Prima Pet Premium customer case
“The connector does what it is supposed to do, and that’s the most significant relief for me.”
— Lauri Itavuori, IT Manager at Prima Pet Premium
ERP system: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 13 On-Premise
E-commerce platform: Shopify
Prima Pet Premium is the market leader in selling pet food for dogs and cats in Finland! Especially in the categories of dry food, wet food, and dog treats. They sell the products of their brand Carnilove via their Shopify webshop, which is integrated into their Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) 13 On-Premise ERP system thanks to the Tinx Shopify Connector. In this interview, we ask Lauri Itavuori, IT Manager at Prima Pet Premium, to tell us more about Prima Pet Premium, the integration between the 2 systems and his experience with Tinx and the Shopify Connector.
Challenges before integrating with Business Central and Shopify
“Basically, e-commerce is new for us. We did some direct-to-consumer business many years ago, but at that time, we didn’t have any integration between the webshop and our former ERP system. Now we have changed our business strategy also towards B2C business. So, this raised a concern: How do we implement the new Shopify webshop processes and platform to our current processes? Because we didn’t want to interrupt our current B2B process. We want all the data in our ERP Business Central system. So that means that all of the activities regarding sales, shipments and so on have to be in Business Central. And this is where the integration between Shopify and Business Central came into play. We needed something in between so that the 2 systems could work together. That is the Tinx Shopify Connector!”
Can you introduce yourself and describe Prima Pet Premium as a company?
“My name is Lauri Itavuori, and I am the IT Manager at Prima Pet Premium. I am responsible for basically everything that’s IT related at Prima Pet Premium, and also our sister companies in Sweden and Finland called Vafo and in Estonia called Pandivere. For almost 9 years, I have worked here with much pleasure.”
“We are a member of the Vafo group with multiple companies established all over Europe. Prima Pet Premium supplies pet food for dogs and cats and some food products for birds. We purchase all the products from our external vendors and sister companies and sell them to our customers. We are more of a B2B sales company, but now we also offer our products to consumers (B2C) directly with our Shopify webshop. Our primary market is in Finland, especially with the B2C Shopify webshop. But we also sell our products in the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). Some of the sales are also going to the Nordic countries. We are looking to expand to cover multiple European countries though”.
Industry of Prima Pet Premium
“We are active in the industry of pet foods, and it is rapidly growing. People like to care for their pets! It is one of the last things they will cut on if they struggle financially. Our sales quickly grow during the covid period from 2020 to 2022. Back then, people were forced to stay inside and only go out with their families and were seeking a little joy in their lives, so they bought a dog or a cat. Pets still have to eat, even when the economy is down. It usually doesn’t affect us, so, for us, it is a good sector to be in.”
How did Prima Pet Premium first come into contact with Tinx?
“We found you via our ERP partner Fellowmind Finland. We use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 13 On-Premise as our ERP system and Shopify as our webshop platform. So, we reached out to them, and Fellowmind Finland had multiple positive experiences with you regarding Business Central and Shopify integrations. We totally trust Fellowmind Finland, and when they complement a 3rd party, it’s a no-brainer for us.”
“We started the first conversations with you and Fellowmind Finland in June 2022. During these conversations, we’ve established the scope of the project. After the paperwork was signed in September, the project began. We went live on the 1st of December. So, the schedule was a bit tight, but together we were able to go live within our deadline.”
Which kind of dataflows of the Tinx connector do you use?
“We started selling the brand Carnilove through the Shopify webshop. First, we transferred the products and stock levels from BC to Shopify. From Shopify, we bring the webshop orders into BC. In BC, we do the shipment process. Once the shipment has been posted, we get the parcel tracking number from the courier. We save the parcel tracking number to the posted shipment in BC, and then we transfer the fulfilment information to Shopify. So, we see that the order has been sent out and which tracking number belongs to that specific order. The customer receives an e-mail with a link and the tracking code so they can track their shipment.”
Experience with the Tinx Shopify Connector and the project in general
“What I like the most about the Tinx Shopify Connector is that it works. I don’t have to worry that it doesn’t work. It is a steady connector that is reliable. That’s the most important thing for me.”
“What’s also very important is the communication between Tinx, Fellowmind Finland and Prima Pet Premium. This needed to be as fluent as possible so that everything within the project goes as planned and as agreed upon. I must say your consultant Kasper Dissel is a nice guy and very helpful. He is willing to do things proactively.”
What is your main goal for this year and the coming years?
“In the remaining months of this year, our primary goal is to boost the sales of the Carnilove webshop. We plan to grow within the B2C market in the upcoming years with more brands. We are looking at different options: Do we need a webshop per brand, or can we use 1 webshop for all the brands combined? This is quite a new thing for us, and we are learning a lot from the experiences of the Carnilove webshop, and then we improve from that. It could very well be that we need more Shopify Connectors in the future 😊!”
What do you find most impressive about our product?
“I am impressed with how steady and reliable the connector is. When we started integrating Shopify and Business Central, my biggest concern was, what if the integration stopped working? Or, as an example: for some reason, the integration only imports 1 webshop order, but there were 3 more webshop orders. But these things don’t happen. The connector does what it is supposed to do, and that’s the most significant relief for me.”
“The collaboration with Tinx is extremely easy. I receive prompt and helpful responses to my questions, which I can use directly.”
If you had to tell someone in another company about Tinx, what would you tell them?
“I would tell them that the collaboration is extremely easy. If I have questions, I can contact your consultant Kasper directly. I don’t have to call a service desk and wait a week to get back to me. It is so much easier to have 1 point of contact and communicate directly. When I contact him, things happen. I don’t get stuck, and if needed, he can discuss it internally with your development department. I don’t have to worry like, ok, I have been waiting for a week already for a reply. Should he reply to me at all? Because I know that he will answer and respond with something I can work with. So that’s what I like working with you.”
Solution provided
Tinx E-commerce Shopify Connector
