The Challenge
The company managed its product catalog through static PDF documents and a basic website that required developer intervention for every update. Product information was frequently outdated, and there was no connection to the ERP system for stock availability or pricing.
The Solution
Avantit built a custom Umbraco-powered product catalog with advanced search and filtering capabilities. The solution integrates with the company SAP ERP via a custom .NET middleware layer, providing real-time stock levels and market-specific pricing. Content editors manage product descriptions, images, and specifications through an intuitive Umbraco backoffice with custom property editors.
📋 Overview
A Portuguese manufacturing company specialising in construction materials and industrial components, serving B2B clients across the Iberian Peninsula. It manages a portfolio of more than 10,000 SKUs across multiple product families.
🎯 The Challenge
Business context The company’s digital presence was severely limited:
- The product catalogue was maintained as downloadable PDF files, updated quarterly
- Website changes required developers, creating bottlenecks
- No real-time link to SAP for stock availability or pricing
- The sales team relied on phone calls to check product availability
- Competitors offered better online product discovery
Technical requirements
- Dynamic catalogue: managing more than 10,000 SKUs with structured data.
- SAP integration: real-time stock and price synchronisation.
- Advanced search: filtering by multiple attributes — category, material, dimensions.
- Intuitive backoffice: letting the marketing team manage content without technical knowledge.
- Performance: fast response times even at high data volumes.
💡 The Solution
Strategic approach Avantit built a comprehensive digital product experience on Umbraco CMS, focused on removing the dependency on PDFs and connecting product data directly to the ERP.
Technical implementation
- Product information management: custom Umbraco document types for structured product data, including specifications, certifications and technical documents.
- Advanced search and filtering: Examine (Lucene) search with faceted filtering by category, material, dimensions and application area.
- SAP integration: a custom .NET middleware service synchronising product data, stock levels and regional pricing from SAP every 15 minutes, with on-demand synchronisation available.
- Custom property editors: a tailored Umbraco backoffice experience, letting the marketing team manage rich product content without technical knowledge.
- Quote request system: enquiry forms integrated with product pre-selection, routed to the regional sales team through automated workflows.
Timeline
- Phase 1 (discovery and architecture): 2 weeks
- Phase 2 (core development): 6 weeks
- Phase 3 (SAP integration and testing): 3 weeks
- Phase 4 (migration and go-live): 2 weeks
📈 The Results
Success metrics
- ⚡ Efficiency: 70% less time spent updating the catalogue.
- 📊 Real-time stock: availability and pricing always current from SAP.
- 📈 Online leads: quote requests through the website up 45%.
- 👥 Adoption: the marketing team is fully autonomous in managing product content.
- 🔄 Integration: SAP synchronisation every 15 minutes with no manual intervention.
Business impact The digital catalogue transformed both the company’s online presence and its commercial process. Real-time stock and pricing shortened response times to enquiries and removed the frustration of quoting unavailable products. The 45% rise in online requests showed that B2B buyers increasingly prefer self-service digital channels.
🛠️ Technology Stack
- Umbraco CMS: content and product management with custom document types.
- ASP.NET Core: high-performance backend with integration middleware.
- Examine (Lucene): search engine with faceted filtering.
- SAP integration: .NET middleware for real-time data synchronisation.
💬 Client Testimonial
“Our online catalogue went from a static PDF to a powerful commercial tool. The sales team now has complete confidence in the information shown, and customers find what they need without calling us.”
Commercial Management Industrial Manufacturing Company
🎓 Lessons Learned
- Data quality: the quality of the ERP data directly determined the quality of the online experience; investing in cleaning the SAP data was essential.
- Custom property editors: investing in editors matched to the content team’s workflow dramatically accelerated adoption and reduced errors.
Ready to achieve similar results?
Contact us to learn how we can help your business turn challenges into opportunities.
