Inventory Intelligence Platform and Custom Shopify Store for Sakura Distributors
Sakura Distributors - Electrical Supply Distributor, BC
The Problem
Sakura Distributors, a BC electrical-supply distributor operating six branches, was held back on two fronts at once. On the purchasing side, the team ran reorder decisions off a single daily spreadsheet export of roughly 30,000 rows, eyeballing it by hand every morning to figure out what to reorder, what was about to stock out, and what was sitting dead across all six locations, with no history, no ranking, and no easy way to see the picture across branches. On the sales side, Sakura carried a large catalog of electrical products but had no proper way to sell it online: customers could not browse products, check specifications, or place orders, so every inquiry ran through phone calls and manual back-and-forth. Together, gut-feel purchasing and a missing storefront meant stockouts on fast movers, cash tied up in overstock and deadstock, and buyers going to competitors that were easier to shop.
Our Solution
Automated Daily Data Ingestion
We built Sakura a custom web application that takes their daily Excel export, around 30,000 rows, in a single upload each morning. The app parses and validates the file, maps it to their branch structure, and replaces the prior day's snapshot, so nobody has to clean or reformat the sheet by hand.
Four Automated Stock Signals
A signal engine sorts every item into one of four states: reorder, stockout, overstock, or deadstock. Staff open a dashboard that shows what needs attention at each of the six branches. The same signal logic ranks items, so buyers see their most urgent items and biggest problem SKUs first.
AI-Powered Insights and Reports
The AI in the platform writes plain-language briefings on what changed and what to act on, and drafts the narrative for each per-vendor and per-branch report. Staff can also type a question about their inventory into an ask-the-data chat and get an answer. The AI runs server-side.
Reports, Exports, and Role-Based Access
Per-vendor and per-branch reports export to CSV or PDF in one click. Roles decide who sees which data, the AI and admin features are limited to authorized users, and every table has row-level security.
Custom Shopify Storefront
Next we built Sakura a fully custom Shopify store organized around their electrical catalog: boxes and enclosures, lighting, heating and ventilation, low voltage materials, safety devices, generators, switches and receptacles, and wire and connectors. The store is fast and mobile-friendly, with search, a cart, and checkout set up for trade customers.
Full Product Catalog Setup
We entered Sakura's entire product catalog into structured Shopify collections, with descriptions, pricing, and downloadable spec-sheet PDFs so customers can confirm what they are buying. The catalog used to live in binders and phone calls. Sakura's team can now search it, edit it, and add to it themselves.
Professional Product Photography
We shot all of the product photography in-house. Each item in the store has a clean photo in one consistent style.
Wholesale and Trade Features
Sakura serves contractors and trade accounts, so the store has credit and account application forms, downloadable specification sheets, and quick ways to get in touch, including WhatsApp. It is set up to support their wholesale relationships.
The Result
Buyers at all six Sakura branches start the day from a dashboard that turns the daily 30,000-row export into reorder, stockout, overstock, and deadstock signals, with AI briefings on what changed. Contractors and trade customers can browse the full catalog, check spec sheets, and order online. Sakura controls both systems.
"Astro built us a custom platform that turned our morning inventory spreadsheet into clear decisions across all six branches, then built us a proper online store from the ground up and even shot all our product photos. Two big problems solved, and everything finally lives in one professional system."
- Operations Manager, Sakura Distributors
Services Used
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