Read how Maxicom used Iceshop’s full cycle of e-commerce automation, from connecting to suppliers, delivering Icecat content for their assortment, managing assortment and pricing, delivering data directly to the store’s back office, and setting up the Magento store itself.
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, e-commerce businesses face several challenges when it comes to managing product information. With the rise of omnichannel retail, businesses must ensure that their product information is accurate, up-to-date, and consistent across all sales channels. The lack of centralized, accurate product information can lead to errors, low conversion rates, and lost revenue. This is where a PIM solution comes into play.
The Maxicom business case is an excellent example of how a PIM solution can help a business streamline its product information management processes. In this case study, we will explore the Maxicom business case from two perspectives. Firstly, from the perspective of Iceshop, a leading provider of PIM software and complete e-commerce processes automation, and secondly, from the perspective of Icecat, a global digital content provider, their combined solution helped in achieving Maxicom’s business goals.
Since 1998 Maxicom has been an expert in the field of new and refurbished hardware and network equipment. They have been providing IT services all over the world for over 20 years. Moreover, Maxicom attaches great value to sustainability. By buying back, cleaning up and preparing your used or pre-owned hardware, they enable second life for equipment, which contributes to unnecessary waste of resources.
At the time when we met Evelyn, the Online Content Manager at Maxicom, the Magento shop did not even exist. Usually, other businesses in such a stage manage product data manually – communicating with suppliers through emails, scraping product descriptions and images from the internet, managing product information, and the content of constantly growing products, which are time-consuming tasks. However, Maxicom decided to take a different path, automating e-commerce and sourcing content from the beginning of the online store’s launch.
“We did not have a Magento store at the beginning. After seeing how Iceshop successfully and timely delivered our previous WordPress project, we decided to partner with them again for this ambitious project.”
Evelyn, Online Content Manager at Maxicom
Moreover, Maxicom had two different shops – Mr@ and Maxicom – meaning there are two setups with two completely distinctive business models all at once. How did we successfully implement centralized assortment and content management while also automating the process? To meet the business needs, it was required to transmit the same supplier assortments from Maxicom to two separate Magento-based stores. One store was designed for B2B transactions, while the other was for B2C. Furthermore, certain product assortments were to be exclusively dispatched to a particular store, with different pricing models being applied to each respective assortment. This resulted in a minimum of two distinct assortments, each with its unique pricing schema, adding to the complexity of the task at hand.
From a content perspective, Maxicom was faced with the challenge of supplying its customers with accurate and comprehensive product information, such as descriptions, images, videos, attributes, and other relevant data. Since Maxicom specializes in selling refurbished products, and due to the nature of the process itself, there may be limited or incomplete information available regarding the original manufacturer specifications of a product. The task of ensuring that all new products were accompanied by appropriate content posed a significant obstacle, particularly for a store featuring a vast assortment of items.
In order to replace the manual work of updating always changing stock and pricing, we introduced our proprietary service, Iceimport, which facilitated the automatic sourcing of such information from suppliers to Maxicom. This eliminated the need for manual communication with suppliers to obtain up-to-date information streamlining the process and freeing up valuable resources for Maxicom.
Maxicom utilized the advanced capabilities of Icepim, a comprehensive product information management system, to effectively manage different assortments across two distinct shops. In addition to streamlining product information management, Icepim also facilitated connections with suppliers (connected through Iceimport), warehouse management, and the creation of customized pricing groups and rules for each assortment. For pricing management: with Icepim, Maxicom is able to set pricing rules for different shops and apply specific rules to categories, brands, warehouses, or individual products. By simply defining the appropriate rule within Icepim, Maxicom could automate the application of the specified markup or margin for each respective shop.
In the typical scenario of a reseller specializing in refurbishment, creating content from scratch is a tough task. Because of Iceshop’s sister company, Icecat, Maxicom did not need to do this anymore. This saved considerable time and effort, because through Icepim Maxicom got rich content from Icecat, and then Maxicom had to make minor changes: for example, including some damage description in the post, change/ add attributes or upload a new photo highlighting any scratches on the product.
“While some content work is still required, Icecat provides me with a fundamental basis to build upon through their provision of content.”
Evelyn, Online Content Manager at Maxicom
Finally, Multi Webshop store Magento functionality of Icepim made it possible to deliver everything to one Magento from one central place. In addition to the connector solution, Iceshop also built a Magento store for Maxicom, handling all aspects of setting up an online store.
That is how Maxicom made use of Iceshop’s full cycle of e-commerce automation, from connecting to suppliers, delivering Icecat content for their assortment, management of assortment and pricing, delivering data directly to the store’s back office to setting up the Magento store itself.
“We wanted to build a large automated shop from the very beginning, that’s why we partnered with Iceshop. In terms of content, Maxicom specializes in selling refurbished products, but there is no accurate production information available due to the fact that the manufacturer specifications of a product can change during the refurbishment process. It is a labor-intensive task to link the correct specifications to a product. However, Icecat helps with this.”
Evelyn, Online Content Manager at Maxicom
Evelyn now manages all her assortment and content from the sole source of truth – Icepim and gets all the data, already enriched by Icecat, in her Magento which sources two stores, for B2C and B2B clients. Everything became possible because Iceshop ecommerce automation services provide a complete, A to Z solution for customers.
The refurbished electronics market has been growing in recent years, as consumers become more aware of the environmental impact on their purchases and seek more sustainable options. In addition, the increasing cost of new electronics has led many consumers to consider refurbished options as a more affordable alternative. According to a report by Allied Market Research, the global refurbished electronics market is expected to reach $148.5 billion by 2028.
