CosmoShop GmbH

Description

When Voortmann Steuerungstechnik planned to set up its own B2B shop, the task seemed clear at first: a system that neatly displays the broad technical product range, takes individual customer prices into account, and simplifies ordering processes. However, it quickly became apparent that the real core of the project was not the shop, but the data behind it. Together with CosmoShop, Voortmann reorganized the database, resulting in a system that makes everyday work easier and remains stable in the long term.

Solution

Data integration before functional expansion

Even before technical implementation began, a key issue emerged in the specifications and in discussions with the shop provider: data integration was the real challenge—not the shop's range of functions. The biggest sticking points were where data from price lists and PIM and ERP systems had to converge. Customers needed individual prices and their own item numbers. The system provides replacement times in days, but Voortmann displays them in weeks in the shop. Categories were hidden in deep structures, and some manufacturer attributes were duplicated in the PIM system, sometimes with different names. In short, the mammoth task was not the shop, but the mountain of data that preceded it.

Data-first approach

After the joint workshop with the shop provider, it was clear that the project could not be completed in a linear fashion. Consequently, those involved in the project gradually reordered and prioritized the interfaces. The BMEcat connection from the PIM system was intended to supply the shop with product ranges, but in day-to-day business, only import changed data records, important because of the enormous amount of image data. The ERP tool provided separate price lists, some of them as difference files, for example, only the price if it changed for an item. Company and customer data, on the other hand, required their own logic, as the classic shop customer group structure was not sufficient for Voortmann's requirements. The shop provider suggested systematically organizing all technical decisions along three central strands: items, prices, and customers. Only when these are neatly linked together can a B2B shop operate stably. "At first, we had the feeling that it wasn't the shop that was our bottleneck, but ourselves, or more precisely, our data," explains Voortmann's e-commerce manager. "But it was good to have that so clearly in mind."

Technical clarity through iterative structuring

First, the requirements specification was converted into a technical specification. This raised questions that no one had asked before: How should hazardous goods icons be displayed? Which technical fields are considered "filter-relevant"? And how does the search behave when a customer uses three different item numbers for the same product? Many processes that seemed logical in theory revealed minor stumbling blocks in practice:

• Attributes in the PIM were maintained, but not unique. A consistent attribute schema was needed for search and facets.
• Product images required a uniform URL schema, as some customers reuse them in eProcurement systems.
• Export and import logics had to mesh cleanly so that data exchange would work reliably.

Simon Soboll explains: "A lot of things had to be homogenized and revised first. That took a lot of time, but our product range is now very clean and optimized."

Results

Price logic and performance taken into account

At the same time, the price logic was developed—one of the most challenging areas. Over 1,500 customer-specific price files, two base lists, exceptions, fallback mechanisms, and prioritizations made multi-level mapping necessary. The order was fixed: first the customer's own number, then the manufacturer's number, then the Voortmann number. This logic had to function identically in the search, quick order, CSV upload, and shopping cart, otherwise errors would have been practically inevitable. Performance also played a major role: the search in particular required fine-tuning to handle the volume of data. Only with an optimized index and a cache for frequently used categories did the response time stabilize. OCI interfaces: A must for large customers A key request from many customers was connection via OCI (Open Catalog Interface), a feature that Voortmann uses extensively for sales: Buyers can jump directly from their ERP or eProcurement system to the Voortmann shop, add items to their shopping cart, and transfer them back to their own system. The entire ordering process remains digital, reducing effort on both sides.

The result: a stable shop

Once the system was finally up and running, the visible part, the shop, was complete. At the same time, Voortmann benefited greatly from the newly created foundation. Customers can now order using their own item numbers and store them directly. Delivery times are calculated automatically and displayed transparently, queries have already decreased significantly. Quick order functions via CSV or manual entry noticeably shorten ordering processes. Internally, many employees also use the shop as a reference work for technical details and media data because access is faster than in the old structures. In addition, future data maintenance has changed: some fields have been consolidated, others restructured, with the prospect of less maintenance effort and higher data quality.

Conclusion: Digitalization starts with the foundation

The project impressively demonstrates how strongly B2B digitalization depends on the data foundation. A modern shop is only as good as the structures behind it. Voortmann has learned along the way that an ordering system is also an opportunity to organize its own processes and make them more consistent. The next steps could be to expand the variant logic or add further interfaces. However, the key point is that the system is up and running, it reduces the workload for employees, and it makes orders more transparent for customers. Or as e-commerce manager Simon Soboll puts it: "In the end, we not only got a new system, but also a clearer picture of how we actually work. That helps us almost more than the shop itself."