OroCommerce 6.1: A New Wave of Innovations for B2B E-commerce

OroCommerce, e-commerce platform leading the B2B market, continues its evolution with the launch of its latest version 6.1. This update brings a multitude of improvements and new features designed to optimize the experience for e-commerce professionals. Building on the solid foundations of version 6.0, OroCommerce 6.1 takes a new step forward in terms of performance, accessibility, and intelligent tools. Let’s discover together the main new features of this major version.

Increased Performance and Enhanced Storefront Accessibility

With version 6.1, OroCommerce takes a leap forward in terms of performance and accessibility. The storefront has benefited from major technical optimizations, aimed at improving both loading speed and user experience.

Improved Performance

Tests conducted in an environment identical to that of version 6.0 show an average reduction of 20% in initial loading time (Time to First Byte). Rendering optimizations also have a positive impact on LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) indicators, two essential metrics for SEO ranking.

Accessibility at the Core of Priorities

Numerous adjustments have been made to meet the requirements of WCAG 2.1 level AA standards. Thanks to the use of tools like Google Lighthouse, the storefront now achieves an accessibility score of 100/100 across all its pages.

These improvements are not just technical. They allow businesses to offer an inclusive experience while complying with digital accessibility regulations.

Unifying Integrations with GraphQL Mesh

The GraphQL Mesh extension for OroCommerce allows unifying access to data from different sources (ERP, PIM, CMS, etc.) within a single GraphQL interface. Even if these systems use REST or SOAP APIs, GraphQL Mesh makes them accessible via GraphQL queries.

The GraphQL Mesh extension makes the most sense when coupled with modern front-end applications like the new Sales App. By unifying access to data from multiple sources (ERP, PIM, CMS…), it simplifies integrations and streamlines the user experience, especially in headless or omnichannel environments.

Available upon request, this extension is aimed at projects requiring strong interoperability with external systems.

Golden Carbon: A New Graphic Theme for a Better User Experience

With version 6.1, OroCommerce introduces a brand new graphic theme called “Golden Carbon,” deployed on both the front-office and back-office.

• A modern and responsive design: cleaner, more readable, and adapted to mobile usage, this new theme significantly improves the user experience for both end customers and internal teams.
• A redesigned back-office interface: clearer and more ergonomic, it facilitates navigation, data entry, and day-to-day management for sales and administrative teams.

Golden Carbon thus lays the foundation for a more accessible, intuitive interface that aligns with modern UX standards.

Integrated Conversations: Fluid and Centralized Messaging

An integrated messaging feature, called Conversations, to streamline exchanges between customers and sales teams.

• Accessible from both the front-office and back-office
• Conversation initiation possible from an order, a quote, or a quote request
• Messages organized in structured threads, stored in the customer portal
• Real-time notifications for back-office users

This new feature allows centralizing exchanges, ensuring clear tracking of discussions, and strengthening customer relationships and responsiveness without the need for external solutions.

Integrated Address Validation: Making Customer Data Reliable in One Click

The integration with FedEx and UPS extends with the native addition of an address validation system.

The objective? To make customer data more reliable and reduce delivery errors. By activating this service, customers are notified of potential errors in their address and can quickly correct them. This functionality is configurable for both shipping and billing addresses, in both the storefront and the back-office.

Simplify Invoice Management with the New Self-Service Portal

A self-service billing portal to accelerate payments

Version 6.1 offers a new self-service billing portal, giving buyers greater autonomy in managing and paying their invoices. Accessible directly from the customer area, this portal helps streamline financial exchanges while reducing the administrative burden on the seller’s side.

Among the key features:

• Easy consultation of past and current invoices from the customer portal
  
• One-click payment directly from the interface, without going through support
• Flexible invoice generation: by order or in batches for all pending items
• Automatic sending of invoices in PDF format via email, or manual sending by back-office teams
• Direct download of invoices from the online store
• Possible import of third-party invoices, displayed and payable from the customer portal.

