Overview
Brake Performance sells custom machined brake rotors and kits for virtually every vehicle on the road. Their legacy ecommerce platform had grown into a mission-critical, custom system that handled not just online orders, but also complex product fitment, inventory, machining, and fulfillment workflows.
Endertech partnered with Brake Performance to analyze this legacy platform in depth and re-engineer it on a modern, decoupled architecture. The new solution combines a Next.js frontend, a Symfony + API Platform backend, and a React Admin–based administrative console, all designed around the realities of automotive parts, manufacturing, and shipping. In parallel, Endertech engages as a retained marketing partner and Fractional CMO, managing campaigns, analytics, and creative to support ongoing growth.
Vehicle-specific brake kits with complex options and fitment drive the need for a custom ecommerce and data model.
Client Context
Brake Performance operates at the intersection of manufacturing and ecommerce. Their catalog includes brake rotors, pads, and kits that must match specific vehicle year, make, model, and submodel combinations, often with additional machining, finish, and kit options.
The original system was a custom-built ecommerce application that had evolved over many years. It not only listed products and took orders, but also:
- Encoded complex vehicle fitment and product permutations
- Coordinated inventory and machining workflows for made-to-order products
- Integrated with shipping carriers and desktop shipping tools
- Stored large volumes of historical orders, customers, and inventory data
Replacing such a system required more than a typical ecommerce redesign. It demanded careful domain analysis, data modeling, and migration, plus attention to day-to-day operational needs in the warehouse and office.
The Challenge
The core challenge was to re-engineer a legacy, custom ecommerce platform into a modern stack without losing the business logic that made it work.
- Legacy platform constraints: The existing system was tightly coupled to historical data and bespoke workflows, making it hard to evolve, scale, or integrate with modern tools.
- Complex product fitment: Each product had to be tied to specific vehicle Year/Make/Model/Submodel combinations, with further options (machining, plating, kit components) generating many product permutations.
- Data volume and quality: Years of vehicle, part, order, and inventory records needed to be migrated, deduplicated, and normalized into a new model.
- Operational workflows: The system had to support real-world manufacturing and fulfillment processes—machine lists, label printing, milestone inventory tracking, and purchase order workflows.
- Integrated payments and shipping: Checkout required multiple gateways and carriers, including Authorize.net, PayPal, UPS, USPS, Endicia, and desktop shipping software (via ODBC/Worldship connections).
- No room for disruption: Any transition needed to protect ongoing order flow and internal operations.
The Opportunity
By replatforming, Brake Performance could gain:
- A modern, decoupled architecture that is easier to maintain and extend
- A clean, explicit product and vehicle data model suitable for advanced search and merchandising
- More reliable integrations with payment and shipping providers
- Better admin tools for managing orders, machining, and inventory
- Stronger analytics and tracking for ecommerce performance and marketing attribution
- A marketing foundation where a Fractional CMO could actively optimize campaigns using trustworthy data
Endertech’s Role
Endertech acted as a full-stack engineering partner and strategic marketing partner. On the technology side, our team handled architecture, backend and frontend development, data migration, integrations, and admin tooling. On the growth side, we engaged in a retained marketing relationship, effectively serving as Brake Performance’s Fractional CMO for at least several months.
This combination allowed technical decisions to be made with marketing and revenue goals in mind, and marketing initiatives to be grounded in the reality of the underlying systems.
Our Approach
1. Discovery and Domain Analysis
We began by analyzing the legacy ecommerce system and its data structures, with particular focus on:
- Vehicle and fitment relationships (Year/Make/Model/Submodel, Vehicle entities)
- Base Product, Part, and Kit structures
- Order, customer, and inventory records
- Downstream workflows for machining, packing, and shipping
This discovery work informed a new domain model capable of representing the same real-world complexity in a cleaner, more maintainable way.
2. Modern Decoupled Architecture
We selected a decoupled architecture that separates the customer-facing experience from backend operations:
- Next.js frontend: A modern React-based storefront responsible for product discovery, fitment selection, cart, and checkout flows.
- Symfony + API Platform backend: A robust PHP API layer for business logic, data persistence, and integrations, implemented as a dedicated Symfony project.
- React Admin admin UI: A browser-based administrative application that uses React Admin and a custom data provider to manage products, vehicles, orders, inventory, and operational workflows.
3. Product & Catalog Modeling
To support vehicle-specific parts and kits, we designed a rich product and catalog model, including:
- Year/Make/Model/Vehicle entities to represent the automotive fitment hierarchy
- Base Product and Base Product Kit entities to capture core product families and kit compositions
- Vendor Part and Vehicle Part Link structures to tie products to vehicles and supplier data
- Commands to generate actual sellable products and permutations from base entities and options
Additional tasks focused on data normalization—handling duplicate submodels, standardized weight imports, and vendor CSV parsing—to ensure that the new catalog was consistent and reliable.
4. Data Migration Strategy
A dedicated Data Migration epic covered the import of legacy entities such as Vehicle, Vehicle Submodel, Part, Base Product, Customer Order, and Inventory. We implemented migration commands to:
- Ingest historical data from the legacy system
- Transform it into the new domain model
- Handle deduplication and normalization where needed
- Populate the new Product table based on imported data
This migration work preserved the business’s history—customers, orders, and inventory positions—while enabling a cleaner foundation going forward.
5. Integration Planning
Given the volume of orders and the manufacturing and fulfillment complexity, reliable integrations were critical:
- Payment gateways: Implemented Authorize.net and PayPal integrations across both frontend and backend, ensuring secure and flexible checkout options.
