Kosmas Book Wholesale: Tailored B2B Ordering System

The Kosmas Bookstore stands as a pillar in the Czech book market. Beyond its renowned online presence, Kosmas runs a wholesale business, ensuring a steady supply of books to numerous bookstores and libraries nationwide. Seeking to streamline the book order process for its B2B partners, Kosmas collaborated with LinkSoft to create a custom B2B portal. This system swiftly emerged as a pivotal tool for the company, second only to its consumer-focused e-shop.

Client Profile: Kosmas s.r.o.

Kosmas Bookstore is a recognized name in the Czech book market. Its extensive wholesale network channels books to over 800 bookstores across the Czech Republic, ranging from expansive chains to boutique stores and specialized university libraries. Additionally, partnerships with 400+ publishers have placed Kosmas in a prime position, holding exclusive distribution for a select group.

Objective: Seamless integration of a B2B system with both the Kosmas.cz online platform and the proprietary ERP Flores.

The synergy between Kosmas and LinkSoft has deep roots. With a track record of creating a high-performing e-shop, garnering accolades and boosting profitability, the partnership has evolved, encompassing website redesigns and cloud transitions. This legacy set the stage for Kosmas' latest ask: a B2B portal development.

Karel Suchánek, a programmer at LinkSoft, notes, 

"The dynamics of a business-centric portal differ from a consumer e-shop. This system caters to the dual interfaces of publishers-Kosmas and Kosmas-booksellers. Our project approach was unique, driven by insights from Kosmas' in-house analytics guru, harnessing a bespoke database solution on MS Azure."

Key Features Envisioned:

Solution Overview: Application built on ASP.NET Core

Built on the robust Microsoft ASP.NET Core MVC framework (v2.1), the solution leveraged the Entity Framework (v2.1.3) for database connectivity. The front-end sparkles with JQuery, enriched with the functionality of LinkSoft Tables.

Karel adds, "Our vision was to offer rich product data insights. Given the diverse data sources, we amalgamated the 'Code-first' and 'Database-first' strategies. Technologies like LinkSoft Tables and Google Charts enhanced user experience, offering crisp visuals and product sales narratives."

Innovations:

• Intelligent Search: A premium full-text search interface, fortified with suggestions, matching leading online search experiences.
• Tech Integration: Harnessing Apache Lucene, integrated with the Microsoft .Net via SOLR.Net libraries, has ramped up search speed and accuracy. This mirrors the performance levels of giants like Twitter and LinkedIn, both Lucene aficionados.
• Data Dynamics: Offering Kosmas real-time insights into stock categories and sales trajectories of titles was made possible by blending LinkSoft Tables and Google Charts.

Technologies Deployed:

• Application Server: IIS, Asp.Net Core MVC, Entity Framework, LinkSoft Entity Framework Extensions
• Full Text Search: Lucene, SOLR.Net
• Database Server: MS SQL Server
• Front-end: JQuery, XHTML, AJAX, CSS2, LinkSoft Tables, Google Charts