Dynamics 365 Commerce - Simply Explained

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Think about a customer who buys a jacket on your website, chooses store pick-up, then

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decides it doesn't fit and returns it at a different location.

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Are you sound simple enough, right?

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But for many businesses, that one purchase touches separate systems.

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The website knows the order, the store register knows the return, a stock system, tracks

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where the jacket sits, and customer details live somewhere else entirely.

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That creates gaps, delays, and awkward conversations at the counter.

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I'm Mirko Peters from M365FM, and this knowledge nugget breaks down Dynamics 365 Commerce in plain

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English.

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Imagine a retail business as an office building.

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The website and physical stores are different entrances, but behind the scenes they should

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all lead into the same connected space.

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So what exactly is Dynamics 365 Commerce?

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What Dynamics 365 Commerce actually is?

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Here's the problem a retailer faces.

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You need one shared view of the basics, what products you sell, what each costs, where stock

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sits, which orders need action, and what a customer has bought before.

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What that shared view people spend their day checking systems against each other, oh, a

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store worker sees one price, the website shows another, and someone promises an item that

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isn't actually available.

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Nobody enjoys that.

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Dynamics 365 Commerce connects the work behind selling products across stores, websites,

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and back office teams.

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It gives a business one connected platform that handles everything customer see and everything

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they don't.

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Now notice I didn't call it a website builder.

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A website builder helps you create pages, people browse online, and a cash register system

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helps someone take payment at a counter.

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Dynamics 365 Commerce can support both, but it also connects them to product details, stock,

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pricing, customer records, orders, and the wider business work behind them.

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That shared connection changes the conversation.

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Instead of asking which system has the right answer, your team works from the same business

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information even when customers enter through different doors.

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Commerce grew from Dynamics 365 retail, which focused on physical shops and point of sale,

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but Microsoft expanded it because shopping no longer stays in one place.

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The person might look at a product online during lunch, visit a store after work, and ask

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customer service for help later.

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The purchase can move between channels while the business keeps the same record.

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Picture that office building again, or O, the physical shop is one entrance, the online

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store is another, and a call center can be another.

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Behind each door, Commerce connects people to shared rooms for products, prices, stock,

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orders, and customers.

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That doesn't mean every business runs exactly the same way.

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A retailer can set up product ranges, prices, and promotions for the channels it runs,

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while back office teams manage the business rules.

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Store workers and online shoppers then use those rules through screens designed for their

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jobs.

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Commerce also connects with other Dynamics 365 apps and Microsoft services.

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Oh, supply chain management handles products, inventory, warehouses, transportation, and distribution.

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Finance manages the financial side of store and online activity, and Dataverse helps business

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apps share information.

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Each app has its own job, but Commerce connects selling activity to the rest of the business.

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Now let's follow one purchase through that building, because that's where this becomes much

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easier to see.

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One customer journey across every channel.

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Welcome to another episode.

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Today we're breaking down the customer journey across every channel.

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Let's dive in.

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Imagine Maya is looking for a jacket.

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She opens the retailer's website on her phone, finds the color and size she wants, and checks

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whether the nearby store has stock before she leaves home.

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That stock answer has to be right out.

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If the site says it's available, the shelf better have it.

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Next 365, Commerce connects the online shop to real-time stock from stores and warehouses,

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so customers see what the business can actually promise, rather than every product in the catalog.

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A jacket might appear in the product list, but that doesn't mean it's sitting on a shelf

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nearby.

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When Maya sees her size is available for pickup, she places the order online and collects

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it at the store.

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If the local branch doesn't carry it, she can choose home delivery instead.

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The business could even send the jacket from a different store that has the stock.

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For Maya, those choices appear during checkout.

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During the scenes, the business needs to know exactly where the item sits, which location

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can prepare it and how quickly it can reach her.

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A store isn't just a place where people walk in and buy things anymore.

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It can prepare online orders, hold pickup orders and ship items to customers.

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That gives shoppers more ways to buy without forcing them to understand how the retailer

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runs its stock.

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Now, here's where it gets interesting.

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Say Maya picks up the jacket, takes it home and changes her mind.

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A few days later, she visits another branch and asks to return it there.

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The staff member should be able to find the original online order, see what Maya bought,

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and process the return without asking her to contact the website first.

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The order and customer record travel with the purchase, even though the sale began online

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and the return happens in a different store.

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That removes one of the most common frustrations in retail, being told that an item belongs

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to a different system.

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There's another useful moment at the store counter, too.

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Maya visits a branch to try on shoes, finds the right pair, but learns her size has sold

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out at that location.

