Strategic e-commerce consulting for a publishing industry leader
From fragmented digital initiatives to a clickable backoffice mockup and an e-commerce strategy ready to present to the board.
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About the company
The largest and oldest educational publisher in Poland, operating in the market for more than 75 years. The company handles the production and distribution of textbooks, teaching materials, and digital resources for millions of students and teachers across the country. It operates on a multichannel model — serving both B2B partners (wholesalers, bookstores, schools) and B2C end customers.
The challenge
The company was looking for a partner to help consolidate its existing fragmented digital initiatives into a single, coherent e-commerce strategy and give the board a foundation for its next round of investment decisions. The key questions that needed answering:
What is the organization's actual digital maturity, and where are the biggest gaps?
How should an architecture be designed to support both B2B and B2C channels at once?
What would a streamlined customer service process look like in practice within the backoffice panel?
Which areas should be prioritized for investment first?
Our approach
Instead of another strategy document full of diagrams, we proposed something more tangible — alongside the classic document, we built a clickable mockup of the backoffice panel. Starting from the brief we'd gathered, we expanded the scope of analysis threefold, building out elements around it that the client hadn't initially defined but that turned out to be essential to the full picture of the process — among them, returns handling, carrier integration, and customer categorization.
The clickable prototype came together in three days — thanks to combining our prototyping methodology with AI. It showed the full operational flow: the ordering process, the e-BOK (self-service customer portal) path, complaint and return submission, customer management, and integration points with external systems. This let stakeholders not just read about the target process, but literally click through what it would look like.
Honne is a framework built on 15 years of experience in mid-market and enterprise commerce in Europe and globally.
Efekty
Clickable backoffice mockup as a shared language
The prototype became the reference point for the client's entire project team. Instead of an abstract discussion about architecture, stakeholders from different departments — sales, customer service, IT — could click through the process themselves and flag specific spots that needed refinement. The mockup proved especially powerful in showing that what existed in the client's mind as three separate systems could actually be tied together into one coherent ecosystem.
Coherent vision ready for board presentation
For the first time, the organization had a complete, coherent vision for its e-commerce development — one that tied the business perspective together with the technological one. Technology recommendations, the target architecture, and a proposed phased breakdown of work were all delivered in a form ready for board-level discussion.
Real scope analysis, not a quick off-the-shelf fix
During the workshops, we expanded the scope of analysis to three times the width of the original brief, identifying areas that weren't obvious at the outset: carrier integrations, returns handling compliant with EU directive requirements, customer categorization mechanisms (silver/premium/gold), and a shared CRM with an order panel feature for institutional clients. The client got a fuller picture of the project before ever making the investment decision.
Real room for a phasing decision
We proposed breaking the project into phases, where Phase 0 — discovery, system architecture, and final wireframes — stands as a self-contained building block that can be completed in 2–3 months. This lets the client lock down the scope before committing to a full implementation budget and, once the scope is clear, move to a fix-price model. This approach deliberately protects both sides from mid-project renegotiations.
Why it worked
The project showcased three elements of our approach to strategic consulting that, together, made the difference:
01
A prototype instead of a raw document. The clickable mockup communicated more in a few minutes than dozens of pages of specs ever could. Stakeholders from different departments could step into the process and point out gaps in their own words. Of course, a classic, detailed analysis running dozens of pages was also a deliverable of the audit.
02
Expanding the scope of analysis instead of sticking literally to the brief. The client got a fuller picture of the project, including areas they hadn't originally defined but that had a real impact on implementation cost and risk.
03
An honest conversation about budget and risk. We proposed a phased approach that lets the client lock down scope before committing to a fix-price model, instead of underquoting up front and renegotiating mid-project.
Skills applied on this project
Behind the simplicity of the interface lies a headless architecture that made it possible to separate the visual layer from business logic:
Strategic E-Commerce Consulting
Technology and Process Audit
Clickable Backoffice UX Prototype. Rapid Prototyping with AI
Architecture Recommendations: B2B + B2C, Headless
System Integration Mapping
Etapowanie i estymacja projektów wdrożeniowych
Our experts
Technologies we use
Our specialists use proven software development tools to make sure your product works as it should and meets user requirements.
We tailor technologies individually to each project to ensure optimal performance in terms of performance, security, as well as SEO and UX.
Working on the tools found at the client's site, we take care of updating them, improving performance and optimizing the code.
We are constantly evolving to provide our clients with world-class quality projects.
Summary
The project for this publishing industry leader shows that strategic consulting delivers the most value when it doesn't stop at a document — but drills down to concrete solutions that stakeholders can see, click through, and discuss. Combining strategic analysis with a clickable backoffice mockup gave the client not just direction, but confidence that the proposed changes could actually be implemented operationally.
Our clients
Why Beecommerce?
Business-IT Synergy
We act as a strategic bridge. We connect the world of KPIs with engineering discipline. The Business Lead + Tech Lead tandem ensures technology delivers on business and strategic goals.
Enterprise-Grade
We build scalable Headless ecosystems resilient to sales spikes. We provide full synergy with ERP, PIM, and CRM, permanently eliminating the barrier of technical debt.
Continuity & Security
We understand the cost of a minute of Enterprise downtime. We deliver Fail-Safe systems with hard SLAs. We ensure Compliance and stability of transactional processes.
Beecommerce Hypercare
We design systems that report margin, retention, and real profit — not just site traffic. We deliver actionable data, turning technology into a predictable growth engine.
