L.H. Dottie

20M+ pricing records now update in under 10 minutes – down from weeks

L.H. Dottie is a fourth-generation, family-owned company with over 60 years in the construction products supply industry producing and distributing a wide range of products sold exclusively through their B2B distributor network, including fasteners, hardware, anchors, electrical fittings, metal stampings, and tools. In an initiative to transform the way they support their customers, the L.H. Dottie team decided it was time to upgrade their existing website to streamline the ordering process and make the day-to-day operations more efficient for both their customers and their own team from the sales staff to the warehouse pickers.

Website

lhdottie.com

Platform

Adobe Commerce

CASE STUDY

The Challenge

L.H. Dottie began rebuilding their website and migrating from Drupal Commerce to Adobe Commerce Cloud with another provider, but repeated delays and cost overruns made it clear they needed a change. A code audit by Above The Fray revealed the project was far less complete than assumed, with over a dozen critical deviations from Adobe Commerce standards, incomplete functionality, and an ERP integration with Oracle that was not built according to best practices for performance or security.

After reviewing the findings, L.H. Dottie chose ATF to take over the project. Because the build was already in progress, ATF had to evaluate what could be salvaged from the existing code while accommodating dynamic business requirements. The team discovered additional critical issues, necessitating a comprehensive overhaul of the site and a rebuilt ERP integration to handle millions of customer-specific pricing records.

The Solution

Through discovery and requirements-gathering sessions, Above The Fray’s Business Analysts and Technical Architects mapped L.H. Dottie’s complex business processes and workflows. These sessions clarified evolving requirements, aligned cross-functional teams, and prioritized the features that mattered most. What once felt like a moving target became clearly defined, analyzed, solutioned, and approved by all stakeholders.

The result was a scalable, integrated B2B ecommerce experience designed to support high-volume purchasing, real-time pricing, and sales rep workflows. The build was completed with all must-have features, a roadmap for phase two, and renewed confidence across teams.

SERVICES

• Rescue
• Audit & Roadmapping
• UX Consulting
• Development
• Maintenance & Evolution

Project Highlights

ATF’s rescue not only met the immediate needs of L.H. Dottie, but also positioned them for sustained growth and adaptability in a competitive market.

Real Time Pricing Service

Adding a solution to simplify and manage the frequent updating of 20 million+ customer-specific pricing records was a key to overcoming a limitation ecommerce platforms are unable to handle natively. The Redis solution we engineered is optimized for rapid loading and retrieval of large, simple datasets and to significantly streamline operations for the L.H. Dottie team, reducing a process that, at the time, took weeks to run to just under ten minutes.

Dynamic Catalog Generator

ATF developed a custom tool inside the Adobe Commerce admin that allows L.H. Dottie’s sales reps to dynamically generate customer-specific catalogs using real-time data. Reps can select which product categories to include, apply personalized messaging, and instantly produce a downloadable PDF with a Dottie-branded cover.

Automated Product Content Updates

ATF eliminated the need for redundant data entry by linking up previously disparate data systems so that the content on site could be updated dynamically based on the source of truth, making it much easier and hands-free to manage.

Single Sign On (SSO)

Above The Fray implemented SSO to streamline the Sales Rep experience between a variety of ecommerce, BI and Oracle sales tools that they use everyday.

Oracle Integration

Our team constructed robust APIs and webhooks in partnership with C3 Business Systems, L.H. Dottie’s Oracle ERP integrator, to connect Oracle with the Adobe Commerce platform ensuring a seamless integration and effortless connectivity.

Sales Rep Portal for B2B Order Management

Above The Fray built a streamlined, lightweight dashboard where all of L.H. Dottie’s sales representatives can view a list of their assigned customers and easily launch the order entry process.

B2B Modular Packaging Options

Using the robust native Adobe Commerce B2B features, Above The Fray incorporated standard individual packages, sleeves, and master package (pallets/crates/large boxes) increment options on relevant product detail pages.

Rapid List Ordering

ATF developed a feature for quick and efficient bulk ordering, improving the user experience for busy B2B customers placing large orders. This alternate view of the product listing page is available to logged-in users, enabling them to use the PLP as an order form.