Case Study: First Self-Service Fundraising and Group Sales Platform on Magento + Hyvä

Running unique sales models such as fundraising programs and group purchase schemes on a legacy platform can quickly become unmanageable. Relying on manual processes and in-house developers makes the system harder to scale and easier to break.

In Purdys’ case, a 20-year-old custom system was no longer enough to support their coordinator-led programs. With project Fluffle, we partnered with Purdys to build two new Adobe Commerce websites powered by Hyvä, integrated directly with ERP, and designed to give both coordinators and supporters a smooth, self-service experience.

About

Purdys Chocolatier has been known across Canada for its purple-wrapped chocolates since 1907. Over 117 years, the company has grown into 81 retail stores with around 1,600 employees.

Purdys also operates two coordinator-led sales models. Fundraising programs allow schools, clubs, and community groups to sell chocolates and keep a percentage of the sales. Group Savings programs give organizations and communities the chance to order in bulk at discounted prices. These programs had been running on a 20-year-old custom platform that relied on manual steps, a single in-house developer, and fragmented reporting.

With project Fluffle, Purdys partnered with scandiweb to re-platform fundraising and group savings on Adobe Commerce (Magento 2) with Hyvä. This made Purdys an especially exciting client for scandiweb because it was not just a site migration but an opportunity to reimagine how non-standard commerce models can be run on Adobe Commerce.

Project goals

Purdys wanted to:

• Re-platform the Group Purchase Program and Seasonal Fundraising Program to Magento 2
• Deliver a best-in-class, product-based fundraising program
• Provide a seamless transition between eCommerce, fundraising, and group programs with one login
• Gain a 360° customer view across all programs
• Design a unique UI for each site
• Ensure efficient, stable operation of fundraising and group programs
• Guarantee performance and platform stability for seasonal peaks.

Challenges

At the start of the project, many key details were still undecided. Designs weren’t finalized, and some integrations hadn’t been clearly defined. As development began, we worked closely with the Purdys team to fill in the gaps as they came up, staying as close to the original timeline as possible. When requests started going beyond the agreed scope, we flagged them and scheduled them for later as support items.

New requests continued to come in during the build. To keep the launch on track, we made sure the team focused on what absolutely needed to be delivered, while everything else was documented for post-launch.

We also had to work around a technical limitation. Because other projects were using the same Adobe Cloud account, there was no staging environment available; so we built and tested everything in shared integration environments instead. We ran into a few issues caused by differences between the test and live environments, but every issue was tracked, analyzed, and fixed before launch.

Despite the scope changes and technical limitations, the full user journey was delivered as planned. Additionally, ERP development was happening in parallel, but both teams kept their schedules aligned so integration was ready in time.

Approach

To meet Purdys’ goals, we first built two new Adobe Commerce (Magento 2) websites, one for fundraising and one for group savings, and both running on Hyvä frontend. Hyvä’s lean architecture allowed us to build two distinct interfaces with complex custom logic while keeping the sites fast and responsive, even under peak demand. Designs were provided by Purdys, while our role was to implement and adapt them within Magento.

At the same time, we developed custom Season and Campaign logic to support fundraising and group purchase flows; something the standard Magento setup could not handle on its own. All legacy Group and Fundraising data, which had been stored in an old MS SQL database, was migrated into Adobe Commerce to keep continuity.

We also rebuilt the integration with Syteline, Purdys’ ERP system, so that orders and finance data could move accurately between platforms. All three platforms (retail, fundraising, and group savings) now share a unified login, allowing customers and coordinators to switch between experiences without managing multiple accounts.

To support reporting and finance operations, we began setting up analytics and dashboarding in Looker Studio, which continues to be developed during the beta phase. Reporting will give a single view of customer activity across retail, fundraising, and group programs.

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Group & Fundraising platform

At the center of the project is a rebuilt Group & Fundraising system. Previously, creating seasons required developer support. Now, Purdys staff can create and manage seasons directly in the Magento admin.

Coordinators can also launch and run campaigns independently:

1. They register and fill out a form with campaign details like name, description, end date, image, and delivery address.
2. The system generates a dedicated campaign page and public URL.
3. Supporters visit the page, browse products, and place orders, each one automatically linked to the campaign.

For fundraising campaigns, a portion of the sales becomes available for coordinators to withdraw. In group savings, supporters buy at discounted rates, with coordinators receiving a smaller margin.

Results

The project is currently in its beta phase, which runs until January. Even at this stage, core improvements are already in place:

• Coordinators and staff no longer depend on developers to create seasons or configure campaigns. Everything can be managed directly in Magento.
• Any user can now launch and run a fundraising or group savings campaign from start to finish with every order automatically tracked against their campaign.
• A single login and ERP connection now keep customer activity, orders, and financial data consistent across retail, fundraising, and group programs.
• Despite custom logic and separate websites, the Hyvä frontend remains fast and responsive, built to handle high traffic events.

From the initial meetings in March 2024 to the beta release, the build took about one year. Delivered on time and within budget, Fluffle marks the first time Purdys’ fundraising and group savings programs can run at scale on a modern eCommerce platform.

Looking to modernize your own fundraising or group sales platform? With Adobe Commerce and Hyvä, we help businesses replace legacy systems, reduce manual work, and deliver high-performance customer experiences. Talk to our team about your project.

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