Big news this week at the National Retail Federation 'Big Show' convention with the major release of Sitecore Commerce 8.2.1.

Don't let the title fool you. 8.2.1 is major release for Sitecore Commerce. It looks like they're now keeping Sitecore Commerce versioning in sync with Sitecore XP and retiring the Commerce Server numbering.

The big architecture change to 8.2.1 is the rewrite of the enterprise commerce framework as an ASP.NET core application. This includes new frameworks for cart, order, pricing & promotions.

For the business user this release comes with some long (decades long) relief, in the form of new order management and marketing management functionality that's now natively available within the Sitecore Launchpad. For those of us that come from the legacy Commerce Server world, look for more flexibility on pricing and promotions. You'll also enjoy a more intuitive merchandising experience and the ability to extend the workspaces to fit your business.

A few legacy Commerce Server functions still remain, in the form of catalog, inventory and profile services, but those are not typically used day-to-day.

When you combine best-in-class experience management with modern showrooming, merchandising and commerce functionality you're looking at a pretty powerful platform.

This should be a breakout year for Sitecore Commerce.