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A disconnected store can only shrug and center elsewhere.

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As an endless aisle approach, the sales worker can look beyond that one shop's shelves.

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They can check stock in another store or warehouse, place an order for Maya, and arrange delivery

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to her home or pick up at a location that works for her.

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The physical shelf stops being the full limit of what the store can sell.

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Of course, someone still needs to decide where each order should come from.

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If several stores and warehouses hold the same shoe, sending it from the wrong place can

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add cost, slow delivery, or leave a local shop short of stock.

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Dynamics 365 Commerce includes distributed order management for this job.

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In plain English, it uses business rules to choose a suitable place to fulfill an order

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based on the choices the retailer sets.

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Those rules account for available stock, the delivery promise, and the places that can

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fulfill the order.

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So an order doesn't just land in one big queue waiting for a person to guess what to do.

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The system directs it to a store or warehouse that fits the retailer's rules while staff

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handle the actual picking, packing, pick up, or delivery work.

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Maya sees a simple choice, pick up or delivery.

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The retailer sees a chain of connected decisions that has to hold together from the first

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product search through the final return.

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That customer journey only works when the people in the store can act on the same information

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and they need tools built for the counter, the shop floor, and the stock room.

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The physical store.

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Store commerce and point of sale.

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At the counter, staff need fast answers.

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They can't stop a customer mid-purchase to open several systems and search for an order

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while a queue grows behind them.

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They need one screen that lets them sell, return, check stock, and help the person standing

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right there.

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The tool is the store commerce app.

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Store commerce is the point of sale app I'll often shorten to PO cell for people working

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in a physical shop.

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Akashi uses it at a fixed register and a sales worker carries it around on a mobile device

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to help customers wherever they are.

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The same app runs on a desktop, tablet, or phone.

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It works on Windows, iOS, Android, and Mac OS.

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That gives retailers flexibility.

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A big store might use traditional checkout counters.

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A smaller shop might use tablets.

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But either way, the sale is the same kind of transaction.

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Each of this, a sales worker near Maya and the shoes.

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Maya asks if her size is available, the worker searches, checks stock, finds the item, and

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completes the purchase right there.

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If Maya wants to return something instead, the worker can find her customer record or order

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and start the return from the same tool.

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Normal stuff, right?

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But it all depends on good information.

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Store commerce supports cash and carry sales, customer lookups, inventory checks, order

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work, returns, and reporting.

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Store staff can also manage things around the sale, like shifts in cash management, rather

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than treating the register as nothing more than a payment machine.

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A point of sale becomes a work tool for the whole store.

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Connection quality matters too.

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Internet isn't always perfect in stores, especially large buildings, remote locations,

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or places where the network drops for a while.

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Commerce runs in the cloud, but it can also use edge setups closer to the store so retailers

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can plan for their local conditions.

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Customers still expect the counter to work.

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That doesn't mean a store worker needs to understand cloud systems or network design.

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They open the app, follow the steps for their role, and help the customer.

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In the scenes, the retailer chooses the setup that keeps stores operating when connectivity

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changes.

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Roll-based screens keep that practical.

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A cashier needs a simple way to process a sale.

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A store manager needs different options, a stock worker needs product info.

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Commerce can tailor the experience for each role instead of putting every button in front

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of everyone.

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And here's a key point.

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The store sale follows the same business rules as an online sale.

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Prices, product details, customer info, and order records don't need different rules

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for the website and the shop floor.

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Half-use store commerce shoppers use the store front, but both pull from the same commerce

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foundation that keeps the experience consistent and staff don't have to remember a bunch of

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exceptions.

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So a physical store becomes more than shelves and a register.

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It becomes a connected part of the whole operation where staff can help customers buy, collect,

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return, or order products using the information the business already manages.

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But all those staff screens need a shared brain behind them, one place that handles products,

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orders, and prices before any screen asks for an answer.

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The engine behind the storefronts.

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So that shared brain I've been talking about has a name of the Commerce Scale Unit.

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It sounds technical, but think of it as the engine room that runs every selling rule behind

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a retailer's channels.

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Whether a customer buys through a website, a store app, or a custom shopping app, the business

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builds, this engine handles every single request.

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Customers never see it.

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They see a product page, a checkout screen, or a sales worker's device.

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During the scenes, the Commerce Scale Unit takes the requests, those screens send, and applies

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the same Commerce rules everywhere people buy, one set of logic every channel.

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That's the magic of it.

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This brings us to Headless Commerce.

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Headless simply means the selling engine lives apart from the screen a person looks at.

