VaporFi unifies retail and wholesale with Shopware’s flexible architecture

The Challenge: Complexity, Regulations, and Fragmented Systems

VaporFi operates in one of the most highly regulated industries in the United States. With thousands of SKUs and restrictions that vary by state, county, ZIP code, and product type, compliance was a constant technical challenge.

By 2023, the company was running two Magento 2 instances: one for retail and one for wholesale. Each was heavily customized with more than sixty extensions. Infrastructure costs were rising, updates were difficult, and performance continued to degrade.

“The code really wasn’t ever ours, and architecture decisions that someone else made began to influence our internal business processes.” — Mike Wattier, Director of Marketing & Ecommerce Operations, VaporFi

VaporFi needed a unified platform to consolidate its B2C, B2B, and D2C channels, streamline operations, and support long-term growth.

Flexible eCommerce Infrastructure: Why VaporFi Chose Shopware

After evaluating Shopify, BigCommerce, and other open-source options, VaporFi selected Shopware 6 for its flexible architecture, rules-driven automation, and developer-friendly PHP/Symfony foundation.

Rules-driven operations with Workflow Builder and Rule Builder

These tools enabled VaporFi to automate:

• Age-gated ordering

• State and attribute-based product restrictions

• A wide variety of unique shipping restriction scenarios

• Complex tax logic for sales and excise tax

• Post-checkout workflows across all brands

Multi-sales channel architecture

A single Shopware backend now powers three distinct businesses:

• VaporFi.com – retail

• SouthBeachSmoke.com – D2C

• VaporBeast.com – closed-access wholesale

This gave VaporFi a unified operational foundation without fragmenting data or processes.

Delivering a Unified Platform with solution25

solution25 led the implementation and completed a highly complex commerce rebuild in just eight months, a timeline that would typically take more than a year.

“This was a complex project, but solution25 leaned in. They handled excise taxes, regional rules, and custom pricing with precision. They truly felt like part of our own team.” — Mike Wattier

solution25 continues to maintain and enhance several open-source plugins developed during the project, contributing those improvements back to the Shopware community.

A Key Challenge: Migrating Data from Magento to Shopware

Moving VaporFi and its other brands to Shopware took more than just building a new, functional website. Preserving existing data was non-negotiable. solution25 helped manage a large-scale data migration project, which included: 

• 2,000 products

• 300,000 orders

• 100,000 customers

• Active subscriptions

To safeguard long-term SEO value, solution25 implemented a complete URL migration strategy, manually validating the top 100 product URLs and mapping Magento’s .html suffix to Shopware’s structure.

70+ Extensions and Key Custom Development

VaporFi’s Shopware instance uses more than 70 extensions, including 20 custom plugins developed by solution25 and more than 50 from the Shopware Store. Notable custom work includes:

This combination of custom development and modular extensions created a highly adaptable commerce stack.

B2B Order Automation and High-Volume Cart Performance

VaporFi’s wholesale buyers often place extremely large orders. On Magento, customers were limited to 150 SKUs in the cart. Shopware removed that barrier entirely.

solution25 built:

• A CSV bulk order upload system

• Automated validation for in-stock, partially in-stock, and out-of-stock SKUs

• Automatic movement of out-of-stock items into B2B shopping lists

• Support for carts with 500 or more line items without performance issues

“We needed a highly performant shop that could carry 500 line items in one cart, and it is working. The B2B customers are much happier now because they can order everything at once.” — Noara Bilalli, Chief Project Officer, solution25

A Connected Ecosystem of Integrations

VaporFi’s Shopware environment includes:

• Hosting: Upsun (Platform.sh)

• ERP: Microsoft Navision

• PIM: Akeneo

• Marketing: Klaviyo, Reviews.io

• Analytics: Metabase, MS Clarity, G4A

• Fraud & Security: MaxMind, AgeChecker.net

• Payments: NMI, Authorize.net

• Tax: Avalara + custom excise tax engine

• Shipping: AfterShip, PudoPoint (upcoming)

iPaaS.com serves as the integration backbone, connecting VaporFi’s core systems, including the ERP and PIM. This hub handles bundle logic, order flow, and multi-system data orchestration, creating a scalable commerce infrastructure. This ecosystem supports both day-to-day operations and future expansion.

Results that Speak for Themselves

“We built everything in eight months, which would organically be a one-to two-year timeline. They needed to move fast from Magento, so we went full speed.” — Noara Bilalli

Conversion & revenue

• 10% increase in conversion rate after launch

• Reduced friction across retail and wholesale buying journeys

What’s Next

VaporFi plans to expand its use of Shopware’s AI-driven capabilities, including:

• AI-powered merchandising

• Automated product recommendations

• 3D product visualization

With its unified architecture, modern integrations, and flexible rules engine, VaporFi is positioned for long-term, scalable growth across all brands and channels.