Having over 100,000 products across multiple online stores and a large number of newly created item numbers every year as VM Elektro A/S does, complete control over all data is essential. At the same time, it is important to have a high degree of flexibility, both when creating and enriching such a broad array of items and when a special product needs to be set up for a customer.
Over time, VM Elektro A/S has acquired various systems, and this has led to maintenance of several integrations. Their additions include a PIM system, an e-mail marketing system and pop-up software. The responsible employees have therefore been working in a handful of different systems, all with different interfaces.
Having product management and marketing strewn across disparate platforms dampens efficiency, costs time and also stifles development.
It has been a clear desire to reduce the amount of 3rd party software so that the company itself can expand, change and maintain the platform without having to continuously bring in external consultants. At the same time, rigour and flexibility in the systems had to be established for the sake of uniformity among product data and discount structures.
In the initial phase, VM Elektro A/S spent a lot of time analysing customer needs and then deciding which systems can and should handle these.
The choice fell on Solteq as a partner and Dynamicweb, which is a strong e-commerce platform, built for integrations with ERP, featuring a powerful set of marketing tools. Dynamicweb also comes with an integrated PIM, which is developed based on e-commerce, digital marketplaces and digital marketing.
The choice of Dynamicweb also means that going forward there will only be one integration to work with and maintain, namely between Dynamicweb and the ERP system. At the same time, VM Elektro A/S has been able to get rid of several third-party marketing systems since Dynamicweb has these tools integrated.
The B2C online store reservedele.nu and vm-elektro.dk, for the B2B market, will both continue to operate. Both websites are integrated with the ERP system, and both the B2C and B2B webshop are built with a specific customer centre, so that customers have access to their previous orders, creation of favourite lists and much more.
Most of the information about the products, a larger price matrix and parts lists are already included in the ERP system, and in order not to have to maintain these in multiple systems, a greater level of integration is achieved between the ERP system and the Dynamicweb solution. Data between the two systems will ensure correct display of customer-specific and product-specific prices, and it will now also be possible for customers to be able to buy 'self-assembly kits' of products.
In the new solution, workflows are set up so that responsibility for product enrichment is distributed among relevant employees. This ensures a stringent approach to product data, high data quality and a high level of uniformity. Set-up is streamlined at the same time, so that data from a given product can be inherited by other products, also enabling multi-product editing. Going forward, it will be possible to set up a product in PIM on the fly while on the phone with a customer. The product can then be released to the individual customer, and then follow the workflows already established.
The various marketing tools in Dynamicweb will be used to handle newsletters and pop-ups, just as in Dynamicweb it is possible for the administrators to create and manage various discount structures.
VM Elektro A/S has thus had their wishes fulfilled. They have got a much more flexible platform in which they can more quickly and easily manage much more on their own. At the same time, a strong e-commerce solution puts them in a better position to help their customers than ever before.
Founded in 1972, VM Elektro A/S They sell spare parts, accessories and consumables for white goods, vacuum cleaners, kitchen appliances and industrial machines for both the B2B and B2C market. VM Elektro A/S has a very extensive product range, and is currently one of the largest on the market in Denmark within their field.
Jani Ristola
Senior Vice President, Data & Commerce
Global