Vendure Development Services: Headless Commerce Done Right

Why Vendure Is Changing E-Commerce

If you've been running an online store for a while, you know the frustration. Your platform worked fine when you started, but now it's holding you back. You want to add a mobile app, but your monolithic system wasn't built for that. You need custom pricing for wholesale customers, but your platform charges extra for every feature. You're paying monthly fees that keep going up while your flexibility keeps going down.

This is exactly why headless commerce exists. And among headless platforms, Vendure stands out for a simple reason: it was built by developers, for developers, with real business needs in mind.

Vendure gives you complete control over your commerce backend while letting you build any frontend experience you can imagine. No limitations, no vendor lock-in, no surprise fees.

We've been building Vendure solutions since its early days. We've migrated stores from Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and custom legacy systems. We've built B2B portals, multi-vendor marketplaces, and subscription commerce platforms. This guide shares everything we've learned.

What Makes Vendure Different

Vendure is an open-source headless commerce framework built on Node.js and TypeScript. But that technical description doesn't capture why it matters for your business.

Complete Ownership

When you build on Vendure, you own everything. The code, the data, the infrastructure. There's no monthly platform fee that increases as you grow. No percentage of your sales going to a platform provider. No begging for features that never come.

Built for Modern Architecture

Vendure was designed from day one as a headless, API-first platform. This isn't an afterthought bolted onto an old system. Every feature is accessible through GraphQL APIs, which means:

• Your website can be built with Next.js, Nuxt, or any framework
• Your mobile app talks to the same backend
• Your ERP, PIM, and CRM integrate cleanly
• Your warehouse management system gets real-time inventory
• Your marketing tools access customer data they need

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Your Customers                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
          │              │              │              │
          ▼              ▼              ▼              ▼
    ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
    │  Website │  │   App    │  │   POS    │  │  Kiosk   │
    │ (Next.js)│  │ (React   │  │ Terminal │  │  Screen  │
    │          │  │  Native) │  │          │  │          │
    └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘
          │              │              │              │
          └──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
                    ┌───────────────────────┐
                    │    Vendure Backend    │
                    │    ───────────────    │
                    │  • Products & Catalog │
                    │  • Orders & Checkout  │
                    │  • Customers & Auth   │
                    │  • Inventory          │
                    │  • Promotions         │
                    │  • Shipping           │
                    │  • Payments           │
                    └───────────────────────┘
                                │
          ┌─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┐
          ▼                     ▼                     ▼
    ┌──────────┐         ┌──────────┐         ┌──────────┐
    │   ERP    │         │   PIM    │         │   CRM    │
    │  (SAP)   │         │(Pimcore) │         │(HubSpot) │
    └──────────┘         └──────────┘         └──────────┘

TypeScript Throughout

The entire Vendure codebase is written in TypeScript. This matters more than you might think:

• Fewer bugs make it to production
• Your development team works faster with autocomplete and type checking
• Refactoring is safer
• New developers onboard quicker
• Custom plugins integrate seamlessly

Our Vendure Development Services

We offer complete Vendure services, from initial consultation to long-term support. Here's what we do:

New Vendure Implementations

Starting fresh with Vendure? We handle everything:

Discovery and Planning

• Business requirements analysis
• Feature prioritization
• Architecture design
• Integration mapping
• Timeline and milestone planning

Core Setup

• Vendure installation and configuration
• Database setup (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite for development)
• Search configuration (Elasticsearch, MeiliSearch, or built-in)
• Asset storage (S3, Google Cloud Storage, local)
• Email configuration and templates

Custom Development

• Product catalog structure
• Pricing rules and promotions
• Shipping calculations
• Tax configuration by region
• Payment gateway integration
• Custom checkout flows

Frontend Development

• Next.js storefronts with server-side rendering
• Nuxt.js alternatives for Vue teams
• React Native mobile applications
• Progressive Web Apps
• Custom admin panel extensions

Platform Migrations

Moving from another platform to Vendure requires careful planning. We've migrated stores from:

Shopify Migrations

Shopify is great for getting started, but many businesses outgrow it. Common reasons for migrating:

• Transaction fees eating into margins
• Limited customization options
• Expensive apps for basic features
• Restricted access to your own data
• Checkout customization limitations

Our Shopify migration process:

1. Data Export - Products, customers, orders, reviews
2. Data Transformation - Mapping Shopify structures to Vendure
3. URL Mapping - Preserving SEO with proper redirects
4. Testing - Parallel running to verify accuracy
5. Cutover - Zero-downtime transition
6. Post-Migration Support - 30 days of priority support

