Lancelot Loubier, Auteur à Kiboko

3 May 20215 May 2021

OroCommerce product sheet

Today, the e-commerce market is very widespread in B2C. When we look at the predictions, the B2B e-commerce market would even soon become the first sales channel!

Indeed, according to various studies conducted by the FEVAD, 93% of buyers would like to make their B2B purchases on the Internet while at the same time, 74% of buyers do their research online. All they want is to go to the end of the cycle, easily and in just a few clicks.

So how do you do it? Which tools should you use to build a B2B e-commerce?

OroCommerce remains the most flexible solution designed for B2B. The OroCommerce platform is able to meet the requirements of any sector. This solution will allow you to develop your business with a B2B online store.

If you don’t know this tool, don’t hesitate to read our page dedicated to it by clicking here.

In this article, we will talk about the different elements that make up the product sheets on OroCommerce.

As you know, a product sheet is an essential element to successfully convert your prospects into customers. It is thanks to this file that the user will get to know the product, through photos and detailed descriptions.

Structure, internal links, images, descriptions… How are the most important elements of a product page arranged on OroCommerce? How can we optimize them? What is it about?

Here is an overview of the most important elements of the OroCommerce product page :

The model above and reproduces accurately the elements that you will find on a product page in OroCommerce. Some elements are more important than others, they can also be different from the elements that make up a B2C e-commerce product sheet.

The price table

Let’s take the example of the price table. The role of the price table is to inform the Internet user about the right price of the product according to the quantity he plans to buy. Buying in larger quantities allows you to make economies of scale, this total discount allows you to reduce the unit purchase cost of a product, this is made possible with OroCommerce. It is also possible to have a “matrix” view of a product order. For example, if a customer wants to buy several t-shirts, of different sizes, this system will make his purchase process faster and easier.

The shopping cart selector

The shopping cart selector (or shopping list) simply allows you to select the cart in which to place your products. It is therefore possible to create several shopping lists and place products and even notes in them. Each list can be transformed into a quote or an order at any time. Thus, potential customers working on different projects at the same time can manage several shopping carts on OroCommerce. With the shopping cart button, customers can set aside products and prepare purchasing decisions internally before placing an order.

Learn more about the OroCommerce product sheet ?

There are still many interesting features in the OroCommerce product page! If you want to know more about it or if you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to answer you.

Contact-us !

22 March 202122 March 2021

Akeneo PIM 5.0 Update !

The year 2021 brings its share of new features! Like many vendors, Akeneo does has a lot of updates to provide this year. Today, it is a major version upgrade of the most awarded PIM of the market, Akeneo PIM 5.0.

This update is changing things in multiple domains, the Akeneo product teams have brought more than 70 improvements and new features. All these improvements are available for Flexibility and Community Edition customers with the release of Akeneo PIM 5.0. Those were already available during the last year for Serenity customers.

Let’s get a quick overview of the new features.

A reworked rules engine, for better automation

The use of Akeneo allow you to relieve working teams from spending their time on redundant and repetitive manual tasks. This is why a rules engine was implemented a few years ago.

With this update, the rules engine has been redesigned. From now on, it is associated with a rules generator. This will be a new interface in Akeneo PIM, allowing users to create and manage business rules more easily. This interface gathers all the actions you were previously able to use through YAML files. now your marketing teams will be able to define product defaults, copy attribute values, and classify products automatically, without the help of an IT team.

Transparent and easy connectivity

The improvements of the Akeneo PIM API with version 5.0 also aim at optimising synchronisations and data distribution with third party applications. To this end, a new API has been introduced: “Events API”. This new API unlike the existing one will push data changesto the 3rd party applications when they happen. It will accelerate data synchronisation between third party applications and Akeneo PIM.

Note that the new API becomes complementary to the existing REST API, the latter also benefits from new and improved endpoints to help reduce the amount of data to be processed and the size of responses to API calls.

This new version also allows users to better track what data is being sent and received, thanks to improved connections. In this way, users are even more empowered to handle synchronisation errors.

A revisited Data Quality Insights interface

As you know, with Akeneo you have access to product information and can therefore ensure their quality and obtain exploitable information for marketing purposes. Today, with Akeneo PIM 5.0, you will have access to this data at a glance, quickly and easily, thanks to the improved Data Quality Insights dashboard.

This new dashboard will make it even easier for your teams to check the quality of product information and get recommendations on how to optimize it.

In an effort to respond effectively to the globalization of business, the Data Quality Insights interface adds advanced features such as spell checking and language coverage.

