Four Platforms. One System. Sales Up 400%.
A European distributor of used spare parts needed more than a website. They needed a system to run the entire business, from warehouse operations and retail storefronts to live auction bidding. PlushWire built it, and continues to develop it today. The operational challenges they faced are not unique to their geography. Disconnected channels, manual inventory, no unified reporting - they show up in every multi-location distribution business.
The Client
With more than 20 years in the automotive parts market, the client buys and dismantles used vehicles, supplying B2B wholesale buyers and individual retail customers across multiple storefronts. Their business runs on two tracks at once: B2B wholesale buyers purchasing vehicle kits, and individual retail customers searching for specific parts across multiple storefronts.
By the time they engaged PlushWire, the company was growing faster than its tools could handle. Inventory lived in spreadsheets. Sales channels operated in isolation. Financial reporting required manual consolidation. They needed a platform built around how the business actually worked, not a generic ERP adapted to fit.
The Problem
Before the system was built, operations looked like this.
- xFinancial reporting ran on Excel: by the time a report was ready, the numbers it described had already changed
- xInventory had no single source of truth: warehouse locations tracked stock separately, leading to purchasing errors and undetected write-offs
- xThe wholesale and retail sides of the business shared no customer or order data: every channel operated blind to the others
- xParticipating in vehicle kit auctions required constant manual attention and data re-entry after every event
- xCustomer communication, marketing, and order management were completely disconnected: no targeted campaigns, no customer history, no visibility into lifetime value
- xProcuring, disassembling, and distributing vehicles from multiple countries had no dedicated tooling: costs were tracked loosely, if at all
What We Built
A connected system built around how a spare parts distribution business actually operates.
The platform has four parts: a wholesale website for vehicle kit sales, two retail websites for individual auto parts, and a central operations portal managing inventory, staff, and fulfillment across all of them. Data entered anywhere flows to the rest of the system automatically, with no manual re-entry.
Auction bidding runs automatically
Before: auction bidding was a separate, manual process that pulled staff away from operations. After: the system handles the entire auction cycle - it connects to vehicle kit platforms, pulls incoming results, and routes confirmed purchases into procurement automatically.
- Automated integration with auction platforms, including real-time data processing and status updates
- Auction outcomes feed directly into procurement and inventory workflows
- No duplicate entry required after a purchase is confirmed
Inventory has one source of truth
Before: stock data was fragmented across locations and categories, leading to slow-moving inventory and missed write-offs. After: one portal ties together every warehouse, every SKU, and every specialist product line.
- Aggregator integrations pull real-time product availability data from third-party sources into a single record
- Dedicated catalyst management module for a specialist, high-value product category
- Full cost tracking per unit: mechanics salaries, customs duties, taxes, and shipping logged automatically
Customer operations and reporting run in one place
Before: order management, customer communication, and financial reporting each required separate manual workflows with no shared data. After: all of it runs through one system, with integrations covering every touchpoint.
- SMS and call center integration for real-time customer support across all storefronts
- A shared messaging layer keeps customers, sales teams, and warehouse staff in the same conversation without switching tools
- CRM with customer satisfaction surveys and targeted marketing campaign management
- A single accounting layer covers per-order profitability, per-customer revenue, warehouse stock value, and consolidated reporting across all channels
- Payment gateway integration and staff management system with employee motivation tools built in
The Outcome
Manual work across the entire business was replaced. The numbers followed.
Connecting the auction channel to procurement opened sourcing markets the business could not reach manually. Unified inventory across every warehouse eliminated the stock errors and write-offs that had been quietly cutting margin. Financial reporting that lagged behind decisions started running in real time. New warehouses, new product lines, and new auction markets were added as the business grew, each without a rebuild.
Ongoing partnership
Most platforms are built, delivered, and handed off. This one was not. The same team that designed the original architecture is still building on it, taking on new complexity as the business grows. Four years in, the scope keeps expanding. The relationship has not changed - one team, one system, one point of accountability.
Still managing orders, inventory, and customer data in separate systems?
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