Custom Development
Shattering the Spreadsheet Ceiling: Regional Inventory E-commerce
From Manual Excel Chaos to a Global, Data-Driven Wholesale Platform.
Client
Top Window Covering Outlet (TWC)
Duration
6 months (Estimated)
Industry
Wholesale Distribution & Manufacturing
Work Overview
Understanding the context and objectives
TWC, a specialized wholesale distributor of window coverings (roller, cellular, screen fabrics, etc.), needed a revolutionary e-commerce platform to replace manual, Excel-based operations and serve global markets (Europe, USA, Canada, UK) with complex regional inventory, currency, and custom inquiry workflows. The goal was to create a seamless online experience from product browsing to order placement.
Wholesale Distribution & Manufacturing
6 months (Estimated)
Custom Development
Egma Impact
How we transformed obstacles into opportunities
⚠️
Before Egma
1
Static Content Management: The legacy website required developer intervention for all marketing updates (hero banners, footer links, etc.), hindering seasonal promotions and agility.
2
Bulk Product Uploads & Image Handling: Managing a large inventory (40+ SKUs across categories) with frequent Excel updates was manual, error-prone, and required correctly associating images (high-resolution swatches) to products via filenames.
3
Regional Inventory & Pricing Variations: Products had complex region-specific attributes (stock in LM/SQM for Europe vs. USA), currencies, and availability, demanding accurate geo-location data filtering without exposing irrelevant inventory.
4
Inquiry to Order Workflow: Customers submit inquiries due to the custom nature of products; converting these to validated orders required status tracking, stock validation, and automated, region-based email routing to comply with operational silos.
5
Security & Roles: Challenges included securing protected dashboard routes, handling password resets, and ensuring robust role-based access for critical admin functions (e.g., inquiry approval).
6
Performance & UX: Fetching large product datasets and integrating a separate CMS (Strapi) for marketing content required careful optimization to prevent slow load times and ensure a smooth Single Page Application (SPA) experience.
7
Data Integrity: Maintaining consistency across flexible taxonomies (opacities, colors, assortments) and custom specifications (key-value maps) between the frontend and backend was tricky.
💡
After Egma
Dynamic Content Management (Strapi): Integrated Strapi as a headless CMS, allowing the client to update all non-product content (homepage, footers, "About Us") instantly via a user-friendly admin interface, drastically improving marketing agility.
Automated Bulk Uploads: Developed a custom admin feature using Node.js to parse Excel imports and handle compressed ZIP folders of images. Cloudinary processes and matches images to product SKUs based on the filename, ensuring atomic data operations.
Geo-Location Filtering & Normalization: The frontend uses a GeoLocation provider with fallbacks to detect the user's region, querying and displaying only region-specific stock (LM/SQM), currency, and availability, minimizing errors.
Inquiry to Order Automation: Utilized a Wishlist context for selections, followed by robust backend stock validation. Admin approval via dashboard mutation automatically creates a validated Order document, streamlining the sales cycle.
Secure Auth & Data Management: Implemented JWT-based authentication for secure endpoints, enforced PrivateRoute components, and used robust user models. Advanced filtering leverages URL state synchronization via
nuqs.Performance & Validation Optimizations: Used TanStack Query for efficient data caching and optimistic updates (with UI skeletons). Integrated Zod (frontend) and express-validator (backend) for comprehensive, layered data validation across all forms and API calls.
Client Testimonial
What our client had to say
“The platform completely eliminated our reliance on fragile spreadsheets. We can now manage hundreds of products and global inventory variations seamlessly. This transformation exceeded all expectations for operational efficiency.”
CEO, Top Window Covering Outlet
Wholesale Distributor