In short and in plain language
Many firms change their prices on 1 January. This text shows how your customers can see the new prices early. This works in a portal. A portal is a private area on the web for your customers.
There, each new price is shown next to the old one. It also says from when it counts. Your customers can download the list and plan with it.
Decide which price counts when someone orders in December and the goods come in January. The shop and your stock program must do the same thing.
Old quotes and fixed contracts keep their price. A cart from December is worked out again in January. The customer sees this first.
We build this preview with your shop and your stock program.
For many manufacturers and wholesalers, the price list changes on 1 January. This year there is noticeable movement behind it: producer prices for industrial products were 4.6 percent higher in August 2026 than a year earlier (Destatis), and wholesale selling prices rose by 8.7 percent in September 2026 (Destatis). Your business customers therefore want to know early what applies from January, because their own purchasing, costing and quotes depend on it. This article shows how to make the customer-specific 2027 price list visible in the customer portal ahead of time instead of swapping it on New Year's Eve: with a valid-from date taken from the ERP, with a clear rule for orders placed in December and delivered in January, and with a plan for open quotes, framework contracts, carts and reorders. How activation, timestamps and number ranges work across the year end as a whole is covered in the article on preparing stocktaking and the year end in a B2B shop.
Key takeaways
- Producer prices for industrial products were 4.6 percent higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, and wholesale selling prices rose by 8.7 percent in September 2026 (Destatis).
- A price preview in the customer portal shows every business customer, from early December, their own prices from 1 January 2027, with a valid-from date, next to the current price and as a download for purchasing.
- Order date or delivery date: pick one rule and apply it the same way in ERP and shop. If the order confirmation is the acceptance and states a different price than the order, it counts as a new offer (Section 150 (2) BGB).
- Open quotes with an acceptance period past 31 December and framework contracts with fixed prices keep their price level. For these items the preview shows the applicable price with its end date and only then the 2027 list price.
- Carts, wish lists and reorders from December are recalculated at checkout with the price valid at that moment, and the shop flags every line whose price has changed.
- The 2027 prices come from the same ERP pricing as later orders and sit in the shop by mid-December with a valid-from of 1 January, 00:00. There is no manual swap.
Why the 2027 price list needs more lead time
Official statistics show how unevenly prices are moving at the producer level right now. In August 2026, producer prices for industrial products rose by 1.1 percent compared with the previous month (Destatis). Excluding energy, the increase over August 2025 was 3.1 percent (Destatis). Intermediate goods, meaning materials and parts that go into other companies' production, became 6.1 percent more expensive, capital goods 2.4 percent (Destatis). Non-durable consumer goods, on the other hand, became 2.0 percent cheaper (Destatis). A new price list therefore does not move in a single direction: depending on the range, some items rise noticeably while others stay flat or fall.
At the wholesale level, the movement picked up during the fall. The year-on-year rate of change in wholesale selling prices was 5.3 percent in July 2026, 6.8 percent in August and 8.7 percent in September (Destatis). Alongside mineral oil products, prices also rose markedly in wholesale of non-ferrous ores, metals and semi-finished metal products, by 24.9 percent over September 2025; for chemical products it was 16.4 percent (Destatis). Anyone trading cables, pipes, fittings or chemicals will probably adjust more items at the year end than in calmer years.
This is not a purely German issue. In the euro area, industrial producer prices in August 2026 were 8.2 percent above the same month a year earlier, and 8.0 percent across the EU (Eurostat). For next year, the staff of the European Central Bank expect inflation of 2.5 percent in the euro area in their September 2026 projections, after 3.0 percent in 2026 (ECB). On this view, price pressure eases, but it does not stop at the turn of the year.
For your price list, this is less a question of how much and more a question of process. Your customers are costing their own 2027 quotes, planning budgets and comparing suppliers. The earlier they know their new prices, the fewer queries reach your sales office in January and the less often disputes arise over orders placed in December and delivered in January. A price preview in the customer portal is the right tool for this, because it shows every customer exactly their own prices rather than a general list that does not apply to many customers anyway.
