AmeriCommerce Blog

Top integrations we recommend for your online store

2024-07-22T14:37:33-05:00

Customizing a B2B Commerce Platform is like setting up a car the way you want it There are a lot of after-market parts that you can use to change the way it runs. B2B Commerce Platforms refer to these components as integrations, apps, or add-ons. Like after-market parts, there are so many to choose from that it can get rather overwhelming.

That’s why we’ve assembled a quick list of integrations that you can try applying to your own store. These are just third-party add-ons that we’ve found work very well with the AmeriCommerce by Cart.com platform, and that many of our users install or connect to. You have the complete freedom to ignore this list and find your own.

Ready? Let’s go!

Shipping: ShipperHQ

Website: https://shipperhq.com/home
Free Trial: 15 days
Pricing: Ask rep

ShipperHQ is a third-party integration that helps you personalize shipping rates and options for customers. They integrate with over 50 carriers worldwide, which allows customers to see real-time shipping rates based on geographic zones. Their dimensional shipping calculation capabilities matching your fulfillment box sizes are considered best in class.

Key features include:

Custom and real-time shipping rates
Add special discounts and promotions, including free shipping
Table rates, flat rate shipping, and dimensional weight-based shipping costs
Shipping rules/restrictions for specific carriers
Automated shipping calculations
Cutoff times, lead times, blackout dates, and max time-in-transit
Address validation

Users generally appreciate how easy it is to set up and configure, although you may need help from their CS rep for more complex shipping requirements like table rates, fuel surcharges, and the like. You can learn more about the ShipperHQ integration with AmeriCommerce by Cart.com here.

Payments: Nuvei

Website: https://nuvei.com/
Free Trial: No
Pricing: Ask rep

Nuvei is an online payment processor that many AmeriCommerce by Cart.com customers use to process transactions in their stores. Nuvei’s primary advantage (at least for us) is the sheer number of credit cards and payment options that it allows, including all major credit cards, debit cards, and eWallets.

Nuvei also provides special payment pages that can be customized to boost conversions and match your website’s look and feel.

Other features include:

Fast payment gateway setup
Localized payment methods, language, and currency
Decline recovery
One-click payments
Analytics and reporting

While plenty of Nuvei customers appreciate how easy and seamless it is to set up and integrate, many customers call out their excellent customer support. Based on reviews, the Nuvei CS team seems very responsive and professional when it comes to assisting clients. You can learn more about the Nuvei integration with our B2B platform here.

Automations: Zapier

Website: https://zapier.com/
Free Trial: 14 days
Pricing: Free Plan to Enterprise Plan

Zapier makes it possible to connect your store with practically any other app on the internet. It’s an incredibly powerful tool that allows some clever and critical functionality that would normally take IT staff to build in-house. Its no-code interface lets you build connections without any programming background whatsoever (although it helps).

One basic example would be to set up a “zap” that sends you a notification every time an order is placed. You can even build some logic to it. Let’s say the customer makes a big order. You can build a zap to send the customer an appreciation email every time they order products over a certain quantity or dollar value.

Zapier can be incredibly useful, limited only by the apps in the library and the functions each app allows. We suggest you review their library of 6000+ apps first and see if the software tools you use are available, and what kind of functions are allowed. You can also learn more about the Zapier integration with our B2B commerce platform here.

Taxes: Avalara

Website: https://www.avalara.com/
Free Trial: No
Pricing: Ask rep

One cannot expect to know every tax rule for every region for every customer. That’s why services like Avalara exist to help calculate the appropriate taxes for you. Avalara is a tax compliance software that automates tax compliance and can help improve accuracy of calculated sales tax rates.

In addition to calculating rates per transaction, Avalara can:

Keep up with rate changes for every region
Track tax obligations for every state
Simplify sales tax registration
Automatically apply tax exemptions at checkout
Manage certifications

Avalara receives praise from many users for its ability to simplify tax compliance and how well it integrates with a variety of software programs and platforms (including AmeriCommerce by Cart.com). Learn more about the Avalara integration with our platform here.

