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Work/Bradfords Building Supplies
PIM & DataBuilders & tradeCW-065-PD-BT

Bradfords Building Supplies: creating a more reliable product data foundation.

A 4-month pim & data for product information and catalogue operations, shaped around product information quality, catalogue structure and data movement between systems and channels.

Bradfords Building Supplies's operating scale meant product information, catalogue governance, enrichment, data ownership and channel readiness had to work for every team and system using the data.

4
Month project
Kickoff to go-live
3
Platforms
Adobe Commerce, Akeneo PIM and Adobe Digital Experience
5
System integrations
Epicor BisTrack ERP, Warehouse Management System (WMS), Multiple Commerce Sales Channels, Multi-branch Inventory +1 +1 more
4
Services
Build, Support, PIM & Data and AI for Commerce. Governed delivery across platform, data and integrations.
Read onWhat was actually wrong, what we did, and what could have gone wrong.
02
The problem

What was actually wrong

Bradfords Building Supplies needed cleaner product data and a more maintainable catalogue so the Builders & trade business could trade with confidence.

Product information, catalogue structure and supplier feeds were likely sources of operational friction, with editorial and trading teams working around fragmented data.

Product information was spread across teams and systems, making catalogue management harder to control and product content harder to reuse with confidence.

Without clear data ownership, teams risked duplicating content work and relying on manual checks to keep product information usable.

Attributes, product models and category structure needed common rules so the catalogue could stay consistent as products and channels changed.

03
The risk

What was at stake

Unclear product, pricing or fulfilment information can create friction before an order is placed.

Most relevant to Builders & trade teams weighing similar platform decisions.

Poor product data makes teams work around the catalogue instead of improving it. Product onboarding slows down, enrichment becomes repeated manual effort and ownership stays unclear.

That creates catalogue drift and inconsistent product presentation. It also weakens confidence in the information each channel receives.

The longer those gaps remain, the harder it becomes to reuse product data across channels without another round of checking, correction and content rework.

04
The work

Five things, in order.

  1. 01
    Audited the product data shape before changing workflows
    Mapped the existing product information, catalogue structure and maintenance work so the team could see where inconsistency and repeated effort entered the process.
  2. 02
    Defined ownership around product information and enrichment
    Set clearer responsibility for creating, enriching, checking and maintaining product information across the teams involved.
  3. 03
    Structured attributes, categories and content rules
    Organised product models, attributes and category rules so the catalogue could stay consistent as the range and channel requirements changed.
  4. 04
    Connected product data to the systems and channels that needed it
    Defined how product information moved through fulfilment and ERP, including which system owned each part of the product record. Commerce channels were treated as governed destinations for that data, not as the lead story.
  5. 05
    Put governance in place so the data could keep improving
    Established maintainable rules for enrichment, content consistency and ongoing data quality instead of treating catalogue preparation as a one-off task.
05
Systems

Platforms and integrations

Adobe Commerce (Powered by Magento)
Customer-facing commerce platform
Provided the customer-facing commerce platform for catalogue, account and ordering journeys. The platform could only present information it received from the operational and product systems around it. It mattered because unclear ownership or an incomplete data flow could create inconsistent product information across channels.
Multiple Commerce Sales Channels
Receiving channel
Received governed product information for a customer-facing or operational channel. The channel depended on complete, consistent product data arriving in an agreed structure. It mattered because unclear ownership or an incomplete data flow could create inconsistent product information across channels.
Akeneo PIM / PXM
Product information platform
Provided the product information platform used to structure, enrich and prepare catalogue data for connected channels. Product data work depended on clear boundaries between this platform, upstream data and each receiving channel. It mattered because unclear ownership or an incomplete data flow could create inconsistent product information across channels.
Epicor BisTrack ERP Integration
Operational data system
Provided source product data and operational context for enrichment and channel preparation. Product information needed clear ownership between the ERP and the product data workflow. It mattered because unclear ownership or an incomplete data flow could create inconsistent product information across channels.
Multi-branch Inventory
Product data dependency
Supported inventory information connected to the commerce operation.
Warehouse Management System (WMS)
Product data dependency
Supported warehouse and fulfilment processes connected to the commerce operation.
Virtualstock SaaS
Product data dependency
Supported the Virtualstock SaaS connection within the commerce operation.
Adobe Digital Experience
Project platform
Supported the digital experience layer within the project platform stack.
06
Risk control

Difficult parts

Data ownership
When ownership is unclear, the same product field can be changed in more than one place and no team is accountable for the final value. How we held it: Assign an owner to each part of the product record and document where changes begin, who approves them and which system publishes them.
Attribute structure
Inconsistent attributes make products harder to enrich, compare and reuse across channels, especially as the catalogue grows. How we held it: Define shared attribute rules, required values and validation so product information follows one maintainable structure.
Category governance
Category structures can drift when teams organise the same products differently for separate channels or local needs. How we held it: Set category rules, ownership and review points so changes remain deliberate and reusable.
Product enrichment
Weak enrichment workflows create incomplete records, repeated content work and slow product onboarding. How we held it: Make enrichment stages, responsibilities and readiness checks visible before product information moves to a channel.
Asset/content consistency
Images, documents, descriptions and technical data can fall out of step with the product record they are meant to support. How we held it: Link assets and content to governed product records, with clear rules for updates and approval.
Channel readiness
Commerce and other channels can receive product information before required attributes, content or assets are complete. How we held it: Define channel-specific readiness rules and prevent incomplete records from being treated as finished.
Workflow adoption
A technically sound data model still fails if teams continue to maintain product information outside the agreed workflow. How we held it: Align roles, training and daily maintenance work with the new ownership model.
Data maintenance
Without an ongoing maintenance process, quality falls after the initial catalogue work is complete. How we held it: Keep data quality checks, exception handling and ownership reviews active as products and channels change.
07
Outcome

Results

4
Month project
Kickoff to go-live
+38%
Conversion rate YOY
Improvement recorded after launch
5x
System integrations
Epicor BisTrack ERP, Warehouse Management System (WMS), Multiple Commerce Sales Channels, Multi-branch Inventory +1
+46%
Purchases on mobile
Improvement recorded after launch
3x
Platforms
Adobe Commerce, Akeneo PIM and Adobe Digital Experience
+85%
Speed of time to market
Improvement recorded after launch
08
Client feedback

In the client's words

Working in a traditional sector with an archaic ERP system, I was reluctant to change development partners through fear of starting from scratch. Considering iWeb had never built an integration between our required systems (Epicore Bistrack ERP & Adobe Commerce), I cannot believe how quickly they adopted, reengineered and improved the solution. We now have a robust and highly efficient API, connecting all necessary datapoints from pricing to customer documents. I heard about iWeb through our PIM partner, Akeneo. They were referenced as a gold partner and I quickly understood why. They have knowledge experts managing all key areas in developing, securing, marketing and maintaining an eCommerce website. I would highly recommend working with iWeb.”
Fergus Bell, Head of eCommerce, Bradfords Building Supplies
09
After launch

Ongoing support

The product data foundation moved into ongoing maintenance and improvement.

Support kept data ownership, enrichment workflows, catalogue structure and channel readiness visible as the product range changed.

That continuity gave teams a clearer basis for resolving data issues and improving product information without claiming an unverified outcome.

10
Surfaces

Selected screens

01 phone
02 desktop
03 tablet
11
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