What a price preview in the customer portal should show
A price preview is a dedicated area in the customer account where a logged-in buyer sees their prices from 1 January 2027 before they apply. What matters is that these are the same prices the ERP will determine for orders from the cut-off date: customer-specific prices, tiers, discount groups and surcharges, not a blanket list price increase. How customer-specific prices, roles and order history come together in one portal is shown on our page about the B2B customer portal.
Valid from, with time
Every price carries the start of its validity, such as 1 January 2027, 00:00. That makes it clear from which order it applies and until when the 2026 price holds.
Old and new side by side
Current price, price from January and the change per line. The buyer sees at a glance where they need to recalculate.
Own items first
Pre-filtered to the items the customer buys according to their order history. A buyer with a large range then does not have to search the full catalog.
Download for purchasing
The list as a CSV for the customer's ERP and as a PDF for their records, each with version and valid-from date in the header.
Visible by role
Only users with purchasing rights see the 2027 prices. Someone who only tracks deliveries or downloads invoices in the account does not need them.
Version and approval
A visible version of the list, such as "approved on 28 November". If anything changes before the cut-off, the customer sees the new version.
The preview does not replace a conversation about terms, but it takes the routine out of it. A buyer who sees early that their most frequently purchased items will cost more can respond: bring demand forward while the 2026 price still applies, bundle quantities to reach a higher tier, or ask for a quote covering a full year's demand. For you as the supplier, this is easier to plan than a January full of queries about invoices that look different from what was expected.
One legal point makes the design easier: the German Price Indication Ordinance governs how prices are stated to consumers (Section 1 (1) PAngV). In a closed portal for business customers, it does not prescribe how prices from a future date must be shown; what counts are your agreements with the customer and clear, accurate information. If the shop is also open to private customers, the situation is different. How to restrict a shop effectively to businesses is described in the article B2B shop for businesses only.
Order date or delivery date: which price applies in December
A common question at the year end concerns orders that span the cut-off date: a customer orders on 18 December, delivery follows on 8 January. The buyer owes the agreed purchase price (Section 433 (2) BGB). Without a different agreement, that is the price both sides agreed on when the contract was concluded, not the price on the list on the day of delivery. When the contract is concluded depends on your order process: the automatic email after checkout often only confirms receipt of the order (Section 312i (1) sentence 1 no. 3 BGB), while the actual acceptance follows with the order confirmation from the ERP.
This is exactly where the typical error occurs. On 30 December the shop shows the 2026 price, the ERP writes the order confirmation on 2 January and automatically inserts the 2027 price. Legally, such a confirmation is not an acceptance: an acceptance with changes counts as a rejection combined with a new offer (Section 150 (2) BGB). The customer first has to agree to the new price, and until then it is unclear whether the order exists at all. In practice this leads to queries, correction documents and, in the worst case, deliveries without an agreed price.
The alternative is a delivery-date rule in the general terms and conditions, meaning the agreement that the prices valid on the day of delivery are charged. Toward consumers, a clause is invalid if it provides for a price increase on goods to be delivered within four months of the contract being concluded (Section 309 no. 1 BGB). Toward businesses, Section 309 BGB does not apply directly (Section 310 (1) BGB); there, such a clause is measured against the general fairness test, under which provisions that place the other party at an unreasonable disadvantage are invalid (Section 307 (1) BGB). Whether a delivery-date clause in your terms holds up is a question for legal advice. If the customer brings their own purchasing conditions with fixed prices, another layer is added, which the article B2B shop terms when the buyer has purchasing conditions covers.
| Aspect | Order-date rule | Delivery-date rule |
|---|---|---|
| Price in the cart | price at the time of the order | provisional price with a note on recalculation at delivery |
| Order confirmation | carries over the price from the order | states the price of the delivery date once it is known |
| Partial delivery across the cut-off | one price level for the whole order | two price levels in one order |
| Display in the price preview | from which order date the new price applies | from which delivery date the new price applies |
| Basis | agreed purchase price (Section 433 (2) BGB) | clause in the terms, reviewed under Section 307 BGB toward businesses |
| Implementation in ERP and shop | pricing by order date | pricing by delivery date, recalculation in the ERP |
Which rule you choose is a commercial decision. What matters is that ERP and shop apply the same one. The order-date rule is usually easier to implement, because the price in the cart, in the order and in the order confirmation is the same. Anyone who bills by delivery date has to say so in the cart, split partial deliveries across the cut-off into two price levels and explain on the invoice why the amount differs from the order.
