An online shop is only as good as the product data flowing in behind the scenes. When a building materials brand shop was connected to the central ERP system, practice showed how quickly seemingly minor discrepancies in the product import can turn into real problems in the shop.
The starting point: two systems, one product master
The existing online shop of a subsidiary brand was to be switched over to the product data from the central ERP system – without customers noticing anything during day-to-day operation. The challenge: categories, product counts and assignments had to match exactly, otherwise visible gaps or duplicate entries appear in the shop.
The real debugging example: 66 instead of 64 products
After a product import, the shop displayed 64 instead of the expected 66 products in one category, and 16 instead of 23 in another. The investigation showed that both the database AND the shop system correctly contained 66 products – the actual problem was not in the data synchronisation itself, but in the category and filter display in the frontend. An import without an error message therefore does not automatically mean that everything is displayed correctly in the frontend – a point that many migration projects underestimate.
What a stable product catalogue sync must deliver
- Unambiguous assignment of products to categories that matches the frontend filter
- Traceable import logs that also reveal “silent” discrepancies between the expected and actual number of products
- A test procedure that compares the visible number of products per category with the database after every import
What we take from this for similar migration projects
In every ERP-to-online-shop migration, a simple but often forgotten test is worthwhile: does the number of products visible in the frontend per category match the database exactly? In the case described, this one check would have significantly shortened the time spent investigating.
Frequently asked questions
How often do such discrepancies occur in product imports?
More often than you might think – usually not because of faulty data, but because of display or filter logic in the shop frontend.
Is an error-free import run sufficient proof of quality?
No – an import without an error message says nothing about whether the frontend display is correct. A separate comparison is necessary.
Are you planning to connect an online shop to an existing ERP system? We will be happy to support you with stable, traceable product data synchronisation.
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