Buying the Cloud 

The world’s leading CRM company, Salesforce, is letting enterprises buy into these online communities through e-commerce capabilities.  

These capabilities, marketed as Lightning Components, are provided by Salesforce partners. CloudCraze, Demandware and Bigcommerce are all contributing reusable building blocks that companies can configure to their liking – no coding required.

Essentially, the online communities will serve as spaces for customers, partners and employees to connect. Companies can personalize their communities to provide resources and a “click to buy” option, all from one place.

 “Our goal is to make it easier for our customers to grow their businesses,” says Nasi Jazayeri, Executive Vice President of Community Cloud, Salesforce. “Now any company can deliver the same click-to-buy experience as popular consumer services and grow their businesses with social commerce.”

It’s the first time that an enterprise is offering buy buttons for online communities. According to the release, Salesforce1 Lightning Components and the Community Builder tool are included in all Community Cloud licenses. The newest e-commerce tools as provided by Salesforce partners will be available in early 2016.