Add your own units of measure

You will be able to better adapt your catalogue to the needs of your organization, thanks to the improved level of catalogue flexibility and product structure offered by Akeneo 5.0.

Akeneo PIM now hosts advanced measurement capabilities, designed to provide users with increased flexibility when enriching product information.

It now facilitates the creation of measurement units as well as custom measurement families. In conclusion, you can now easily add any new measurements and associate them with your products, in accordance with local standards and specific industry requirements.

Learn more

If you have any questions about Akeneo PIM 5.0, or just want to learn more about Akeneo, feel free to contact our teams.

Contact-us !

1 February 202115 February 2021

OroCommerce : new release 4.2 LTS version

OroCommerce is, according to us, the ideal tool for carrying out ambitious and operational B2B e-commerce projects thanks to a stable and scalable platform. After a rewarding year 2020 full of development, OroCommerce begins this new calendar year by presenting the 4.2 LTS version. Available since the end of January, you will find below all the information relating to the new features that are emerging.

4.2 LTS: new features at several levels

OroCommerce will add a number of new features, emerging for different purposes and for specific uses.

We have listed them for you in 3 main categories :

1- Improvement of the user experience :

The version 4.2 LTS is mainly focused on improving the user experience. The goal is to make it easier for customers to find what they are looking for.

Faster navigation.
User experience optimization: it is now possible to configure multiple items in shopping carts, quotes, orders and checkout process.
More precise targeting of filters by category (sort order, type and sidebar / top position).
Ready-made templates for brand pages and brand navigation.

2- Front-End improvement :

Optimization of navigation performance.
Additional controls on search relevance, thus improving the search results of the products / attributes.
Improved shopping carts : a tree structure is now available, grouping products by configurable.
Implementation of stylebooks (improvement of the interface) directly in Oro.

This link allows you to access a documentation on stylebook.

3- Improvement of the Back-End / new configurations:

Many improvements have been made to the Back-End, where the API now has more resources, allowing easier application testing for developers. We can also find these novelties:

Extensive coverage of out-of-the-box data imports (to ensure product data import via flat files without going through API or user interface).
Conversion of the search autocomplete extension to an out-of-the-box feature (Search autocomplete).

Export / import of visibility settings for products and categories.
Available preview of product visibility via a “preview” button.
Special permission on the CMS edition.
HTML cleaning.
Possibility for Back-Office users to connect as a client user on the Front-Office.

Learn more

If you have any questions, or would like to know more about the new 4.2 LTS OroCommerce version, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are entirely at your disposal and we will be happy to talk with you furthermore.

Contact-us !

20 January 20219 February 2021

Payment by debit card in B2B

In order to stay competitive and relevant, businesses must adapt to the way their customers want to shop. 89% of B2B buyers are already using internet for their business, and the trend is not about to reverse. However, selling to businesses is not the same as selling to consumers.

Indeed, unlike B2C, B2B must take into consideration the interests and requirements of commercial customers.
Some complex scenarios must be taken into account such as : specific functionalities, management of company accounts receivable, personalized rates for negotiated contracts, or account and password support between employees, etc. Faced with these various scenarios, our partner OroCommerce remains the most flexible solution designed for B2B. The OroCommerce platform is able to meet the requirements of any industry. This solution will allow you to develop your business with a B2B online store.

Companies must offer several payment methods, in order to satisfy the greatest number of customers and not miss one or more sales. Nowadays, all e-commerce sites, without exception, have implemented payment by debit card in order to make the purchasing process faster and easier.

Considering and implementing a card payment solution become a real priority for a B2B online sales site, which represents an essential factor of trust and credibility. Online payment means a transfer of money by order of a customer using a form accessible on a website or mobile application. Usually, it is done with a bank card, as long as a payment module is integrated beforehand. By doing so, you will be able to offer payment methods by debit card to customers who do not yet have an agreement for on-account payment. In this way, self-service B2B e-commerce becomes possible.

How to set up a debit card payment module on my e-commerce site?

Contact your bank or an independent payment gateway, and ask them to open an e-merchant contract (also commonly called Secured Distance Sales contract). This contract is signed between a merchant and his bank to be able to use a Virtual Electronic Payment Terminal, i.e. a payment gateway used to process online transactions and check the validity of the payment method.

It is this contract that will allow you to offer payment by debit card on the e-commerce site of your company. This contract authorizes your bank to collect your customers’ money on your behalf, and then transfer it to your bank account.

