B2B Adobe Commerce Site Sells Chemical Reference Standards Worldwide

CASE STUDY: Background and Requirements

Industry:  Manufacturer of organic, inorganic and petroleum reference standards for chemical analysis
Market:  B2B laboratories, universities, and research facilities in over 130 countries, with a distributor network in over 85 countries
Objectives:  Provide more tools that enable customers to find information quickly and place orders accurately & efficiently; use the website to continually improve operational efficiency, expand marketing, and provide custom products.
Technologies:  Adobe Commerce (Magento), FileMaker
Solutions: Multi-Region Hosting

AccuStandard is a leading manufacturer of Certified Reference Materials (CRMs), serving customers around the world. Based in New Haven, CT, their online presence began with a WordPress site providing information and documents. They later added a Magento 1 Open Source ecommerce site, linked to from the WordPress site. In 2015, AccuStandard wanted to combine the two sites into one Magento website AND add real-time integration with their highly customized FileMaker database. Working with a local company was key, and AccuStandard selected Harris Web Works (HWW) as a partner. After a few years of steady growth and growing reliance on the website for sales and other critical business functions, HWW replatformed the Magento 1 Open Source site to Magento 2 Commerce.

Phase 1: Combine Two Sites into One Magento Site with ERP Integration

The initial website development project satisfied many complex goals for the site:

• Integrate Magento eCommerce functionality with back-end order-processing systems built and customized in FileMaker
• Address various product configurations and content properties for thousands of products
• Enable customers to request custom-formulated products and to upload batch orders
• Customize user profiles for multiple buyers/departments in one business, unique shipping conditions, and purchase order use
• Handle automatically-generated emails for several website functions, going to customers and internal departments
• Include sign-in requirements for shopping, sharing saved items, and downloading documents
• Added credit card tokenization for increased data security
• Added a secure portal for distributors to access customized reports and collateral materials
• Continually update back-end functions to improve efficiency for internal departments

HWW’s project managers and programmers and AccuStandard’s internal web-focused team have continued this successful partnership by continually updating and expanding the site.

Multi-Region Global Hosting Solution  

AccuStandard.com processes purchases from around the world 24/7, with a large customer base in Asia and the South Pacific. All customers must experience the same quick speed and reliability as those in North America.

This is achieved by hosting a copy of the store in South Korea that functions as one presence with the database and website hosted in Northern Virginia. This clustered database and replicated website solution means there’s one database and one administrative interface to maintain, saving on overhead and avoiding potential for duplication of user account information. As a bonus, each site serves as a live backup in the event of an outage. This solution was implemented by HWW’s AWS Certified Solutions Architect and programming team using Amazon Web Services tools. In particular, the improvement for customers in China is substantial:

See PDF of Case Study – AccuStandard Upgrades from Magento 1 Open Source to Magento 2 Commerce – Includes ERP Integration and Customer Portal