Our client is breaking new territory in online car sales by providing eCommerce solutions to dealers and auto manufacturers, allowing them to provide the full journey of vehicle purchase online. For this project, we built a microservice platform for them that met several business requirements and found Pimcore to be the best solution.

Business needs

The first requirement was an open-source PIM solution that allowed the client to use it commercially. The second one was an eCommerce framework built into the same solution so that a checkout mechanism didn’t have to be built from scratch. No separate eCommerce solution was used, so the second requirement was crucial.

Summarized below are some of the most important requirements for the PIM solution and the checkout framework.

PIM requirements

• Responds to ad hoc attribute filter queries in real time
• Exposes a native API so that it can be easily integrated with other microservices that the client has
• Allows for self-hosting
• Inherently supports multi-tenant data
• Supports multiple product types
• Supports automated CI/CD
• Written in PHP or NodeJS
• Has a digital asset manager that can handle product images

eCommerce framework requirements

• Allows for auto-scaling
• Integrates with OMS, CMS, CRM, finance, and another PIM
• Integrates with multiple payment gateways
• Supports different checkout journeys, including flexible ones, for different storefronts
• Handles complex tax requirements for business/private car sales
• Allows for segregation of data or service such that data/service can be hosted in multiple AWS regions as necessary (in compliance with GDPR)

Approach and solution

Given the business requirements, we needed to implement a PIM solution in the microservice platform and build our own checkout. And Pimcore met all the requirements listed above and more.

We considered several other PIM solutions to make sure we were going for the best choice. But they were all discarded because of the following reasons:

• Lack of solution maturity
• Lack of support for local catalog image
• Weak REST API support and documentation
• Insufficient support for data multi-tenancy
• No documented CI/CD support
• No flexible data model

Other eCommerce framework alternatives were also considered but rejected because they didn’t provide the same flexibility that an open-source solution offered.

In contrast, Pimcore was quite easy and straightforward to implement while fulfilling all the requirements of the client.

Pimcore’s eCommerce framework provided the exact same functionality that we needed from a checkout framework or engine—with enough functionality that we didn’t have to create checkout from scratch and enough flexibility that we could create our own configurable checkout journeys.

Results

The platform is live, and car manufacturers and dealers are successfully using Pimcore PIM and eCommerce services. We are working on migrating all existing users to the new platform one by one.

With the new microservice platform with Pimcore that supports multi-tenant functionality, the client can provide tailored offerings to vehicle manufacturers and retailers. Increased checkout performance is delivered, thanks to Pimcore’s eCommerce framework. Pimcore’s checkout tenants support allows for the onboarding of new clients on the same code base and for tailoring solutions specific to clients’ specific requirements.

scandiweb is a Gold Partner of Pimcore. We have a team of certified Pimcore experts that can take on any project that could benefit from Pimcore PIM. If you are facing challenges with product information management, get in touch today and we’ll be happy to help.

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