Unified Sitecore-Based Platform for a Leading US Operator of Physical B2B Marketplaces

Challenge

While highly successful in the physical domain, the customer faced structural limitations that constrained further expansion. Managing multiple marketplaces independently created operational complexity and limited the ability to scale without opening new physical locations.
The key challenges included:

• Lack of a centralized digital platform to manage multiple marketplaces
• Slow and costly launch of new marketplace websites
• Limited online product presentation and discoverability
• Fragmented communication between buyers and exhibitors
• Dependence on physical venues to grow reach and revenue
• High logistical and operational overhead

The customer needed a robust, flexible digital foundation that could integrate seamlessly with existing systems while supporting future growth.

Solution

SaM Solutions acted as a trusted technology partner and delivered a unified omnichannel platform based on Sitecore Digital Experience Platform (DXP).
The solution was designed as a multi-tenant, centrally managed digital ecosystem that allows the customer to operate multiple marketplaces from a single platform while maintaining flexibility for individual venues.
Universal templates and reusable components enable rapid rollout of new marketplace portals on any domain, significantly reducing time-to-market. The platform serves as a central hub for buyers, exhibitors, and internal teams, ensuring consistency, scalability, and operational efficiency.

Exhibitor portal

Gives exhibitors direct control over their digital presence without involving the marketplace operator in day-to-day work.
Exhibitors can:

• Manage profiles, products, showrooms, and promotions independently
• Keep even very large catalogs accurate and up to date
• Mark individual products as Featured or New to boost relevance
• Control where products are visible across markets and events

Value: faster updates, less operational overhead, consistently clean and current catalogs.

Marketplace portals

Each marketplace operates its own visitor-facing portal, powered by the shared platform.

Buyers can:

• Find relevant exhibitors and products using precise search and practical filters
• Discover events, promotions, and event-specific offerings in context
• Register for events and plan visits using floor plans and the Market Planner
• Explore showrooms via 3D tours to prequalify interest
• Receive personalized results and recommendations based on behavior
• Share findings within buying teams and contact exhibitors directly
• Use the portal in multiple languages for international access

Value: intent-driven discovery, measurable exhibitor ROI, shorter sales cycles.

Administration hub

A centralized admin environment supports operational, marketing, and content teams.

Teams can:

• Manage access rights and roles across all portals
• Personalize content per marketplace without duplicating effort
• Define and maintain categories and structures centrally
• Monitor usage, engagement, and performance
• Generate operational and marketing reports from a single data source
• Standardize search behavior per venue while allowing local flexibility
• Run and optimize targeted email campaigns using the Sitecore Email Experience Manager

Value: scalable operations, consistent governance, and data-driven marketing and decision-making.

Enterprise-scale search with SolrCloud

Since the digital platform needed to manage extensive product catalogs in dynamic marketplace portals, SaM Solutions’ team leveraged SolrCloud and Sitecore capabilities to implement robust and scalable search functionality across distributed data sets.
To ensure data relevance, incremental updates occur whenever information is changed. Additionally, a major update of the search engine core is launched weekly (a new core is created and populated with data), updating over 10 million entities.

Platform upgrade from Sitecore 9 to Sitecore 10

Initially, our team built the platform on Sitecore 9.2. Following the release of Sitecore 10.4, it was decided to upgrade the platform to enhance performance, boost security, and take advantage of the new features.

Our specialists seamlessly conducted the upgrade, ensuring business continuity throughout the process. The transition to Sitecore 10.4 resulted in faster load times, more efficient content delivery, enhanced analytics, and advanced personalization capabilities, ultimately positioning the platform for future growth and adaptability.

Microservices replatforming

The Client used a custom-built integration solution to exchange data across multiple external and internal systems. SaM Solutions’ team replatformed this large monolithic Java-based solution to .NET 8 and migrated it from AWS services to Azure Functions. Our experts transformed the monolith into over 100 microservices. This modernization improved the codebase, enhancing performance and maintainability, and provided a robust, scalable, and cost-effective solution for the business.

Success

Existing buyers and exhibitors have received the platform well, and it has also attracted and retained a new global audience due to its enhanced functionality and improved user experience.

• Centralized marketplace template: A universal portal template has been launched to streamline account, product, search, and showroom management for exhibitors across multiple marketplaces.​ Currently, there are about 4,600 exhibitors and an extensive product catalog featuring over 3.5 million products.
• Enhanced user experience: Developments in category management and taxonomy depiction have significantly improved the user experience, offering a more intuitive and structured interaction within the system.​
• Preparation for future commerce: Efforts to allow product previews and enhance buyer-seller communication are setting the stage for integrating transactional commerce in future releases.

The Client plans to continue the collaboration, focusing on implementing new features and further optimizing and digitizing business processes.