How the bender gruppe modernized its B2B e-commerce in 6 months

Based in Baden-Baden, the bender gruppe has been an established partner for radiological products and services for over 50 years. The family-owned company supplies practices, clinics and medical institutions. Its core activities include the supply of contrast agents, radiopharmaceuticals (CH), consumables and capital goods, the provision of technical and commercial services, and software solutions for diagnostic imaging.

The collaboration between the bender gruppe and Shopmacher started with a request that is symptomatic of many mid-sized B2B companies: the outdated in-house e-commerce solution could no longer keep up with rising requirements.

In the medical sector in particular, the complexity is high. Distributors have to ensure that certain content or products can only be seen or ordered by qualified medical professionals. On top of that, there are different billing arrangements, multi-level customer structures and, in some cases, strict assortment restrictions. Product data maintenance was also handled entirely in the ERP at the time, with all the effort that involved. The result: a lack of agility whenever regulations changed.

The bender gruppe therefore decided to replace the in-house solution with a scalable B2B platform that could grow from an MVP for a pilot customer all the way to later internationalization into Switzerland and France.

Before any system was implemented, Shopmacher started with a structured consulting phase. In several workshops, we laid the groundwork for the project together with the bender gruppe: vision, MVP definition, selection of the right commerce and PIM systems, data flows, workflows, roles and collaboration. A central part of this phase was collecting and prioritizing concrete use cases, which formed the basis for a clear MVP scope.

This methodical approach paid off. Instead of rushing into a technical solution, we first built a shared understanding of the challenges and the realistic project scope. "From the very beginning, there was genuine interest in our problems and a commitment to finding the best solution for us together," recalls Steven Klix, Deputy Head of IT at the bender gruppe, looking back on the first phase. "The structured approach gave us confidence. And along the way, we were even able to optimize some workflows and ways of working."

System selection: Emporix wins on both technical and commercial grounds

After evaluating various solutions, the choice fell on Emporix, a modern, cloud-native headless commerce system that supports almost all of the bender gruppe's B2B requirements out of the box. The main development effort went into the fully custom-built frontend, including the modeling of the various billing arrangements. The low-maintenance operation enabled by the cloud-native architecture and the integrated orchestration engine for flexible system integrations also spoke in favor of the solution during system selection. For the PIM system, the bender gruppe chose Centric PXM. Among other things, the software offered the best fit for the company's specific requirements around variant presentation.

The MVP approach: focus instead of feature creep

Defining a clear MVP scope was one of the most critical project decisions. In phase 1, the bender gruppe and Shopmacher deliberately focused on a single "customer zero" that would launch with 50 locations and an assortment limited to 800 items, for the German market only.

The MVP was implemented as a closed shop: access is granted exclusively by the bender gruppe, and external users cannot register themselves. Since the shop had no existing UX or UI specifications, the entire interface was built from scratch, from the navigation concept to product presentation.

Alongside the basic shop functions, the MVP setup covered personalized order lists in particular, as well as the modeling of the billing arrangements. Another central element was implementing search across product attributes and user-friendly navigation across multiple levels.

This discipline paid off. "A clearly defined scope that doesn't grow during the MVP helped enormously in meeting deadlines," says Robin Fleischer, the responsible project manager at Shopmacher. "In some cases, topics were even dropped because they weren't needed for the first customer."

Project delivery: Shopmacher as the orchestrating link

Development started in mid-December 2024. With weekly stand-ups and close coordination during the setup phase, the project moved at a high pace. One special aspect was Shopmacher's role as the central coordinator between the bender gruppe, Emporix and Centric PXM.

The official launch took place on May 7, 2025, with a gradual rollout. First, a single customer account was given access to test the shop intensively. After that, further customers were activated step by step.

An important milestone was the introduction of product catalogs at the end of October 2025. They make it possible to define precisely, per customer, which products are visible and orderable, a key requirement with large customer groups.

The Emporix experience: a MACH partner with strong support

The collaboration with Emporix was very close and intensive: "The contacts supported us at all times whenever there were problems," Robin Fleischer praises. "Feature requests were also accepted, added to the roadmap and then implemented promptly."

The collaboration with the bender gruppe itself was also extremely constructive. "The exchange was very open and productive," Fleischer sums up. "We worked out various topics together and solved potential problems early on." Sabine Götz, Lead Consultant New Business and Board Member at Shopmacher, adds: "Just half a year passed from the first conversation to launch. That shows what's possible when all parties work together with focus and decisions are made quickly."

Today the platform is live in production. Around 850 orders have already been processed through it. The personalized order lists in particular became the customers' favorite feature. Assortments and permissions are clearly controlled, and the processes are noticeably leaner.

"What we achieved together in the first twelve months is impressive," says Andreas Berndt, Head of IT at the bender gruppe. "The feedback from our customers is positive, the new processes work well internally, and so the new shop is a win for everyone."

With the new architecture, the bender gruppe has created a solid foundation for further expansion. A retainer ensures that enhancements are implemented continuously. In 2026, customers are set to gain even more convenience and transparency.