Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions About B2B E-Commerce
From the initial project idea to ongoing operations: here you will find answers to the most important questions about B2B shop development, technology selection, interfaces and working with XICTRON.
General Questions
- What distinguishes a B2B shop from a B2C online store? A B2B shop does not map the spontaneous one-off purchase but recurring procurement processes between companies. It starts with pricing: instead of a single consumer price, every…
- Which industries does XICTRON build B2B shops for? We serve companies in wholesale and distribution, manufacturing and supply industry, medical and laboratory technology, building materials trade, food and beverage as well as…
- Why does XICTRON use Shopware Community Edition? Shopware Community Edition is an open-source commerce platform developed in Germany. The open source code lets us adapt the business logic deeply instead of being confined to a…
- Can an existing shop be migrated to Shopware? Yes, switching from a legacy platform to Shopware Community Edition is one of our regular project types. It always starts with an assessment: which data structures exist, which…
- How does XICTRON ensure data security in the B2B shop? A B2B shop processes sensitive business data: individual conditions, order volumes and customer relationships. We therefore consider security from the outset, not as an add-on…
- Does XICTRON offer training for shop administrators? Yes. A platform only delivers value once your team operates it confidently. After go-live, your administrators and content managers therefore receive hands-on training on the…
Technical Questions
- Which ERP systems can be connected to the B2B shop? We have integration experience with SAP Business One, SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics 365, DATEV and numerous industry-specific inventory management systems. What matters is less…
- How does a Shopware B2B shop perform with large catalogs? Large B2B catalogs with hundreds of thousands of products and variants are not an edge case but the norm. With the right architecture, Shopware Community Edition scales reliably…
- Does the B2B shop support customer-specific pricing and volume discounts? Yes, individual pricing is the heart of any B2B solution. In the business customer space there is rarely a single list price, but conditions negotiated per customer or customer…
- Can the shop operate in multiple languages and currencies? Yes. Shopware Community Edition natively supports multiple sales channels with different languages, currencies and tax configurations. For each target market we set up a dedicated…
- Which payment methods are available for B2B customers? B2B customers expect different payment methods than consumers. The focus is on purchase on invoice with configurable payment terms, complemented by SEPA direct debit, prepayment…
- How are order approvals and budget limits implemented technically? Multi-tier approvals mirror your customer's purchasing organization in the shop. An orderer creates a cart that is automatically routed to the department head or procurement…
Security and Data Protection
- Where is the B2B shop data hosted? All platforms we maintain run on servers in German data centers. These feature redundant power supply, climate control and network connectivity, so the failure of a single…
- What GDPR measures are implemented by default? We build data protection into the shop from the ground up, not after the fact. By default this includes encrypted data transfer via TLS, cookie consent management with granular…
- How is the shop protected against attacks? Protection does not come from a single measure but from several interlocking layers. These include a Web Application Firewall (WAF) against common attack patterns, rate limiting…
- Is there a backup concept for emergencies? Yes, every platform we maintain has a multi-tier backup concept. Daily full backups of the database and file system, complemented by more frequent incremental backups and…
- Can access rights in the shop be assigned in a differentiated manner? Yes, role-based access control is a core component of any B2B solution. In a business customer account, many people often act with different rights. We map this through…
- How are sensitive data like prices and conditions protected? Individual conditions are a competitive factor in B2B and must not fall into the wrong hands. That is why customer-specific prices, discounts and contract details are visible…
Costs and Investment
- What does a typical B2B e-commerce project cost? A blanket figure would be misleading, because the investment depends heavily on scope. As a rough orientation: a B2B shop with standard functionality and a manageable ERP…
- Are there hidden costs such as license fees? The platform itself incurs no license costs: Shopware Community Edition is open source, independent of the number of your customers, orders or products. This eliminates a cost…
- What ongoing costs arise after go-live? After go-live, essentially three ongoing items arise: hosting, maintenance and optional further development. Hosting on German servers covers infrastructure, SSL certificates and…
- Does XICTRON work with fixed prices or on a time-and-materials basis? Both are possible, and the choice depends on how clear your requirements are. For sharply defined projects with a stable requirements catalog, we offer fixed prices that give you…
- How is the return on investment of a B2B shop calculated? The economic benefit of a B2B shop rarely stems from a single effect but from the interplay of several levers. Central is the reduction of manual order processing: orders that…
- Can the project be divided into sub-projects to distribute the investment? Yes, we even recommend a phased approach in many cases. Instead of implementing everything at once, phase one starts with the core shop, a basic ERP connection and the most…
Projects and Costs
- What does a typical B2B shop project at XICTRON look like? A typical project goes through five phases. In the analysis phase (about two to three weeks) we capture requirements, analyze existing systems and record the goals in a…
- How long does it take to develop a B2B shop? Duration depends on scope. A B2B shop with standard functionality, one ERP connection and up to around 50,000 products is usually operational within four to six months. Projects…
- What happens if requirements change during the project? Changes are the rule in the B2B environment, not the exception. Over the course of a project, new insights almost always emerge from operational business, and a good process must…
- What internal resources do I need to provide? The biggest contribution is a fixed subject matter contact on your side who knows the business processes and can make decisions. Without this ability to decide, projects stall…
- How are progress and quality ensured during the project? Transparency is not a buzzword for us but a way of working. You receive regular status updates with progress reports and an honest risk assessment, so delays become visible early…
- What support do I receive after go-live? Go-live is the beginning of productive operation, not the end of the collaboration. Directly afterwards, a four-week hypercare phase starts with increased availability and…
Ongoing Support and Maintenance
- What maintenance packages does XICTRON offer? Our maintenance is tiered, because a small specialist retailer has different requirements than a business-critical procurement platform. The base package covers the essentials…
- How quickly does XICTRON respond to technical issues? Response time depends on the agreed service package, so you only pay for the service level you actually need. With the Basis package we respond to critical incidents within four…
- Can the shop be extended with new features after go-live? Yes, and that is exactly how it is intended. A B2B shop is not a finished product but grows with your business. Because we build on an open, open-source foundation, new features…
- How are Shopware updates applied? We never apply updates blindly to the live environment. First we evaluate them in a test environment and check compatibility with your individual modifications and extensions…
- What happens if we want to switch providers? A provider switch should be possible for you at any time, without technical or contractual ties standing in the way. Because we rely exclusively on open-source technologies, the…
- How is shop performance monitored long-term? Performance is not a state you establish once but a quantity that can creep downward as the catalog grows and load increases. That is why we continuously monitor the most…