How we solved the problems of updating product prices and inventory levels in our warehouse – proprietary application!

Problem definition

We founded our first online warehouse a few years ago based on the Prestashop engine. It was created by a subcontractor. Due to the fact that we have a wide range of products from many companies, there was a problem of updating prices and inventory. The Prestashop price and stock update app was what we needed.

Each manufacturer has a different code format: numeric, alphanumeric, or letter. In the case of our warehouse, two of the companies had codes in digital format that overlapped each other, which generated a number of difficulties (both manufacturers had goods with the code 00001).

In search of a solution

When looking for a solution, we found a few Prestashop add-ons implementing massive price updates. But, unfortunately, they did not allow updating them by manufacturer. Additionally, due to the huge assortment, this process took a lot of time. Another difficulty encountered was that the producers could not provide us with integration with their systems. The only thing they could offer were xls files with stock levels and product prices.

Half-time success, i.e. the first version of the application

The first desktop application was prepared by an external company. It performed the updating of prices and stocks on the basis of csv files, prepared from the received xls files. It was a big progress, but still not enough. The application improved the prices by operating on the server, so the update of e.g. 1000 prices lasted several hours. To make matters worse, the application simply stopped working when you changed hosting from nazwa.pl to linux.pl.

It’s best when you do something yourself – Prestashop price and stock update app

It was one of the first incentives to motivate our specialists to create an innovative solution. We managed to create an application in which you can choose the server and access parameters yourself. Then update the states and prices according to the manufacturer. It performs the update on its side, which makes the operations very fast.

To make others work (update) easier

After several years of using it, we were so delighted and sure of its reliability that we decided to introduce it to our offer. Now, as the final product of our company, we want to share this solution with other entrepreneurs.

If you are also struggling with the problem of inventory and product price updates, write to us and ask about the possibility of cooperation!

Results

Overall, we have managed to drastically shorten the time required to update prices and stocks in our Presta online store.