Various cables, connectors and a power adapter on a table with blurred warehouse shelves in the background

Distributor for electronic accessories

Mass data maintenance and inheritance with Perfion at Wentronic!

Dynamics NAV 2013 Perfion PIM Microsoft Azure

As a distributor of electronic accessories, Wentronic is one of the industry leaders in Europe, distributing a comprehensive product range to wholesalers, mail-order companies, online retailers, and industrial companies worldwide. For more than 29 years, the company, headquartered in Braunschweig with branches in Hong Kong and China, has experienced steady growth.

www.wentronic.de

29+ years
Growth as a distributor for electronic accessories, headquartered in Braunschweig plus branches in Hong Kong and China

12.000+ Article
whose product data previously had to be kept up-to-date across many systems with a high degree of manual effort

10+ Languages
in sales, which are clearly represented in the PIM

The challenge: automatic and simultaneous updating of product data – anywhere and at any time!

Wentronics' previous product data management setup was a combination of numerous file servers, an outdated and heavily customized ERP system (Navision 2.6), and various additional proprietary applications such as image and press databases.

Due to the decentralized and heterogeneous data storage, keeping the product data for over 12,000 items up-to-date across all languages, media, and output channels required significant manual effort. Because each medium required its own maintenance, maintaining the high level of data quality was not always achievable. Furthermore, the limited data quality rendered some convenient features, such as attribute searches in the online shop, simply impossible. This made it impossible to, for example, provide customers with a list of all one-meter cables, all items with a blue casing, or accessories for connecting to an iPhone.

Solution and benefits

Partly due to its outdated data setup, Wentronic replaced its entire IT infrastructure: While remaining with its existing ERP provider, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, the company extracted its PIM-relevant data from NAV and placed it in the closely integrated, but separately managed, Perfion system. Wentronic now maintains all of its product data exclusively in Perfion.

The data from existing file servers, image databases, etc., was integrated into the new PIM system, while the ERP system was connected bidirectionally via API interfaces. Perfion creates a central, consistent, and structured database that supports all media, catalogs, websites, and exports, including attribute-based searches.

Migration to Microsoft Azure

Wentronics needed a PIM system that didn't have to be hosted locally. With Perfion, Wentronic found the perfect solution. As a result, a complete migration of Perfion to Microsoft Azure was successfully completed at the end of 2022.

EDI interface

Since Wentronic also sells its products to large customers who place a high value on automating business processes – such as Otto Versand or Amazon – an EDI interface was established with the support of Perfion data and additional third-party software. In addition to the pure product data, all commercial processes such as orders, delivery notifications, and invoices are handled exclusively system-based between business partners, without the need for any further manual intervention by employees.

Perfion manages all languages

Because of its UTF8 capability, Perfion manages all characters of up to 10 languages currently used in Wentronic distribution.

PIM for all print and digital media

As a distributor and manufacturer, Wentronic produces various trade media for its own brands. These print and digital media have been "fed" with data by the Perfion PIM system since 2015.

The B2B webshop for all Wentronic subsidiaries worldwide
Separate brand catalogs and manufacturer websites for private labels
Dealer newsletters, product data sheets and offers
Exports as XML and CSV files as a service for business partners

★★★★★

"A key factor for us was Perfion's flexibility in adding the additional functions and features we needed. For example, we required efficient workflow management with approvals, translation routines, and revision cycles, which we were finally able to implement in collaboration with Perfion."