Description
Summary About us We're a wholesale fashion brand with weekly new product arrivals. Our product data currently lives in multiple disconnected places, and our catalog process is manual. We need this consolidated and automated. Current situation: We have an existing product catalogue built as a Canva website (view-only, not a real database). We have additional product data in FashionGo. New products are photographed weekly, with each photo's filename containing the SKU, price, and color (e.g. SKU12345_49.99_Black.jpg). We're open to adding category to the filename too (e.g. SKU12345_49.99_Black_Dress.jpg) if that helps the system. Right now, none of this is unified — there's no single source of truth. What we need: - One consolidated product database. Pull together what currently exists across different databases into a single, well-organized database (product SKU, price, color, category, image, date added, and any other relevant fields that you recommend). - A weekly update process. New product photos are added to a cloud folder (e.g. Google Drive) with SKU/price/color in the filename. The system should recognize new uploads and add them to the central database automatically, without manual data entry. - On-demand, filtered catalogue output. We frequently get requests from wholesale clients (often over WhatsApp) asking for specific categories only — e.g. "send me your denim only," or "just dresses." We need to be able to quickly generate and share a clean, professional, client-ready catalogue containing only the requested category, showing the correct product image, SKU, and price for each item. - Full catalogue option. Same system, but able to output everything at once when needed, not just one category. - Cloud-based / accessible from anywhere. Not dependent on one person's computer — our small team needs to be able to upload new products and request catalogues from anywhere. - On the output format — open to your recommendation We are not specifying the output format (PDF, web page, shareable link, etc.) — we want the freelancer to propose whatever solution best achieves the goal: a clean, visible, accurate, easily shareable catalogue with the correct image, SKU, and price per item, filterable by category. Please explain your proposed format and why it's the right fit for a wholesale sales context (i.e., something we can quickly send to a client and that looks professional and trustworthy). Scope of work: - Audit and consolidate our existing product data into one clean, structured database. - Recommend and build the database itself (database and structure — your call, please justify the choice). - Build the automated weekly ingestion pipeline: new photo in cloud folder → parsed → added to the database, with minimal manual steps. - Build the on-demand catalogue generation feature: our team should be able to request a catalogue filtered by one or more categories (and, separately, the full catalogue) and receive a ready-to-share result in your proposed format. - Basic documentation so our non-technical team can operate this independently going forward (how to add new products, how to request a filtered catalogue, how to fix a mis-tagged item). - Please flag any limitations, ongoing costs, or maintenance needs of your proposed approach as part of your proposal. Nice to have (optional): - Requesting a catalogue directly through a simple chat interface (e.g. WhatsApp) rather than only a dashboard/form. - Basic validation/alerts for duplicate SKUs or missing data. What we're not sure about — please advise in your proposal: - Whether this is best scoped as a general "automation" project or more of an "AI/LLM-driven automation" project. Tell us which category your proposed solution falls into and why. - What ongoing running costs (subscriptions, platform fees, etc.) your proposed solution would involve, separate from your one-time project fee. Deliverables: - One consolidated, working product database. - Working weekly ingestion pipeline (new photo → database, automatically). - Working on-demand filtered catalogue generation (by category, and full catalogue). - Short documentation / walkthrough video for our team. - Full ownership of all source files / configuration after project completion. To apply, please include: - A plain-language explanation of your proposed technical approach, including your recommended output format for the catalogue and why. - Relevant past work (similar database consolidation, catalogue, or business-automation projects). - Estimated timeline and cost breakdown (one-time project fee vs. ongoing tool/platform costs). - Any clarifying questions about our current data or our workflow.