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Company: Synergiq Ltd
Project: Straight2Business

http://www.straight2business.co.uk

Dates: Dec 2007 to Dec 2007

How did the project start?

A North East stationery and office equipment client, who uses our Mamut back office software solution, wanted a full automated e-commerce website where customers could order from its 20,000 stock lines. The twist was that they wanted customers to be able to order online individually and as many times a month as they needed to, while being billed at normal commercial terms, ie. one monthly invoice, rather than via credit card. This unusual feature would give them the edge over competitors in a highly competitive and price-driven market.

They were also looking for a depth of functionality that could link into their fully automated pick, pack and dispatch systems without needing human intervention. They also wanted the ability to automatically update all 20,000 stock items in line with frequent and fragmented supplier price changes.

An easy to use content management system and a design that sat easily with their existing brand were also key requirements.

What options did you consider?

The built in functions in the client’s back office system, while highly capable, were not designed to meet these very specific needs so our developers identified an off the shelf shopping cart system and a software toolkit that allowed the existing elements to be seamlessly integrated. The end result was a combination of a sophisticated back office management system with a user friendly, advanced functionality e-commerce site.

What help and expertise did you receive?

The entire project was researched and developed by our in-house team and funded using existing resources within Synergiq.

Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?

One of the key functions the client wanted was the ability to automatically import and update prices and details on more than 20,000 products from a wide variety of suppliers. This need was met by building in automatic update functions that extract data from a standard spreadsheet and use it to update the central database. The system also recognises that individual customers may have their own specifically negotiated price terms for certain items, and accurately accommodates this variable

What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?

The development process used to produce this model is now being applied to other client site development work, with excellent results.

What are your plans for the future?

We plan to take development a stage further, and modify the framework to work with any back office system, which will open up the market for functional, affordable, e-commerce sites for SMEs.