Unified product data for a multi-channel distributor

One product database feeding B2B, B2C and brand sites - still running a decade later.

A growing distributor was selling through trade clients and online, but every channel described products its own way. In 2016 I initiated the build of a dedicated B2B/B2C platform and owned its data layer: a custom CMS panel and a product ingestion tool that unified the product database into a single source of truth.

Working alongside two developers (a custom CakePHP platform, later a Magento storefront), I designed the UI mockups, the CMS modules for ERP integration and website feeds, and an export of product technical cards to PDF. We launched with dozens of trade clients and hundreds of products, then unified the product indexes as the catalogue grew.

Today - a decade later - the same multi-channel model runs the business: a B2B trade zone, a consumer store and brand sites, all fed by structured product data. What we would now call a PIM, built before the word was common.