MEGABAD launches its own B2B pro shop with synaigy in seven months
One of the leading online retailers in the bathroom segment in Europe is opening up a new sales channel with an independent shop for tradespeople, planners and installers. Only seven months passed from the initial decision to start to the planned go-live – without a single page of a requirements specification.
Figures, data, facts
7 months
from the initial decision to start in July 2025 to go-live on March 16, 2026
0 pages
Requirements specification. The project started with a phone call and clear guardrails instead of months of conception work
100 %
On-time delivery. The go-live took place as planned, and the sales target for the first month was achieved
7 | 5 | 1
seven specialized systems, five strong partners, one seamless platform
The initial situation. B2C heavyweight without its own B2B channel
Status quo. One of the leading online shops for bathrooms and sanitary products in Europe
MEGABAD is a firmly established player in the B2C business. Founded in 1932, the retailer has been running one of the highest-reach online shops for bathrooms and sanitary products in Europe since 2003, reaching around twelve million users per year and having been named best online shop in the FOCUS Germany test seven times. Tradespeople, installers and planners had long since been ordering from MEGABAD, but via the B2C shop, which was tailored neither to their purchasing processes nor to their pricing models.
This was precisely where the opportunity lay: a target group that already trusted the brand but had so far been forced to work with the wrong tools. A dedicated B2B channel could change that. In July 2025, CTO Stefan Beyler picked up the phone and asked synaigy an unusual question: whether such a shop could also be built without a discovery phase and without a requirements specification. There was no legacy shop that had to be replaced, no legacy features and no existing B2B infrastructure. This phone call became the starting decision – without a planning workshop beforehand and without a functional specification afterwards.
The challenges of building a B2B shop from scratch
There was no B2B infrastructure whatsoever – a real task, but also a rare opportunity: the shop could be built completely on a greenfield site, without any legacy or legacy features.
The time factor was the most critical criterion, because every month without its own channel meant that tradespeople, planners and installers still had to shop via a store that was not built for their processes.
In parallel with the shop project, MEGABAD introduced a new PIM and went through a rebranding; both had to be closely interlinked.
The connection to the ERP and the new Atamya PIM had to be coordinated and implemented iteratively.
An e-commerce project without a requirements specification
Shopware 6 standard instead of months of conception work
Instead of spending months specifying requirements, MEGABAD and synaigy agreed on an iterative implementation model. The reasoning behind it was simple: nobody needs to write a requirements specification for the homepage, listing, product detail page, shopping cart and checkout, because Shopware 6 already provides these functions out of the box and they only need to be configured. The Shopware Commercial B2B Suite additionally delivered quotation tools, price inquiries and approval workflows out of the box. Typical B2B requirements such as price groups, registration approvals and hidden prices for users who are not logged in were added by the business department during the ongoing project, after the standards had been configured.
What structurally replaced the requirements specification
These guardrails replaced the requirements specification not only formally, but structurally. Requirements from the business departments were continuously gathered centrally by the Product Owner, prioritized and passed on to development. This created an agile way of working based on Scrum principles.
Standard before custom, meaning as many out-of-the-box functions as possible.
Template-based approach instead of custom design from scratch.
Small decision-making rounds instead of long coordination loops.
The time factor applies as the most critical criterion for all decisions.
Regular steering meetings with MEGABAD’s management to remove blockers or clarify ambiguities quickly.
B2B shop on Shopware 6 in seven months
The synaigy approach. Agile implementation with tight backward planning
A dedicated core team from synaigy started in August 2025 with configuring the Shopware 6 standard including template and plugins. By October, a first functional MEGABAD-branded shop was in place, into which the requirements from the business departments were continuously incorporated. Parallel workstreams took care of search integration and the integration of the new branding.
Project management remained tight despite all the agility. Planning was done backwards from the targeted go-live in March: end-to-end tests in February, finalization in January and, derived from this, a quality gate with feature freeze on December 15, 2025. At this milestone, PIM and ERP integration and all necessary features had to be in place. This deadline was communicated as binding within MEGABAD and kept the project on track.
ERP and PIM integration without friction
Connection to the ERP system was implemented via middleware based on Azure Service Bus and ran remarkably smoothly. This was made possible by close, daily collaboration with MEGABAD’s IT, which assigned two developers exclusively to the project. Instead of an extensive interface concept, there was a joint kickoff, clearly defined tickets and early proof of concepts for ERP and PIM to identify obstacles in good time. The new Atamya PIM was connected via an existing Shopware plugin.
Constructor search integration in three phases for a safe go-live
Shortly before go-live, the decision was made in favor of Constructor as the search technology. To ensure that the go-live date was not put at risk, the integration was divided into three phases. At launch, autosuggest and the search results page went live; in the second phase (after go-live), the filter and product listing pages follow; and the third expansion stage is dedicated to AI-based recommendations. This kept the project able to move forward without having to forgo powerful search functionality.
synaigy’s services at a glance
Building a complete B2B shop from scratch in seven months, including ERP and PIM integration.
Implementation of individual B2B requirements such as price groups, registration approvals and hidden prices for guests during the ongoing project.
Tight project management with backward planning, quality gate and transparent view of risks in regular steering meetings.
Security scan before go-live as a fixed part of the approach.
Phased integration of the Constructor search to safeguard the go-live date.
Results
Planned go-live and 30,000 users in the first month
The B2B pro shop went live as planned on March 16, 2026, seven months after the initial decision to start. Already in April, the first full month, 30,000 tradespeople, planners and installers used the new channel, and the defined sales target was achieved. For tradespeople, planners and installers, this means dedicated access with purchasing processes and pricing models that fit their business.
The added value, however, also becomes apparent structurally. The consistently standards‑based platform can be developed further quickly; the well‑rehearsed approach of small decision‑making rounds and short cycles continues beyond go‑live, and with the ongoing expansion of search as well as data‑driven optimizations, the next stage is now beginning. Because the real optimization work only starts with genuine user feedback from live operations, and that is exactly how it was planned from the very beginning.
Learnings
What you can take away from the e-commerce project without a requirements specification
The most important insight from this project is that speed does not result from less planning, but from better decisions. Better decisions do not need complete requirements, but a clear stance, robust structures, and the willingness to decide even when not everything is yet known.
A standard that is live is worth more than a perfect concept in the drawer. A functional shop with real user feedback beats delayed perfection, and UX optimization after launch is not a failure, but a deliberate principle. At the same time, doing without a requirements specification only works with the right guardrails. Standard before custom, an MVP focus, and tight decision‑making rounds replace the document structurally and not just formally.
For retailers in a comparable situation, the project contains two further messages. B2B is not an add‑on to B2C, but a business model in its own right with its own processes, which also means a cultural shift. And parallel topics such as introducing a PIM or a rebranding are no reason to wait, but can be the reason to start now with what is already in motion.
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