Century-Old Manufacturer Launches Digital Commerce with OroCommerce

Aldes supplies ventilation systems and thermal comfort equipment to builders, facility managers, and tradespeople across France. The company launched a B2B portal on OroCommerce to automate pricing, reduce administrative workload, and offer customers around-the-clock ordering.

Live Website

Customer Success by the Numbers

20%

over target in year one

1,000+

customers using the platform

SAP

ERP Integration

The Challenge

Aldes celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2025. The company supplies ventilation systems, thermal comfort solutions, and fire protection equipment to builders, facility managers, and tradespeople across France and international markets.

While competitors offered digital portals, Aldes was still processing orders manually.

The company faced two main pressures:

Market expectation: Competitors offered 24/7 ordering; Aldes didn’t
Service gaps: No self-service access to pricing, order history, or account information

Leadership decided to modernize. The goal was to launch a professional commerce platform that could reduce internal workload, improve customer experience, and position Aldes competitively for the next decade.

Perrine Deudon

Digital Communication & E-commerce Project Manager

The platform unlocked a service layer we couldn't offer before – 24/7 ordering, instant pricing visibility, self-service account management. Our customers expected it. We can finally deliver it.

The Solution

Aldes evaluated platforms based on technical requirements, not just storefront capabilities.

The company selected OroCommerce after confirming it could handle complex B2B logic: customer-specific pricing, differentiated access controls, and the data synchronization required to keep orders, inventory, and product information accurate.

Implementation partner DATASOLUTION helped configure the platform to manage thousands of price list variations while maintaining tight integration with SAP ERP and Nextpage PIM.

Aldes opened the portal to some tradespeople and contractors, the segment pushing hardest for digital self-service.

This group now logs into the portal, sees their negotiated pricing, checks real-time inventory, and places orders at any hour. The platform validates orders against contract terms and sends them directly to SAP for fulfillment.

The portal handles:

Automated application of customer-specific price lists
Real-time inventory visibility synced from SAP
Order entry
Self-service access to order history and account information
24/7 availability

Results

Aldes launched the portal in 2025 and closed out its first year with online revenue exceeding its initial target by 20%. The company now has 1,000 active customers on the platform and is working toward a goal of 3,000. The 10-year revenue target is €10M.

The strategy is deliberate: launch where the business case is clearest, prove the foundation, then expand. Tradespeople get immediate digital access. The sales team shifts time from manual order entry to higher-value work. And Aldes has a platform that can grow with the business as adoption scales.

Century-Old Manufacturer Launches Digital Commerce with OroCommerce