ERP: Pipe17

Website: https://pipe17.com/
Free Trial: No, but can book a demo
Pricing: Ask sales

Pipe17 is a fully-automated order hub that eliminates manual, error-prone order processes that delay orders and impact customer satisfaction. We’ve seen quite a few AmeriCommerce by Cart.com customers use Pipe17 to connect their web stores to their ERPs, 3PL systems, and inventory management systems in such a way that orders flow seamlessly from one stage to another.

Pipe17 allows ecommerce businesses to:

Integrates multiple areas of the business without the need for IT
Route orders to different fulfillment centers based on established business logic
Manage inventory across all channels
Automate returns and exchanges

Businesses that use Pipe17 praise its ability to manage orders across different business functions and programs, and how it streamlines the fulfillment pipeline. They also find it easy to use and set up, with support teams that provide great technical assistance. To find out more about the Pipe17 integration with our platform, check out this page.

Accounting: QuickBooks Online

Website: https://quickbooks.intuit.com
Free Trial: 30 days
Pricing: Starting plan: $9/mo; Highest plan: $60/mo

QuickBooks is quite possibly the most common accounting software in the entire world, and its shift to the cloud has only made it more widespread. It covers all the essential accounting functions you would expect, from invoicing to expenses and to income & expenses. The lowest tier only covers the most basic of accounting functions, but that is often enough for most online entrepreneurs.

However, QuickBooks Online can still cover some advanced needs through functionalities unlocked at the highest tier, like:

Managing bills & payments
Creating and managing budgets
Multi-currency support
Inventory tracking
Batch invoicing

Most importantly to AmeriCommerce by Cart.com users, QuickBooks Online can integrate directly with your store. It syncs Orders, Inventory, Customers, TaxItems, Handling Costs, and more. Best of all, we offer unlimited orders for QuickBooks Online via our native integration. Most other apps that integrate with QBO charge per usage, but AmeriCommerce by Cart.com only charges a flat rate of only $19/mo (hundreds of dollars per month less than our competition!). You can learn more about the QuickBooks Online integration with AmeriCommerce by Cart.com at this link.

Express checkout: PayPal

Website: https://www.paypal.com/
Free Trial: No
Pricing: Fee-based

It’s difficult to run an online business and not use PayPal, arguably the largest payment gateway in the world. Covering over 200 countries and supporting just as many currencies, PayPal has become a standard requirement for most ecommerce operators. As both a payment processor and a digital wallet, PayPal offers flexibility to merchants and consumers alike including Venmo and Pay In 4 installment capabilities.

Among PayPal’s most prominent business-oriented features are:

Payment gateway that allows multiple payment options
Payment scheduling
Payment tracking
Online invoicing
Customer portal

As one of the oldest and largest payment gateways in the world, PayPal has plenty of advocates and critics, each focusing on different aspects of their service. However, one cannot deny that PayPal works, and works reliably.

Final note about recommendations

As you read through the list, you may have noticed that some of the apps can overlap in terms of capabilities (e.g. order processing). And that’s ok. You’re not supposed to integrate with all of the apps in this list. You’re supposed to try each of them out and see which one best fits into your desired tech stack.

Don’t expect to find the perfect one on the first try. It may involve trying out a few pieces (or even swapping out other apps) before you finally end up with that works best for your business. If you have any questions about our app add-ons and integrations or would like to have your own software integrated with our solution, then please make sure to contact us.

The ultimate guide to migrating your online store

2024-06-17T16:22:01-05:00

Migrating a website doesn’t just happen at the click of a button. It’s a lengthy process composed of multiple steps that can seem minor but have a massive impact on how your store functions. Preparations before migrating your online store covers the crucial preparations you should make before starting your migration journey.

Executing the Migration

We’ll go over the general steps you’ll need to follow in order to migrate your site successfully. Keep in mind that while these instructions are mainly for users of our platform, they can be adapted for site migration to other B2B Commerce Platforms, too.