Open quotes and acceptance periods across the cut-off
Quotes from the fall carry the 2026 price level. A person who offers to another to enter into a contract is bound by the offer unless they have excluded being bound (Section 145 BGB). If a period for acceptance has been set, the customer can only accept within that period (Section 148 BGB). A quote dated 20 November with a deadline of 31 January therefore holds the 2026 price into January, even though the 2027 price list applies by then. For quotes without a deadline, the situation is less clear: an offer made to an absent person can only be accepted until the point at which the offeror may expect a reply under normal circumstances (Section 147 (2) BGB). An explicit validity date on every quote avoids this question of interpretation. The same provisions and how to handle expiry times for prices that change daily are covered in the article on price level and expiry with daily prices.
In the portal, this means: quotes show their price level and validity visibly, and an order placed from a quote carries over the quoted price, not the list price of the order date. If a quote runs across the year end, the price preview flags this for the affected items. How quotes are created, versioned and turned into orders in the shop is described in the article on B2B quote management.
- Pull all open quotes valid beyond 31 December from the ERP and list them per customer.
- For quotes without an explicit deadline, decide until when they can be accepted and tell the customer.
- In the portal, state the price level next to each quote, for example "2026 prices, can be accepted until 31 January 2027".
- From December, calculate new quotes with both price levels if delivery falls in the new year.
- Once the deadline has passed, close the quote in the portal instead of silently continuing it at the new price.
Framework contracts: the fixed price comes first
Framework contracts with fixed prices and a term are not affected by the new list unless the contract says otherwise. For pricing in the ERP, this results in an order that the preview must follow as well: first the contract price, then the customer-specific price list, and finally the general list price. If a framework contract with a fixed price ends on 31 March 2027, the preview shows the contract price for the affected items until the end of March and the price from the 2027 list after that, each with a date.
This is exactly where errors arise when the preview is built from a separate spreadsheet instead of from the ERP pricing. The customer then sees the new list price for their contract item, calls in confusion, and in the worst case is even charged it. How quotas, remaining quantities and price commitments of framework contracts become visible in the shop is shown in the article on framework contracts and call-off orders. If prices are tied to an index or to daily quotations, a mechanism of its own applies anyway, described in the article on daily prices and surcharges.
A special case is contracts that expire at the end of the year and are meant to be renewed. As long as the renewal has not been signed, the preview shows the price from the 2027 list. That is correct, but to the customer it looks like an announcement. A note such as "Contract under renewal, terms to follow" on the affected items prevents the buyer from drawing conclusions from the preview that your sales team has not drawn yet.
Carts, wish lists and reorders across the year end
A buyer fills a cart on 29 December but only submits it on 4 January, after their budget for the new year has been approved. Under the order-date rule, the shop calculates the cart at checkout with the 2027 price. That is correct, but it should be visible: a notice in the cart lists the lines whose price has changed since they were added, with the old and new value. That way the customer learns about the change before ordering rather than on the invoice.
Wish lists and order lists store items and quantities, but usually no price. In December they should already show the price from 1 January next to the current price, so that the customer can decide whether to order in the old year. With reorders from the order history, the trap works the other way around: the old order shows the price at the time, while the new order is calculated with today's price. A short note on the reorder button avoids misunderstandings. How quick order and order lists are set up is described in the article on quick order and order lists.
The same rule has to apply to orders that do not originate in the shop. Among trading companies with online sales and at least ten employees, 97 percent run their own web shop and 89 percent accept orders by email (Bitkom). If your sales office enters an email order from 30 December only on 2 January, it needs to know which price applies. The simplest approach is to enter it in the customer account, with the same pricing the customer would get; how that works in Shopware is described in the article on ordering on behalf of the customer.
No price swap on New Year's Eve
Taking the 2027 prices from the ERP
The price preview stands or falls with its data source. In the architecture we recommend for B2B shops, the ERP determines all prices and the shop takes over the result. For the year end, this means: the ERP holds the 2027 price list with a valid-from date, the interface transfers it a few weeks in advance as a second price level, and the shop keeps both available. Until the cut-off it calculates with the 2026 price and shows the 2027 price only in the preview; from the cut-off this is reversed. Which connections we build for this is described on the page about our integrations for ERP, PIM and DATEV.
