PIM catalog for online sales
The project moved catalog operations into Pimcore and defined the full path for a product card: partner data intake, enrichment, media, approval, variants, and export to the online store.
- Role
- Backend / PIM work in a project team
- Scale
- 100k+ product positions
- Focus
- Catalog data, imports, exports, content operations
- Timeline
- 3 months to launch
Catalog growth
Golden Apple was expanding retail and e-commerce at the same time. The assortment grew faster than the old process: partners sent data in different formats, managers reconciled attributes by hand, and every exception could become a separate task.
Old system limit
The previous custom system helped with accounting tasks, but it did not give the team a product catalog workflow. Attributes, media, uploads, approvals, and publishing depended on manual coordination, so SKU growth immediately affected delivery dates.
Pimcore choice
Pimcore fit as a PHP-based foundation that could follow the retailer’s process: product model, assets, manager roles, and external exchanges stayed under one controlled structure.
Data model
The product hierarchy and attributes were designed for search, filters, product pages, and daily content work. Backend rules had to match how the catalog team would maintain the assortment after launch.
Approach
Bulk loading
More than 100,000 product positions had to enter one catalog quickly without losing data quality. Bulk creation, editing, approval, and Excel import/export tools became part of the core implementation.
Media and variants
Images were matched to products by barcode, and variants were grouped into parent cards. For catalog managers, that removed part of the repetitive manual work and reduced data drift.
Data exchange
Import and export flows were separated. Partner data could be stabilized independently, while publishing to the online store and adjacent systems stayed under controlled export rules.
Launch state
At launch, the catalog already held 100k+ SKUs, bulk operations, clearer data exchange, and fewer reasons to ask developers for routine catalog changes.