Platform & Integration for B2B Commerce on Shopify Plus

Two proven paths. For standard order, inventory, pricing, and customer flows, a managed iPaaS like Patchworks — where we are an integration partner — ships pre-built SAP connectors and gets you live in weeks. For bespoke field mapping, asynchronous queues, or non-standard SAP modules, we build a custom middleware layer instead. We have shipped both, and we recommend based on your transaction volume, data complexity, and internal IT capacity — not on what we would prefer to sell. A working example: Atelier du Chef, a Quebec commercial kitchen equipment distributor, runs its B2B storefront with deep SAP integration — product data, inventory across multiple locations, customer-specific pricing, and orders flowing into SAP without manual re-entry. That is the standard we hold every ERP integration to: the storefront and the back office operating as one system, with monitoring and error handling so it stays that way.

Patchworks is an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) purpose-built for Shopify Plus and the surrounding B2B stack. It ships pre-built connectors for SAP, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Akeneo, and dozens of other systems, so standard integration patterns — orders down, inventory and pricing up, customer sync both ways — deploy in weeks rather than the months a custom build takes. It also provides managed monitoring, error handling, and retry logic, which is what keeps an integration reliable after launch. Human After All is a Patchworks Partner: we design the data flows, configure the connectors, and layer custom logic where your processes deviate from the standard patterns. When is Patchworks the right call? Standard flows, common ERPs, limited internal IT capacity. When is it not? Bespoke queuing, unusual systems, or logic no connector covers — then we build custom API integrations on the same architecture principles.

Yes — and it is one of the cleanest PIM-to-commerce integrations available. We model product data inside Akeneo — families, attributes, variants, digital assets — configure channel-specific exports, and pipe enriched data into Shopify Plus on a scheduled or event-driven basis, through the Patchworks iPaaS connector for real-time sync or custom API integrations when your data model needs bespoke handling. The result: product content is governed once in the PIM and published consistently to your storefront, so launching new products or markets stops requiring copy-paste across systems. Human After All is both an Akeneo Partner and a Shopify Plus Partner, which is rarer than it should be — most agencies do the PIM or the storefront, not both. Same team, aligned data model, one roadmap. For complex B2B catalogs with deep technical specifications, this pairing is the difference between a website and a durable product experience.

Patchworks-based integrations covering standard flows — orders, inventory, pricing, customers — typically take 6–10 weeks. Custom middleware for complex SAP, NetSuite, or Dynamics scenarios runs 12–20 weeks, depending on field-mapping depth, queuing requirements, and how many systems participate. The timeline drivers we scope up front: data quality in the ERP, customer-specific pricing complexity, order routing rules, and your internal IT team’s availability for testing windows. We always plan the integration as a peer workstream to the storefront build, never an afterthought bolted on before launch — disconnected timelines are how B2B projects end up with beautiful storefronts nobody uses internally. With 40+ ERP integrations shipped across SAP, NetSuite, Dynamics, Tecsys, Cin7, and ServiceCentre, we have standard patterns for most scenarios, which is what keeps these estimates honest rather than optimistic. Integration testing with real orders is part of every plan.

Yes. NetSuite is one of our most common integrations. We have shipped real-time synchronization of orders, inventory, pricing, and customer data between Shopify Plus and NetSuite, using both the Patchworks iPaaS connector and custom SuiteScript development, depending on the complexity of the target environment. The standard pattern: orders flow from Shopify into NetSuite for fulfillment and invoicing, while inventory, pricing, and customer records flow back to keep the storefront accurate. Where it gets interesting is the B2B specifics — customer-specific price levels, credit limits and payment terms, multi-location inventory, partial fulfillments — which is where generic connector setups usually fall short and where our operator background pays off. We scope those edge cases in discovery, not after go-live. And as with every integration we ship, the NetSuite connection gets monitoring, error handling, and retry logic — an integration that fails silently is worse than no integration.

Both work, and we ship both — the right answer depends on your flows. An iPaaS like Patchworks reduces time-to-value and maintenance overhead for standard patterns: pre-built connectors, managed infrastructure, monitoring included. It is usually the right call for common ERPs with conventional order and inventory flows. Custom API integrations win when you need bespoke business logic, complex queuing, or you are integrating a system no connector covers — like ServiceCentre, the Quebec ERP we connected to Shopify Plus for Husky Boutique, with real-time order sync, split invoicing, and B2B pricing at the point of sale. Cost works differently too: an iPaaS carries subscription fees but low build cost; custom carries a higher build cost but no monthly platform fee. We recommend the right tool for the job, not the one we want to sell — as a Patchworks Partner that also builds custom middleware, we have no stake in one answer.