An auto-parts distributor maintained 400 customer-specific price lists by hand — so most were stale. We built a pipeline where any ERP cost or tier change regenerates the affected branded PDFs and delivers them by email and WhatsApp. All 400 refresh in eight minutes.
Typical results
8 min
To refresh 400 price lists
-96%
Orders on outdated prices
100%
Versions archived with delivery proof
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
With 6,000 SKUs, volatile supplier costs and a dozen price tiers, keeping 400 customers on current lists was a lost battle. A full refresh took two clerks 16 hours of exports and mail merges, so it happened quarterly. Between refreshes, customers ordered on outdated prices — about 25 orders a month — triggering disputes, credits and eroded margins.
Before and after
Minutes to refresh 400 price lists
−99%Orders on outdated prices per month
−96%Price-dispute credits per month
−82%The automation
We connected the ERP to a generation pipeline that watches for cost updates and tier changes. Any change identifies exactly which customer groups are affected, rebuilds their branded PDF price lists with the right tiers and volume breaks, and distributes them by email or WhatsApp according to each customer's preference. Every send is archived — who received which version, when — so any pricing dispute is settled by pulling the exact document the customer got.
How it works
- 01
Change once in the ERP
A supplier cost update or tier change in the ERP is the only manual step in the chain.
- 02
Find who's affected
The pipeline identifies every customer group the change touches — no blanket regeneration, no misses.
- 03
Rebuild the PDFs
Branded price lists regenerate with each customer's tiers and volume breaks applied — all 400 in eight minutes.
- 04
Deliver on their channel
Lists go out by email or WhatsApp according to each customer's preference, the same day.
- 05
Archive every version
Each send is logged — who received which version, and when — settling any pricing dispute in seconds.
Starts from
- ERP cost & tier changes
- Customer price tiers
Delivers
- Branded PDF price lists
- Email & WhatsApp delivery
- Version archive & delivery log
The impact
A full refresh of 400 price lists now runs in eight minutes instead of 16 clerk-hours, so lists update the day costs move. Orders on outdated prices fell from 25 a month to one, dispute credits dropped from eleven to two, and the version archive ends every 'but my list says' argument.
Questions about this automation
What triggers a new price list?
A change in the ERP is the trigger: a supplier cost update, a new price tier or a change to a customer's volume breaks. The automation works out which customer groups the change affects and rebuilds only their lists, so customers outside the change keep their current version and are not messaged.
How does each customer get the right prices and format?
Each customer is linked to a price tier and its volume breaks in the ERP. The generator applies those to the catalog, fills a branded PDF template with the logo, validity date and terms, and sends it by email or WhatsApp based on the preference stored on the customer card.
Can we prove which list a customer received?
Yes. Every send is archived with the file, the version number, the recipient, the channel and the delivery time. When a customer questions a price, the team pulls the exact document that customer received. Simple automations like this are usually live within days.