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Company Background Vector

Company Background

A prominent Australian apparel and footwear retailer operates 101 standalone stores, 59 Myer concessions, 220 POS tills, 10 web platforms, and 12 marketplaces (e.g., eBay, Amazon, Catch). Their systems include Apparel 21 (ERP), Microlistics (WMS), and third-party APIs for shipping, fraud checks, and address validation.

challenge-vector

Challenges

Leading apparel retailer encountered several pain points in their multi-channel retail setup:

  • Data Synchronization Issues: Manual polling and disparate APIs resulted in delayed updates for products, customers, and inventory across AP21, web platforms, and marketplaces.
  • Order and Shipment Management: Handling orders from Shopify, EDI marketplaces (e.g., Myer), and POS systems involved complex workflows, with risks of fraud, address errors, and fulfillment delays.
  • Return and Refund Processes: Lacking centralized tools, returns were managed ad-hoc, leading to inconsistencies in auto-approvals versus manual reviews.
  • Scalability and Maintenance: On-premises infrastructure (e.g., HyperV, SCCM) struggled with peak loads from social media feeds, Google Analytics, and high-volume transactions.
  • Customization Needs: Brand-specific rules for product metadata, pricing, and promotions required flexible configuration without code changes.
  • Operational Overhead: Tasks like barcode printing, shipment uploads, and sync monitoring demanded dedicated staff time, diverting resources from core business activities.

These challenges highlighted the need for a middleware layer to orchestrate integrations, enforce business logic, and provide a user-friendly portal for oversight and manual interventions.

Solution: Utopia Middleware

Utopia was designed as a cloud-native middleware to bridge these gaps, leveraging a serverless backend in .NET Core C# for cost-efficiency and auto-scaling. Hosted on Azure (utilizing Service Bus for event-driven messaging, Cosmos DB for NoSQL storage, and Azure Functions for compute), Utopia ensures high availability and low latency without managing servers.

Core Components
  • Core Components:
    • AP21 Integration: Utopia polls AP21's Oracle database via Retail API endpoints for modified customers, products, and shipments. It converts data into standardized Utopia objects (e.g., Customer, Product, Order) and publishes to Azure Service Bus topics (e.g., customer-update, product-data).
    • E-Commerce and Marketplace Sync: Hooks into webhooks (e.g., Shopify's CreateCustomerWebhook, CreateOrderWebhook) and EDI interchanges (e.g., for Myer via GSX). Processes include fraud checks (Maxmind), address validation (Addressify), and fulfillment requests.
    • Warehouse and POS Links: Interfaces with Microlistics for orders/shipments and ENVIMO/AP21 POS for in-store transactions.
    • Third-Party APIs: Integrates with tools like Klaviyo for marketing, Nosto for personalization, and Commission Factory for affiliates.
    • Data Storage: Cosmos DB stores MetaProduct documents, Order documents, and Voucher details for quick retrieval and updates.
    • Event Handling: Service Bus topics (e.g., order-update, shipment-update) trigger downstream actions, such as updating Shopify or generating EDI dispatch advice.
  • Serverless Backend:
    • Built in .NET Core C# using Azure Functions for webhook processing, polling tasks, and API endpoints.
    • Task Scheduler handles periodic jobs like polling AP21 for changes.
    • Blob Storage manages EDI files for inbound/outbound interchanges.
Serverless Backend
Transforming data into strategic
  • Security and Infrastructure:
    • Azure ATP/Sentinel for threat protection.
    • Meraki Firewall and Office 365 integration for on-premises hybrid connectivity.

These features are accessible via role-based access, ensuring warehouse staff can handle shipments while admins manage syncs.