- Shipping carriers: Integrated UPS and USPS rate calculations and shipping logic, plus support for Endicia.
- Desktop shipping tools: Implemented ODBC-based connections to tools such as Worldship to bridge the web platform with on-premise shipping stations and label printers.
These integrations support end-to-end order processing, from online checkout through to label printing and shipment.
6. Admin Workflows & Operational Tools
The React Admin–based administrative UI was designed for day-to-day operational use. Key workflows include:
- Order management and status tracking
- Purchase order workflows for parts and materials
- Machine lists and work queues for machining operations
- Label printing and shipping handoff processes
- Role-based access and permissions to keep sensitive operations controlled
The goal was to centralize and streamline tasks that previously required navigating legacy screens or separate systems.
7. Analytics, Feeds, and Marketing Foundations
From the outset, the new platform was built to support modern analytics and marketing:
- GA4 ecommerce event tracking across product listing pages, product detail pages, cart, checkout, and purchase steps.
- A Google Merchant Center feed to enable product ads and shopping campaigns.
- Event structures tuned to support campaign measurement and optimization by the marketing team.
The modernized catalog structure supports rich product listings for a wide range of vehicles and rotor options.
What We Delivered
Modern Ecommerce Platform
- A Next.js storefront that connects to the Symfony API for product data, vehicle fitment logic, and checkout.
- A Symfony + API Platform backend implementing the core ecommerce, product, and fitment logic.
- A React Admin–powered admin console for managing catalog entities, orders, and operational data.
Payments, Shipping, and Fulfillment Integrations
- Authorize.net and PayPal payment integrations with backend support and checkout UX.
- Shipping carrier integrations for UPS and USPS, plus Endicia support for label and postage workflows.
- Desktop integration to shipping computers and software (such as Worldship) via ODBC connections.
Catalog & Data Migration
- A comprehensive data migration plan and implementation for vehicles, parts, orders, and inventory.
- Commands to populate the Product table and generate permutations from imported data.
- Vendor CSV parsing and processing to keep catalog data fresh and aligned with supplier information.
Admin & Operational Tools
- Admin CRUD interfaces for Year/Make/Model, Vehicle, Base Product, Base Product Kit, Vendor Part, and Vehicle Part links.
- Workflows to support machining, inventory milestones, and purchase orders.
- Role-based permissions to ensure that different operational teams have appropriate access.
Analytics & Marketing Enablement
- GA4 ecommerce event implementations across key funnel stages.
- A Google Merchant Center feed for product advertising.
- Tracking structures that support clear attribution for marketing campaigns.
Retained Marketing & Fractional CMO
Beyond the platform build, Brake Performance engaged Endertech for a retained marketing engagement, with Endertech acting as a Fractional CMO. This included:
- Initial campaign setup and configuration across key channels.
- Daily campaign optimization based on performance data.
- Creative and content work such as hero graphics, blog content, and monthly marketing assets.
Because Endertech built the underlying platform and tracking, the marketing team could make decisions with a clear understanding of what the data represented.
Complexity Handled
This project demonstrates Endertech’s ability to handle real-world operational complexity in ecommerce:
- Custom product modeling: Vehicle-specific parts, kits, and permutations required a tailored data model and product generation logic.
- Large-scale data migration: Multiple domain entities—vehicles, parts, orders, inventory, and more—were migrated from a legacy system into a new, normalized model.
- Multiple third-party integrations: Payment gateways, shipping carriers, desktop shipping tools, analytics, and shopping feeds were coordinated into a coherent system.
- Operational workflows: Admin tools were designed around machining, label printing, and purchase order workflows, not just generic ecommerce administration.
- Hybrid hosted + local systems: On-premise shipping computers and label printers were integrated with the hosted platform, balancing cloud architecture with local operational needs.
Results & Business Value
Formal business metrics such as revenue uplift or conversion rate changes were not part of the provided materials, so we do not present specific numbers. However, the qualitative benefits of the engagement are clear:
- A modern, decoupled ecommerce foundation that is better positioned for future enhancements and integrations.
- Improved control over complex vehicle fitment and catalog data, reducing friction in managing thousands of product permutations.
- Integrated checkout and fulfillment workflows connecting payments, shipping carriers, and desktop shipping tools.
- Centralized admin tools that align with real operational processes in manufacturing and fulfillment.
- Analytics-ready tracking and feeds that give the marketing team better visibility into funnel performance.
- An ongoing Fractional CMO relationship that turns this infrastructure into actionable campaigns and continuous optimization.
High-performance, made-to-order products require systems that respect real manufacturing and fulfillment constraints.
Why This Work Matters
Many manufacturers and specialty retailers operate on aging custom systems that are deeply intertwined with operations. Replacing them is risky, but staying on them limits growth. The Brake Performance project shows how Endertech can:
- Understand and model complex physical products and fitment rules
- Design a modern, decoupled architecture around real operational workflows
- Migrate large volumes of legacy data without losing business history
- Integrate web platforms with on-premise tools and carriers
- Extend beyond development into analytics and ongoing marketing leadership
For organizations facing similar challenges—especially in automotive, industrial, or manufacturing-driven ecommerce—this project is an example of how a thoughtful engineering and marketing partner can turn a legacy platform into a modern growth engine.
Related Services
Endertech offers services that align closely with this type of work:
- Ecommerce Development
- Custom Software Development
- Systems Integration
- Data Migration & Platform Modernization
- Analytics & Conversion Tracking
- Fractional CMO & Retained Digital Marketing
Have a complex ecommerce or operational platform you need to modernize? Endertech can help you analyze your current system, design a maintainable architecture, execute the migration and integrations, and support your ongoing digital growth.