A Scalable TYPO3 Product Platform for Complex B2B Sales

Woelm GmbH is a medium-sized, family-owned company headquartered in Heiligenhaus, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The company sets standards in the fields of fitting technology and conveyor technology, combining decades of tradition with a strong focus on innovation and quality. Grown from two established businesses — HELM and KWS — Woelm employs around 280 people. With a broad product portfolio of sliding door systems, running gear, and related hardware, the company primarily serves B2B customers including specialist retailers, carpenters, and architects — an experienced audience with high expectations around product depth and configuration options.

Woelm’s digital platform was dated and had outgrown its ability to represent the range of their product portfolio. The Woelm website serves as their digital sales tool, offering prospects both a structured overview of the product range and configuration capabilities. Their products span more than 1,000 offerings with up to 10,000 configuration options. To accommodate this breadth, they needed a scalable CMS capable of custom-built solutions that could map their entire product range digitally, for the first time. The website also needed to support the sales process, as it serves as the primary digital entry point for retailers, carpenters, and architects searching for the right hardware solution.

Woelm partnered with Friendventure as a TYPO3 agency, due to their proven track record with complex B2B projects for industrial companies. Woelm needed a partner who possessed a deep understanding of web technology and the specific logic of their products and sales processes.

The site needed a filterable product catalog covering their 1,000 product offerings and vast configuration options. The solution needed to scale with Woelm and support future growth without compromising performance. TYPO3 was the CMS of choice due to the project's demands beyond a standard CMS. The complexity of configuration options and volume of products offered demanded a system that could be extended with custom functionality.

TYPO3’s extension framework was primed for Friendventure to develop a fully customized product catalog extension that handles filtering and product configuration. Additionally, the open-source, license-cost free foundation ensured long-term maintainability and technical independence, accompanied by a large developer community with proven enterprise-grade functionalities.

Internally, the desire was an uncomplicated CMS that was easy to manage, independently without external support.

TYPO3 was implemented as the technical solution following Friendventure’s recommendation.

A comprehensive design was developed to improve the user experience, maintaining its complexity but offering an intuitive interface. The design included custom 3D visuals, showcasing the hardware in realistic usage contexts, reflecting the premium quality of Woelm products. Alongside this design, a product configurator was implemented, allowing users to select variants, profile sizes, and further options. From there, a user can create a wishlist from their saved selections for direct follow-up with the sales team. This powerful pre-sales tool bridges product discovery and human consultation. 

A highlight of this project was the development of the product database. This was developed in close collaboration with the Woelm team to feature their 1,000 products and approx. 25,000 configuration options in a structured offering. A custom TYPO3 extension was developed which enabled the complete digitization of Woelm’s entire product range. The extension is bespoke, mapped out precisely to Woelm’s specifications, product logic, configuration options, and product numbering systems.

To accommodate the internal needs for Woelm’s staff, the backend was optimized and structured to promote editor autonomy via managing content, adding product variants, and updating filters and configurations.

Another unique component of this project was the custom 3D visuals created by Friendventure. These visuals were developed specifically to provide real-world usage contexts for Woelm’s hardware products. These 3D components visually communicate the premium quality of the range. They demonstrate Friendventure’s holistic approach to projects, consistently integrating design-forward thinking and technical execution, rather than treating them as separate workspaces.

The new TYPO3 website has provided Woelm with a reflective, high-quality digital sales tool. This new platform supports the sales process, encouraging visitors to explore, configure and shortlist products prior to engaging with the dedicated sales team.

The product catalog is now available in a digital offering, fully filterable and configurable directly in the browser. Thanks to the custom TYPO3 extension by Friendventure, the products, variants, filers, and configurations can be maintained and expanded independently by the internal team at Woelm.

The platform, powered by TYPO3, provides a secure, future-proof technical foundation that enables future digital expansion and growth of the already expansive product portfolio. It continues to scale without hitting technical limits, even after going live nearly seven years ago.

The project was completed but further development stages are possible.