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The engine doesn't care if a customer uses a website, a phone app, a self-service kiosk,

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or a store worker's tablet.

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It gets a request, runs the business rules, and sends back the answer.

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The screen is the face, the Commerce Scale Unit is the working part behind that face.

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Notice I didn't say the screen does nothing.

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Oh, it does a lot, but the logic stays separate.

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Separating the two lets a retailer change or build a custom experience without rebuilding

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all the rules for products, prices, stock promotions, and orders each time.

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Imagine a retailer launching a new mobile app.

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Without this approach, the team might need to rebuild the logic that checks product availability,

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calculates prices, applies discounts, and creates orders.

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With Commerce, the new app can just connect to the same engine already used by the online

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store and the store commerce app.

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Instead of rules, it supports many customer experiences.

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That's the whole point, and here's why that matters.

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Customers don't care which technical system answered their question.

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They care that the price on their phone matches the price in the store, and that an item

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shown as available can actually be ordered.

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The connection between the screen and the Commerce Scale Unit works through APIs.

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API stands for Application Programming Interface, but you don't need to remember the full name.

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Picture a service counter in a large store.

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A website asks the counter, "What's the price of this item?"

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The counter checks the Commerce rules and returns the price.

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Another request might ask, "Can this customer order this item for pickup?"

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Or, "Please create an order for these products."

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The API carries those requests between the customer facing screen and the Commerce Engine.

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The website doesn't need to know how prices or orders work behind the scenes, though, it

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just asks for the result through the counter, and the Commerce Scale Unit applies the retailers'

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rules before answering.

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That setup also gives businesses room to build something beyond the standard storefront.

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They might create a shopping experience inside their own mobile app.

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A partner could build another sales channel.

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The same Commerce Engine can support those experiences, so the business doesn't start over

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with a different set of selling rules every time it opens a new door.

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Dynamics 365 Commerce also comes with its own e-commerce storefront.

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That's the website system customers actually see and click through IO, product information,

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images, menus, search results, checkout steps.

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It uses React, a web development framework that helps teams build interactive web pages.

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You don't need to be a web developer to understand the practical part.

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The storefront can prepare parts of a page on the server before it reaches a customer's

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browser, and it can also update parts of the page in the browser as the customer clicks,

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searches, filters, or adds products to a cart.

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That combination helps the site load pages and respond quickly to customer actions.

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A retailer can also use Site Builder, the web-based tool for people who manage pages and marketing

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content.

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They can work on the customer facing site without changing the Commerce Engine that handles

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product, price, and order requests behind it.

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The site and the engine have different jobs, but retailers don't all run stores under

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the same conditions.

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One location may have stable internet and work well with cloud services, while another

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sits somewhere with weak or unreliable connectivity.

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Commerce accounts for that difference.

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A Commerce Scale Unit can run in Microsoft's cloud, where Microsoft manages the service.

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It can also run as a self-hosted unit closer to a store, where the retailer manages that

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local setup.

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A business can use a mix of both.

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That choice lets retailers plan based on how each location works, rather than forcing

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every shop into one technical setup.

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A self-hosted unit can keep the same Commerce Logic closer to a store where internet access

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may cause problems, while cloud units support channels through Microsoft managed Azure

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regions.

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Store staff don't need to think about any of this while helping a customer.

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They use the screen in front of them, a shop uses the website or app in front of them.

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Yet each channel depends on the engine room responding with the right product information,

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price, stock answer, and order action.

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Once those sales start flowing, the information needs to stay connected too, because products,

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customer records, and stock can't each live in their own separate drawer.

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Data, loyalty, and safer buying.

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Every time you make a sale, you're creating information.

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Product, price, store, customer order details, ooh, all of it.

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If that information stays scattered, a business can sell all day and still struggle to see what

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people are actually buying.

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Dynamics 365.

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Commerce connects business data, with dataverse and Azure Data Lake storage.

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Dataverse works like a shared business filing cabinet for Microsoft Business Apps.

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Sales and customer service can use it to store and share business information, so teams

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aren't forced to copy the same customer or account details between separate tools.

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That creates a clearer customer record.

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Here's the thing, a customer might buy from the website, speak to a sales worker in a store,

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then contact support later.

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When the connected apps use shared information, each team can work from the same customer details

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instead of starting the conversation from scratch.

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Azure Data Lake storage handles a different kind of job.

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Picture it as a large storehouse for business data.

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Business can send transaction data there, along with information from the online shop, so

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the business can study activity over time instead of only looking at the latest sale.