Magento Migrations

Magento 1 is end-of-life. Magento 2 is expensive and complex. We help businesses escape:

• Complex multi-store setups migrated cleanly
• Custom attributes and product types preserved
• Customer groups and pricing tiers transferred
• Order history maintained for customer service

WooCommerce Migrations

WooCommerce served you well, but WordPress has limits:

• Performance issues with large catalogs
• Security concerns with plugin dependencies
• Scaling challenges
• Limited API capabilities

Legacy System Migrations

Custom-built systems, old platforms, or anything else:

• We reverse-engineer your existing data structures
• Build custom importers for your specific needs
• Handle complex business logic preservation
• Ensure nothing gets lost in translation

Custom Plugin Development

Vendure's plugin architecture is powerful. We build custom plugins for:

Payment Gateways

• Stripe (already available, but we customize)
• PayPal
• Klarna
• Affirm
• Local payment methods (SEPA, iDEAL, Bancontact)
• Cryptocurrency payments
• Custom payment orchestration

Shipping Integrations

• DHL
• FedEx
• UPS
• Local carriers
• Real-time rate calculation
• Label generation
• Tracking integration

ERP Connections

• SAP Business One
• Microsoft Dynamics
• Oracle NetSuite
• Odoo
• Custom ERP systems

PIM Integrations

• Pimcore (our specialty)
• Akeneo
• Salsify
• inRiver
• Custom product information systems

Marketing Tools

• Klaviyo
• Mailchimp
• HubSpot
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud
• Custom email service providers

Analytics and Tracking

• Google Analytics 4
• Segment
• Mixpanel
• Custom data warehouses

B2B Commerce Solutions

B2B commerce has unique requirements that most platforms handle poorly. Vendure's flexibility makes it ideal for B2B:

Customer-Specific Pricing

// Example: Custom pricing plugin structure
@VendurePlugin({
  imports: [PluginCommonModule],
  providers: [CustomerPricingService],
  configuration: config => {
    config.customFields.Customer.push({
      name: 'priceGroup',
      type: 'string',
    });
    return config;
  },
})
export class CustomerPricingPlugin {}

We implement:

• Tiered pricing based on customer groups
• Volume discounts
• Contract pricing
• Negotiated rates per customer
• Currency and region-specific pricing

Quote Management

B2B often requires quotes before orders:

• Request for quote workflows
• Sales team approval processes
• Quote-to-order conversion
• Quote expiration and renewal
• PDF quote generation

Account Hierarchies

Large B2B customers have complex structures:

• Parent/child account relationships
• Multiple shipping addresses
• Buyer permissions and limits
• Approval workflows
• Budget management

Requisition Lists and Quick Order

B2B buyers don't browse—they know what they need:

• Saved order templates
• CSV upload for bulk ordering
• Quick reorder from history
• Barcode/SKU lookup

Credit and Payment Terms

B2B payment is different:

• Net 30/60/90 payment terms
• Credit limits per customer
• Purchase orders
• Invoice generation
• Statement of accounts

B2C Commerce Solutions

For business-to-consumer, we focus on conversion and experience:

Conversion Optimization

• One-page checkout
• Guest checkout
• Saved payment methods
• Address autocomplete
• Cart abandonment recovery

Personalization

• Recently viewed products
• Personalized recommendations
• Dynamic pricing
• Targeted promotions
• Customer segmentation

Multi-Channel

• Responsive web storefront
• Mobile applications
• Social commerce integration
• Marketplace connections
• In-store pickup (BOPIS)

Subscriptions and Recurring Orders

• Subscription product types
• Flexible billing cycles
• Pause and resume
• Subscription management portal
• Dunning management

Vendure with Payload CMS

Content and commerce belong together. We frequently pair Vendure with Payload CMS for complete solutions:

Why Payload?

Like Vendure, Payload is built with TypeScript and designed for developers. They share the same philosophy: give developers full control without sacrificing usability.

