Services
E-commerce & Online Sales
Custom Software & Apps
Company
Our company
Project at a glance
- Client
- Venova AG, Switzerland
- Industry
- Distribution of air-conditioning and solar products
- Solution
- Custom-built B2B ordering portal: b2b.venova.ch
- Integrations
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV (ERP), Shopware (webshop), PostFinance Checkout (payments)
- Technology
- Symfony 8, PHP 8.4, PostgreSQL 17
- Duration
- about three months, 2026
- Outcome
- 24/7 self-service ordering, with orders created automatically as sales orders in the ERP
Venova AG
Smart Dato designed and developed b2b.venova.ch, a B2B ordering portal for the Swiss distributor Venova AG, from the ground up. Business customers sign in without a password and see their negotiated prices, their approved product range and live availability. Each order is created automatically as a sales order in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, while product data and stock information come from Venova's existing Shopware webshop. Venova gained a new sales channel for trade customers without adding another data silo.
About Venova AG
Venova AG is a Swiss distributor of air-conditioning and solar products. Besides its public webshop venova.ch, which runs on Shopware, the company supplies trade customers, mostly installers and resellers, who buy on individually agreed terms and from a dedicated range.
The challenge: trade orders by phone and email
Before the project, B2B orders arrived by phone or email. The sales team took each one, checked prices and stock, and keyed the order into the ERP by hand. That meant a steady load of routine work for the team and waiting time for customers who needed a quick answer.
Venova wanted to automate order entry. One condition was clear from the start: the new portal must not become a third system with its own data that someone has to keep in sync with the ERP and the webshop.
Requirements
- Self-service ordering, available 24/7
- Customer-specific pricing that matches each negotiated agreement
- Customer-specific assortments, so each customer only sees what is approved for them
- Automatic transfer of every order to the ERP, with no re-keying
- No duplicated data: product information and availability taken from the existing systems
The solution: a custom B2B ordering portal
Smart Dato built b2b.venova.ch as a standalone web application. The landing page, login and registration are public; the product catalogue is available only to approved customers. The application runs on Symfony 8 and PostgreSQL 17 and talks to the systems Venova already relies on through defined interfaces.
A custom build is not always necessary. For many companies, B2B shops on Shopware are the faster route. In Venova's case, the existing consumer-facing Shopware store made a separate trade channel the cleaner option, as long as both used the same data.
How a trade customer orders
Customer-specific pricing and assortments
In B2B, most customers have their own terms. The portal calculates them with a per-customer pricing engine and controls the visible range per customer by product category, so nobody sees prices or products that do not apply to them. Customers can also generate their personal price list as a PDF whenever they need it.
Passwordless sign-in
Customers sign in with a one-time code sent by email and can choose to stay signed in for 30 days. This is still uncommon in B2B ordering platforms, and it removes the need to manage forgotten passwords. It only works if the codes arrive reliably, including at companies whose Swiss mail servers apply strict filtering, so Smart Dato engineered email delivery specifically for deliverability.
Swiss specifics: advance recycling fee and PostFinance Checkout
In Switzerland, many electrical appliances carry an advance recycling fee (vRG). The portal handles it in prices and orders. Payment runs through PostFinance Checkout, PostFinance's online payment service.
Registration in the Venova portal
Three systems, one ordering process
The portal connects three systems and leaves each one to do its own job. Customers order in one place; everything else happens in the background.
Trade customer
Installers and resellers
Orders 24/7
Venova B2B portal
b2b.venova.ch
Pricing logic, assortments, registration and approval
Sync + REST API
Shopware
Products, categories, manufacturers, live availability via REST API
Orders
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Sales orders via web services, queue with automatic retries
Payment
PostFinance Checkout
Payment
Microsoft Dynamics NAV: orders straight into the ERP
Orders are created as sales orders in Microsoft Dynamics NAV through web services, with a message queue in between. If the ERP is briefly unavailable, during maintenance for example, the transfer is retried automatically until the order has arrived. Nobody has to type orders in. Read more about our ERP integration and interfaces.
