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How to stand up Salesforce Commerce

Implementing Commerce Cloud is a major multi-team project. The configuration touchpoints below cover the high-level decisions.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 20, 2026

Implementing Commerce Cloud is a major multi-team project. The configuration touchpoints below cover the high-level decisions.

  1. Choose the right Commerce product

    B2C Commerce for consumer storefronts. B2B Commerce for business buyer flows. The choice is not interchangeable; pick based on the actual customer.

  2. Design the catalog and pricing model

    Products, variants, bundles, pricing tiers, promotions. The model design drives the rest of the implementation; get it right at the start.

  3. Build the storefront

    Use SFRA for B2C reference architecture, or headless for full design control. B2B uses Experience Cloud-based storefront templates.

  4. Integrate payment, tax, shipping, fraud

    Salesforce Payments or third-party processors, Vertex/Avalara for tax, carrier APIs for shipping, fraud screening providers. Each integration matters for production go-live.

  5. Coordinate with Marketing, Service, and Data Cloud

    Commerce in isolation works but Commerce-plus-Marketing-plus-Service is the Salesforce value proposition. Plan the cross-cloud integration from design time.

Gotchas
  • B2C versus B2B mismatch produces friction. The flows are different; pick the right product for the actual customer.
  • Peak-event performance testing is mandatory. Black Friday and equivalent events break unprepared storefronts.
  • Service Cloud integration is essential for post-purchase customer service. Without it, customers fall through the cracks after checkout.
  • Headless commerce trades platform UI conveniences for design control. Plan the engineering investment.

See the full Commerce Cloud entry

Commerce Cloud includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.