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This gives teams more room to ask useful questions, which products sell well in certain

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stores, which categories bring in sales but leave little margin, which channel drives the

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most orders.

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Commerce reporting can help managers look across products, categories, employees, terminals,

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stores, and selling channels.

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A store worker can also see reports connected to the point of sale, while people in the back

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office can review activity across the business after data sinks.

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The reports don't run the store for anyone.

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They give people a clear review of what happened, so a manager can spot patterns before deciding

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what to change with stock, pricing, or promotions.

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Customer loyalty sits in the same connected picture.

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A retailer can set up a loyalty program where purchases earn points.

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A customer can later redeem those points on a future purchase, whether the business allows

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that installs online or both.

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That turns a simple purchase into an ongoing relationship.

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When a customer chooses to identify themselves, commerce can also bring their purchase history

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into the conversation.

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A sales worker may see information that helps them speak more clearly about what that person

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has bought before, while the online shop can show product recommendations based on buying

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patterns.

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Recommendations don't read a customer's mind.

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They use shopping and purchase information to suggest items a customer might want to see.

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That can help people find related products, but the retailer still needs sensible product

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data and a shopping experience that treats customers with respect.

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Online reviews need care too.

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Employment commerce includes ratings and reviews for e-commerce storefronts, so customers

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can post feedback and retailers can show ratings on product pages.

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As your cognitive services can automatically filter profane words in 40 languages and retailers

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also have moderator tools for handling concerns, feedback, removal requests, and data requests.

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A review system needs more than a star school.

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It needs a way to keep product pages useful without leaving every problem for a person to

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find by hand.

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Payment fraud creates another concern, especially when orders arrive through digital channels.

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Dynamics 365 fraud protection can connect with commerce to support real-time fraud decisions.

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The service uses information from its fraud protection network, device signals, and rules

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set by the business to help assess transactions.

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No software removes every risk.

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A retailer still needs clear policies and people who can handle exceptions, but connected

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fraud tools can help the business review online orders without treating every customer as

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a problem.

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So commerce brings together selling data, customer loyalty, reviews, and fraud checks around

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the purchase.

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It sounds like a lot because it is, the next question is simpler, which businesses actually

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need this platform and what work does it still leave to people.

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Who uses commerce and what it does not matter place?

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Picture a clothing brand with physical shops and its own website.

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That business needs the same product info, prices, stock numbers, and order details available

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in both places.

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Dynamics 365 commerce connects all those channels so everything stays consistent out, no more

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emailing spreadsheets back and forth.

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Does it matter if you run one shop or 50?

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Not really.

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What counts is that the store, the website, and the back office team all use the same shared

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information instead of passing updates between separate systems.

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That do tips the core idea.

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Commerce also works for manufacturers and distributors that sell to other businesses.

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Say a manufacturer gives its distributors a self-service portal where they check inventory,

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browse products, and place orders.

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That outermost B2B commerce and commerce supports those buying experiences through its commerce

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APIs.

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Notice the buyer is now empty a walk-in shop at this time.

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It could be a company placing repeat orders, checking availability, or arranging delivery

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for their own customers.

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Now does commerce replace the people?

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No.

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Back office teams still handle product setup, pricing, and promotions, stock and order tracking,

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and sales and margin reports.

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Commerce gives those teams connected tools, but it does now, temity, you turn retail into

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a system that runs on its own.

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People are still essential.

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Most people here owe commerce, and think it only means building an online shop.

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An online shop can be part of it, but commerce reaches far beyond that to into the store counter

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customer records, loyalty programs, product setup, order handling, and all the data behind

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those jobs.

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It does noten t replace your warehouse, store workers, delivery partners, or return process.

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Software can root in order based on rules, but a real person still picks the item, packs

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it, hands it over or puts it back on the shelf.

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If your business has messy product details or unclear rules, commerce just connects that

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mess faster.

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It does now, to map clean it up.

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So who should use it?

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Companies where store operations, online selling, and back office work all need to share the

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same information.

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Go back to the building picture.

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Commerce does know, temity, build the products, stock the shelves, or greet customers at

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the door.

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It connects all the entrances to the same business inside.

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Conclusion, the connected retail building.

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Think of Dynamics 365 Commerce as the system that links every shopping entrance, A/O store,

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website, phone A/O to the same products, stock, orders, and customer info.

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No more separate silos or manual updates between systems, are you?

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Everything works from the same foundation.

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That wraps up another knowledge nugget.

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Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform for more Microsoft knowledge nuggets with me,

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Mirko Peters at M365FM.

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Then continue with the next plain English Dynamics 365 Building Block.