Storm Textil - custom product designer C5 integration

There were four key problems, but we have been enjoying in calling them opportunities:

1. Microsoft Dynamics C5 (ERP) which is responsible for holding all of the company’s available data has not been synchronized with the e-commerce website./li>
2. Customers were unable to design their own products on the website, instead - they were ordering blank products first, before sending the design and mock-ups over WeTransfer or similar file storage services.
3. Website was not optimized for the appropriate user experience and not optimized for various screen sizes (mobile to 4K).
4. All of the product images (and media) are stored on an external Windows server. The server had to be connected and synchronized with Linux and Drupal 8 Commerce.

Project Goals and Objectives

The overall goal was to simplify the ordering process, while lowering the number of phone calls and persuading customers to make online purchases. We needed to bring the number of any errors down to a minimum and avoid operators doing repetitive and bureaucratic tasks.

The client’s range of products and services had to be presented more beautifully and more prominently on the website.

The goal was to increase the profit and to increase the capacity of the company to make space for next growing period.

Process and Insights

Product Designer

Storm Textil is not a regular clothing wholesale company, they are creating unique products for their partners, usually by printing graphics on t-shirts or other products. Because of that, it was necessary to develop the “Product Designer”, in order to increase sales, simplify the ordering process and to offer more personal services.

In the early days of Storm Textil, when the initial order was made, the customer had to send another email with their mock-ups and design files. This was a long and painful process, both for the Storm Textil operators and customers. This method caused many mistakes and returned products.

Now, with the Product Designer, it is easy for customers to upload their own design in various formats. They are able to manipulate the design (rotate, resize etc.), save it for later and of course, choose the piece of clothing on which the design will be printed on.

Once the order is placed, administrators are given the information they need to be able to process it. Of course, orders are also synchronized with the ERP system.

Sales operators are also able to print out the “order worksheet” with the instructions for the printer operators, which contains all the data needed for the accurate printing.

Full Product Synchronization with ERP

Updating prices and stock levels has been consuming a lot of time for the Storm Textil store administrators. Microsoft C5 is holding all of the data, but it was not in sync with the e-commerce store.

We have been using RESTful API web service combined with Drupal 8 Commerce so we can achieve the synchronization of:

• product prices
• product stock levels
• orders
• user profiles
• categories
• user price groups
• products in general (if a new product is added to the database in Microsoft C5, it is available in the e-commerce store within a minute)

The best thing is that the administrators just see everything is working and they do not need to think to change data on multiple places. Once they update something the change is going through every part of the system immediately. And this saves a lot of time and nerves.

Advanced Newsletter (MailChimp) Integration

There are three different languages spoken within the target group of Storm Textil. When we’re talking about newsletter, it is not that complicated - all customers are split between three different lists based on their chosen language.

But, there are also seven different price groups, so we needed a way to segment subscribers within a list based on their price group. We have developed a flexible system with the help of Drupal 8 MailChimp module. Storm Textil sales can now target eg. German customers from a specific price group and send them a newsletter intended only for them.

Of course, users can (un)subscribe, change their email address etc. and all of those actions are synchronized with Drupal and ERP (Microsoft C5). When a customer switches from one price group to another, he is also moved to another segment in MailChimp automatically.

Outcome

ERP software (Microsoft Dynamics C5) is automatically synchronized with the e-commerce store every minute. Stock levels and prices are the most common subject of change.

Changes or uploads of product images on Windows server are mirrored and automatically updated on the e-commerce store.
We have developed an API for the third-party resellers. They are able to sell Storm Textil products with the prices which are always in sync with Microsoft C5 and Drupal back-end.

Both customers and Storm Textil staff have an easier job placing orders and maintaining the e-commerce store. All tasks are less time-consuming then in the previous version.

The results above would have never been achieved without the selfless support from the Storm Textil team. We have reached a mutual goal thanks to the great communication. Our job is not done here, as both of us are already working on a next iteration of the project.