There are several sections we’ll need to cover in order to complete the import process:

1. Catalog
2. Customers
3. Orders
4. Store Setup/Configuration
5. SEO Settings

Catalog: Categories

There’s no rule that says you have to set up categories first, but it’s generally advisable to take a logical, top-down approach when building out your new site’s product category structure. That way, you’re less likely to overlook something as you fill in product details.

In a B2B commerce platform, a product being imported can be assigned to multiple categories at once. Multiple category branches are separated using the | symbol. E.g. Bags > Backpack | Accessories > Bags | Gifts. This is a required field when adding a new product. If a category/category path is defined here that does not already exist, it will be created on validation during Import.

TIP: Before you get started, look at how many categories need to be set up, and if the time required to set them up manually is less than the time required to build the necessary import files. Stores with only a few categories (especially ones that don’t require complex variations) can be set up manually without too much effort.

Catalog: Manufacturers

If your site sells products from different manufacturers, then you should set those manufacturers up in the system before doing the final product import. As you do so, make sure you pay close attention to spelling and capitalization, as having duplicate manufacturers on your list is a way to both confuse your customers and complicate your reporting.

You can further edit/fill out individual manufacturer profiles in our platform by going into the Catalog > Manufacturers/Brand menu.

Catalog: Products

Products are going to be the meatiest part of the import process. They normally have a plethora of different fields, attributes, and tags, so you’ll want to make extra sure all of those have already been created and verified before proceeding with the import. Otherwise, you’ll have to either reimport the entire product database, or do manual spot fixes—neither of which will be fun.

You can find them in our platform by going to Tools > Data Import > Product. There will be a link to a sample file that has all the column headers accepted by our platform’s online stores. Keep in mind that every ecommerce platform defines their headers differently.

Another thing to note is that certain columns may have character limits. In our B2B commerce platform these are:

ItemName (100 chars)
ShortDescription (100 chars)
CustomMetaKeywords (250 chars)
CustomMetaDescription (250 chars), etc.

These may differ for other platforms, so check the support articles for your chosen webstore.

Pro Tip: Use alphanumeric on your item numbers so that Excel won’t change the format of your Item Numbers.

You can find a more comprehensive set of procedures on importing products into our platform in this link.

Catalog: Product Variants

Many products being sold on webstores come with different variations. A single uniform, for instance, would come in many different sizes and colors. But listing each variant as a different line item on your database would be very inefficient, not to mention time consuming, so platforms like AmeriCommerce by Cart.com have a system for applying product variants.

Variant groups should first be defined by going to the Catalog > Variant Groups menu. Here, you’ll be able to either create a new group or edit an existing one. You’ll be able to do basic things like defining the variant group name, the display type (dropdown, checkbox, etc), and item text.

Once that’s created, you can go to a specific product in your catalog and set up the variants for that specific product. If it’s something like a shirt, you can define the sizes and available colors. In our platform, you can even set a surcharge that lets you increase/decrease the price based on a flat rate or a percentage. Variants also allow you to replace the default product photo with a variant photo, so the buyer can see exactly what they’re buying.

You can learn more about product variants here.

Catalog: Advanced Product Pricing

Some businesses go beyond a sticker price and have more complicated pricing models, such as charging based on customer type, quantity ordered, or even date as a factor (such as a seasonal sale). AmeriCommerce by Cart.com makes it possible to set up Advanced Product Pricing to accommodate these scenarios.

To set up, go to the Advanced Product Pricing Matrix at Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Pricing. There’s a detailed list of instructions here.

Catalog: Attribute Groups

Product attributes let buyers filter products based on categories that make them unique or easily definable. For example, one commonly used attribute for monitors is screen size. You would set up “screen size” as an attribute group, define the options in it (30”, 32”, and so on), and then add those attributes to individual products. Another kind of attribute could be safety glove material. The buyer would filter between nitrile, latex, or vinyl.

