Hermann Meyer KG is a traditional family business in the green sector with over 200 years of history. The range includes products for professionals in tree nurseries, gardening and landscaping, forestry and municipal operations as well as for hobby gardeners and end consumers. With around 150 employees at six locations in Germany and four subsidiaries abroad, Meyer is one of the leading wholesalers in the horticultural sector and successfully combines B2B and B2C business.
Hermann Meyer KG can look back on over 25 years of experience in online retail. The previous e-commerce platform based on OroCommerce 3 was outdated, was increasingly reaching its limits and could no longer be developed sustainably.
In particular, it lacked up-to-dateness, flexibility and expandability. It was also not possible to adequately map the complex price structures of the wholesale trade online.
At the same time, the challenge arose of better combining the different needs of B2B and B2C customers: In future, both target groups were to be reached via a central platform, albeit with a specific approach, individual prices and customised functions.
Against this background, the following project goals were defined:
Upgrade to OroCommerce 5: Utilisation of modern B2B functions and ensuring a future-proof shop platform. Standardised solution for B2B and B2C: A multi-site architecture within one platform so that business customers and end consumers are served via separate front ends, but a central system runs in the background.- Optimisation of the ordering processes: In particular, the ordering convenience for customers should be significantly increased - orders should be able to be entered quickly, in a time-saving manner and without hurdles.
- Industry-specific enhancements: Development of new functions that were not available in the old shop in order to make online sales more efficient and increase customer benefits.
- Create creative freedom for marketing and promotions: The system should support the marketing team in being able to manage the presentation in the shop, promotions and sales-promoting measures in a target group-specific and proactive manner.
The project started with Hermann Meyer KG's decision to bring Netresearch on board as a new implementation partner. The objectives and project requirements were concretised and prioritised in intensive workshops.
It quickly became apparent that the requirements were extremely extensive and in some cases complex - over the course of the project, the project team processed a total of around 1,900 tickets with individual tasks. Together, solutions were often found to keep the complexity of the project manageable and to make the overall system sustainable, customisable and maintainable in the future.
In January 2025, the time had finally come: Hermann Meyer KG went live with the new shop(www.meyer-shop.com and b2b.meyer-shop.com). Thanks to careful preparation, the switchover from the old to the new system was completed quickly within one working day and without any significant interruptions to the online service.
The shop has been divided into two website areas - B2B portal and B2C portal - which the user can switch between using the website switch. Visitors who are not logged in can switch between the business customer shop and the end customer shop with a simple switch. When logging in, customers are automatically directed to the area intended for them.
Meyer now offers target group-specific content and features: business customers, for example, can see additional functions that are not available to private customers.
Challenge: As a wholesaler, Hermann Meyer KG operates several warehouses and branches. Customers (especially B2B customers) want to know where a product is in stock and how quickly they can receive it.
Solution: OroCommerce was expanded to enable multi-warehouse management with an availability check.
Every registered business customer is assigned to a favourite shop and can see the stock of this shop as well as central online stock. A traffic light display immediately shows whether an item is available in the selected shop (green/yellow/red).
Important: Online dispatch always takes place as long as a product is in stock in any store. This maximises sales opportunities. This multi-warehouse solution also required adjustments to order processing, e.g. automatic allocation of the nearest warehouse for delivery.
All generated invoices and credit notes are available for the customer to download. There is also a self-service registration process for new customers. Business customers who register online can now be automatically assigned to their existing company account instead of being created twice.
All of this reduces the manual effort for Meyer and provides customers with 24/7 access to important information.
For such articles, customers must have stored a suitable certificate, e.g. a crop protection certificate. The system allows certificates to be stored for each customer account. If a product is marked as requiring proof, the shop automatically checks during the ordering process whether the customer has a certificate - only then can the purchase be finalised.
This feature ensures that Hermann Meyer KG automatically fulfils legal requirements and that only authorised customers have access to certain products.
The list of new functions is long. An extract of further highlights:
- Brand world: Manufacturer pages where customers can find products from one brand bundled together
- Combination of shopping basket and multidimensional wish lists
- Stock availability checks across several store warehouses
- Time and target group-specific content display
- Localisation in 5 languages
- A complex set of payment rules: e.g. which payment methods are offered to which customer type
Products subject to certification (sale only with proof)
Together, these features ensure that the online shop is state-of-the-art and precisely tailored to the needs of Hermann Meyer KG and its customers.
The project goals were successfully realised with the go-live of the new Meyer KG shop at the beginning of 2025. The company's management and sales now benefit from a modern e-commerce system that improves internal processes and the customer experience in equal measure:
Improved customer satisfaction
After a challenging go-live phase in which numerous special cases of daily business were mapped in the e-commerce process, business customers now enjoy a much more convenient ordering process. They can order using a quick search or directly via order lists, see their individual prices and stock levels in real time and receive all the information they need online. Initial key figures show a high level of customer acceptance. The ordering speed has also been increased - a decisive competitive advantage, particularly in the B2B sector.
Addressing target groups
By integrating the B2C shop, Meyer has now created a direct line to end consumers without having to manage a separate infrastructure. This means that the two target groups "professionals" and "end consumers" can be addressed separately with different offers and content can be tailored to the respective target group.
Future viability and scalability
The selected OroCommerce platform in its current version now offers Hermann Meyer KG a stable basis for future expansions. The modular architecture makes it possible to implement additional features or integrations (e.g. connection of additional services, AI-supported tools) without jeopardising the core. The company is therefore very well positioned technologically for the coming years.
With the successful go-live, Hermann Meyer KG has done more than just update its shop system - it has laid the foundation for its digital future. The new online shop combines modern technology with clear process logic and a convincing user experience. It stands for efficiency, customer proximity and the courage to rethink the tried and tested. Hermann Meyer KG thus demonstrates how a traditional family business can successfully implement digital change - with foresight, technical excellence and a clear focus on the needs of its customers.