{
"customer": "K-10427",
"sku": "40-1180",
"prices": [
{ "valid_from": "2026-01-01T00:00:00+01:00", "net": 12.40, "list": "PL-2026" },
{ "valid_from": "2027-01-01T00:00:00+01:00", "net": 12.90, "list": "PL-2027" }
],
"contract": { "id": "RV-2026-018", "net": 11.80, "valid_until": "2027-03-31" }
}The example shows the core idea: every price carries its valid-from date with time and time zone, and a contract price sits next to it with its end date. The portal builds the preview from such records, and the same records decide the price in the cart from the cut-off. There is no second source, such as a spreadsheet just for the preview. The basics of pricing logic with tiers and customer groups are covered in the article on B2B price lists and tier pricing in Shopware.
Before approval, a spot check pays off: for selected customers with a framework contract, with tiers and with standard terms, the 2027 price in the ERP is compared with the price in the preview. The same spot check runs against real orders on the first working day in January. Discrepancies go to the team that maintains the price lists, not to customer service, which could only pass them on.
The announcement: early, factual and with a date
The preview only works if your customers know about it. An announcement in the portal and by email states the valid-from date, where the new prices can be seen, the rule for December orders delivered in January, and a contact person for questions about terms. Reasons for individual increases belong in the conversation with the customer, not in the circular. A calm, factual tone carries further than a long account of the market situation.
The portal itself is the natural channel. In a survey of wholesalers, retailers and motor vehicle traders with at least ten employees, 95 percent named simpler ordering as an advantage of digitalization and 92 percent easier communication with business partners (Bitkom). An email with a link to the preview also has a practical advantage: an attached price list goes out of date with the next correction and then sits in inboxes in several versions. If you also need a print version, generate it from the same approved version; how that works is described in the article on print catalogs and price lists from shop data.
- Valid-from date with day and time, for example 1 January 2027, 00:00.
- Location of the preview in the customer account, with a direct link to the page.
- Rule for the cut-off: order date or delivery date, explained in one sentence.
- Open quotes and framework contracts: a note that they keep their price level.
- Download of the customer's own price list as CSV or PDF.
- Contact person in sales for questions about individual terms.
Timeline up to 1 January
- By mid-November: 2027 price list complete in the ERP, rule for order date or delivery date decided, open quotes and framework contracts running across the year end evaluated.
- End of November: check the preview in a test environment with real terms, run a spot check against the ERP, agree on the wording of the announcement and the cart notice.
- 1 December: enable the preview for customers and send the announcement.
- By 15 December: store the 2027 prices in the shop with their valid-from date and test the switch on a copy with the date set forward.
- 1 January, 00:00: the price level switches without manual work; the on-call team checks cart, order and order confirmation with a test account.
- By 15 January: spot check across real orders, quotes and framework contracts, then move the preview into normal operation.
The timeline falls into the weeks when stocktaking, number ranges and maintenance windows are due anyway. If you link it to the overall year-end process, you plan one shared window instead of several separate ones. The only important thing is that the price preview does not land on the last project day before Christmas: whatever should be visible on 1 December has to be checked by the end of November.
How we implement the price preview
We build price previews on Shopware CE and your existing ERP pricing. The interface transfers the 2027 prices with their valid-from date as a separate price level, an extension in the customer account shows the preview with comparison, a filter on the customer's own items and a download, and the roles in the portal control who sees it. We add notices in the cart, in wish lists and on quotes wherever your cut-off rule calls for them. How we develop and maintain extensions for Shopware CE is described on the page about Shopware development.
It starts with an inventory: which price lists, tiers and contracts your ERP holds, how it represents validity periods and which rule currently applies to orders across the year end. This shows whether the full preview by 1 December is realistic or whether a lean start with a download and an announcement makes more sense. If you are planning the shop as a whole for 2027, the article What does a B2B shop cost? Budget for 2027 helps with the bigger picture; for aligning portal, interface and processes, our e-commerce consulting supports you.
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