Sitecore Commerce 8 is Now Available for Download!
Sitecore is pleased to announce the launch of the Sitecore Commerce 8 family of products, available in our new developer portal at https://dev.sitecore.net/.
Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics®
Announced earlier this week, at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention (NRF 2015), the centerpiece of this release is Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics®. The solution represents the manifestation of the joint partnership announced between Sitecore and Microsoft exactly one year ago at the NRF 2014.
This product is a game-changer for B2C retailers seeking a “one platform” solution or existing Microsoft Dynamics AX customers looking to add a B2C web direct sales channel.
Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics creates an entirely new product category for retailers - being a true omni-channel solution with a shared commerce foundation between brick-and-mortar stores plus contact center and online digital sales channels. This is achieved via the combination of the Sitecore Experience Platform 8’s digital channel capabilities with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 for Retail’s point-of-sale/mobile point-of sale and contact center capabilities, as well as the full ERP capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX to automate each and every aspect of a retail supply chain.
Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics’s key capabilities include:
· High performance publishing of product assortments from Microsoft Dynamics AX with easy enrichments of content and media assets in Sitecore Experience Editor and Content Editor
· Completely shared commerce infrastructure between online and brick and mortar channels, ensuring absolute consistency in payments, tax calculation, and shipment calculation – as well as the ability to leverage the many payment, tax, and shipping providers already available for Microsoft Dynamics AX
· Real-time integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail to ensure up-to-date pricing, discounts and inventory availability
· Full analytics and personalization abilities based on all digital commerce interactions (e.g. target based upon cart contents, abandonment, etc.)
· Comprehensive cross-channel enablement, facilitating scenarios such as:
o Buy online, pickup in store
o Buy in store, view in online order history
o Returns in-store from an online order
· Custom loyalty programs, with points tracking/accumulation and the ability to use points to pay either online or in-store
· Custom gift cards with issuance and fulfillment either online or in store
· Comprehensive call center and order management capabilities via Microsoft Dynamics AX
Download this release today from: https://dev.sitecore.net/en/Downloads/Sitecore_Commerce_powered_by_Microsoft_Dynamics/8,-d-,0/Sitecore_Commerce_powered_by_Microsoft_Dynamics_8.aspx
Reference Storefront
To help customers jumpstart their deployment, we are also announcing the Reference Storefront. It provides a comprehensive B2C-oriented feature-set showcasing the capabilities of Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics. The Reference Storefront is built in ASP.NET MVC5 using Sitecore best practices and is fully analytics and personalization-enabled. It also can leverage the Dynamics AX Retail SDK’s user controls directly for interaction with Microsoft Dynamics. It is available for download as part of Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Microsoft Dynamics.
To enable our channel, we are making the Reference Storefront available on GitHub under a MIT license so anyone can contribute to it. We’ll of course be curating pull requests to help assure quality, as well as continuing to update it on an ongoing basis ourselves.
This release is meant for education and demonstration purposes. In subsequent updates very soon, we’ll add go-live support, performance guidance, and support for Sitecore Commerce 8, powered by Commerce Server.
Updates to Other Sitecore Commerce Products
Simultaneously, we have updated our other commerce products and are pleased to announce the availability of:
· Sitecore Commerce Connect 8 available at https://dev.sitecore.net/Downloads/Sitecore_Commerce_Connect/8_0/Sitecore_Commerce_8_Connect.aspx, which adds new service layers for gift cards, wish lists, and loyalty programs as well as support for Sitecore Experience Platform 8.
· Sitecore Commerce 8 powered by Commerce Server available at https://dev.sitecore.net/en/Downloads/Sitecore_Commerce_powered_by_Commerce_Server/8,-d-,0/Sitecore_Commerce_powered_by_Commerce_Server_8.aspx, which adds support for Sitecore Experience Platform 8, and full visual redesign of Merchandising Manager to add customer enhancements requested from v7.2 and v7.5 and to align to the new user experience introduced in Sitecore 8.
· Sitecore Commerce Server 11.2 available at https://dev.sitecore.net/Downloads/Sitecore_Commerce_Server/11_2/Sitecore_Commerce_Server_11,-d-,2.aspx, which adds the same Merchandising Manager enhancements, and is targeted toward existing Commerce Server customers looking for an in-place upgrade.