case study
Streamlining Product Information Management and Supplier Onboarding for a Leading Retailer
Xyxle AG, a Swiss product information management company partnered with BitStone to create a multi sided PaaS (Platform as a Service) for one of Switzerland’s largest retail and wholesale groups.
The retailer, known for its strong regional presence, commitment to quality, and diverse product portfolio, faced challenges in managing product information across a vast network of suppliers.
This case study explores how Xyxle's solution developed by BitStone transformed retailer's supplier onboarding process, improved data accuracy, and enhanced overall efficiency.
The Retail Context
As one of Europe’s largest retailers, the company manages a wide portfolio of products across wholesale, retail, and production. With thousands of suppliers and millions of items, maintaining accurate and consistent product information became increasingly complex. Ensuring scalability, compliance with international standards, and efficiency in supplier onboarding was essential to supporting its growing operations.
The Challenge
Managing Product Data at Scale in Retail
As the retailer’s operations expanded, managing product information became increasingly complex. Their legacy processes relied heavily on manual data entry, making it harder to maintain accuracy at scale, slowing down supplier onboarding and limiting scalability.
At the same time, compliance with GDSN standards required more consistency across the supply chain. These factors created the need for a more scalable and automated solution.
The project required the following key factors:
01
Performance
The system needed to support millions of items, thousands of users, and a substantial number of files without encountering any performance issues.
02
Security
The project needed to ensure data integrity, provide support for various authorization rules, and log user activity
03
Diversity
Develop a system able to support a large number of attributes for items in different segments.
04
Scalability
As the solution faces significant traffic increase, the system should be able to scale to multiple servers without downtime.
05
UI optimization
UI optimization - Taking into consideration a platform with hundreds of functionalities and sections, the UI had to be designed and optimized to accommodate various business processes and scenarios.
The Solution
Building a Scalable PIM Platform
BitStone partnered with Xyxle to deliver a multi-sided PaaS platform tailored for retail operations. The solution addressed key requirements around scalability, security, UI optimization, and performance.
Technologies
design
Figma
development
Zend Framework, MySql, Php, jQuery+plugins, Web services, MemCached, React.js/Next.js, Node.js, GraphQL, Microservices, Docker, PHP
testing
Selenium, Jira
Streamlined supplier onboarding
Xyxle's platform simplified the supplier onboarding process, allowing vendors to enter product information efficiently through an intuitive interface. Renowned suppliers such as Coca Cola, L'Oréal, and other key vendors for retail chains utilize the platform and benefit from its seamless integration and user-friendly features. Other notable functionalities of the platform:
Enhanced data accuracy
The solution ensured data accuracy through key features:
The Power of the Team and Collaborative Effort
This successful partnership between BitStone and Xyxle was driven by a highly skilled and dedicated team. The project leveraged a cross-functional Agile team of 10-12 members, encompassing a range of expertise across the entire Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
This team included developers responsible for building the core functionalities of the platform, testers ensuring its quality and functionality, and a project manager overseeing the overall project execution and timeline. Additionally, a fractional CTO provided strategic guidance and ensured the technical direction aligned with Xyxle's long-term vision.
This collaborative approach, combining the strengths of both BitStone and Xyxle's teams, fostered innovation and agile development, ultimately delivering a solution that exceeded the client's expectations.
Results
The solution delivered significant benefits for the retailer and its supplier ecosystem:
Increased Efficiency
Automated data management and integration significantly reduced manual work and improved data processing speed.
Improved Data Accuracy
Standardized data based on GDSN standards minimized errors and ensured consistent product information across the supply chain.
Enhanced Scalability
The solution easily accommodated the retailer’s growing vendor base without compromising efficiency.
Streamlined Compliance
The PIM platform ensured adherence to GDSN standards, simplifying regulatory compliance for the retailer and its suppliers.
Key Insights
Xyxle's innovative solution built together with BitStone, transformed the retailer's product information management system.
By leveraging GDSN standards and automation, Xyxle streamlined supplier onboarding, improved data accuracy, and enhanced overall efficiency for the retailer's supply chain.
Through this project, BitStone showcases how its expertise empowers businesses to navigate the complexities of product information management and achieve operational excellence.