Integration Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Next.js Frontend                     │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────┐         ┌─────────────────┐       │
│  │  Product Pages  │         │  Content Pages  │       │
│  │  Cart/Checkout  │         │  Blog/Articles  │       │
│  │  Account        │         │  Landing Pages  │       │
│  └────────┬────────┘         └────────┬────────┘       │
└───────────┼────────────────────────────┼───────────────┘
            │                            │
            ▼                            ▼
    ┌───────────────┐            ┌───────────────┐
    │    Vendure    │◄──────────►│    Payload    │
    │   Commerce    │  Webhooks  │     CMS       │
    │               │   & API    │               │
    └───────────────┘            └───────────────┘

What This Enables

• Rich product descriptions managed in Payload
• Blog posts that link to products
• Landing pages with embedded product grids
• Marketing campaigns with commerce integration
• Consistent content across all channels

PIM Integration Services

Product Information Management is critical for serious e-commerce. We integrate Vendure with all major PIM platforms—not just one. Our team selects and implements the right PIM for your specific needs.

When You Need a PIM

• Hundreds or thousands of products
• Products with many attributes
• Multiple sales channels (web, app, marketplaces, print)
• Complex product relationships
• Digital asset management needs
• Translation and localization workflows
• Multiple teams editing product data

PIM Platforms We Integrate

Pimcore + Vendure

Pimcore is our deepest expertise. Open-source, no license fees, unlimited flexibility.

Why Pimcore:

• PIM + DAM + MDM in one platform
• No per-user licensing costs
• Handle any data model complexity
• Full code ownership

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Pimcore                           │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  • Product Information Management                       │
│  • Digital Asset Management                             │
│  • Master Data Management                               │
│  • Translation Management                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                           │
                           │ Sync Service
                           │ (Real-time or Scheduled)
                           ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Vendure                           │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  • Product Variants & Pricing                          │
│  • Inventory Management                                 │
│  • Order Processing                                     │
│  • Customer Management                                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Our Pimcore Services:

• New implementations from scratch
• Migration from other PIMs
• Custom data model design
• Workflow automation
• Multi-language setup
• DAM configuration
• API development

Akeneo + Vendure

Akeneo is ideal when you need fast deployment and your team wants an intuitive interface.

Why Akeneo:

• Excellent user experience for non-technical teams
• Quick time to value (8-12 weeks typical)
• Strong connector ecosystem
• Cloud or self-hosted options

Our Akeneo Services:

• Community, Growth, or Enterprise edition
• Bidirectional sync with Vendure
• Custom Akeneo Apps development
• ERP and marketplace integrations
• Training and change management

Salsify + Vendure

For brands selling through retail channels, Salsify handles retail syndication alongside Vendure commerce.

Why Salsify:

• Direct connections to major retailers
• Digital shelf analytics
• Content syndication automation
• Brand consistency across channels

Our Salsify Services:

• Platform setup and configuration
• Vendure integration for D2C
• Retailer channel activation
• Content workflow optimization

inRiver + Vendure

Manufacturing companies with complex technical products benefit from inRiver's strength in specifications and documentation.

Why inRiver:

• Built for technical product data
• Strong BOM management
• Spare parts relationships
• Integration with PLM systems

Other PIM Integrations

We also integrate Vendure with:

• Stibo STEP - Enterprise MDM with PIM
• Contentserv - European enterprise focus
• Plytix - Budget-friendly option
• Sales Layer - Fast implementation
• Custom PIMs - Legacy or proprietary systems

How PIM Integration Works

1. Assessment - Evaluate your product data needs
2. Selection - Recommend the right PIM (or work with your existing one)
3. Data Modeling - Design optimal structure for both systems
4. Integration Build - Develop sync service with proper mapping
5. Migration - Move and enrich your product data
6. Testing - Validate data accuracy across systems
7. Training - Get your team productive
8. Support - Ongoing optimization and maintenance

Multi-Vendor Marketplace Development

Vendure's architecture makes it suitable for marketplace builds:

Marketplace Features We Implement

• Vendor onboarding and management
• Vendor-specific product catalogs
• Commission and fee structures
• Split payments to vendors
• Vendor dashboards and reporting
• Review and approval workflows
• Dispute resolution systems

Technical Approach

We extend Vendure with custom entities and logic:

• Vendor entity with business details
• Product-to-vendor relationships
• Order splitting by vendor
• Payout tracking and reporting
• Vendor-specific shipping rules

Performance and Scaling

Vendure is built to scale, but configuration matters:

Database Optimization

• Proper indexing strategies
• Query optimization
• Connection pooling
• Read replicas for high traffic

Caching Layers

• Redis for session and data caching
• CDN for static assets
• GraphQL response caching
• Full-page caching where appropriate

Infrastructure

• Container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker Swarm)
• Auto-scaling configurations
• Load balancing
• Geographic distribution

