E-commerce guide
E-commerce software development in Spain: when Shopify is not enough
Published: February 19, 2026
Shopify, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop cover 90% of e-commerce stores. The 10% they don't cover are exactly the B2B e-commerces with complex catalogues, per-client pricing, real-time ERP integration, and proprietary business logic that no standard platform can model. This guide is for that 10%.
Signals you've hit the limits of the standard platform
- Per-client or segment pricing: if you have more than 3 different price tiers, per-B2B-account price lists, or discounts that depend on purchase history, standard platforms become a juggling act of plugins that break between updates.
- Real-time ERP integration: when you need stock, orders, and prices synchronised with your ERP in real time (not overnight batch), standard solutions generate inconsistencies that cost sales.
- Configurable catalogues and complex products: machinery, customised equipment, products with complex technical variants (dimensions, materials, compatibilities) requiring a non-standard product configurator.
- B2B checkout with client validation: orders pending internal approval, per-account credit limits, 30/60/90-day invoicing, and VAT/company validation at registration — all of this requires logic that Shopify cannot model with plugins.
Custom e-commerce architecture: what stack works
- Headless commerce: separate the frontend (React/Next.js) from the e-commerce backend. Maximum UX flexibility without depending on Shopify's or WooCommerce's template system.
- API-first backend: build the e-commerce engine as a REST or GraphQL API that can serve multiple frontends (web, mobile, B2B portal, internal sales app). More upfront effort, much more flexible long-term.
- Bidirectional ERP sync: real-time webhooks for stock and prices, with a message queue (RabbitMQ, Redis Streams) to handle load spikes without losing transactions.
- Decoupled pricing engine: a separate service that calculates the final price based on client account, order volume, active promotions, and proprietary business rules — impossible to model maintainably with WooCommerce plugins.
How to migrate without losing SEO or traffic
- Catalogue migration: export products with all metadata, images, and variants. Validate no SKUs are lost and product URLs maintain their structure to preserve SEO.
- 301 redirects for changed URLs: if the new platform uses a different URL structure, implement 301 redirects before launch. Each URL without a redirect is lost traffic and domain authority.
- Order history and customer data migration: export the last 24 months of order history and customer data. Mandatory for B2B e-commerce where clients need to access their history.
- Launch with reduced traffic first: run both platforms in parallel for a % of traffic before full cutover. Catches production bugs without risking all traffic.
Real development costs vs. cost of staying with the standard
- Annual Shopify Plus cost with plugins: base licence (€750/month) + third-party apps (€200-800/month) + transaction fees. Typical total: €15,000-€30,000/year.
- Custom e-commerce cost: initial development €20,000-€80,000 depending on scope. Annual maintenance €5,000-€15,000. No licences, no transaction fees, no plugin limits.
- Typical break-even: an e-commerce with €500,000+ annual GMV usually recovers the investment in 18-30 months compared to growing Shopify Plus costs.
- Hidden cost of the standard that nobody calculates: internal dev time spent on plugin workarounds, commercial team doing manual work the system can't automate, and lost sales from technical limitations.
Has your e-commerce hit the limits of the standard platform? We evaluate your case at no cost.