Ascend questions, answered.

Ascend is a ready-made B2B commerce store for trade distributors. It combines an industry theme, extensions for contract pricing, branch stock, Quick Order and spec comparison, and a data engine that loads your product catalog. It runs on Shopware.

Electrical, plumbing and gas distribution. Each edition comes with the categories, product attributes and storefront layout that industry expects.

Distributors who sell to contractors and want them to order online at their own prices, from their own branch, without a big custom ecommerce project.

Yes. All three editions run on live demo stores loaded with distributor catalogs. You can log in as a contractor and see contract pricing, branch stock, Quick Order and spec tables on real product data.

Yes. Each contractor sees their contract price on every product, in search, in the cart and on Quick Order. Visitors who aren’t logged in never see it.

Yes. Buyers pick their home branch and see what’s on the shelf there, plus which other branches have it. Will-call and pickup details follow them.

Yes. They can paste a takeoff, upload a CSV or type part numbers. Ascend matches each line, prices it and checks stock before it reaches the cart.

Yes. Company accounts have employee logins and roles, saved lists and one-click reorder, PO and job numbers at checkout, and tax-exempt pricing for contractors.

No. Most distributors start with Phase 1: online ordering for the accounts they already have. You can open your full catalog to new buyers later on the same build.

Phase 1 setup runs $20K–$45K, plus a monthly lease from $1,995. Your price depends on your catalog, branches, data and ERP, and we scope it with you before work starts.

Timing depends on the size and complexity of your catalog and setup. We scope it with you in discovery, starting with a free assessment.

The Shopware license, hosting, support and Ascend updates, in one fee. Leasing terms are negotiable.

Phase 2 (Storefront) opens your full catalog with search, spec comparison pages and full B2B checkout across every branch. Phase 3 (Enterprise) adds quotes and approvals, budgets by cost center, ERP order and pricing sync, customer-specific catalogs, single sign-on and punchout. Both are scoped as you grow.

No. Each phase adds to the same store, so nothing is thrown away or rebuilt.

Ascend’s data engine loads product data from Distributor Data Solutions (DDS) or other structured feeds. If you already use a PIM such as Plytix or Sales Layer, we connect it as part of the project.

Yes. We’ve connected Ascend to Epicor Eclipse in a proof of concept for electrical distribution. Phase 1 works alongside your ERP, and full order and pricing sync is part of the Enterprise phase, scoped to your ERP during discovery.

Most of Ascend extends Shopware’s own B2B engine instead of replacing it, so platform updates stay safe and you’re not locked into custom code.

For configurable products, Product Configurator (CPQ) is a separate Harris Digital solution that lets buyers build, price and quote custom products online.

With a free assessment. We look at how your contractors order today, your catalog and your ERP. If there’s a fit, a paid technical discovery gives you a plan and a price.