Shopify B2B Speedboat for S/4HANA: Fast Track to Your Digital Sales Channel
Many SAP customers are currently facing a strategic challenge: digital sales channels need to be modernized or built from the ground up – quickly, customer-focused, and future-ready. Whether it’s about replacing a homegrown legacy solution or launching a completely new setup as part of an S/4HANA strategy, entering the world of e-commerce often feels like a major, high-risk undertaking.
Especially in the SAP environment, companies are asking: Is it worth investing in another costly, hard-to-maintain system – or is now the right time for a true fresh start? Traditional solutions often come with high upfront costs and ongoing budget demands for maintenance, upgrades, and infrastructure.
Shopify Plus offers a fundamentally different approach: a transparent and comparatively affordable licensing model – without hidden operational or infrastructure costs. Thanks to its fully cloud-based architecture, ongoing maintenance and hosting efforts are virtually eliminated. Updates happen automatically, with no manual effort required. That means more budget for what really matters: the customer.
The result? A modern, scalable digital sales channel – delivered in a short time and without the risks of traditional enterprise projects.
Speedboat instead of a tanker: What the approach really means
The term “Speedboat” stands for a focused, agile implementation with a clearly defined goal: a fully functional B2B shop delivered in a short time. At the core is Shopify Plus – the powerful enterprise platform that has long proven itself in the B2B space as well.
What makes Shopify Plus the right choice?
Shopify Plus offers, among other things:
- Support for customer-specific pricing, payment terms, and conditions
- Company account structures with multiple contacts per organization
- Multi-store and multi-market capabilities
- A modern, high-performance user interface – optimized for both desktop and mobile devices
When combined with SAP S/4HANA, Shopify Plus becomes a flexible and scalable foundation for digital B2B sales.
Common B2B Use Cases – Easily Handled with Shopify and S/4HANA
Where does digital value actually begin? It’s a question we hear often. Our answer: Wherever the customer sees, experiences, or benefits from something directly. And that’s exactly where the following use cases come in.
They’re based on real-world project requirements and show how SAP data flows into the Shopify store via the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) – intelligently, efficiently, and without the complexity of traditional integrations.
Use Case 1: Real-Time Customer-Specific Pricing
B2B customers expect to see the same prices in the online store that they receive from inside sales or field reps. By default, Shopify Plus does not include ERP-based pricing logic – which is why it’s integrated via SAP BTP: On login, in the cart, or when viewing a product, Shopify queries SAP in real time through BTP to retrieve the valid, customer-specific prices.
Your advantage: Consistent pricing across all channels, fewer sales inquiries, and no need for duplicate price maintenance.
Use Case 2: Accurate Cart Calculation Using SAP Pricing Rules
Many B2B companies rely on complex pricing logic in SAP: discounts, tiered pricing, surcharges, shipping costs, tax rules – often customized for specific industries. Instead of duplicating this logic in Shopify (and risking inconsistencies), the calculation stays entirely within the ERP. Shopify sends the cart data to SAP via SAP BTP, receives the calculated result, and displays it to the customer during checkout – reliably, transparently, and fully SAP-compliant.
Your advantage: Pricing stays where it belongs – in the ERP. This avoids errors, inconsistencies, and costly rework in the shop system.
Use Case 3: Showing Order and Delivery Status in the Customer Portal
After placing an order, customers expect clear information:
- Was the order confirmed?
- When will it be delivered?
- Is tracking available?
Using SAP BTP, status data from the ERP system is automatically made available in Shopify – for example, in the customer account, via email notifications, or as part of a self-service feature.
Your advantage: Fewer customer service inquiries, greater automation, and improved transparency for your customers.
Quick Wins with Shopify Plus: The Speedboat Advantage
- Fast Time-to-Market: Visible results in a short time – instead of lengthy concept phases, you quickly generate real business value.
- Integrated into your SAP landscape: Rapid connection via SAP BTP – fully embedded in your existing system environment.
- Customer-centric: Modern UX and intuitive operation – exactly what today’s B2B customers expect.
- Step-by-step implementation with focus on essentials: Start with core functions, then expand strategically – ongoing maintenance and operational costs remain minimal.
- Minimized project risk: Standardized processes and fast feedback cycles reduce complexity and uncertainty.
From Kickoff to Go-Live: Inside a Speedboat Project
- Establish a shared understanding of project goals and business value
- Define target audiences, product scope, and sales requirements
- Analyze existing SAP systems and relevant data sources
- Configure Shopify Plus based on brand and process requirements
- Activate essential B2B features (e.g. company accounts, price lists, approval workflows)
- Visual customization (e.g. CI-compliant theme, product catalog structure)
- Automate data exchange for customers, pricing, availability, and orders
- Integrate with existing SAP processes with minimal disruption
- Ensure data consistency and reliability between systems
- Launch with a clearly defined feature set and real customer access
- Start with selected markets, customer groups, or product segments
- Expand iteratively based on user feedback and evolving business needs
Winning Internal Stakeholders – Through Clarity, Efficiency, and Customer-Centric Thinking
Choosing a platform like Shopify Plus is more than a system change – it affects established processes, mindsets, and responsibilities.
Especially in ERP-driven environments, you’ll often hear: “That’s how we’ve always done it.” But building effective digital sales channels requires the courage to simplify processes and rethink business logic. That calls for strong arguments – and the ability to win internal support.
- Customer focus over feature overload: A digital channel should be clear, fast, and reliable – not built to handle every exception, but to serve what customers really need.
- Keep what works in SAP: Pricing, availability, order status – core functions stay in the ERP. Shopify Plus doesn’t replace SAP, it extends it with a modern customer interface.
- Less is often more: Not every legacy rule needs to be carried over. The shift is a chance to streamline internal processes.
- Quick results instead of endless projects: The Speedboat approach delivers visible outcomes fast – reducing uncertainty and building trust.
- IT relief through simplicity: No infrastructure, no release cycles, no maintenance effort – business teams can move faster without burdening IT.
- B2B is no longer a special case: Shopify Plus comes with robust B2B features out of the box. What used to require custom development is now standard.
- A system everyone understands: Shopify is intuitive – for customers and internal users alike. That means less training and faster adoption.
Final Takeaway: Accelerated B2B Commerce with Shopify Plus and the Right Strategy
The combination of Shopify Plus and our Speedboat approach enables SAP customers to build their digital sales channels quickly, seamlessly, and with a strong user focus.
Key benefits at a glance:
- Shorter project timelines
- Clean, extensible integration architecture
- No changes required to the SAP core system
- Decoupling of SAP logic and user experience development
Curious how this could work in your system landscape?
Let’s talk – we’ll gladly show you how Shopify Plus can seamlessly integrate into your existing IT environment.