Case Study | B2B HVAC Distribution
PHG: Shopware 6 B2B HVAC Distribution Migration
Moving a high-volume distributor from legacy code to modern infrastructure without losing a day of orders.
INDUSTRY
Plumbing, HVAC & Gas Distribution
PLATFORM
Shopware 6 (from Magento 2)
MODEL
B2B Wholesale Distribution
FOCUS
Data Migration & Multi-Channel
The migration challenge
Tens of thousands of SKUs, hundreds of B2B customers, zero downtime tolerance
PHG’s Magento platform had accumulated years of technical debt. Extensions were fragile. Every feature request was a negotiation with the codebase. Scaling became increasingly expensive.
But the migration couldn’t interrupt operations. PHG’s customers order daily. Cancel the platform for six months and you’ve handed the business to a competitor.
What needed to move
- Product catalogs, pricing tables, and contract terms – accurately
- Shipping logic: weight-based rates, hazmat rules, zone pricing, carrier routing
- Payment processing: credit card, ACH, net-30 terms
- Amazon as a sales channel with live inventory sync
- Unified order management across all channels
How we solved it
Phased migration with parallel operation
Data mapping and validation – testing product, pricing, and customer data for accuracy before touching the live system. Both Magento and Shopware running simultaneously during cutover. Intensive post-launch stabilization.
For shipping, we rebuilt the logic to match PHG’s exact business rules. We tested against thousands of sample shipments before production cutover. When edge cases emerged post-launch, we resolved them within hours.
What the platform delivers
Modern B2B infrastructure
Accurate multi-method shipping
Every shipping quote accounts for weight, zone, hazmat class, and carrier specifications. Customers see real costs upfront. Warehouse teams receive carrier assignments automatically.
Reliable payment processing
Credit card, ACH, and net-30 workflows process reliably. Payment failures trigger automatic retry with customer notifications. Special terms for high-volume customers process through custom workflows.
Real-time Amazon integration
Orders from Amazon flow into Shopware within minutes. Stock is unified across all channels. If it sells on Amazon, web customers see updated inventory. Overselling is impossible.
Unified order management
One system shows all orders regardless of source. Support can view complete history, process returns, handle exceptions, and run analytics without tool-switching.
The bottom line
Legacy platforms become anchors. Modern ones become engines.
You can’t add features without weeks of integration work. Performance is inconsistent during peak season. A modern platform like Shopware was built for B2B complexity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Phased execution: data mapping and validation first, parallel operation during cutover, intensive post-launch stabilization. Both old and new systems run simultaneously. Customers never experience downtime.
Shopware was built for B2B. It understands contract pricing, multi-warehouse inventory, complex shipping rules, integration with fulfillment partners, and channel management. Lower maintenance costs and faster feature delivery.
If your current platform is limiting growth, adding operational burden, or making feature development slow and expensive, let’s talk.
Ready to move to a modern B2B platform?
Let us discuss what you’re building.
We respond within one business day.