Berma-Decor and Berma-Bru are wholesalers of furniture hardware, kitchen accessories, and architectural hardware. Efficiently managing their thousands of technical product SKUs was a major challenge. In preparation for the “Rethink ERP” webinar, Managing Director Peter Landuyt discusses the rollout of a PIM and integrated e-commerce on top of their Dynamics NAV ERP system.
“Our PIM implementation and the launch of our new online store were actually the result of our recent ERP implementation. We’d had a web store for some time, and although I’m a firm believer in in-person sales, you really can’t do without e-commerce these days,” says Peter Landuyt, managing director of Berma-Decor and Berma-Bru.
The old ERP system and the old online store were inextricably linked. Therefore, updating the ERP system also meant updating the e-commerce platform. The question quickly arose as to which source would feed the thousands of product SKUs into the new online store. This led to the creation of a three-way integration: Dynamics NAV as the ERP software, linked with Perfion as the PIM (product information management solution), and Sana Commerce as the integrated online store. During the “Rethink ERP” webinar, we’ll take a closer look at exactly what information comes from which systems.
Why did you invest so heavily in software?
“There were three main reasons why we committed so strongly to digital transformation in the short term,” says Peter. “The furniture industry is under pressure from imports, changing lifestyles, and so on. At the same time, we’re seeing the bathroom and interior design segments grow somewhat, while kitchen construction is stagnating. Our business is changing more rapidly than ever before, and we need to be able to respond flexibly. To do that, we need dynamic software.”
“Second, these days you need to have an online store to remain relevant, and if you really want to get the most out of it, it needs to be detailed and comprehensive enough. We see it as a necessary complement to our 13-person sales team. Third, you need to have open systems that can easily share data with other applications.”
How are things going for you now, about 6 months into using the new online store and PIM?
“Actually, there are three online stores: www.bermabru.be, www.bermadecor.be, and www.furnifit.be. In that regard, we’re already seeing significant efficiency gains because we manage those three stores centrally from a single system. We’re also seeing significant differences among these three companies. Bermabru’s customers have long been accustomed to doing business with us via e-commerce. For that company, about 10 % of our orders are placed through the online store after just half a year online. At Furnifit and Berma-Decor, we still need to promote our online stores a bit more, but things are looking promising.” During Rethink ERP, we’ll take a closer look at the team responsible for the online store and the PIM.
“We’re making great progress with our PIM. This allows us to easily make products available online along with all their details. Entering all the product information actually goes very smoothly. However, it takes more time to gather the information from all the suppliers. We see significant differences from manufacturer to manufacturer in terms of availability, delivery speed, and the format in which the information is provided. Language is also often a sticking point, since we need all the information in Dutch and French, which means we often have to translate it ourselves.”
How do you see your digital platform evolving from here?
“As far as our online store is concerned, the foundation is solid—orders are coming in, and our customers can track them themselves online. We can probably improve the online store even further, but I want to take a measured approach to that. It’s more important right now to attract more customers and leads to our current online stores.”
“Actually, I don’t really see the biggest benefit in placing the order online. That’s because our staff still thoroughly reviews every order—whether it’s placed online or offline—to ensure it’s correct. That’s one of our customer service offerings: making sure you order the right components and items for the job at hand. The biggest benefit for us lies in the self-service aspect—the ability to track an order through the store, view past orders, look up product information and installation instructions, and so on.”
The integration between Dynamics NAV as an ERP system and Sana Commerce As an online store, it's very sophisticated.
“As far as our PIM is concerned, it’s now clear to me that we need one full-time employee dedicated to keeping everything up to date. We used to manage that with fewer staff, but our output is now many times greater, and the quality of the information is significantly higher—which aligns with our commitment to providing excellent service.”
“For now, the output from our PIM is still primarily focused on the online store. In the future, we’ll explore what we can do to populate our print catalogs, enhance our quotes, and so on. So there’s still plenty of work ahead, but we now have the right tools to handle it effectively!”
