TileStyle is one of Ireland’s most successful tile, bathroom, kitchen, and wood flooring suppliers. Earlier this year, they wanted to align its online presence with its impressive 52,000 sq. ft. award-winning showroom.
Through a collaboration with DEPT®, TileStyle now has a custom Shopify shop that complements their physical showroom.
Streamlining operations with Shopify integration
TileStyle has an in-house ERP system for managing orders, product data, and inventory levels. Its complex rules for product pricing, inventory, order fulfillment, and data maintenance needed to be factored into its e-commerce solution.
To help address this, we built an online store on Shopify that feeds into the existing ERP system. This allowed TileStyle to continue managing its product data in the ERP and eliminated the need for dual maintenance.
Overcoming data challenges
To ensure a smooth integration, we developed a middleware application in Laravel to facilitate the transfer of updated product information from the ERP to Shopify. Some aspects of the existing data structure weren’t tailored for e-commerce, so data manipulation was needed for elements such as product imagery and website product attributes.
With a catalog of over 2,000 products requiring initial importation, we developed a custom import script. This script ensured the accurate matching of supplied images with each product.
In-store and Shopify customer data synchronization
There were two distinct channels through which TileStyle gathered customer data: in-store interactions and the Shopify site. To synchronize those, we updated the middleware application in a way that seamlessly extracts order data from Shopify and further integrates it into the ERP.
To make this integration successful, we developed a mechanism identifying if the Shopify customer data existed within the ERP. New customers were assigned a unique ID to be easily identified in future purchases.
Tailored Shopify solutions for …
… varied product types ordering
TileStyle’s product range consists of two main types: standalone products like sinks, taps, or grout, and tiles or wood flooring sold by piece, pack, or square meter. However, some tiles can also be sold by box, and the number per box varies per product.
To optimize the ordering process, we developed a custom Shopify app. It allows customers to enter the number of tiles or the required square footage. Then, it calculates the quantities (tiles, square meters, or boxes) and adds them to the cart.
… online sample service
The brand wanted to offer customers the ability to order tile samples online to enable them to see an example of a tile before placing a full order.
Our uniquely designed Shopify app enabled customers to add samples to their cart for convenient home delivery or collection from the TileStyle Warehouse.
… diverse delivery rules
To further refine the shopping experience, we created additional Shopify apps to augment the checkout process, accommodating TileStyle’s varied delivery rules. Depending on the purchased products, large items like baths and sinks would be delivered on pallets, while smaller products, such as cleaning products, could be delivered in a package. We also built-in separate delivery logic for non-standard-size products (e.g., lengthy wood flooring).
Questions?
Strategy Director
Rasmus Keller Jansen
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