This system significantly simplifies payment management, reduces administrative burden, and improves the B2B purchasing experience while accelerating cash flow.

Simplify Regular Purchases with Recurring Orders

The new recurring orders feature allows customers to easily plan their recurring purchases. They can create automatic orders according to a defined frequency (weekly, monthly, etc.), which simplifies the management of replenishments and avoids oversights.

The main possibilities offered:

• Creation of automated orders according to a personalized frequency
• Autonomous management of subscriptions from the customer area: modification, pausing, or cancellation at any time
• Billing with each order generation, without automatic payment in this first version, to maintain control over each transaction.

This feature is particularly useful for supplies, consumables, or any regular order in a B2B context. It saves time, reduces friction in the purchasing process, while maintaining maximum flexibility for the customer.

New Mobile Application for Sales Forces: A Revolutionary PWA

OroCommerce takes advantage of this major new version to simultaneously launch a new mobile application dedicated to sales forces: the Sales App. It is a Progressive Web App (PWA) that offers sales teams a flexible and efficient solution for working on the move, even with limited or non-existent internet connection.

The main features of the application:

• Access to customer data in real time, allowing consultation of essential information for each customer directly in the field.
• Order taking: teams can add products to the cart and finalize orders directly from the application.
• Consultation of personalized prices and specific promotions, ensuring a tailored offer for each customer.
• User interface similar to the storefront, facilitating fluid and professional presentation of products and offers.
• Intelligent offline synchronization, with prioritization of critical data (such as orders), allowing continuous management even without connection.

This application is a promising solution to simplify and improve the work of sales teams by offering a fluid experience adapted to field constraints.

Artificial Intelligence Serving E-commerce

OroCommerce 6.1 fully embraces current trends by integrating two new artificial intelligence features. These aim to improve the customer experience and optimize internal processes.

Smart Agent

Smart Agent is an intelligent conversational agent, available from the storefront, which responds to connected customers’ requests. It can address different needs such as:

• Providing information on a placed order such as delivery status
• Giving details on products, prices, and available stock levels
• Helping to create orders autonomously

SmartAgent relies on OroCommerce’s native APIs and uses only local data, strictly respecting user permissions, thus ensuring it only has access to authorized data.

Smart Order

Smart Order is an AI-based solution to simplify the processing of orders received in different formats (PDF purchase orders, images, emails, etc.). The process includes:

• Document upload via a widget
• Automatic order capture by configuring a mailbox to automatically convert incoming emails into “draft” or “pending” status orders
• Extraction of key information (products, quantities, customer, addresses, etc.)
• A validation flow to verify the accuracy of the order before finalization. The source document (PDF, image) is associated with the order for reference.

This service is deployed as a micro service with continuous updates without requiring redeployment. Note that it will be available as a supported extension from version 6.0.

These new features demonstrate OroCommerce’s ongoing commitment to providing a high-performing and innovative B2B e-commerce platform. Version 6.1 promises to improve sales team efficiency, optimize the customer experience, and offer new automation possibilities

Extended Support and Long-Term Vision

OroCommerce strengthens its product support policy by extending the standard support duration from 3 to 4 years for versions 5.1 and onwards. Additionally, upcoming LTS versions will integrate features backward compatible with the two previous LTS versions, starting with version 7.0. This approach aims to ensure greater stability for businesses while facilitating version upgrades.

A Platform Oriented Toward the Future

With version 6.1, OroCommerce takes another step in the evolution of its B2B platform. Improved performance, enhanced accessibility, enriched development tools, and innovations based on artificial intelligence are all present. This version illustrates OroCommerce’s commitment to offering an increasingly robust, scalable solution that aligns with the needs of B2B e-commerce professionals.

Would you like more information about OroCommerce version 6.1? Want to upgrade your platform? Contact our e-commerce and OroCommerce experts!

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