Go to Catalog > Attributes > Attribute Group List to define the attribute groups, and then go to Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Attributes to add them to a product.

Visit this page to learn more about the process.

Customers

Customers can either be imported from a file or manually created. Each webstore platform will have its own collection of fields and unique field names for customer entries, so expect to do a little bit of data cleanup before transferring information over. This includes which fields are required and which aren’t.

In our platform, the required customer fields are:

• FirstName
• LastName
• Email
• StoreName

Again, every platform will handle that differently, so check first. Of course, the customer entity also has a number of other standard fields such as Customer Type, Company Name, and Mailing List (if you’re running a mailing list) that would also need to be filled out, but those aren’t a must-have.

The actual import process for customers is pretty straightforward, but we always encourage users to validate their data file first prior to importing. Validation functions as a sort of “test import,” so that you can check whether or not there are any problems with the file that you have to correct. We even have a dedicated button for it in our B2B commerce platform:

95% of errors/issues can be dealt with by validating the import file first.

Orders

As with the other data types, orders can easily be imported into our platform via a .csv file. All you need to do is make sure the column headers in that file match the ones accepted by AmeriCommerce by Cart.com. Orders can be imported by going to the following area: Tools > Data Import.

Note that Orders on our platform have the following standard fields:

• StoreOrderPlacedWith
• OrderStatus
• SubTotal
• TaxesBilled
• ShippingBilled
• GrandTotal
• ShipAddressZip
• BillAddressCountry
• BillAddressState
• BillAddressZip

This may differ if you’re importing to a different ecommerce platform.

While you can technically import orders at any point you want (the same with any data type in AmeriCommerce by Cart.com), it’s best to save Orders for after Customers and Products, as it’s simpler to associate orders with customers and SKUs after they’re already imported.

Store Settings

Store settings generally may not be importable, but you do have to spend time setting them up properly. This includes double-checking the navigation menu to ensure all major store sections include a complete list of sub-categories and product pages, that attribute filters are in place so that customers can find the products they’re looking for, and if all authorized users have been set up in the system with password access and proper role permissions. While this can be easily corrected later on, it’s one less thing to do after the webstore launches and makes for a smoother transition.

You should also remember to set up order statuses to ensure you are still keeping proper tabs on where individual customer orders are. Examples of order statuses include:

• Pending payment
• Pending shipping
• Shipped
• Partially shipped

Once those order statuses have been set up, remember to apply these statuses to the orders that you’re importing.

Theme Setup

If you’re limited to web design resources, our B2B commerce platform has customizable themes that can help your store look more professional. It’s a live design tool that allows for a wide breadth of pages and page types (over a hundred different page types per theme). Every page also has a customizable CSS so that you can have an easier time matching it with your brand’s signature look.

In AmeriCommerce by Cart.com, themes can be found in your Admin Console on the bottom of the admin sidebar. This guide can help you install a new theme from scratch and customize it to your liking.

If you need time to update a theme but still need to have your site up and running, it’s possible to launch with a live theme and then build your new theme in sandbox mode. You can use this same method to work on seasonal themes like Christmas, and then schedule it to launch on a specific day.

If you need additional assistance getting your site to look the way you want, we have both the implementation and design teams that can do it for you.

Widgets

Our platform also makes use of widgets, which are pre-built sections of a page that perform a specific function. For example, you might have a Search Box widget that you can just add to your site without having to program a search function from scratch. Other widget examples include:

Browse by Manufacturer
Side Column Shopping Cart
Browse by Category
Photo Gallery
One-click Upsell
Product Comparison

Read this detailed guide on how widgets work.

Payment Gateways

Remember to also connect your payment gateway to the new site. That can be done by going to Settings > Payments and Taxes > Payment Gateways. From that menu, simply enter the information for your chosen gateway/s and that should be it. Be very careful with this information, as it is highly sensitive and only trusted employees should know it.

