US start-up unveils ecommerce apps for use with multiple sales channels

A US start-up has come out with a suite of applications it hopes will transform corporate Web sites into fully fledged ecommerce engines that can sell products through multiple sales channels.

Unlike the majority of such software, which delivers point of purchase storefronts for commodity products, Pat Sullivan, Saleslogix's president and chief executive, claimed that Commercelogix enabled customers to use the Web to sell through direct sales forces or business to business channels.

"Commercelogix represents a breakthrough Web based sales solution that turns a Web site into much more than simply a marketing literature kiosk or even an order entry storefront. It's the 'dot.com' solution for companies with more than just .com in their names," he attested.

Commercelogix comprises three applications, eLeadsite, eOrdersite and eConfigurationsite, which provide 24 hour online order taking, enable staff to rapidly change leads into sales calls and then into customer orders, and instantly match product forms with customer needs.

The packages reside on a Commerce Server, which is integrated with the company's reporting, opportunity management, account management, contact management and administrative support tools, and runs against Oracle and SQL Server databases.

It captures information from a customer interaction repository to make data available to users of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and other sales, marketing and support automation applications.

eLeadsite, on the other hand, provides pre built templates that enable companies to collect leads from their Web site and push them immediately to the Commerce Server for automatic follow up.

Sullivan claimed: "The lead can be assigned within minutes to the appropriate field sales representative, who can schedule contact with the prospect without the lag time of hours or days typical of traditional lead gathering approaches."

He added that eOrdersite enabled companies to authorise customers, partners or employees to order from an online product or services catalogue, which was maintained in the Commerce Server 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And by using the third application, eConfigurationsite, salespeople and customers could locate the products or services they needed and configure them the way they wanted using an online marketing encyclopedia.

Christopher Fletcher, managing director of The Aberdeen Group, said: "Companies need to integrate their ecommerce and front office initiatives in order to obtain a single, consistent view of their customers and to orchestrate their sales efforts. Commercelogix ties these key elements together in an integrated solution by providing tools for both the Web based storefront and outside direct or distributor sales channels."