The Project

Guitar Brothers

Supplier Network Portal & Intelligent Inventory Management

Engineered a comprehensive dropship network solution featuring automated supplier coordination, real-time inventory synchronization, intelligent stock switching logic, and CSV-based supplier management. Enabled Guitar Brothers to scale catalog without physical inventory risk while maintaining supplier relationships and fulfillment reliability.

The Problem

The Challenges

01

Supplier Stock Updated by Hand

Availability across the supplier network was reconciled manually — spot-checking with suppliers, then editing products one at a time. Stock was out of date the moment it was entered, and there was no record of what had changed or why.

02

Catalogue Capped by Physical Stock

The range a customer could buy was limited to what was physically held. Products the supplier had ready to ship still showed as out of stock, so demand was turned away for items that were available the whole time.

03

Homepage Did Little Merchandising

The homepage gave customers very little to act on — no clear route into the main ranges, no sense of which brands were carried, and nothing about the store itself. Discovery relied on already knowing what to search for.

The Solution

Solutions Delivered

Supplier Stock Dashboard

What we built:

  • Custom panel for uploading supplier stock files, rather than editing products one at a time
  • Supplier CSV parsed, validated and matched to existing products on supplier SKU
  • Row-level errors reported instead of failing the whole upload
  • Availability held per supplier, per product
  • Upload history kept so a bad file can be traced and rolled back

Technical approach:

  • CSV parsing engine with validation and error handling
  • Supplier stock stored alongside Shopify inventory rather than overwriting it
  • Product matching on supplier SKU
  • Audit log of every inventory change

Result:

  • Supplier stock maintained in one upload instead of product by product
  • Bad rows surfaced rather than silently skipped
  • A change is traceable back to the file that caused it

Available From Supplier

Guitar Brothers product page with add to cart enabled and a green Ships from supplier badge beneath it
Stocked by the supplier rather than the store: add to cart stays live, with a “Ships from supplier” badge setting the expectation.

What we built:

  • Add to cart stays enabled when a product is out of stock locally but available from the supplier
  • A “Ships from supplier” badge on the product page, so the customer knows before ordering
  • Availability read from the uploaded supplier stock, not Shopify inventory alone

Technical approach:

  • Supplier availability checked at add-to-cart
  • Shopify inventory left as the source of truth for what is on hand
  • Supplier stock resolved per product from the latest upload

Result:

  • Out of stock locally no longer means unsellable
  • The range sells beyond what is physically held
  • Customers see the fulfilment route up front

Homepage Rebuilt to Merchandise the Range

Guitar Brothers homepage: full category navigation, service bar, hero slideshow and the acoustic and electric guitar category banners below it
The rebuilt homepage: hero slideshow above category banners that open each range, so there is something to act on before any searching.

What we built:

  • Category banner section leading straight into the main ranges
  • Top brands grid, each tile carrying the brand and its own product imagery
  • Blog posts surfaced on the homepage
  • About us section
  • Email signup banner
  • A “visit us” section for the physical store

Technical approach:

  • Each block built as its own homepage section rather than one fixed template
  • Brand tiles link through to that brand’s collection

Result:

  • The range and the brands carried are visible from the homepage
  • Content, store details and email signup all reachable from the first screen
  • Discovery no longer depends on searching for a known product

Ready To Build Your Custom Solution?

Every business has unique challenges. Let’s discuss how we can build a custom solution for your specific needs.

Contact Our Dev Team

Let Our Team Of Ecommerce Specialists Help You Achieve Elite Digital Experiences & Growth

Contact Us