There are two different ways to communicate from the EBMS software to an ecommerce site. A website can use the EBMS shopping cart, as shown in this documentation, or can integrate with other popular shopping carts using the API Gateway. Below are listed each option and the advantages and challenges of each.
The EBMS software code used to drive the ecommerce shopping cart is the same as the EBMS order entry system. This delivers a full and seamless experience for the website owner in displaying products and receiving orders. This method includes more advanced functionality out of the box but less options for future customizations.
The pricing, shipping, and product catalog features within EBMS are the same on the web. For example, the EBMS pricing can be affected multiple ways: Inventory price levels, special pricing, multiple unit-of-measure, and other factors.
The customer's history, price level, terms, and shipping options are set based on the customer's login information. Review the Customer Portal section for details.
Use the same online catalog and shopping cart for both retail ecommerce and for B2B sales. Give the wholesale shopper the ability to log in, see their pricing, check inventory availability, and place an order with terms. This makes the ecommerce site an order entry site for regular customers with special terms, pricing, and shipping options.
Credit card debit can be delayed until the order is processed within EBMS: See Processing Credit Cards on the Koble website for details.
Displays new and seasonal items based on EBMS settings. Review the Creating Website Content > Seasonal Items section for more details.
Includes the option to display inventory counts or availability based on the inventory stock levels recorded within EBMS. Review the Creating Website Content > Manage Available Inventory for more details.
The display of the product catalog is determined by the product folders within EBMS. See the Creating Website Content > Creating Inventory Categories section for more details.
The product page is displayed using a user defined template with limited design options.
The product pages within an existing website need to be changed to accommodate the dynamic product catalog created from EBMS.
Review the Configuring the Shopping Cart > Shopping Cart section for more details.
The API Gateway provides developers with the option to integrate with popular shopping carts such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. This allows developers to access and write EBMS data from an ecommerce website solution and shopping cart of their choice. This method uses the EBMS API and Webhooks interface tools. Review [Main] Technical > API Gateway and Webhooks tools for techical details about these powerful interface tools.
Choose the shopping cart of choice
Provides the website developer maximum flexibility using the API Gateway and webhooks.
Implement popular advanced web management tools.
Many features are restricted or must be re-created by the website developer to mimic functionality of the EBMS software
A web developer must interface the website with EBMS
The following options will be disabled within the Ecommerce tools when EBMS is interfaced with a 3rd party shopping cart:
Review [Main] Technical > API Gateway and Webhooks for details on these powerful EBMS interface options.