Selected Engineering Project
A supplier integration system built for a commercial e-commerce website running on a custom CMS.
The system automated product imports, category mapping, price updates and inventory synchronization from multiple independent suppliers.
Supplier-driven e-commerce catalog
Backend development, import logic and CMS integration
Supplier imports, category mapping and stock synchronization
Business Challenge
The client needed to publish all available products from its suppliers on the website without manually creating and updating every catalog item.
Supplier data arrived through different sources and structures. The main challenge was not simply reading files, but turning inconsistent external product data into a predictable catalog structure inside the CMS.
Architecture Overview
Collects data from multiple supplier sources in different formats and schedules.
Matches supplier categories with the internal category structure.
Normalizes and enriches product data to fit the internal product model and business rules.
Calculates prices and margins, updates availability and stock levels in real time.
Manages content, categories and product information through a unified administration system.
Displays products, prices and availability to customers on the storefront.
Key Engineering Decisions
Suppliers delivered data through different formats, including XML, YML and APIs.
Rather than developing completely independent import solutions for every supplier, the project adopted a shared processing workflow wherever possible.
This reduced duplicated logic and made future supplier integrations easier to maintain.
Supplier categories did not match the website structure directly. A supplier taxonomy could be too broad, too narrow or simply organized differently.
The system needed a mapping layer that translated supplier categories into the website catalog structure before products were saved into the CMS.
The objective was to extend an established commercial CMS rather than replace it.
Introducing a separate product management system would have increased complexity without providing additional value for the project's requirements.
The solution focused on integrating supplier automation while preserving the client's existing administration workflows.
Products disappearing from a supplier feed are not always permanently unavailable. A feed may be incomplete, delayed or temporarily broken.
Instead of setting stock to zero immediately, the system marks products as unavailable only after they remain absent from supplier data for a defined period.
Technology Stack
PHP · MySQL · custom CMS · product catalog logic
XML · YML · API · scheduled imports · automated stock updates
Confidentiality
This overview intentionally omits client-specific business information, individual website names, implementation details and proprietary logic. Its purpose is to demonstrate the engineering approach behind a long-running CMS while respecting commercial confidentiality.