1 Million+ SKUs. Faster B2B Ordering. Fully Automated Product Management.
How a leading industrial distributor modernized its eCommerce platform with PIM integration, an automated B2B purchase order system, and a fully responsive design.
Industry
B2B Manufacturing & Industrial Supply
Focus
Wholesale distribution of industrial tools and equipment
Challenge
Managing 500K+ SKUs, frequent inventory and pricing updates, and implementing an efficient B2B purchase order system
Solution
Akeneo PIM integration, bulk SKU import, automated B2B pricing, and a responsive eCommerce platform
Results
Automated product updates, enhanced inventory tracking, and faster B2B ordering
The business challenges holding industrial distributors back
Complex product catalogs create inefficiencies
Managing thousands of SKUs from multiple manufacturers leads to inventory mismatches, pricing errors, and manual updates, making it difficult to maintain consistent product data across channels.
Inefficient purchase order workflows slow transactions
Without automated PO workflows, bulk ordering, contract pricing, and account-based discounts become time-consuming and prone to errors, delaying transactions and increasing manual workload.
Inconsistent product information disrupts sales
A lack of centralized product information (PIM) results in inconsistent descriptions, images, and pricing across channels, leading to customer confusion, operational bottlenecks, and lost sales opportunities.
Scaling operations without automation is difficult
Expanding large-scale product catalogs manually creates inefficiencies, fragmented data management, and pricing inconsistencies, making it harder to scale efficiently while maintaining accuracy.
The challenges this distributor faced
A leader in industrial supply distribution, the company faced major hurdles while scaling its B2B eCommerce operations.
Managing high-volume SKUs across multiple systems
With 500K+ SKUs from 250+ manufacturers, frequent inventory and pricing updates became a major challenge, leading to stock inaccuracies and delays.
Lack of centralized PIM for structured data management
Product information was scattered across multiple sources, requiring manual updates that slowed down data accuracy, consistency, and time-to-market.
Manual purchase order processing caused inefficiencies
The existing PO system lacked automation, making it difficult for B2B customers to place bulk orders, apply contract pricing, and track purchase workflows efficiently.
Outdated eCommerce platform limited mobile accessibility
The legacy B2B eCommerce system wasn’t mobile-responsive, limiting accessibility for distributors and B2B buyers, reducing order efficiency on-the-go.
The Result?
Inconsistent product data, slow B2B order processing, and an outdated ordering system that struggled to support scalable industrial distribution.
How we solved it
Akeneo PIM Integration for Centralized Product Data
- Integrated Akeneo PIM to centralize and automate product data across 1 million+ SKUs.
- Enabled bulk imports and real-time inventory synchronization, ensuring consistency across channels.
- Improved product categorization and attribute mapping, reducing data errors.
Magento PO System for Faster B2B Ordering
- Implemented a custom Magento PO system to streamline bulk ordering, contract pricing, and distributor workflows.
- Integrated customer-specific pricing to offer account-based discounts on specific SKUs.
- Created dynamic pricing rules, ensuring real-time price updates across all product lines.
B2B Mobile-Responsive Redesign
- Implemented a fully responsive, B2B-friendly UI/UX for faster, frictionless ordering.
- Enhanced search and filtering to help customers quickly find the right products.
- Designed a simplified checkout experience, reducing cart abandonment.
The Results
Before
After
Product Data Management
Manual updates, inconsistent data
Quoting Speed
Automated, centralized with Akeneo PIM
Quoting Speed
Purchase Order
Slow, inefficient, manual approvals
Workflow Sync
Fully automated
Workflow Sync
B2B Pricing
Limited, inaccurate pricing
Sales Efficiency
Dynamic, account-specific discounts
Sales Efficiency
Storefront Experience
Outdated, not mobile-friendly
Data Accuracy
Modern, responsive B2B platform
Data Accuracy
Facing the same roadblocks?
Automated PIM & Inventory Management
Akeneo PIM ensures product data accuracy, eliminating manual updates and improving inventory control.
Frictionless B2B Ordering Workflows
A custom PO system reduces ordering time, making bulk ordering process, real-time stock updates, and account-based pricing seamless and keeping customers coming back.
Faster, Mobile-Friendly User Experience
A mobile-friendly, fast-loading B2B platform ensures industrial buyers can research, compare, and place orders with ease.
Let’s Build Your Next Transformation
HumCommerce specializes in scaling B2B eCommerce for industrial distributors. If managing large catalogs, optimizing purchase orders, or improving customer experience is holding you back, let’s solve it together.
FAQs
Your Questions Answered
What are the benefits of Akeneo PIM for B2B eCommerce?
Akeneo PIM provides a centralized system for managing millions of SKUs with accurate, real-time updates. It eliminates manual data entry errors, ensures consistent product descriptions, and improves searchability across categories. For B2B businesses, this means faster inventory updates, better customer experience, and a scalable solution for handling large product catalogs efficiently.
How does a custom PO system improve B2B ordering?
A custom Magento PO system streamlines bulk purchasing by allowing B2B buyers to place large orders, apply tiered pricing discounts, and automate approval workflows. This eliminates manual processing delays, reduces errors in pricing agreements, and speeds up procurement cycles. With a structured PO system, businesses can efficiently manage high-volume transactions while ensuring pricing accuracy and seamless order fulfillment.
How does Magento inventory tracking help industrial suppliers?
Magento’s inventory tracking system provides real-time stock visibility, allowing businesses to monitor product availability and automate reordering based on stock levels. This ensures that distributors and manufacturers never oversell or run out of stock unexpectedly. The system also integrates with multi-channel inventory management, allowing suppliers to sync warehouse, eCommerce, and third-party marketplace inventory seamlessly.
Why do B2B distributors need responsive eCommerce storefronts?
A mobile-responsive Magento store ensures that wholesale buyers can browse catalogs, place orders, and track shipments from any device without friction. With business buyers increasingly making purchases via mobile, an optimized storefront enhances conversion rates, reduces cart abandonment, and provides a seamless purchasing experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile. This is critical for B2B businesses operating in global or fast-moving industries.
How does Magento improve customer service for wholesale buyers?
Magento offers built-in customer service tools that enable faster response times, self-service order tracking, and automated notifications for buyers. Features like live chat, support ticketing, and detailed account dashboards allow B2B customers to access order history, invoices, and reordering options without needing direct sales intervention. This not only improves buyer satisfaction but also reduces the workload on support teams, allowing businesses to scale their operations efficiently.
