Ecommerce ops ·

iMi digital GmbH cuts ERP import time from one day to 10 minutes with n8n

The problem

iMi digital GmbH's development team needed a reliable, performant ERP import for their Shopware store that could handle multiple entity types and extremely large pricing datasets without memory issues. Separately, internal marketing operations such as moving seminar signups into a CRM and Mautic were still handled manually.

First attempt

A previous importer built by an external ERP-focused party took about a day to run, creating operational friction and limiting how quickly the store could reflect new data.

Workflow diagram · grounded in source
1
File watcher on hot folder
trigger
“The workflow starts with a file watcher that monitors a hot folder fed by CSV files from SFTP”
2
Route by file prefix
routing
“Based on file prefixes, the workflow routes to the correct import path, such as products, customers, or prices, and then moves processed files to keep operations clean”
3
Batched Shopware Sync API import
integration
“they ultimately relied on direct REST calls and the Shopware Sync API, batching payloads to reduce single request overhead and accelerate throughput”
4
Sub-workflow memory management
integration
“they broke logic into sub workflows and used call patterns that limited how much data had to stay in memory at once”
5
Seminar signup transfer
integration
“By automating the transfer of seminar signups into downstream systems, the marketing team no longer had to handle each participant manually”
Reported outcome

The n8n import workflow reduced product import runtime from about a day to around 10 minutes and now processes approximately 2.6 million price rows per week in a unified system.
The marketing team no longer handles seminar participants manually, saving several minutes per participant and an estimated few hours per month.

Reported metrics
Product import runtimearound 10 minutes
Price rows processed per weekabout 2.6 million
Marketing time saved per participantseveral minutes per participant
Marketing time saved per monthan estimated few hours per month
Reported stack
n8nShopware APIShopware Sync APIMauticShopware
Source
https://n8n.io/case-studies/imi-digital-gmbh/
Read source ↗

Frequently asked questions

What did this team achieve with this AI workflow?

The n8n import workflow reduced product import runtime from about a day to around 10 minutes and now processes approximately 2.6 million price rows per week in a unified system.

What tools did this team use?

n8n, Shopware API, Shopware Sync API, Mautic, Shopware.

What results were reported?

Product import runtime: around 10 minutes; Price rows processed per week: about 2.6 million; Marketing time saved per participant: several minutes per participant; Marketing time saved per month: an estimated few hours per month (source-reported, not independently verified).

What failed first in this deployment?

A previous importer built by an external ERP-focused party took about a day to run, creating operational friction and limiting how quickly the store could reflect new data.

How is this ecommerce ops AI workflow structured?

File watcher on hot folder → Route by file prefix → Batched Shopware Sync API import → Sub-workflow memory management → Seminar signup transfer.

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