If you’re looking for payment gateway recommendations, we highly suggest Nuvei. Our platform works very well with them, and they have low rates that can keep your costs low. Other alternatives include PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

Visit this page to learn more about the process.

Shipping

Don’t forget to set up your shipping partners on your new site (assuming you have any). The first thing you would need to do in this case is to set up your list of shipping partners. To do this, go to Storefront > Settings > Shipping > Shipping Providers. By adding them to this list, you’ll be able to show the customer the live shipping rates—or even use your own negotiated rate.

Visit this page to learn more about how that’s done. The guide includes instructions on how to set up a shipping partner’s live rates, as well as registering an account if you don’t have one already.

SEO Settings

While you’re busy importing product, customer, and order data, it may be wise to also review your webstore’s SEO settings. The large number of category and product pages will contribute a lot to your site’s search engine and can increase your discoverability.

You can visit the SEO Settings page by going to Settings > Search Engine > Search Optimization.

The main things you need to update are:

• Custom URLs
• Page titles
• On-page content
• Meta tags and meta descriptions

We don’t expect you to fill all that by hand, of course. The AmeriCommerce by Cart.com import tool allows you to upload settings for multiple pages at once. See this guide to learn more.

Going Live

Once all of the fields have been created and all the data has been transferred over, it’s time for your new ecommerce platform to go live. This switchover has to be carefully scheduled to cause the least disruption to customer shopping (and therefore the business). Choose a time that has the slowest amount of traffic and activity on your site, whether that’s on a weekend or as late in the day as possible. If you have to pay someone overtime, then that’s still going to be cheaper than dealing with angry customer complaints.

Warning: Before you import anything, download a backup of your data and save it locally. But you want to do it right before the import, because maybe someone bought something and changed the inventory, or someone updated the price.

Once the transition is complete, check back with your original webstore for any orders that came in after your last data dump. You’ll have to import those new orders into the new webstore again and make sure they are processed correctly.

Visit this detailed go-live guide to learn more about setting up your DNS configurations to go live on a custom domain or subdomain.

Reminders and Best Practices

Here are a few miscellaneous tips and recommendations we’ve picked up over our years of helping clients migrate their stores:

• Always remember to set your Product Stock and Order statuses to match what was on the previous platform. Better yet, check your inventory to ensure they’re as up to date as possible.

• When doing an inventory update, you can remove the columns you don’t need and only include the values that change. By importing only what you need, you minimize the chances of error, the import will run faster, and you spend less time prepping the file.

• Secure your new site with SSL certificates to protect the private information of both your customers and your webstore. There are both free and purchasable SSL options that can fit different needs.

• Depending on your location, you would need to set your state tax rate or integrate with a tax plugin such as TaxCloud or Avalara to enable automated tax calculations.

• Spend a bit of time setting up your site’s email notifications. Configure the rules and settings so that the trigger at the right times, but not too often to be annoying. Also dress up your emails so that they look good (or at least not ugly). Email templates can help with this. AmeriCommerce by Cart.com email templates are completely customizable and can greatly increase customer satisfaction, build your brand, and encourage repeat business.

Need Help?

If you need additional information on how to migrate your B2B commerce platform, or would like to contact a specialist, feel free to reach out to our team or email us at hello@cart.com.

Preparations before migrating your online store

2024-05-30T15:37:58-05:00

Is this the first time you’re migrating your online store to another platform? If you’re not nervous, then you should be (even just a little). I’m not going to sugar-coat it: website migration can be tricky for those who’ve never done it before, and mistakes can have serious implications on the business.

That said, mistakes can be kept at a minimum with adequate planning, preparation, and research (which is probably why you’re reading this blog).

Although this blog is written primarily for B2B ecommerce sites that use AmeriCommerce by Cart.com, the concepts, plans, and best practices should still be applicable to ecommerce platforms and for both D2C and B2B e-stores.

