How Baumit launched a merchandise ordering system for 100+ employees
Softr expert Harald Palma built a custom online ordering system for the building materials manufacturer, making it easier for field teams to get the branded merchandise they need.
“Using Softr's conditional filters, I could handle most of the client’s requirements, minimizing back-and-forth adjustments and ensuring a seamless operation.”
Harald Palma is a designer and Softr expert who specializes in delivering apps for business and education clients, with an emphasis on user experience. He was hired by Baumit, a building materials manufacturer in Europe, to create a custom online merchandise ordering system for employees.
🤔 The Problem
The Baumit team approached Harald with a request to build an online shop for their employees, who needed a way to order branded merchandise and workwear for their field teams: items like socks, pens, tape measures, and more.
But it quickly became clear that the company had specific needs beyond a standard e-commerce setup. First, they required a system where only logged-in users (employees) could place orders within assigned budget limits, controlled by an administrator who could adjust these limits. Each user also needed a personalized dashboard to view their orders and track budgets.
Baumit initially experimented with a custom-coded solution, but it proved difficult to use. The company also explored existing e-commerce tools, but none could fully accommodate the team’s requirements around logged-in users and budget limits.
They also required a system that could:
- Accommodate varied packaging—some items in bulk, others individually—and perform precise calculations for each item based on size, packaging type, and total cost against the user's budget.
- Allow users to see their real-time spending while staying within their limits.
- Give users a clear order summary, formatted as a PDF with branded styling, along with fields for specific customization, like indicating print positions on merchandise.
💡 The Solution
To meet Baumit's detailed requirements, Harald developed a custom online ordering system using Softr, with Airtable as a data source. He used Softr’s List and Table blocks, plus Conditional Forms to create an an app that provided:
- A filtered shop view for each user: Only registered users could access the inventory of merchandise and place orders, each within their unique budget limit, which admins could adjust as needed.
- A shopping cart: Users could add items to their shopping cart, which included an order list and budget tracker displayed in tables. The cart would dynamically update as items were added or removed. No payment integration was needed because these were internal orders.
- An admin page: The admin interface offered a comprehensive overview with detailed user management tools, enabling admins to manage budgets, users, and monitor order flows. Conditional filters based on user email and name allowed for custom admin views for each user.
- Dynamic inventory and packaging options: The system accounted for packaging variations and dynamically calculated order details based on product size, packaging type, and budget constraints.
- Order summaries: For each order, users were emailed a PDF summary branded to the client's specifications (using an integration with DocsAutomator and Gmail), ensuring a smooth user experience and streamlined administration.
The new system was delivered by Harald within a few weeks, with the flexibility for adjustments during the initial use, and a design that aligned with Baumit’s brand identity.
“The combination of personalized budgets, user-specific dashboards, and admin controls proved challenging for traditional e-commerce solutions. The project called for a highly tailored solution to meet these requirements.”
- Harald Palma, Designer and Softr Expert
🪄 The Impact
The newly implemented system enabled more than 100 of Baumit's employees to place 2,500+ merchandise orders within five weeks of launch, with admins managing a budget exceeding €600,000.
The platform’s real-time budget tracking and user-specific features allowed employees to make informed purchases within their limits, while admins could monitor and adjust as needed, maintaining high efficiency across teams and eliminating the need for manual orders.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with Baumit’s team saying the new system is “a huge improvement over what we had before. We’re confident this will make it much more efficient for our team to order all the merchandise they need.”
