Znode Selected for Parts-Express Continued Online Growth

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Znode, an industry-leading ecommerce platform provider, announced today that Internet Retailer 500 company, Parts-Express, has relaunched its website using Znode's Multifront ecommerce platform.  Since 1996, Parts-Express has been offering electronic parts and accessories for the audio/video industry through its online ecommerce website.  With over 1 million visitors a month and over 1000 transactions a day, Parts-Express needed to replace its aging platform with one that allows for more robust personalization and enterprise search capabilities in order to continue growing and remaining competitive for today's increasingly savvy online consumer.

"We had very critical requirements when deciding to finally upgrade our aging ecommerce platform," said Jason Allerding, Information Systems Manager at Parts-Express.  "We knew that our next platform would not only need to provide us with much improved personalization and e-merchandising capabilities but also allow for vastly improved enterprise level search functionality, which is quickly becoming more critical to our business and customer requirements."

"The selection of our Multifront ecommerce platform by Parts-Express is very exciting for us," said Doug Myers, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Znode, which is owned by hibu.  "It is well documented that they are one of the largest online retailers and do a very high volume of transactions but also it validates our technology and ability to support a large array of complex integration and strategic requirements."   

Parts-Express has a product catalog of over 16,000 SKUs and required integrations with its enterprises level components such as Oracle, SAGE and Endeca.  Multifront was able to deliver the necessary enterprise integrations and provide the flexibility and customization needed to add significant functionality to the Parts-Express website.  With the greater importance put on customer reviews, Parts-Express also needed a direct connection to industry leading Bazaarvoice, which was provided by Multifront to support enterprise level social connectivity.   

"Znode was able to deliver a comprehensive platform that not only could meet our six month implementation timeline and aggressive launch schedule before the busy holiday season but also provided world-class flexibility that would help future-proof our business," said Jeff Stahl, President of Parts-Express.  "When reviewing platforms for the future of our business, we found Znode's offering to provide us the scalability, integrations and features needed to address our strategy and requirements of our current and future customers."

Zeon Solutions, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a Znode Gold Partner, was chosen to manage the development project.  Parts-Express went into production in early November 2013 before the busy holiday shopping season.

Znode will also be exhibiting the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 103^rd Annual Convention & Expo, also know as Retail's BIG Show, January 12-15, 2014 at the Jacob K. Javitz Center in New York City.  Znode will be located in booth #616.

About Parts-Express

Parts-Express has provided electronic parts and accessories to the audio/video industry since 1986. We are proud to offer our customers - from sound technicians to audio enthusiasts - the finest audio and video parts for quality home and professional installations, all at highly discounted prices. The corporate office and warehouse of Parts Express is located in a 120,000 square foot facility in Springboro, Ohio, about 25 minutes north of Cincinnati.

About Znode

Znode, a hibu company, is an industry-leading ecommerce provider that enables clients to create highly relevant online experiences for shoppers. As one of the fastest growing ecommerce platforms, Znode is currently implemented in hundreds of ecommerce sites worldwide. For more information, please visit www.znode.com. 

About hibu

hibu helps communities thrive by facilitating millions of connections each year between consumers who want to find products and services locally and the merchants who provide them.   hibu helps merchants compete in the digital world with a broad range of marketing and commerce solutions offered online and through hibu's direct sales teams. Building on its heritage as a premier directories provider, hibu continues to offer a full range of print- and distribution-based marketing services. hibu operates in the UK, US, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Peru and US Hispanic markets. In the 12 months to 31 March 2013, hibu had one million SME customers and total revenues of £1.3 billion.

For further information about hibu, visit corporate.hibu.com

CONTACT:  Travis Williams, 1-614-468-7942, [email protected]

SOURCE Znode