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New Tools Give Wholesale Distributors Rapid Access to E-Commerce

Epicor Releases Epicor Commerce Connect This Week, a cloud-based application designed to help wholesalers quickly deploy commerce sites that will automate the steps necessary to transfer the product to its customers.

Commerce Connect software is now available for Epicor Eclipse, a cloud-based platform designed to help businesses deploy rich B2B and B2C solutions to improve the efficiency of their distribution chain.



"Today, e-commerce is more than just adding an online store to a website," said Sanjay Kumar, vice president of business management. products of society. "It is a powerful feature that supports the main business objectives of today 's digital distributor, such as increasing productivity, growth and productivity. of differentiation. "

The Epicor platform provides a complete B2B and B2C solution based on the Magento open source platform, which means that users can make changes and add applications without being locked into a single vendor ecosystem.

Out of the box

ECC for Eclipse provides a set of tools that includes everything from pricing to managing receivables, to bulk ordering, ordering and replenishment, to marketing. B2C tools include account history, invoices, payments, returns, wish list, order status and other information.

Epicor Eclipse is a leading ecommerce platform for companies in the HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Pipe, Valve and Fitting (PVF) industries.

Epicor Commerce Connect is currently running on Prophet 21, a cloud or on-premise resource planning solution that Epicor launched on Eclipse on Monday, said company spokeswoman Katie Chubb.

Customers had to either be on Eclipse or Prophet 21 in order to use Commerce Connect, she told the E-Commerce Times.

Since implementing the Epicor Eclipse product, ABR Wholesalers, one of the companies that tested the Eclipse solution in beta, has seen its sales double almost every month, said Rick Black, vice president e-commerce and product management.

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Easy interactions

"The consumer experience has pushed some traditional industries to integrate e-commerce as a key component of their digital transformation strategy," said Cindy Zhou, Senior Analyst at Constellation Research.

"I see more cases of B2B2C use where manufacturers and wholesalers use e-commerce platforms not only to sell to their distributors and resellers, but also directly to consumers," she said. at the E-Commerce Times.

Cloud-based tools like Commerce Connect have become important for business users, observes Jim McGregor, Senior Analyst at Tirias Research.

It is essential that these software tools interact easily with each other, he told the E-Commerce Times.

"Companies often end up with a collision of business solutions that are hard to connect, and once they finally work – as bad as it may be – companies are reluctant to make changes out of fear to restart the difficult process, "McGregor explained.

One of the main reasons companies are turning to cloud service providers is to offer a "complete suite of business solutions" that work while providing enough flexibility to scale with a business in the expansion phase.

New CEO

The ECC for Eclipse Deployment is one of the first major publications since Epicor named Stephen Murphy, former president of OpenText, as the new CEO. He will succeed Joe Cowan, who will retire at the end of October.

Murphy's Landing will prove to be an important asset to the company, said R. Ray Wang, a senior analyst at Constellation Research.

Trade is key because CRM and CX are dead, Wang told the E-Commerce Times.

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Marketing, sales and customer service matter little unless you have a conversion rate optimization, he said, adding that "the trade gives you that".

Murphy will help drive a new sales prospect, Wang said. It will give a new face to the company and educate the market.


David Jones is a freelance writer based in Essex County, New Jersey. He wrote for Reuters, Bloomberg, New York Crain Affairs and The New York Times .