understands enterprise business. Our solution caters to the complex needs of large-scale businesses by offering comprehensive enterprise e-commerce capabilities. With advanced features and system functionalities, we drive conversion, revenue and customer loyalty by being the market’s best B2B and B2C e-commerce solution at a lower Total Cost of Ownership.

As the digital commerce landscape evolves, businesses need scalable, flexible, and high-performance solutions. A modern headless, cloud-agnostic platform can:

  • Improve Performance: Faster load times and better scalability.
  • Enhance Flexibility: Tailor front-end experiences independently of the backend.
  • Future-Proof Your Investment: Seamless upgrades without vendor lock-in.

HCL Commerce provides a full suite of Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs) that encompass Catalog, Inventory, Pricing, Promotions, Search, Marketing, Merchandising, Location Services, AI/ML, Approvals, Subscriptions, Cart and Checkout, and much more. Designed to handle the complexities of your business, our Packaged Business Capabilities are self-contained, pre-built and reusable units of capabilities that are designed to work together as part of a fully integrated solution.

Augusta Casy Studie

Explore How Customers are Succeeding

Boosting digital sales through seamless customer journeys with HCL Commerce. Read some case studies and success stories to find out how our customers offer a seamless, consistent experience for customers with HCL Commerce.

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How do we proceed in the best way?

HCL Commerce is often in a short list from a customer and replies on many RFx. A customer should use the RFI → RFP → RFQ workflow when selecting a new e-commerce platform because it offers a structured, logical approach to making a significant and complex decision.

Here’s a clear breakdown of the differences between RFI (Request for Information), RFP (Request for Proposal), and RFQ (Request for Quote):

Request for Information (RFI)

  • Purpose: To gather broad information about potential vendors and their capabilities.
  • When to Use: At the start of the selection process, when you’re exploring solutions and need a better understanding of the market.
  • Key Focus:
    • Vendor experience and expertise.
    • General features and functionalities.
    • Compatibility with your goals and requirements.
  • Output: A list of vendors that might meet your needs.

Analogy: Think of it as window shopping, learning what’s available before committing.

Request for Proposal (RFP)

  • Purpose: To request detailed proposals from vendors outlining how they would meet your specific requirements.
  • When to Use: After narrowing down potential vendors from the RFI stage.
  • Key Focus:
    • Detailed descriptions of how their solution addresses your business challenges.
    • Technical specifications, implementation plans, and integration capabilities.
    • Support, security, and compliance considerations.
  • Output: A comparative evaluation of vendor solutions, helping you decide who can best meet your business needs.

Analogy: This is like asking shortlisted vendors to pitch their solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Request for Quote (RFQ)

  • Purpose: To get precise pricing and terms for the selected solutions.
  • When to Use: After identifying the most suitable vendors during the RFP stage.
  • Key Focus:
    • Exact costs (e.g., licensing, hosting, implementation, training, support).
    • Total cost of ownership and terms of the contract.
  • Output: A clear financial comparison of vendors to finalize the decision.

Analogy: This is like requesting an itemized bill before making a purchase decision.

  • Request for Information

    Step 1 - RFI

    Duration: ~15-20 days

    • Understand vendor capabilities.
    • Shortlist platforms based on business needs and technical requirements.
    • Key Outputs: A clear view of potential vendors, including HCL Commerce.

  • Request for Proposal

    Step 2 - RFP

    Duration: ~30-45 days

    • Evaluate vendors in-depth.
    • Analyze product fit, scalability, performance benchmarks, and integration capabilities.
    • Key Outputs: Detailed comparisons and potential fit.

  • Request for Quote

    Step 3 - RFQ

    Duration: ~10-20 days

    • Finalize vendors based on pricing, total cost of ownership, and contract terms.
    • Key Outputs: Pricing transparency and a solid foundation for decision-making.
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Your Journey to Re-Platforming

We understand that re-platforming is a significant decision. Our guided process ensures your migration is as smooth as possible.

Total Timeline in this example: ~55-85 days

Summary of the Workflow:

  • RFI: Broad exploration to find potential vendors.
  • RFP: In-depth analysis to understand solution fit.
  • RFQ: Final pricing details to make a decision.

This structured approach minimizes risks and ensures an informed platform selection.

  • Avoids Gaps in Understanding: Each phase has a specific purpose, ensuring no important detail is overlooked.
  • Thorough Vendor Comparison: Allows you to evaluate multiple vendors based on capability, solution fit, and pricing in a step-by-step manner.
  • Aligns with Business Goals: Ensures vendors understand and address your unique needs.
  • Minimizes Surprises: By gathering all technical and financial details upfront, you avoid hidden costs or implementation challenges.
  • Standardized Process: All vendors are evaluated using the same criteria.
  • Clear Documentation: You have a detailed trail of communications, proposals, and decisions for internal review or future reference.
  • Efficient Shortlisting: Start with a broad pool (RFI), then narrow down to the best-fit vendors (RFP).
  • Focuses on Value: RFQ ensures you’re comparing total cost of ownership and not just upfront prices.
  • Collaborative Approach: Vendors get a clear understanding of your needs, enabling them to propose tailored solutions.
  • Professionalism: Shows vendors you’re serious and organized, increasing their willingness to invest time and effort into your project.
  • Engages Stakeholders: Different departments (IT, marketing, finance, etc.) can contribute to the process.
  • Aligns Priorities: Ensures internal teams agree on the criteria and goals before making a decision.

Real-Life Application

For example, when re-platforming to a modern solution like HCL Commerce, this workflow helps.

  • Helps you assess if HCL’s headless, cloud-agnostic features fit your business model (RFI).
  • Ensures HCL Commerce addresses your specific challenges (RFP).
  • Allows you to compare pricing structures against competitors (RFQ).

By following this workflow, you not only select the right platform but also ensure it delivers the value your business needs.

Contact Us: Simplify Your Journey

Let us help you build the business case, define your requirements, and explore how HCL Software can help you on your journey.

RFx - Simplify Your Journey

Help us understand your replatforming goals (optional)
The more details you share, the better we can assess your current setup and propose the right path forward. By completing as many fields as possible, our HCL Commerce team can provide tailored insights, recommendations, and a realistic roadmap for your replatforming journey.

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How HCL Commerce Can Help

Unparalleled Support at Every Stage

  • RFI Assistance: Tailored resources to match your unique requirements.
  • RFP Simplification: Transparent answers to technical and business queries.
  • RFQ Guidance: Clear and competitive pricing structures.
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Exclusive Features with HCL Commerce:

  • True cloud-agnostic flexibility—run on any infrastructure.
  • Headless architecture for unmatched agility.
  • Advanced B2B and B2C capabilities in a unified platform.
  • Comprehensive support and onboarding resources to ease the migration process.

HCL SoFy – Try our solution in our Sandbox environment

HCL Commerce out-of-the-box comes loaded with a collection of professionally-built, pre-configured examples of a few of the kinds of eCommerce sites you can easily build. View any of the Product Documentation links on the HCL SoFy page to review our growing inventory of built-in, curated business solution demonstrations. Each includes instructional videos, step-by-step guides, and developer tools to accelerate your journey with HCL Commerce.

You’ll find examples across both B2B and B2C models. In each, we provide basic, intermediate, and advanced tutorials to accommodate every experience level. We showcase new capabilities as well as more mature, existing capabilities. Each of these example is short and to the point, but packed with information designed to get you moving.

To get access and to explore the HCL Commerce solution for your company, please use this contact form, and we will set this up for you.

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