Real-time branch stock on the product page at Vihamij

At Vihamij, we recently put a new branch stock functionality live on the product page. This project nicely demonstrates how an ERP integration, Magento-extension and customisation come together to create a truly omnichannel experience, something that directly benefits B2B customers such as installers.

Our approach

In Business Central, a large number of stock movements take place every minute. This may be due to offline sales in one of the 37 branches, webshop orders or manually entered orders. Each branch has its own stock, which we track in a separate table.

Instead of continuously retrieving all stock data, which is heavy for Business Central, we opted for a smart solution with webhooks. This allows Business Central to forward any stock change directly and lightly to Magento. In Magento, we created a stock attribute for each branch, which is then linked to the Amasty Store Locator with Pickup extension. This allows customers to see exactly where the item is in stock on the product page, including a map to the branch and current opening hours.

What this means for the customer

Installers can now see at a glance where they can pick up a product and until what time a branch is open. This saves time and makes the ordering process much easier.

Future plans

Vihamij plans to expand this functionality further, for instance to include online branch reservations. UX optimisations are also still possible, but the basis for a scalable omnichannel solution is in place.

Why this is interesting for B2B websites

Many B2B websites struggle with real-time display of stock at branches or suppliers. This project shows that it is technically quite feasible, and performance-wise efficient too thanks to webhooks. Webhooks also offer opportunities for other processes, such as real-time order statuses or track & trace updates.