Epicor boosts SMB e-commerce choice

Many smaller firms lack the resources to build a comprehensive ecommerce business

Epicor Software has launched a new e-commerce system for small to mid-sized organisations at its Perspectives user conference in Las Vegas.

The offering, which is available either under an on-premise licence or as a hosted service, is integrated with the vendor’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) packages and is targeted at customers engaging in both B2B and B2C sales activities.

“While many companies aspire to expand their business by supporting sales over the web, smaller to mid-size companies often find it prohibitive to do so because they lack the resources to fill the gaps that often occur between an e-commerce system and their back office environments,” said James Norwood, Epicor’s vice president of product marketing.

According to a report by Forrester Research, some 18 per cent of North American and 23 per cent of European businesses plan new or major upgrades to their e-commerce environments in the near future.

Epicor Commerce, which supports Microsoft’s .Net development tools and Ajax web development techniques, automatically synchronises product, pricing, customer and inventory information held in the supplier’s ERP systems via web services.

It also includes an online order hub to enable customers to select shipping methods, determine their freight costs and track delivery. Dealers can also be provided with online access to their order history and negotiated discounts.

The offering likewise incorporates a management console to enable non-IT-savvy executives to deploy web site-based content, images, marketing promotions and initiatives that are search-engine-friendly.

In other news, Epicor also introduced a Shared Benefits risk-sharing programme in an attempt to encourage customers to undertake new ERP projects, many of which are being delayed or simply not being embarked upon as a result of the economic climate.

Under the scheme, the vendor will take joint responsibility for defining project scope and mutually agreeing outcomes and likely return on investment.

If the initiative is completed under budget, any savings are shared on a 50:50 basis. If it runs over budget, customers will be billed for only half of the contracted professional services hourly rates that have exceeded budget limits.