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Four51 Launches OrderCloud.io, an Industry-First, API-Driven B2B eCommerce Platform for Developers
[September 29, 2016]

Four51 Launches OrderCloud.io, an Industry-First, API-Driven B2B eCommerce Platform for Developers


Four51, which powers B2B eCommerce for nearly 20 million users and more than 10,000 businesses worldwide, announced today the launch of OrderCloud.io, a headless eCommerce platform that is completely exposed via a RESTful API. Built on over 17 years of experience serving complex B2B domains, OrderCloud.io ushers in a new focus for Four51 on B2B eCommerce developers, systems integrators and other partners needing to deliver customized eCommerce and order management applications to solve the needs of their customers.

The launch of OrderCloud.io builds on the rapid rise of the API Economy, as evidenced in 2016 by at least two API success stories: Twilio (News - Alert), an API-centric mobile messaging company, one of the most successful tech IPOs of the year, and Apigee, an API management company, which was recently acquired by Google (News - Alert) for $625 million.

"The way software is built is changing rapidly. Speed and customization rule and, by virtue of that, developers are in the driver's seat and they have different needs," said Mark Johnson, CEO of Four51. "The B2B eCommerce market is moving away from on-premise solutions and toward an API-based approach. Research indicates that nearly 90% of the trillion dollar market is in play as companies create their digital transformation. We've moved quickly to disrupt with the only API-first, fully exposed B2B eCommerce platform, and development partner feedback has been outstanding. In 2016 alone, we've added 41 software integrator partners, several with active solutions or planned solutions in process for companies in the U.S. and U.K."

Speed, Agility, Ease of Use, Total Customization, Reduced Cost

With OrderCloud.io, B2B eCommerce developers can now build and deploy flexible, custom applications faster and at a lower cost. Total customization is something ground-up custom development can't deliver fast enough or within attractiv budgets, and something traditional SaaS (News - Alert) can't deliver at all. OrderCloud.io's API-first approach hits the sweet spot between the two, providing a proven data model, business logic and flexibility for developers to quickly build custom user experiences and integrations.



OrderCloud.io offers developers access to the software development kits (SDKs) and development tools they expect, such as C#, Angular.js, Ruby, Python and others, enabling them to build apps quickly in their language of choice.

"Developers are the drivers of digital transformation," said Steve Davis, CTO of Four51. "They are continually looking to break down obstacles of production. They want to discover platforms and immediately become productive. They want robust APIs with great documentation, community support and quality development tools -- all of which they will find with OrderCloud.io. With our API-first platform, developers don't have to commit to costly monolithic systems. They can offset the complexity of B2B eCommerce and focus on their customer's solution and user experience."


Forrester (News - Alert) Consulting found in a recent study of 150 U.S.-based modern developers who work with B2B eCommerce solutions that 88% of developers believe that the ability to customize the user interface was "important" or "critically important" (Forrester, "Build Cloud B2B eCommerce Applications on Your Terms," 2016). With OrderCloud.io, developers can focus on the user experience, rather than building from scratch. Because of the interactive API console, rapid development tools, SDK library and comprehensive docs, they can add new eCommerce features in minutes or build a ground-up eCommerce capability in days.

On-Premise Declining, SaaS Slowing, PaaS Accelerating

In that same study, Forrester Consulting found that modern B2B eCommerce developers increasingly favor cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). Sixty four percent of developers surveyed found their current eCommerce solution not delivering the qualities they want. For development and architecture professionals, PaaS combines the speed and agility the business is yearning for with customization and integration. Because of these characteristics, PaaS deployments are projected to see a steep rate of increase (14%) in their share of B2B eCommerce projects during the next two years, twice the rate of SaaS deployments.

"The legacy leaders of the on-premise eCommerce industry are rapidly falling behind as their solutions are too slow, too inflexible, and too expensive to compete with API-first platforms such as OrderCloud.io," said Adam Willmouth, CRO of AAXIS Commerce, OrderCloud.io partner and digital technology agency specializing in eCommerce Solutions. "In the future, all solutions will be built via API technologies."

Disruptive Pricing

OrderCloud.io is priced for pay-as-you-go usage so developers can sign up free, start building and then only pay for the orders processed on the platform. Adding support and training provides OrderCloud.io customers with the ability to create a business practice around selling solutions with options for sales and marketing support or embedding the software into their own offerings, such as might be done by independent software vendors such as ERP, CMS or CRM companies.

To learn more about OrderCloud.io, visit http://ordercloud.io/.

About Four51 and OrderCloud.io

Four51, a Minneapolis-based technology company, powers B2B eCommerce for over 10,000 businesses worldwide. OrderCloud.io, built by Four51, is an API-First eCommerce platform which provides developers the ability to build custom, cloud-deployed applications to solve complex B2B eCommerce and order management challenges, faster, easier and at lower cost. Learn more and get started developing for free at OrderCloud.io.


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