Custom e-commerce development
E-commerce development that fits your business, not the other way around. We build webshops, B2B portals, marketplaces and direct-to-consumer platforms that integrate seamlessly with your business processes and grow with your ambitions.
Why custom e-commerce?
Standard webshop templates quickly reach their limits as your business processes grow more complex. Customer-specific pricing, B2B approval workflows, and integrations with your ERP or warehouse system call for a platform built around the way you work. Also discover our headless commerce platform for maximum flexibility.
Built for your business logic
A custom e-commerce platform adapts to your processes, not the other way around. We analyse your order and fulfilment chain, integrate with existing systems and build a checkout that does exactly what your customers need. From tiered pricing and assortment management to automated order processing.
Our e-commerce specialisms
Every type of online sales requires its own approach. We build platforms that match your sales model, target audience and growth strategy, from headless architectures to complex B2B portals.
Headless commerce platforms
Frontend and backend fully decoupled via APIs. This gives you maximum freedom in design, enables omnichannel selling and delivers faster load times. Ideal when you want to serve multiple sales channels from a single backend. Read more about our headless commerce approach.
- Omnichannel: web, app, kiosk, social
- Freedom in frontend technology
- Better performance and SEO
- Independently scalable per layer
B2B portals and ordering platforms
B2B e-commerce with customer-specific pricing, approval workflows, bulk ordering and account hierarchies. Direct integration with your ERP and CRM so that orders, stock and invoicing flow through automatically without manual work.
- Customer-specific pricing and discounts
- Approval flows and budget limits
- Bulk and repeat orders
- Self-service account management
Marketplace platforms
Multi-vendor platforms where several sellers offer their products or services. Includes seller onboarding, commission structures, split payments and vendor dashboards. Built as enterprise software that scales from tens to thousands of sellers.
- Multi-vendor product management
- Split payments and commissions
- Vendor dashboards and reporting
- Automated seller onboarding
Direct-to-consumer webshops
Brands selling direct to consumers need a webshop that reflects their brand identity and maximises conversion. We build D2C platforms with personalised experiences, smart product recommendations and optimised checkout flows.
- Brand-focused shopping experience
- Conversion-optimised checkout
- Personalisation and recommendations
- Subscriptions and repeat purchases
Tools and Technologies
We choose the technology that best suits your situation. Sometimes that is an existing commerce platform, sometimes a fully custom solution. We work with proven tools and combine them into a stack that fits your business.
Commerce backends
API-first commerce engines that offer maximum flexibility. commercetools for enterprise scale, Medusa as an open-source alternative, and Saleor for Python-based projects. We build the frontend separately with React, Next.js or Astro.
Shopify and WooCommerce
For a quick go-to-market or when a SaaS model suits you. Shopify (Plus) for hosted commerce with an app ecosystem, WooCommerce when WordPress integration is desired. We build custom themes, apps and extensions that go beyond standard functionality.
Custom e-commerce
If no existing platform fits your business logic, we build a fully custom e-commerce solution. With our software development expertise, we deliver platforms that do exactly what you need, built on modern architectural principles.
Integration possibilities
A webshop doesn't stand on its own. Its real power lies in its integrations with your existing business systems. We build smart integrations that ensure data flows automatically from order to delivery.
ERP systems
Exact Online, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Unit4. Automatic synchronisation of orders, stock and financial data.
PIM systems
Akeneo, Pimcore, inRiver. Central product information management that flows automatically into your webshop.
Payment platforms
Mollie, Adyen, Stripe, MultiSafepay. All common payment methods, including iDEAL, credit cards, Klarna and BNPL.
Fulfilment
WMS integrations, shipping labels (PostNL, DHL, DPD), track-and-trace and returns handling. Fully automated.
Do you have a system that isn't covered here? We build custom middleware that can connect any system with an API to your e-commerce platform.
Why Appfront for e-commerce?
E-commerce development requires more than front-end skills alone. It calls for a team that understands how payments, logistics, product management and customer data work together as one integrated whole.
Our approach
Analysis → Architecture → Development → Integration → Launch → Growth
Technical depth
We are not theme builders but software developers who understand e-commerce. From complex pricing calculations and stock logic to high-performance frontends and scalable API layers. See our full range of services and previous work for more context.
- Experience with complex commerce business logic
- API-first and headless architecture expertise
- Performance optimisation and scalability
Integration expertise
Most e-commerce projects do not fail because of the webshop itself, but because of poor integration with existing systems. Our API integration specialists ensure data flows reliably and in real time between your webshop, ERP, PIM, WMS and payment platform.
- Real-time data synchronisation
- Error handling and monitoring
- Documentation and handover
Security and compliance
Selling online means handling payment details, personal data and business-critical transactions. We build e-commerce platforms with security as the foundation, not an afterthought.
- PCI DSS-compliant payment processing via certified PSPs
- GDPR-compliant handling of customer data
- SSL/TLS encryption on all data transfers
- Secure authentication and session management
- Regular security audits and penetration testing
- Automated backups and disaster recovery
Read more about our information security policy and vulnerability disclosure policy.
Frequently asked questions about e-commerce development
Would you like to look at this from the custom software angle? applatenmaken.com has a write-up on building e-commerce analytics software.
If you sell to businesses, your webshop depends on prices and stock coming directly from your ERP rather than from an export. For the CloudSuite platform, we worked this through in building a CloudSuite integration.