Case Study: Single Source Database for Petware Wholesaler
Vadigran is a petware wholesaler in several European countries. It carries a large assortment of pet-related accessories and food. Vadigran sells B2B to integrated chains and retail stores.
Vadigran installed Pimcore as a single source database between ERP and several communication channels: webshop, database publishing of catalog and product sheets, GS1 data exchange platform, and the Smartsales mobile field sales application. The DAM consolidates all available assets and dispatches their variants. Tetrasoft also developed sophisticated Excel macros that allow to roundtrip between Pimcore and Excel in order to speed up data entry.
Customer Details
Customer Key Facts
Single source database to break multiple bottlenecks at once
Due to the several new projects that needed to be united to a specific singular product database, customizing the ERP software wasn’t an acceptable solution for such demanding undertakings. The existing website was outdated. To provide parametric search, and filtering, products needed better documentation than the existing ERP system. Further, the company faced fierce new competition with more attractive sales materials. The existing software for automating monthly catalog generation wasn’t able to keep up with the requested changes. Finally, large customers agreed to an industry-wide shift towards using the GS1 data pools. Managing all the necessary data for each product category required a dedicated PIM database. Vadigran decided to invest in a PIM database as a single source for all processes (link to marketplaces, website, publishing system). The Pimcore-based solution was selected due to its outstanding price/features ratio.
Tetrasoft leverages the best Pimcore features and adds plugins
Pimcore was installed by Tetrasoft, also known for its advanced database publishing software called “Leaflet.” Leaflet connects live to the Pimcore database and publishes documents of any size and complexity on demand. Thanks to the dynamic templates of Leaflet, most of the pages can be generated automatically, pages needing manual finishing are exported to Indesign. The DAM module of Pimcore stores and converts the thousands of images necessary for all purposes. Product inheritance speeds up input of all attributes for the webshop. Classification stores are used to define 40 categories of products. All these data are interfaced with the website in real-time through the built-in web services functionality of Pimcore. A similar set of attribute categories is used for the GS1 data pool interface. As there are a lot of standard messages and replies to monitor to be sure all products are delivered successfully to all participants, a specific plugin has been developed.
Future-proof architecture you can further build upon
Installing Pimcore as a PIM database serving three new or to-be-upgraded subsystems was key to project success and user productivity. This project was completed with very few people and was not anticipated to require additional personnel to keep the new systems running. The new webshop and the new catalogs give the sales team the best up-to-date tools to conquer new markets and to resist incoming competitors in the domestic market. GS1 interface is a welcome requirement from the primary customers. It’s a mandatory productivity booster.