An ERP-based web shop that improves internal processes

Starting with the big picture

Our cooperation with Modeo began with the need to renew their webshop. However, we also jumped at the opportunity to examine the fluency of certain customer journeys, and see how internal sales processes could be made simpler and more effective.

The webshop was built with the customer experience and the needs of professionals in mind. We started by mapping out different customer journeys and identifying all the digital and physical touchpoints between them. The process helped us in identifying the needs of customers as well as improving internal processes at Modeo, a company that has grown quickly.

Rather than being a traditional online shop, Modeo is a tool for professionals that offers architects, designers, and professional furniture buyers the required product information and design tools. In the planning phase, the idea also came up that webshop product information could be used in making sales offers, which in turn would reduce the time spent on them. This is why an offers tool for Modeo professionals was built right next to the webshop. The tool uses the same product information database and it can be used when creating plans and offers that include hundreds of different products.

A modern user experience with modern tools

An integral part of the webshop renewal was to harness the existing enterprise resource planning system (ERP) to an even bigger role and focus the product information management into one place to make its maintenance simpler and to reduce manual work. We began the technical assessment by finding out what sort of information could be stored in the ERP and how the product information focused in one place could more easily be put to good use. The ERP was modified for the webshop according to Modeo’s needs. The ERP integration helps in keeping all product information up to date in the webshop even though products are being sold through multiple channels.

WooCommerce, which was used as the back-end system, was fully tailored to the way Modeo sells its solutions. The default WooCommerce user interface was improved by building the parts of the online store that are visible to the customer using the modern Vue.js framework. Vue.js ensures that the user interface functionalities are easy to develop and the code remains maintainable even as the number of functionalities increases.

The offer tool makes it possible to customize the products for each offer, enter all offer information into prefilled fields, and automatically create offer PDFs based on that information. Profit margin calculations are also included in the tool. The offer tool has been integrated into the Modeo ERP, where synchronized offers can be directly converted into orders. The offer tool not only makes the often complicated process of making offers easy and quick, but it has also made the offers more streamlined.

Comment from the expert

The renewal of Modeo’s online services has been a great example of why it’s important to gain some understanding of the line of business in the beginning of the project. The fact that Modeo people also took part in the design process by using service design methods resulted in great insights of benefits we could achieve with the project. Our close cooperation has also made working together really dynamic and flexible.

–Emma Laiho, Design Director, Frantic