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Pixafy and MNI Direct: Cultivating an Effective eCommerce Footprint

Pixafy's sister organization, Net at Work, hosted an on-demand webinar called "What to Expect When Considering Ecommerce," during which internal experts doled out guidance on developing strong online sales infrastructure. Representatives from MNI Direct attended this virtual gathering and found the content covered in the session impressive. Shortly after, they reached out to Pixafy with the intention of discussing a potential Magento-based website rebuild. During the resulting meeting, MNI Direct sales stakeholders explained that the business needed a more robust B2B portal that not only facilitated an engaging customer experience but also integrated directly with its existing CounterPoint enterprise resource planning platform.

Streamlining an idiosyncratic sales workflow

MNI Direct maintained unique sales processes centered on supporting complete customer satisfaction. Instead of facilitating run-of-the-mill, speed-focused purchasing workflows, the firm maintained hands-on alternatives meant to ensure every landscaper obtained the right products. Sales staff would reach out to customers following order submission and work with them to right-size and tailor their requests to meet the needs of the job at hand. This approach set MNI Direct apart from competitors in the marketplace but complicated site development. With this and the requested CounterPoint integration on the docket, the Pixafy development team went to work.

Our developers pinpointed a viable Magento theme and performed numerous front-end customizations to bring it in line with the MNI Direct brand identity. This design work included the creation of branded page templates, newsletter sign-up modules and a careers page. To address the company's distinct customer service methodology, we rolled out a gated B2B purchasing portal where verified customers could view the MNI Direct product catalog, interact with sales staff and begin the quote-to-order process. Our team also developed an automated user registration processes to streamline this functionality.

The members of the Pixafy development team tasked with facilitating the CounterPoint integration identified a third-party module from Modern Retail that would work, with some modifications. They then began collaborating with developers from Modern Retail, a partnership that ultimately produced a custom CounterPoint integration tool centered on configurable API calls for:

• Customers
• Quotes and orders
• Customer-based pricing
• Account and payment history
• Open orders and quotes
• Order history

We wrapped up the project by crafting and implementing a plant calculator and other key customer resources.