Roman Originals: A Bespoke PIM System to Streamline Product & Order Management
In 2009, we designed and developed a custom Product Information Management (PIM) system for Roman Originals, revolutionizing how they handled product data, stock, and order fulfilment. Their existing ERP system, RSG, lacked the ability to store detailed product descriptions, limiting their ability to manage content-rich e-commerce listings effectively.
A Powerful WPF-Based GUI for Product Management
We built a custom WPF application to give the Roman Originals team a user-friendly way to manage their product catalogue. Initially, the PIM system allowed the team to expand upon the basic product information from RSG by adding:
- Extended descriptions and marketing content
- High-resolution product photos and videos
- Detailed categorization and metadata tagging
- Automated content generation using templated descriptions that dynamically populated colour, texture, and material attributes
These features dramatically improved the quality and speed of content creation, making it easier to list new products while ensuring consistency across all sales channels.
Expanding to Order Management & Warehousing
Over time, the PIM system evolved into a complete order management and fulfilment platform, integrating directly with:
- Venda API: Orders were automatically downloaded and processed.
- Warehouse Pick Lists: The system generated PDF pick lists for warehouse staff. To accommodate workers with varying literacy levels, we enhanced the pick lists by introducing bin numbers, shapes, and colour-coding for easier identification.
Multi-Channel Stock Synchronization
Roman Originals sold their products across multiple online platforms, including eBay and Amazon. Our PIM system ensured that stock levels and product details were automatically synchronized across all platforms, adhering to strict rate-limiting rules and ensuring a fault-tolerant connection to prevent data discrepancies.
A Game-Changer for Roman Originals
This bespoke PIM system became an essential tool for Roman Originals, streamlining their product management, order processing, and stock synchronization. By reducing manual data entry, improving content quality, and optimizing warehouse efficiency, the system played a key role in their e-commerce success.