The Challenge

An industrial machinery dealer specialized in high-value equipment needed to facilitate tender-based procurement processes. Their sales model required customers to submit bid requests, receive counter-offers, and navigate complex multi-level approval chains before finalizing purchases.

Critical Pain Points

  • Shopware's standard checkout designed for direct purchases, not bidding
  • No native support for multi-party tender negotiations
  • Complex approval chains required for B2B compliance
  • Need for complete audit trails for regulatory compliance
  • Managing counter-offers and bid revisions

The client needed a completely reimagined workflow where customers would browse products, submit tender requests with detailed specifications, engage in back-and-forth negotiations, and route approvals through organizational hierarchies before final purchase authorization.

The Solution

I architected a comprehensive custom plugin that fundamentally transforms the Shopware checkout experience into a sophisticated tender management platform, replacing the standard cart-to-purchase flow with a request-negotiate-approve workflow tailored for B2B industrial sales.

Technical Implementation

Status-Driven Digital Tender Workflow

Built a complete status-based tender lifecycle system tracking progression through stages: Submitted → Under Review → Approval Pending → Approved → Order Placed. Each status change triggers automated notifications and enables specific actions, creating a transparent and auditable procurement process.

Customer Tender Dashboard with Multi-Checkout

Created a customer account dashboard integrated with Shopware where customers can view all their tenders with status-based filtering (Submitted, Under Review, Approved, etc.). Won tenders can be selected and processed together through a multi-checkout feature, enabling bulk order placement for multiple approved bids simultaneously.

Multi-Level Approval Workflow

Implemented a flexible approval chain system with configurable routing rules, automated notifications, and role-based permissions ensuring proper authorization at each stage of the tender process.

Vue.js Admin Tender Management Dashboard

Built a comprehensive Vue.js admin interface within Shopware's administration panel for managing incoming tenders, updating tender statuses, processing approvals, and generating compliance reports with complete audit trails.

Results & Business Impact

Onboarded 24+ Enterprise Customers

Successfully onboarded 24 new enterprise customers through the platform in the first year, establishing a strong foundation for this new B2B venture in the industrial machinery sector.

Tender Cycle Time Cut in Half

Process automation and streamlined workflows reduced tender cycle from 6 weeks down to 3 weeks, while administrative workload dropped by 90% through digital bid management.

Complete Audit Trail & Compliance

Encrypted bid submissions, timestamped approvals, and comprehensive logging ensure full regulatory compliance and transparency for high-value procurement processes.

Technologies Used

Shopware 6 PHP 8 Symfony Vue.js MySQL Custom Entities B2B Platform

Project Details

Industry
Industrial Machinery / B2B
Location
Germany
Project Type
Custom Plugin Development
Duration
12 weeks

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