When we talk about Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in ecommerce, it’s often a concept hidden beneath the surface. Beyond licensing fees and setup costs, real-world factors like inefficient workflows, rigid architectures, or poor connectivity can quietly eat away at margins. To uncover how TCO manifests in practice, we analyzed insights from 100 Shopware customers across industries. What emerged were five recurring lessons – each illustrated by a real customer case study.
This blog post is based on a talk presented at Shopware Community Day, where Adriana Dzalbe and Corinna Bratt shared these findings with the audience.
Below, we summarize the five key lessons. For those who want to dive deeper, you can explore the full case studies linked in each section.
Lesson 1: Personalized yet simple Workflows
Veolia, a world-leading provider of waste management services supporting ecological transformation with over 200,000 employees worldwide, discovered that workflow complexity can be more costly than the technology itself. By tailoring workflows with Shopware, they accelerated internal processes and lightened workload while delivering exceptional, personalized services. This not only reduced hidden costs but also empowered teams to focus on higher-value tasks.
Lesson 2: Seamless API Connectivity
Virgin Active is an international chain of health and fitness clubs offering gyms, spas, and wellness services across multiple continents. Their Italian base faced the challenge of managing fragmented data across multiple systems, and difficulty keeping up with fast-paced market changes. With streamlined API integrations in Shopware, they centralized subscription management and achieved consistent, efficient operations. This reduced operational complexity and delivered a better member experience.
Lesson 3: Future-Proof Architecture
Beijer Ref is a global leader in refrigeration, air conditioning, and heating solutions, operating in over 45 countries and serving more than 100,000 customers. The company needed scalable infrastructure across its 35 instances and 200,000+ product catalogue. Shopware’s composable and headless architecture enabled rapid product discovery while providing the flexibility to scale without costly replatforming – a crucial factor in keeping long-term TCO predictable.
Lesson 4: Automation of Processes
Thomas Philipps is a German furniture retailer specializing in home and garden products, operating over 250 stores in Germany and additional locations in Austria and Lithuania. They automated ERP syncs, order flows, and accounting processes, cutting their accounting workload by 80%. The lesson: automation not only saves time but also dramatically reduces operational costs hidden within manual workarounds.
Lesson 5: Customer-Centricity by Design
PMG (home of Popal & supersuper) is one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the Benelux region, founded in 1998 and working with over 1,500 dealers across Europe. They transformed their B2B portal into a B2C-like experience, making browsing inspiring and purchasing seamless. The results were tangible: +52% more orders and +30% more sessions per user. The case shows how investing in UX pays off directly in conversions – a core driver of TCO.
Conclusion
TCO is about more than the visible upfront costs. These five lessons – from personalized workflows to future-proof architecture – highlight where ecommerce businesses can gain or lose ground. Each case study demonstrates that strategic decisions in technology and design directly impact long-term cost efficiency.
Curious to explore more? Check out the full stories of Veolia, Virgin Active, Beijer Ref, Thomas Philipps, and PMG.
And if you’d like to continue the conversation, connect with the SCD speakers on LinkedIn: Adriana Dzalbe and Corinna Bratt.
