B2B Suite

The framework for your B2B model

The often complex requirements for representing B2B functions in eCommerce require a high degree of individuality and integration with traditional business processes, and the B2B Suite was designed and developed with this precise task in mind. You can therefore expand the standard Shopware Enterprise functionality with the B2B Suite using a comprehensive and very powerful B2B framework, which ensures a seamless integration of the B2B Suite into existing workflows and processes.

  • Powerful B2B framework with an extensive feature set
  • High degree of integration through the framework approach
  • Tight control of rights and roles, budgeting and approval processes
  • Targeted customer approach through a customer-specific price function

The B2B Suite provides a comprehensive set of features, including rights and role management, approval processes, budgeting and quick ordering. As a framework, the B2B Suite can be adapted to individual customer requirements and also provides some of these functions in the form of a Shopware plugin as part of a reference implementation. These and other features make the Shopware B2B Suite a high-quality framework that can be used to professionally implement individual and complex requirements for your B2B business.

    Especially in larger companies, it’s often that case that more than one employee is authorised to purchase goods. Every employee might have access to a specific quota and be assigned additional special rights and roles. Complex hierarchies of this nature can be easily implemented with the B2B Suite and configured for each customer.

    Potential B2B customers can request access to your product catalogue using the Shopware merchant registration. Employees can then add the customer directly from the backend, assign them to a specific customer group and activate the self-administration functions of the B2B Suite.

    The comprehensive rights and roles management feature gives customers the option of specifying and restricting the rights of their own employees with a high degree of precision. In this way, individuals can be sorted according to their roles. A common example includes the “Admin” role, who has all rights, and the "HR manager" role, who is allowed to create and edit the records of new employees. It’s also very easy to create roles that set responsibility for budgets.

    Due to the hierarchical organisation of roles, responsibilities within the company can be clearly differentiated. For example, it can be defined that an employee can only manage employees who are their subordinate.

    An approval process regulates the amount of money an individual can use when placing an order. Should they have a fixed amount, they are allowed to purchase freely until their budget has been exceeded. Should they go over, the order will be sent to their superior for approval, who must then check the order and has the option of editing it or leaving a comment. This process can be further refined by limiting it to products, categories or prices.

    In addition to budget approvals, there is also a quota administration function. This is necessary as companies often contain other (sub)organisations that have a specific order quota. For example, this order quota can be defined for department X for one year. Quotas can be linked to the customer's fiscal year and renewed automatically once the defined time period has elapsed. Once the department’s quota is reached, no further orders can be placed.

    Customers have the possibility of assigning cost centres, thereby making it possible for their employees to transparently place orders. The manager of the cost centre will automatically receive a warning email once the budget for their department has been exceeded.

    Placing orders quickly and effectively is a must, especially in B2B. Shopware supports the customer with search suggestions and auto-completion, making it possible for them to quickly make orders with keyboard-driven input.

    Customers can also place quick orders using CSV and XML files. During upload, they can specify which columns contain information relevant to the order. In this way, they can continue using the existing CSV and XML files without having to adapt them specifically for the upload.

    Customers often order the same products at regular intervals. The order list function allows B2B customers to save recurring orders in lists, which can later be triggered as a separate order. Lists can also be generated from previous orders.

    Since order lists can also be provided with rights, they can be used as "global" lists (for example for weekly orders) or as lists specific to a department.

    Keeping an eye on the big picture is essential, especially in large organisations. With the evaluation options offered by the B2B Suite, customers have the opportunity to view, filter and export open and completed orders from one central location. This ensures that nothing gets in the way of the processing and analysis of the order data.

    The address management feature of the B2B Suite allows the customer to define specific billing or delivery addresses for each organisational unit, role or employee. In this way, scenarios can be mapped in which the company is spread over multiple locations or employees are required to manage several delivery addresses.

    The field service functionality makes it possible to define employees who have access to multiple customer accounts. Employees can then log into the frontend as one of their assigned customers, wherein they can place orders and access other relevant functions. Of course, all guidelines, quotas and budgets defined by the customer still apply.

    This function is therefore an important tool for integrating existing sales structures into the B2B Suite and facilitating customer-specific consultation and sales.

    Prices and conditions tailored to specific customers are the rule, especially in the B2B segment. Accordingly, the B2B Suite offers interfaces that allow individual prices to be entered per debtor. These interfaces also allow project-specific connections to be made to enterprise resource management systems or other price databases. Live price queries can also be integrated on request.

    Next to individual prices, it’s also very common to create unique offers in B2B. To meet this requirement, we integrated a request function into the B2B Suite, which gives customers the possibility of sending an entire shopping cart to the shop owner with an offer request. The shop owner can then review the request and respond directly via the backend. The shop owner has the option of granting a discount, altering the amount or leaving a comment on the order. The customer can add the adjustments to their shopping cart and replace the order. A purchase agreement only comes into effect following the approval of both parties.

    The B2B Suite has extensive interfaces that allow, for example, the automated entry of debtors or contacts. This makes it easier to integrate the B2B Suite into your existing infrastructure and avoids and unnecessary system administration costs.

"With Shopware, we have created our own marketplace modelled after Amazon with over 35,000 available products."

Timo Weltner, NETFORMIC/EURONICS  |  See EURONICS Case Study

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