Pre-migration preparations

The more work you do before the migration, the smoother the actual transfer will go. We’re talking about things like testing the new B2B ecommerce site, setting up the appropriate fields, and preparing backup procedures. They will not only increase your chances of success, but also help forestall potential crises.

Download your old data—then do it again

You should pull your old store’s data at least twice: once as early as possible, and again as late as possible.

The first time you download your store data, examine it closely to confirm that all product attributes, pricing information, and other info you need to transfer is indeed included in the extracted files. If they’re not, then you’ve just bought yourself some time to figure out how to fix the problem—whether it’s by researching on your own or asking for support from your old vendor.

Another reason you’re doing this early is so that you can give this sample data to your new ecommerce vendor. Have them review it and evaluate whether or not they can import the data as is, or if it needs to be reformatted to be compatible with their own import tool.

The second time you’ll export your data is just before the website migration actually takes place. This is to ensure that there’s as little a gap as possible between shutting down your old store and turning on your new one and minimizes the number of transactions you’ll have to manually enter when your new site goes live.

Note: Remember to account for the time it will take to reformat the data to fit your new platform’s import template.

Scrutinize your new ecommerce site

One of the worst things you can possibly do as an ecommerce business is to sign up for a new site without thorough review and testing. This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the number of customers we encounter who skip this stage of the process and jump straight in, only to regret it. Either something breaks, or they discover the new site can’t do something they need.

Always, always budget enough time and manpower into carefully evaluating new B2B ecommerce platform features, costs, and capabilities before forking over your credit card. Make sure it can:

Properly import the data from the old platform
Use the plugins and add-ons necessary to get the site to function the way you want
Integrate with other solutions in your tech stack

Run a few tests using sample data to make sure everything works the way it’s supposed to, especially on the most key features.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t trust salespeople, but you shouldn’t trust salespeople—not blindly, anyway. Most are honest and do have your best interests in mind, but at the end of the day you’re the one who’s going to be using the platform. You know best whether a given feature actually fits your needs.

Loop in your team

Site migrations can and have been done by lone individuals, but it’s still a good idea to bring in a helping hand or two if you can. There’s plenty of work to go around, and some of it is going to be detail-oriented and time-consuming. Having another person would go a long way towards launching the new site in a timely manner.

A second person can also function as a backup in case something comes up and you’re not available. For example, if a vendor calls with questions, or a stakeholder voices concerns, they can help provide answers. So, make sure at least one other person knows what’s going on and is aware of all the relevant conversations.

Always secure executive sponsorship

Webstore migrations are a no-takebacks kind of project, and so it’s best to cover your bases when it comes to upper management. The last thing you want is to have just gone live with your new site, only for your VP of Sales to come in and request changes that will significantly affect the implementation. An executive sponsor can keep the management team apprised of your progress and help alleviate any of their concerns on your behalf. This should minimize any potential interference or disruption from other parties.

Executive sponsors can also help get other departments to work with you to provide data or other needs in a timely manner. This can often be a bottleneck when you’re working with multiple teams, each with their own priorities and definitions of urgency.

Need Help?

We've barely scratched the surface of the process of learning how to migrate your online store. If you're interested in learning more about AmeriCommerce by Cart.com, don't hesitate to contact us. We'll gladly connect you with one of our B2B ecommerce experts.

Next Projection Taps Into 40% More Revenue With AmeriCommerce

2020-03-05T15:59:00-06:00

Brian Gluck founded Next Projection in April of 2014 and currently manages two online stores www.4kprojectors.com and www.projectorscreen.com. “We’re an audio/visual reseller with a particular focus on the projection equipment niche,” Brian said. “When beginning the business I found that there were a ton of people out there trying to shop for projector screens that didn't have a good resource to shop online. There were people that tried to position themselves as specialists in the field but I didn’t think they were doing as good of a job as I thought I could do. So I decided to use the experience and expertise I had built over my career to solve that by becoming that specialist myself. I set out to build this brand dedicated to delivering projector screens directly to the consumer - and I never looked back.”

