by With e-commerce growth skyrocketing over the last 18 months— a recent report from Newsweek cited e-commerce growth from 2019 to 2020 as up 32.4%, with total sales reaching $791.7 billion online. (U.S. Department of Commerce)—STORIS is introducing a Buying Group Interface.
The solution’s first integrations are with BrandSource’s AVB Marketing Platform and Nationwide’s website partners, Site on Time and Retailer Web Services. The Buying Group Interface is a plug-and-play solution for these website platforms. Web services are a part of Buying Group memberships, and this integration enables mutual partners to take advantage of these web services while utilizing STORIS’ retail technology.
The Buying Group Interface packages “fundamental APIs needed to connect STORIS’ retail software to these website solutions and share key data that enhance the customers’ shopping experience,” according to the company. The APIs have been pre-configured for these web partners making it simple for retailers to build seamless multi-channel experiences. By providing the fundamental connection points, STORIS aims to make website integration accessible to partners of all sizes.
With the Buying Group Interface, retailers can seamlessly manage inventory across channels in real-time to accurately reflect updates to product details, price, and availability. Retailers can also push association pricing into their STORIS inventory management solution. In-store quotes created by retail sales associates can be sent to the retailer’s website for completion at home, while final sales orders will submit back to STORIS for order management.
“The Buying Group Interface streamlines processes for our mutual partners and provides a single source of key data for our retailer websites and showrooms,” says Steve Mahler, director of POS Initiatives for Nationwide Marketing Group. “Nationwide will support our members in configuring this interface. To support this integration, it is critical that our members stay ahead of the ever-increasing consumer demand for real-time and up-to-date inventory availability. With this information transparency, customers can confidently purchase online or visit a location to purchase.”
Chad Evans, VP of merchandising for AVB, Inc, says they have seen a huge spike in e-commerce business, which accelerated even faster during the early months of the pandemic and has brought many new customers to their dealers. “In this new world we live in, our members are gaining new business by treating their websites as their flagship stores,” Evans continues. “It is very important for dealers to have their systems fully integrated, so consumers can see—via our member’s websites—which items are in stock and are ready to ship or pick up. Through our partnership with STORIS we have created a strong solution that accomplishes this and so much more.”
In May of this year, STORIS announced its full website integration solution with over 50 API touchpoints, eBridge Commerce. Retailers that launch with the Buying Group Interface can upgrade to eBridge Commerce as their e-commerce needs scale.
If you are interested in learning more about your e-commerce options with STORIS, you can request a demo at storis.com
