Automation of price list processing for integration with Horoshop

1. Project Overview

Develop a web application for comprehensive automation of working with supplier price lists. The system should collect, process, normalize product data, and synchronize it with an online store on the Horoshop platform.

The main problem the system addresses: data from suppliers arrives in various formats, with unstructured and "dirty" characteristics. This creates chaos in site filters and requires significant manual effort from managers for processing.

The key goal is to minimize manual intervention, automate data matching, and provide managers with a convenient visual interface for controlling and managing exceptional situations.

If you have your own developments similar to our technical task, we can consider other implementation options and possible improvements tailored to our needs. 

2. Main Functional Modules of the System

2.1. Import of Data from Suppliers

• Support for various sources:

  • API of suppliers (e.g., ERC, DC-Link, Yugcontract, and others).

  • Files in XML, CSV formats (including standards like Google Merchant, Rozetka, Prom).

  • Direct links to files.

• Flexible configuration: Ability to add new suppliers and set up automatic data update schedules for each.

2.2. Integration with Horoshop

• Structure synchronization: The system should load existing category, template, and characteristic structures from Horoshop for correct matching.

• Product updates: Automatic loading of new products and updating existing ones (price, availability, characteristics) via Horoshop API.

• Processing new characteristics: If a supplier introduces a characteristic not present in the Horoshop template, the system should notify the manager (via interface, Telegram) to manually add it in Horoshop.

2.3. Data Enrichment and Standardization via Hotline Parser

• Main logic: To standardize data, use the Hotline.ua parser. Price and availability information are taken from the supplier, while "clean" and organized characteristics are obtained from Hotline.

• Operation mechanism: The parser should work based on the article number or product name.

• Bypass blocks: A mechanism must be provided for stable operation.

• Exception handling: If a product is not found on Hotline, it should be processed in the general manner with supplier data.

2.4. Category and Characteristic Mapping

• Categories: User-friendly interface for manual mapping of supplier categories to site categories.

• Characteristics: Automatic mapping of "cleaned" characteristics via Hotline. For products without Hotline data — manual mapping option.

• Supplier identification: Implement the ability to identify the main supplier of a product by the first digit of the article number in Horoshop for manager convenience.

2.5. Price Management and Competitiveness

• Pricing rules: Ability to set flexible markup rules for different suppliers, brands, or categories.

• Price analysis: The system should compare purchase prices with the lowest prices on Hotline.

• Integration with Google Merchant Center: Ability to set up automatic upload to Google Merchant only for products that are price-competitive (e.g., price does not exceed the minimum on Hotline + N%).

2.6. Duplicate Product Management (optional)

• Detection mechanism: Use data vectorization (name, model, key characteristics) to find identical products from different suppliers.

• Merging logic:

  • With high similarity (e.g., >90%) — automatic merging into one card.

  • With medium similarity (e.g., 70-90%) — product marked for manual review by manager.

• Best offer selection: Merged product card should display the best price and availability from all supplier offers.
  
  

2.7. Language Processing and Content Translation

• Problem: Supplier descriptions and characteristics may arrive in different languages (Ukrainian, Russian) or contain mixed languages.

• Solution:

  • Integrate with third-party translation services (e.g., Google Translate API, DeepL API).

  • Implement functionality for automatic translation of text fields (name, description) into the main site language (Ukrainian).

  • Manager should be able to review and correct automatic translation results before uploading to the site.

2.8. Manager Interface

• Control panel: A unified web interface for monitoring all processes.

• Visualization: Clear display of products, synchronization statuses, mapped categories, and characteristics.

• Filtering and bulk actions: Ability to easily filter products needing attention (e.g., without category, with new characteristics) and perform bulk operations.

• Reports and notifications: Detailed logs of operations, error reports, and successful updates. Notification settings for critical events.

3. Technical Requirements

• Program type: Web application.

• Hosting: The system should be designed for stable operation on a standard VPS/VDS server.

• Scalability: The architecture should be designed so that in the future it can easily connect new sites (clients) without a complete overhaul of the core.

What we expect from the contractor:

1. Cost and timeline estimate for project implementation.

2. Examples of similar completed projects in your portfolio.

3. Your proposals regarding the technological stack for task implementation.