The Challenge

A German dropshipping business was struggling with manual order forwarding to suppliers. Every order required staff to manually extract order details and send them to the supplier, creating severe bottlenecks that limited their growth potential.

Critical Pain Points

  • Staff manually copying order data between systems
  • Frequent data entry errors causing shipping mistakes
  • Orders taking hours to process instead of minutes
  • Unable to scale operations without hiring more staff
  • Customer dissatisfaction due to delayed shipments

The client needed a zero-touch solution that would automatically forward orders to their dropshipping supplier immediately after purchase, eliminating manual data entry and human error while dramatically speeding up order fulfillment.

The Solution

I architected a comprehensive automation system that creates an end-to-end fulfillment pipeline from order placement to supplier notification, with zero manual intervention required for the dropshipping workflow.

Technical Implementation

Multi-Supplier Routing Logic

Built intelligent supplier selection system that checks real-time stock levels across multiple dropshipping suppliers and automatically routes each order to the supplier with available inventory, preventing stockouts and failed orders.

Custom Supplier Portal

Developed a custom supplier portal for inventory management with bulk CSV import functionality, allowing suppliers to update stock levels and product information without technical knowledge.

Event-Driven Order Processing

Built event listeners in Shopware that trigger instantly when orders are placed, capturing order data and sending automated email notifications to suppliers with formatted order details.

Error Handling & Monitoring

Created comprehensive error handling with real-time alerts, detailed logging, and a dashboard for monitoring order flow and catching issues before they impact customers.

Results & Business Impact

Completely Eliminated Manual Order Handling

Staff previously spent 3-4 hours daily transferring orders between systems. Now 100% automated from checkout to supplier fulfillment, saving 4 hours per team member daily.

Order Accuracy Jumped to 99.8%

Manual errors previously affected 12% of orders (wrong SKUs, incorrect quantities). Automated validation brought accuracy to 99.8%, virtually eliminating costly fulfillment mistakes.

Scaled Order Processing 2.5x Without Adding Staff

System capacity increased 2.5x without adding operations staff. Business achieved 1M+ in sales (up from 520k) in the year following automation, maintaining the same lean team while handling dramatically higher order volume.

Shipping Speed Improved 75% to 12 Hours

Fulfillment timeframe dropped from 48 hours to just 12 hours, with customers receiving real-time tracking. Shipping performance satisfaction reached 92%.

Technologies Used

Shopware 6 PHP 8 Symfony REST API Event System MySQL Dropshipping

Project Details

Industry
E-commerce / Retail
Location
Germany
Project Type
Automation & Integration
Duration
6 months

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