Monitoring

• Application performance monitoring
• Error tracking
• Log aggregation
• Alerting and on-call

Security and Compliance

E-commerce demands security:

What We Implement

• PCI DSS compliance guidance
• GDPR compliance features
• Data encryption at rest and in transit
• Rate limiting and DDoS protection
• Regular security audits
• Penetration testing
• Secure coding practices

Authentication Options

• Built-in authentication
• SSO integration (SAML, OAuth)
• Two-factor authentication
• Social login
• B2B customer account management

Hosting and Infrastructure

We help you choose and set up the right infrastructure:

Cloud Providers

• AWS (EC2, ECS, RDS, ElastiCache, S3)
• Google Cloud Platform
• Microsoft Azure
• DigitalOcean
• Hetzner (cost-effective EU hosting)

Managed Options

• Railway
• Render
• Fly.io
• Custom VPS setups

Our Recommendation

For most businesses, we recommend:

• PostgreSQL on managed database service
• Redis for caching and sessions
• S3-compatible storage for assets
• Elasticsearch or MeiliSearch for search
• Container deployment with CI/CD

Our Development Process

Phase 1: Discovery

Before writing code, we understand your business:

• Current pain points
• Business objectives
• Technical requirements
• Integration needs
• Timeline and budget

Phase 2: Architecture

We design the solution:

• System architecture diagrams
• Data models
• Integration specifications
• Technology selections
• Infrastructure planning

Phase 3: Development

Iterative development with regular demos:

• Two-week sprints
• Working software at each milestone
• Your feedback incorporated continuously
• Transparent progress tracking

Phase 4: Testing

Thorough quality assurance:

• Unit testing
• Integration testing
• End-to-end testing
• Performance testing
• Security testing
• User acceptance testing

Phase 5: Launch

Careful deployment:

• Staging environment validation
• Data migration execution
• DNS and SSL configuration
• Monitoring setup
• Go-live support

Phase 6: Support

Ongoing partnership:

• Bug fixes and maintenance
• Feature enhancements
• Performance optimization
• Security updates
• Strategic consultation

Why Choose Us as Your Vendure Partner

Deep Vendure Expertise

We've worked with Vendure since version 1.0. We understand its internals, its plugin system, and its best practices. We've contributed to the ecosystem and stay current with every release.

Full-Stack Capability

Vendure is just the backend. We build complete solutions including:

• Next.js and Nuxt storefronts
• React Native mobile apps
• Admin panel customizations
• Integrations with any system

Business Understanding

We're not just developers. We understand e-commerce business models, conversion optimization, and operational efficiency. We build solutions that make business sense.

Long-Term Partnership

We don't disappear after launch. We offer ongoing support, maintenance, and enhancement services. Your success is our success.

Getting Started

Ready to explore Vendure for your business? Here's how to begin:

Free Consultation

We offer a free initial consultation to discuss:

• Your current situation and challenges
• Whether Vendure is right for your needs
• High-level approach and timeline
• Rough budget expectations

Technical Assessment

For migrations or complex projects, we provide:

• Detailed analysis of your current system
• Migration complexity assessment
• Risk identification
• Accurate project estimation

Pilot Projects

Not ready for full commitment? We offer pilot projects:

• Proof of concept implementations
• Limited scope to test the waters
• Clear success criteria
• Path to full implementation

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Vendure ready for enterprise use?

Yes. Vendure is used by businesses processing millions in transactions. Its TypeScript foundation, active development, and growing ecosystem make it enterprise-ready.

How does Vendure compare to Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is easier to start with but limits your growth. Vendure requires more initial investment but gives you unlimited flexibility and no ongoing platform fees.

Can we migrate our existing store without downtime?

Yes. We run parallel systems during migration, validate all data, and perform cutover during low-traffic periods. Properly planned migrations have zero downtime.

What's the typical timeline for a Vendure project?

Simple stores: 6-8 weeks. Mid-complexity with integrations: 12-16 weeks. Enterprise with B2B features: 16-24 weeks. Every project is different.

Do you provide ongoing support?

Yes. We offer support packages ranging from basic maintenance to full managed services. Most clients choose ongoing partnerships.

Can Vendure handle our traffic volume?

Vendure scales horizontally. With proper infrastructure, it handles high traffic without issues. We've supported Black Friday traffic spikes without problems.

Contact Us

Let's discuss your e-commerce project:

• Email: hello@oronts.com
• Website: oronts.com/contact
• Book a Call: Schedule directly on our website

We respond to all inquiries within one business day.