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The manufacturer envisioned an e-commerce system that would house all of its web content and integrate with other home-grown and off-the-shelf back-end systems. The key was connecting the company's corporate website to the B2B e-commerce site. They needed to be able to direct visitors to a specific distributor that has product in stock and enable distributors to log into the system to purchase inventory. They also wanted to integrate real-time data — such as inventory levels and volume price breaks — stored in their existing ERP system into the new e-commerce system.
To make this happen, the manufacturer had worked with another implementation partner to leverage Sitecore CMS for this complex project. But the implementation team hadn't met the project requirements and the go-live deadline was quickly approaching. The manufacturer was ready to abandon the Sitecore platform altogether — despite having already invested nearly $500,000 in the enterprise-level CMS.
The manufacturer put the blame on the Sitecore CMS application — it just couldn't do what they needed it to do. Or so they thought. They needed an expert with experience in rescuing failed Sitecore implementations to show them they could realize their e-commerce vision — and leverage their significant investment.
The manufacturer no longer felt it needed to walk away from Sitecore — turning the potential loss of its existing $500,000 investment into a significant win. All of the problems were corrected and the e-commerce site was launched on time, within the original deadline set with the previous developer.
The manufacturer now has an e-commerce site that functions as it was envisioned. Visitors can see available inventory in real time, click and expand windows to show all parts available, see detailed specs, conduct product research and search by specific product categories.
Ricoh IT Services is now upgrading the manufacturer to the latest version of Sitecore — an enhancement with advanced marketing automation features built into the platform. Once in place, the new version of Sitecore will empower the manufacturer to alter content based on personas, personalize the experience for visitors, make content changes based on geography, analyze behavior on the site and leverage information derived from email or social media platforms.