How it all began

With a mission to become the world's largest online resource for projector screens, Brian started his company with rolled up sleeves ready to take on the industry. As a bootstrapped start-up, Next Projection began its journey into ecommerce with channels such as Amazon, Ebay, and Google which was critical for raising revenue at the onset, but Brian found that things would quickly shift in a different direction. “When we launched the business and were waiting for the ramp-up of the actual e-commerce website to be developed, Amazon was probably our largest mechanism for income because there is a very low barrier for entry there. We used that Amazon revenue to help develop the real online store.” And now? “Our online store revenue blows away the Amazon revenue...and we have control over the messaging, we have control over the customer, and we have control over the experience” Brian said.

The largest challenge selling projector equipment

The largest challenge in selling projector equipment was managing the tremendous amount of data from manufacturers that relied on a heavy use of product attributes. “We started this website with 20,000 SKUs. Every SKU of every screen has several attributes assigned to it so we needed a platform that didn’t limit variants and attribute combinations like Shopify does. Just managing that data in itself was a challenge, not to mention finding a platform that would allow us the full control we were looking for.

...we needed a platform that didn’t limit variants and attribute combinations like Shopify does."

Where AmeriCommerce fit in

AmeriCommerce’s robust attribute system played a critical role in bringing Brian’s online store to life. “If AmeriCommerce didn’t have that robust, attribute-faceted navigation, there is no way my business would survive. It’s crucial because we have too many SKUs and we have to enable people to come in and narrow down the selection off of the criteria that is important to them."

How to decide “The Right Platform”

Self Hosted VS SaaS

“With a relatively small team - without full-time designers and full-time developers - a small business owner has to find resources to fill in the gaps where necessary,” Brian said. AmeriCommerce fills in those gaps for Next Projection. “You’re a great partner to work with. Your team supports the servers and all of the infrastructure for me so I don’t have to do any of that stuff that I would have to worry about if I had to host the site on my own. Companies that are using platforms like Magento or Woocommerce need an agency and sometimes even a full team of developers just to keep it running. Even then you’ll still hit limitations! Thanks to you guys I don’t have to worry about any of that so it frees me up to focus my time and money on other things in my business.”

Platform Value

AmeriCommerce didn’t just provide a competitive advantage, the platform also provided Brian with an affordable way to enter the marketplace. “[AmeriCommerce] is an unparalleled value for what you are getting. There is no other software out there with as low of a barrier to entry that is going to provide you the feature set and the flexibility for that price point. The investment in getting started in e-commerce with AmeriCommerce was negligible with what we would be paying for SEO, or Google AdWords, or those other types of things. I spend more on my phone system than I do AmeriCommerce.”

Technical Flexibility

Business owners understand the reality that there’s usually not a one-size-fits-all software for everything a business would need to operate. That’s why AmeriCommerce has developed one of the industry’s most robust and extensive REST API’s available. Brian’s need to manipulate his large amount of data grew more and more as he introduced even more product catalogs . “We needed something with full API access so we could use our middle-ware for data-manipulation and automation. With your API access we can do a tremendous amount of things that we want and how we want. Without AmeriCommerce we would have wasted a lot of time, energy, and money trying out other applications only to discover where their shortcomings were, or having to adapt how we wanted to do business to fit what they offered. I don’t feel that way with AmeriCommerce. The AmeriCommerce developers have been extremely helpful in getting our third party application streamlined with the data presented through the online store.”

Ability To Scale

Many e-commerce platforms charge a percentage of the online store’s sales or will force the user to higher “enterprise” plan levels due to increased sales volume. Both are options Brian refuses to consider. “Why should I be penalized for being more successful? What do they do to deserve that percentage of my company other than provide me software? If you believe you are going to be successful, you don’t want to pay that commission trust me. It adds up fast.” AmeriCommerce’s flat-rate subscription model provides Next Projection with the cost consistency Brian desires without penalizing his success.

