What was actually wrong.
Most commerce problems are not just front-end problems. They sit between how customers buy, how teams work, and how the systems behind the business behave.
Central Supplies needed an ecommerce platform that could carry trade account ordering, repeat purchase patterns and operational reporting expected by a Food & beverage business.
This was not a brochure storefront. Buyers arriving for a specific item needed enough product information and context to identify it with confidence, while stock, account pricing and purchase history had to support the same buying decision.
Product information, catalogue structure and supplier feeds were likely sources of operational friction, with editorial and trading teams working around fragmented data.
Trade buyers and account customers needed account-based pricing, repeat ordering and visibility of their own purchase history without friction.
Stock was not one flat number. Depot location, availability and fulfilment context had to remain meaningful so customers and order teams could rely on what the platform showed.
Business customers also needed the platform to reflect how they buy: parent and child account relationships, repeat purchase, order history, account documents and the correct pricing and stock context.
The commerce layer had to sit cleanly alongside ERP, without turning every operational dependency into a launch risk.
The platform change also depended on product information being structured, enriched and governed well enough to support the catalogue. Product data was a major workstream within the wider commerce delivery, not a separate outcome claim.
What happens if it isn't fixed.
When those gaps are left alone, the website becomes the place where operational problems show up. That can mean unclear data, pricing questions, repeated support queries and customers who cannot complete the job they came to do.
When account-based pricing, repeat ordering and purchase-history visibility slip, trade and account customers lose confidence in the site and push work back onto sales and support.
Most relevant to Food & beverage teams running B2B and trade-account operations and weighing similar platform decisions.
If catalogue and operational data drift, buyers can lose confidence in product information, pricing, stock and purchase history. That can delay or abandon an order, while internal teams absorb the uncertainty through manual checking and customer service.
For repeat buyers and trade accounts, uncertainty creates friction every time an order is placed again. Wrong-part risk, unclear account terms and a harder repeat-order path can frustrate buyers and move the burden back to account teams and support.
Once a buying habit moves elsewhere it is expensive to win back. The consequence of inaction is not dramatic; it is cumulative.
Five things, in order.
Delivery is not just a list of features. The order matters, because the wrong sequence can turn technical dependencies into business risk.
- 01Mapped the buying journey before the interfaceStarted with how customers actually order here: account relationships, repeat-buy patterns and the operational context behind each purchase. Purchase history, documents and parent-child account behaviour had to support the journey rather than sit outside it.
- 02Rebuilt the commerce foundation around how the business operatesRebuilt the commerce foundation around the operational logic the business already depended on, without resetting what already worked.
- 03Connected the systems that the storefront cannot work withoutThe commerce layer had to sit cleanly alongside ERP without coupling the launch to every system on day one.
- 04Brought product data into one governed workstreamProduct information, enrichment and catalogue structure were treated as a delivery workstream that enabled the commerce change. Technical data and downloads had to remain connected to the product context buyers used to identify the right item.
- 05Scoped the rules per audience, not per platformAccount-led ordering and self-serve buying were shaped as distinct journeys on the same foundation. Local catalogue, depot, inventory, delivery and pricing rules had to remain coherent for the buyer context in front of the screen.
Systems, one operational truth.
Where this could have gone wrong.
Measurable, not adjectival.
The useful proof is not a bigger adjective. It is the project shape, the systems involved, the trading model supported and, where available, the numbers recorded from the work.
What the client said.
A client quote should support the case study, not carry it. The project story still needs to stay grounded in the work that was delivered.
We chose Adobe Commerce and Akeneo PIM because of its speed, scalability, comprehensive API, workflow tools, and the fact that it would allow our users to collaborate more effectively. We can now scale our digital footprint rapidly and manage product information more efficiently. We are committed to providing the best product experience possible.”
What moved into support.
A project like this does not stop mattering at launch. The same catalogue, account, integration and trading logic has to keep working once real customers and internal teams are using it.
The project did not end when the platform went live.
Support mattered because the food and beverage still depended on parts data, pricing imports, account behaviour, inventory feeds, integrations and customer-facing information after launch.
Keeping the build decisions and system ownership visible gave the support team a clearer basis for tracing issues and maintaining the connected trading system after launch.
Surfaces from the live project.
These screens show where the operational work becomes part of the customer, account buyer or internal team experience.
Projects with a similar shape.
A wholesale B2B2C foodservice platform built around mobile ordering, product data quality and page activity.
Foodservice ordering supported through better product data, faster pages and stronger mobile journeys.
A wholesale B2B foodservice platform rebuilt around speed to market, mobile activity and product data.
Trade ordering supported through faster time to market, stronger mobile activity and updated product data.
A product data platform shaped around catalogue accuracy and downstream commerce.
Vending and impulse wholesale supported by Akeneo PIM, Adobe Commerce and Aptean ERP integration.