To go into detail, the payment portal must necessarily go through a generic payment gateway in order to be able to offer customers to pay by card on your site. There are a multitude of them : Payzen, SIPS, Paybox, Payplug, for the most used. These gateways are therefore used to integrate payment modules on your site. They will allow a transaction by the transfer of information between an online store (your company) and a payment portal (your bank).

Each bank offers its own digital transaction solution (payment portal) to e-merchants. Some of them operate in the form of monthly subscriptions, while others choose to bill each transaction. To find out what your bank charges, please contact your bank advisor. Different banking signs offer adapted rates, it may be possible to negotiate your contract.

Today, Kiboko is able to realize for you the integration of a payment module on your OroCommerce website. Here is the list of banks to which we can integrate a payment gateway :

You will be able to choose between the various options offered by the banks. This will allow you to adjust the solution to the needs of your customers :

Different payment methods available: CB, Visa, MasterCard, Electron, Maestro, American Express, Paylib, PayPal, MasterPass, Aurore, Bancontact/Mister Cash, Banque Accord, ELV, etc.
Numerous payment methods : Single payment, Multiple payments, One click payment, etc.
A responsive payment page adapted to any support, so that a sale can take place from a PC, a smartphone or a tablet.
An automatic redirection after payment on your site.
An email payment notification for your buyers.
Anti-fraud tools to secure your transactions.
Real-time tracking of your sales with automatic order updates.
Etc.

Learn more ?

Your bank may not appear in the list. Please note that it is still possible to create an integration of the payment module specific to your bank. In this case, we are entirely attentive to your request and your problems, do not hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to discuss your ideas with you.

Contact-us !

7 December 202023 March 2021

Punch Out

What is it ?

Punch Out is an intercommunication system between a company’s computer applications and its suppliers.

It refers to the connection between the purchasing department and their suppliers’ web solutions. For example, this allows companies to directly access the site of their suppliers, where their negotiated contractual conditions apply (price, shipping costs, etc.), and to transfer purchase requests in their own validation environment (SRM or ERP).

Punch Out, the link between your OroCommerce and an ERP / SRM

With this system, your customers’ purchasing departments have access to your entire product catalog, with prices at their negotiated conditions. Buyers fill their shopping list as they would usually do on a regular webshop.

Once validated on your webshop, the shopping list is automatically transferred to your customer’s ERP or SRM, where all the management and accounting validation processes are already settled. All information relating to the articles is kept (description, unit price, dimension, etc.). On his side, the buyer can submit his shopping list to his management before validation. Once the list is validated, the order is automatically transferred by EDI to the merchant’s ERP.

OroCommerce remains the ideal B2B e-commerce solution, due to its many characteristics specific to business to business markets and its flexibility. The Punch Out system can easily be integrated and added to your OroCommerce eco-system. The communication between your e-commerce platform and the SRM / ERP of your customers will be fluid and secure.

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Thus, your product catalog is part of a dynamic catalog, available to your customers. Regularly updated in real time on OroCommerce, this system improves efficiency and saves the precious time of purchasing departments and sales teams.

A versatile system, a key resource

Is the Punch Out system suitable for my clients’ ERP / SRMs? There are many management software packages, however Punch Out has the advantage of being compatible with a large number of solutions. Indeed, the system is compatible and operational with SRM and ERP of the OCI and CXML type, thus covering the vast majority of management solutions used by your customers.

In addition, thanks to the flexibility offered by OroCommerce, it is possible to configure several Punch Outs on the same webshop. For example, we can imagine a webshop exclusively intended for your B2B sales, in which you will have the possibility to hide certain products from certain customers and to apply a specific and different pricing for their sales teams.

Punch Out, the Kiboko experience

Recently, Kiboko had the opportunity to implement a Punch Out system for one of its clients. The client company had a large number of subsidiaries. Each of them had their own ERP. A problem common to many large international groups, the global management system is not unified. Here, in the event that the customer does not want the development of workflow, the implementation of Punch Out made it possible to very quickly connect the ERPs of the subsidiaries of the parent company, without specific development.

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As part of customer demand, we have worked on ERPs such as Oracle PeopleSoft and SAP SRM. Note that it is also very easy to work with other types of SRM and ERP, the Punch Out can be easily adapted with a large number of identical solutions.

With this experience, Kiboko is able to ensure the integration of a punch out quickly and efficiently. This system will provide you with a number of advantages for buyer and seller.

Learn more

Are you interested in Punch Out? Have a few questions? We are fully attentive to your requests and your issues, do not hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to discuss your ideas.

Kiboko is able to support you in the digital transformation of your business. We also have the ability to implement software for B2B management of sales, logistics, customer care and business intelligence.

Contactez-nous !