WBK · Retail & Consumer · 2026
A product data engine and new storefront for a catering equipment supplier
We rebuilt WBK's online store and gave it an AI product-data engine that writes and maintains thousands of marketplace listings, so a small team can sell a huge and unusual catalogue.
Image: WBKThe brief
WBK supplies catering equipment to kitchens across the UK and prides itself on sourcing products from around the world, however obscure. That breadth is the business’s edge and its biggest operational headache: thousands of products, many with thin or inconsistent data, sold through its own site and on marketplaces, by a team that would rather talk to customers than retype specifications.
WBK asked for a faster, better-converting store and a way to stop product data being a full-time job.
What we did
- Data readiness. We consolidated product data from supplier feeds, spreadsheets and the old store into one clean catalogue with a single owner and clear rules for what good looks like.
- AI product-data engine. For every product, the engine drafts titles, descriptions, specifications and category attributes from supplier documents and images, in WBK’s house style, and flags anything it cannot verify. A member of the team approves changes in a queue. The same engine keeps marketplace listings in sync, so a price or spec change happens once.
- New storefront. A fast, accessible e-commerce site on a headless platform, with search that understands “the long stainless thing for the bain-marie” as well as a part number, and trade account features for repeat buyers.
- Enquiry assistant. A customer-facing assistant on the site answers stock, compatibility and spare-part questions from the catalogue, and hands anything uncertain to a human with the context attached.
The result
Nearly five thousand listings were enriched in the first six weeks, work that would have taken the team the best part of a year. Online conversion rose by more than a quarter after launch. Routine “do you stock” questions fell by around 70%, which freed the team for the specialist sourcing that customers actually value. Product data is now a review task, not a typing task.
“We’ve always been able to find the odd stuff. Now customers can find it on our site too.” Director, WBK