In addition, the AmeriCommerce experience increases productivity for Next Projection which is yet another avenue to help the business scale. “By being able to provide an awesome experience for our end-users, with lots of information and enabling them to find what they need with ease, we reduce our burden of having to have sales people...and my website operates 24/7 whereas my sales team only works eight hours a day,” Brian said.

Taking advantage of your tools

Business owners, especially start-ups, looking for an e-commerce platform need value and flexibility as they grow. Next Projection took advantage of AmeriCommerce's strengths in these areas. “Your platform provided me with a better value, with more functions and features than anything else out there. There is no way I could run a sophisticated e-commerce business with multiple SKUs and multiple stores with that T-shirt selling software everyone else keeps talking about,” Brian concluded.

Your platform provided me with a better value, with more functions and features than anything else out there.

Final Thoughts:

Ending the interview we asked Brian if he had one piece of advice for others out there starting an online store. “Focus your energies on items that have less online competition,” he said. In following his passion for projection equipment and partnering with AmeriCommerce, Brian has found tremendous success. “1,000 percent I would recommend [AmeriCommerce]. It’s just an unparalleled value for what you are getting.”

Addressing inventory shortages through your B2B portal

2025-04-17T11:43:34-05:00

Prevent out of stock problems with our B2B portal

Being out of stock is the “good news/bad news” scenario in commerce. The good news? Orders are rolling in. The bad news? You don’t have enough inventory to fulfill them. It’s not just inconvenient—it can hurt both your brand and your bottom line.

There are a number of reasons why products can go out of stock: supply problems, unexpectedly high customer activity and inaccurate sales forecasts are just a few.

The solutions are just as varied, but often come with some kind of drawback. Safety stock could become stagnant inventory that ties up resources and warehouse space. Consignment inventory gives you less control over your goods and may not be practical for some businesses.

But if you leverage your B2B commerce portal in the right way, it can become a reliable, economical and above all hands-off tool that can help prevent inventory shortages from ever occurring in the first place.

In this blog, we’ll focus on how our B2B Commerce Platform can help you block out and manage inventory shortages, but these lessons can still be adapted for use in other platforms (assuming they have the correct sets of features in place).

1. Real-time stock updates

When your business loses count of how much inventory is bought and sold, it’s almost a guarantee a stockout will occur. This may be due to manual inventory tracking, or confusion about when inventory is counted as a sale and deducted from stock counts.

Our platform solves this by keeping a running tally of every item sold. This inventory tracking can work across different locations, so if a single order needs to pull stock from different warehouses, all the relevant locations will be updated after the transaction. This works for both variant inventory levels and for inventory groups like packages or kits.

The platform also lets you define exactly when sold items should be removed from inventory counts:

When the order is placed.
When the order's payment is approved.
When the order is marked shipped.

This up-to-the-minute stock update should help you track current inventory levels and help you calculate customer trends for more accurate forecasting. It also helps enable just-in-time (JIT) inventory management for predictable steady-demand items.

2. Show Quantity On Hand

If a customer knows that you don’t have enough stock, will they still buy it? Not likely!

That’s why the platform lets you show the quantity on hand right there in the product page, so that customers can see for themselves whether or not you’ll be able to fulfill an order. It’s an excellent preventative measure that reduces the number of customer-triggered stockouts.

3. Set items on backorder

Changing a product’s status to back order means that customers can still order it even if it reduces the inventory count to below zero. Having a negative inventory value is usually considered a bad thing, but there are situations where it can work to your advantage.

For instance, you can use it for fast-moving items that are quickly replenished. Yes, the customer will have to wait a little longer to get their order, but at least they’ve gotten a commitment from you that the order will be fulfilled. And your cash flow won’t be disrupted either, which is nice.

You can then set up in-stock notifications to alert customers and other team members when the replenishment comes in and they can buy as normal.

Want to learn how our B2B portal can help you stay ahead of inventory shortages? Connect with one of our commerce specialists. We’re here to answer your questions and help you find the right solution.