Industrial journalist, TR Cutler questioned the merits of CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) when many advanced B2B eCommerce software solutions are the better tool. Read the recent article in Evolving Enterprise magazine. According to Cutler, “Traditional eCommerce platforms may not be able to replace CPQ, but best-in-class eCommerce solutions are able to do so offering offer native configurable product functionality.”
According to Yoav Kutner, CEO and co-founder of OroCommerce, “This option is quite basic, but it can be customized and extended. Providing ‘product bundling’ as a top priority feature is intentional, specifically because it will improve the way current configurable products work and make it basically a CPQ replacement.”
Investigating these claims, it was determined that the B2B eCommerce solution has both quoting and quote negotiation functionality native in the system, making it possible to smoothly negotiate configurable orders. Similarly, configurable rules and workflows allow one to set up any logic behind product bundling or quoting and ordering processes.
Connecting a CPQ to B2B eCommerce via the API is also an option but there is little justification for that approach. Building the integration will cost some time and resources and require the purchase of two licenses (CPG + eCommerce). Better to invest once into the customization rather than tweaking the system to process and needs.
Kutner suggested, “An open-source customer relationship management (CRM) solution must include customer interaction data capture, marketing tools, dashboards, and more. Customer interactions, such as support tickets, email responses, and product views, are captured and tracked across multiple touchpoints, including B2B and B2C online stores, POS systems, email campaigns, and social channels.”
The Evolving Enterprise is the new digital magazine bringing real-world applications for headline technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Thomas R. Cutler is celebrating the 24-year anniversary of the Manufacturing Media Consortium, a group of 9000+ editors, journalists, freelancers, economists, addressing the industrial sector. Cutler and his team work to track the industrial sector trends which includes manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, robotics, technology, Industry 4.0, IIoT, and much more.
Cutler has personally authored more than 8,000 articles for a wide range of leading manufacturing periodicals, industrial publications, and business journals. He was recently named the Most Influential Supply Chain Journalist by AI Global Media. Cutler is the most published freelance industrial journalist worldwide, and over 5200 industry leaders follow Cutler on Twitter daily at @ThomasRCutler.
Media Contact
Company Name: TR Cutler Inc.
Contact Person: Thomas R. Cutler
Email: Send Email
Phone: 954-682-6200
Address:3032 S. Oakland Forest Dr. S-2803 Unit 2803
City: Fort Lauderdale
State: FLORIDA
Country: United States
Website: http://www.trcutlerinc.com
