Prima Pet Premium customer case
Customer case
Prima Pet Premium
"The connector does what it's supposed to do, which is the biggest relief for me."
ERP System: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 13 On-Premise
E-commerce Platform: Shopify
Prima Pet Premium is the market leader in the sale of pet food for dogs and cats in Finland, particularly in the categories of dry food, wet food, and dog snacks. They sell products from their brand Carnilove through 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 two systems, and his experience with Tinx and the Shopify Connector.
Challenges for Integration between Business Central & Shopify
“Actually, e-commerce is new to us. Many years ago, we did have direct consumer sales, but at that time, we didn’t have integration between the webshop and our previous ERP system. Now, we’ve also focused our business strategy on B2C sales. However, this brings a concern: How do we implement the new processes and the Shopify webshop platform into our current processes? We don’t want to disrupt our current B2B processes. We want all the data in our ERP system, Business Central. That means all activities related to sales, shipments, and so on need to happen in Business Central. And this is where the Tinx Shopify Connector comes into play. We needed something that could make the two systems work together. And that’s the Tinx Shopify Connector!”
Introduction: Prima Pet Premium & Lauri Itavuori
“My name is Lauri Itavuori, and I am the IT Manager at Prima Pet Premium. I am responsible for all things related to IT at Prima Pet Premium, as well as our sister companies in Sweden and Finland, named Vafo, and in Estonia, named Pandivere. I’ve been working here for almost 9 years and have enjoyed every moment of it.”
“We are part of the Vafo Group, which comprises multiple companies spread across Europe. Prima Pet Premium provides pet food for dogs and cats, as well as some nutritional products for birds. We source all our products from external suppliers and sister companies and sell them to our customers. We primarily operate as a B2B sales company, but now we also offer our products directly to consumers (B2C) through our Shopify webshop. Our main market is in Finland, especially with the B2C Shopify webshop. However, we also sell our products in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Some of our sales go to Scandinavian countries, and we aim to expand to several European countries.”
Pet Food Industry
“We operate in the pet food industry, and it’s growing rapidly. People love taking care of their pets! It’s one of the last things they cut back on when facing financial difficulties. Our sales saw rapid growth during the COVID period from 2020 to 2022. At that time, people were forced to stay indoors and spend time with their families, and many decided to bring a dog or cat into their lives. Pets still need to eat, even when the economy is struggling. It usually doesn’t affect us, so it’s a good sector to be in.”
First Contact between Prima Pet Premium and Tinx
“Through our ERP partner Fellowmind Finland, we found you. We use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 13 On-Premise as our ERP system and Shopify as our webshop platform. So, we contacted them, and Fellowmind Finland had several positive experiences with you in terms of integrations between Business Central and Shopify. We have full trust in Fellowmind Finland, and if they recommend a third party, it’s a logical choice for us.”
“We started the initial discussions with you and Fellowmind Finland in June 2022. During these discussions, we determined the scope of the project. After signing the documents in September, the project began. We went live on December 1st. The schedule was somewhat tight, but together we were able to meet the deadline.”
Dataflows Tinx-connector
“We started selling the Carnilove brand through the Shopify webshop. First, we transferred the products and inventory levels from BC to Shopify. From Shopify, we send the webshop orders to BC. In BC, we carry out the shipping process. Once the shipment is booked, we receive the package’s tracking number from the courier. We store the tracking number with the booked shipment in BC, and then we transfer the fulfilment information to Shopify. This way, we can see that the order has been shipped and which tracking number corresponds to that specific order. The customer receives an email with a link and the tracking code so they can track their shipment.”
Experience Tinx Shopify Connector & project
“What I appreciate most about the Tinx Shopify Connector is that it works. I don’t have to worry about it not working. It’s a stable and reliable connector, which is the most important thing for me.”
“Another crucial aspect is the communication between Tinx, Fellowmind Finland, and Prima Pet Premium. This needed to run as smoothly as possible to ensure everything within the project went according to plan and agreement. I must say that your consultant, Kasper Dissel, is very friendly and extremely helpful. He’s willing to proactively address things.”
Goals for the coming months and years
“In the remaining months of this year, our main goal is to boost the sales of the Carnilove webshop. We plan to expand within the B2C market with more brands in the coming years. We are exploring various options: do we need a webshop for each brand, or can we use one webshop for all brands together? This is quite new for us, and we are learning a lot from the experiences with the Carnilove webshop and improving based on that. It is very possible that we will need more Shopify Connectors in the future 😊!”
What do you find most impressive about our product?
“I am impressed by how stable and reliable the connector is. When we were integrating Shopify and Business Central, my biggest concern was: what if the integration stops working? Or, for example, what if the integration only imports 1 webshop order when there were actually 3 other webshop orders? But these things don’t happen. The connector does what it’s supposed to do, and that’s a huge relief for me.”
The collaboration with Tinx is incredibly easy. I receive quick and helpful answers to my questions that I can immediately use.
Lauri Itavuori, IT Manager at Prima Pet Premium
If you were to tell someone in another company about Tinx, what would you tell them?
“I would tell them that the collaboration is incredibly easy. When I have questions, I can contact your consultant Kasper directly. I don’t have to call a helpdesk and wait for a week to get a response. It’s so much simpler to have one point of contact and communicate directly. When I approach 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 about the thought: okay, I’ve been waiting for a week for a response. Will he even respond at all? Because I know he will reply and come up with something I can work with immediately. That’s what I like about working with you.”