Key Features via Utopia Middleware Portal

The Utopia Portal serves as a web-based dashboard (built with .NET Core frontend), empowering administrators, warehouse staff, and support teams with self-service tools. Key features include:

  • Product Sync Monitoring and Management:
    • Check Product Sync: Real-time dashboard to view sync status between AP21 and platforms like Shopify or marketplaces. Displays discrepancies, last sync times, and error logs (e.g., failed due to invalid metadata).
    • Manual Sync: Override automated polling by triggering on-demand syncs for specific products or batches. Users can select style codes, apply custom rules (e.g., brand-specific pricing adjustments), and push updates to MetaProduct documents in Cosmos DB.
Product Sync Monitoring and Management
Transforming data into strategic
  • Order Management:
    • Order List: Comprehensive listing of orders from all channels (Shopify, EDI marketplaces, POS). Filters by status (e.g., pending, fulfilled), source, or date. Includes details like customer info, payments, and fraud scores.
    • Get Shipment and Upload Shipment: Query shipments via AP21 Retail API, view details (e.g., tracking numbers from Australia Post), and upload new shipments directly to Microlistics or EDI partners. Supports bulk uploads for efficiency.
  • Barcode Label Printing:
    • Integrated tool to generate and print barcode labels with dynamic pricing. Pulls product data from AP21, applies rules (e.g., discounts via Utopia Portal configurations), and outputs printable formats compatible with store printers. Useful for in-store restocking or warehouse labeling.
Barcode Label Printing
Return Management
  • Return Management:
    • Auto Return Option: Automated workflows for eligible returns based on predefined rules (e.g., within 30 days, unopened items). Integrates with Zendesk for ticketing and AP21 for inventory adjustments. Triggers refunds via Shopify or EDI acknowledgments.
    • Manual Return Option: Portal interface for support teams to review, approve/deny, and process returns manually. Includes options to upload photos, update reasons, and sync back to AP21 or marketplaces for stock reconciliation.
  • Additional Features:
    • Customer Tribe Management: Sync and segment customers across Lexer and Insider tools, with manual edits for tribes (e.g., loyalty tiers).
    • Voucher/Gift Card Handling: Validate, redeem, and lock vouchers between AP21 and Shopify, with portal views for balances and usage history.
    • Custom Rules Engine: Define and apply business rules (e.g., product metadata transformations) without developer intervention.
    • Analytics Integration: Dashboards pulling from Google Analytics and Cube for sync performance metrics.
    • Support Portal: Embedded Zendesk links for issue tracking, with logs from Service Bus events.
Additional Features

These features are accessible via role-based access, ensuring warehouse staff can handle shipments while admins manage syncs.

Implementation

Implementation

Utopia was rolled out in phases over six months:

  • Proof of Concept: Focused on customer and product sync between AP21 and Shopify, using Azure Functions for webhook handling.
  • Full Integration: Extended to orders, shipments, and EDI for marketplaces. Migrated polling jobs from on-premises to serverless.
  • Portal Development: Built the middleware portal with .NET Core Razor pages, integrating Cosmos DB for data persistence.
  • Testing and Go-Live: Rigorous testing with simulated high-volume transactions (e.g., 10,000 orders/day). Deployed to production, monitoring via Azure Sentinel.
  • Training: Staff trained on portal features, reducing reliance on IT support.

The serverless model minimized upfront costs, scaling automatically during peak seasons.

Results and Benefits

Post-implementation, Leading apparel retailer realized tangible gains:

  • Efficiency Gains: Sync times reduced from hours to minutes, with manual interventions dropping by 70%. Automated fraud/address checks prevented 15% of potential order errors.
  • Cost Savings: Serverless architecture cut infrastructure costs by 40% compared to on-premises. Fewer errors in returns and shipments saved on logistics.
  • Improved Customer Experience: Consistent data across channels boosted satisfaction, with faster fulfillments and accurate inventory visibility.
  • Scalability: Handled growth to 12 marketplaces and 10 web platforms without performance dips.
  • Operational Insights: Portal dashboards enabled proactive monitoring, reducing downtime by 50%.

Quantitatively, order processing throughput increased by 60%, and return resolution time halved with auto/manual options.

Results-and-Benefits
Conclusion

Conclusion

Utopia exemplifies how a .NET Core C# Serverless middleware can transform retail operations by unifying disparate systems into a cohesive ecosystem. For Leading apparel retailer, it not only resolved integration challenges but also empowered teams with intuitive tools for sync management, order handling, and returns. As retail evolves with more channels and data volumes, solutions like Utopia offer a blueprint for agility, efficiency, and customer-centric innovation. Future enhancements could include AI-driven predictive syncing and expanded marketplace support, positioning Utopia as a versatile product for similar enterprises.

Technical Architecture

Utopia's architecture is modular and event-driven, as depicted in the high-level diagram:

diagram-img

Backend Architecture Diagram

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