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User Testing
B2B
E-commerce

HACH Promotional products - Magento Shop

The promotional products retailer HACH has been selling promotional products to business customers (B2B) for over 80 years. With their own print shop in the RheinMain area, the products are refined. Originally a classic catalog mailer, HACH has been consistently building up online sales for over 10 years together with Kombinat , which quickly became the most important sales channel.

The challenge

B2B customers also expect binding prices. As a print service provider with a very diverse product catalog ranging from pens to umbrellas, HACH requires exceptionally modular pricing. Printing costs change depending on the type of printing, number of colors and quantities purchased. No store system can map this out by itself.

The highly customized merchandise management system/ERP established at HACH must be smoothly connected to the online store. All product data, availabilities, orders, customer data and order statuses must be exchanged continuously and promptly between the two systems.

The online store must be continuously developed and run without problems at any time. Even with frequent changes to the store system, the risk of an error should be minimized.

The transformation from a classic catalog mail order company to an online retailer is very challenging, both technically and for all employees and managers.

hach.de

The solution

Magento 2 has proven itself as a broad foundation for the diverse and demanding technical requirements. In addition to the very extensive functions, Magento also offers a powerful a framework for the individual development of features. For example, the complex pricing for the print price could be implemented through a dedicated price calculation system within Magento.  

The highly customized ERP was connected to the HACH online store via a connector developed in-house. Data from the ERP is imported and still converted and enriched. Numerous functions of a PIM (Product Information Management) system are thus taken over. Order and customer data are transferred to the ERP and checked for duplicates. The processing of printing and shipping is transmitted to the store via status changes from the ERP.

The HACH online store is continuously developed in an agile process. To avoid errors on the live system, numerous tests of the code and store functionality have been created and run automatically during deployment. This ensures exceptionally high code quality and keeps both HACH and us at Kombinat calm. Since a test is added with each new feature, the test suite always remains up-to-date in this so-called "Test Driven Development". This means that both customers can order without any problems and the employees at HACH can work reliably in the system.

The change from a classic catalog provider to an online mail order company is not easy for a long-established medium-sized company. It requires the willingness of the management and the full acceptance of all employees. This was built up in a steady process by imparting knowledge and working out process optimizations with HACH employees. The expertise in user experience design, which puts the customer - and here the employee - at the center, helped in this process.

The benefit

Magento provides HACH with a store system that has proven itself time and again over the years. It is stable, reliable, highly customizable and scalable.

The ERP is the central software in a retail company. It was therefore important that product data be maintained centrally there and always remain up-to-date in the online store sales channel. Nevertheless, there was a lot of important product data that had to be supplemented or adapted. This could be done automatically by the connector, so that store managers could save a lot of time.

Automated tests detect errors early, before they can cause any damage. This allows customers to buy smoothly in the store and HACH support staff are relieved.

The result

HACH was able to develop the business and prospects extremely positively with the measures. The company has a clear agenda, integrating new central systems to improve work processes and increase sales. The new competencies in digital sales together with decades of experience as an advertising print manufacturer are a perfect match, which also resonates with customers. A well-coordinated team from HACH and Kombinat is working continuously and in a focused manner on further development. The joint experience and accumulated know-how in this is a great advantage for recognizing opportunities and exploiting synergies.

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