Shopware: one source for product data and availability
Venova's public webshop runs on Shopware. Products, categories and manufacturers are synchronised from there into the portal, so they are maintained in one place only. For availability, Smart Dato turned the existing stock logic of the Shopware store into a reusable REST API. The B2B portal therefore shows exactly the same availability as the webshop, without the rules being built and maintained a second time.
Results
Trade customers can order 24/7, including outside business hours.
Each customer sees their negotiated prices and only their approved range.
Availability is shown live and matches the webshop.
Orders reach Dynamics NAV automatically, with no manual re-entry.
The portal launched with around 4,000 products, and several B2B customers were onboarded within weeks of launch.
Venova's sales team spends less time on routine order entry.
See how we automate ordering processes in other settings.
Similar requirements in your sales process?
Technology
| Area | Technology | Role in the project |
|---|---|---|
| Application | Symfony 8, PHP 8.4 | Web application, pricing logic, registration and approval |
| Database | PostgreSQL 17 | Customers, terms, orders |
| Front end | Tailwind CSS | Responsive user interface |
| Infrastructure | Cloudflare | Network layer in front of the application |
| ERP | Microsoft Dynamics NAV, web services | Sales orders |
| Webshop | Shopware, custom REST API | Product data, live availability |
| Payments | PostFinance Checkout | Online payment |
| Order transfer | Message queue with automatic retries | Reliable hand-over to the ERP |
When this architecture makes sense
Venova's starting point is common among distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers that sell through trade partners or resellers. A similar portal is worth considering if several of these apply:
- Orders still come in by phone, email or spreadsheet and are re-keyed into the ERP.
- Customers have their own prices, discounts or product ranges.
- A webshop and an ERP already exist, and the portal should use their data rather than copy it.
- A standard shop platform can only handle your pricing or customer approvals with workarounds.
In these cases custom software development is often the cleaner answer, because the software fits the processes rather than the other way round.
Timeline and ongoing support
The project took about three months from kickoff to full rollout and was delivered in 2026. Since launch, Smart Dato has continued to support the portal and add features step by step, including live availability from Shopware.
FAQ: B2B ordering portals
What is a B2B ordering portal?
A B2B ordering portal is a closed online area where approved business customers place orders at any time, on their own terms. Prices, product range and availability appear only after login and reflect what applies to that customer. At Venova AG, the portal is now the digital channel for orders that used to arrive by phone and email.
Can different business customers see different prices and products?
Yes. In the Venova portal, a pricing engine calculates each customer's negotiated prices, and the visible range is approved per customer by product category. Customers can also generate their own price list as a PDF from the same data.
How do orders get from the portal into the ERP?
Automatically. Every order is created as a sales order in Microsoft Dynamics NAV through web services. Transfers run through a message queue, so if the ERP is briefly unavailable the order is retried automatically instead of being lost. Nobody in sales has to re-key it.
Can Shopware be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
Yes. For Venova, the public Shopware store supplies product, category and manufacturer data to the B2B portal, and a REST API built by Smart Dato exposes live availability. Dynamics NAV receives the finished orders. Whether an off-the-shelf connector is enough or a custom interface fits better depends on pricing logic, data volume and ERP customisations. More on ERP integration and interfaces.
When does a custom B2B portal make more sense than a standard shop platform?
When pricing, assortment rules, existing systems or processes only fit a shop platform with workarounds. Venova already ran a public Shopware store and wanted a separate channel for trade customers without maintaining product data twice. For many companies a B2B shop on Shopware is the right fit; we advise on both options. Our article Shopify vs Shopware vs custom compares the three routes.
How long does it take to build a B2B ordering portal?
It depends on scope. The Venova portal, with around 4,000 products and three connected systems, took about three months from kickoff to full rollout. Further features such as live availability were added step by step after launch.
Does passwordless login work for business customers?
For Venova, yes. Customers sign in with a one-time code sent by email, so there is no password to forget or reset, and they can choose to stay signed in for 30 days. This only works if the codes arrive reliably, which is why email delivery was specifically tuned for strict Swiss mail servers.
Planning a B2B ordering portal?
If your trade customers still order by phone or email and your team types those orders into the ERP, let's look at your setup together. In a first call we work out which systems need to be connected and whether a custom portal or a Shopware B2B shop is the better fit.
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