How CDS Connected Three Brands, Modernized eCommerce, and Built for What’s Next

By replacing a legacy platform with Shopware, adding Akeneo, and using iPaaS.com as the integration layer, CDS modernized retail and wholesale operations while preparing for future growth.

The Company

Creative Distribution Solutions

VaporBeast, VaporFi, and South Beach Smoke, are 3 brands operated together by CDS to address a wide range of market segments and needs.

Whereas VaporBeast fulfills distribution needs, supporting high-volume wholesale ordering for retailers, VaporFi provides a retail outlet for individual shoppers. SouthBeachSmoke operates as a direct-to-consumer website. This mix of B2B, B2C, and D2C allows these 3 eCommerce stores to address all segments of their market.

Industry

Vaporizers and Accessories

Headquarters

Dade City, FL

Integrations

Shopware, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Akeneo, Slack

MiSP

Solution25

The Challenge

Before this project, all three websites were running on a legacy Adobe Commerce platform. The product catalog was managed directly within Adobe Commerce. Data was integrated with their ERP, Microsoft Dynamics Navision (NAV), via flat files that batched data at set times.

This architecture presented challenges across the organization. Managing multiple storefronts, coordinating fulfillment, and processing orders placed a growing strain on internal systems. With the Adobe Commerce platform becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain and evolve, it was time for a change.

The team at CDS needed to modernize its infrastructure. With three brands, both retail and wholesale operations, and needing to adhere to the rules of a highly regulated industry, the complexity was significant. Key requirements included:

Support for multiple Shopware storefronts within a single instance
Handling of subscription/recurring orders, partial shipments, canceled line items, and preorders
Integration of loyalty/rewards programs, fraud status handling, per-site SEO data, and store credits
Ability to manage bundled products and restrict B2B orders to approved buyers
Support for regulatory and government requirements, such as verifying business buyers and charging excise taxes
Redundancies for business continuity, such as having multiple payment gateways

They needed an integration platform that could handle all of this complexity while leaving room to evolve their backend systems later, including a potential ERP change and future CRM, 3PL, CDP, and other API integrations.

The Solution

CDS selected Shopware as its new eCommerce platform and Akeneo as its product information management (PIM) system. They retained Microsoft Dynamics NAV for the time being and chose iPaaS.com as the integration layer connecting it all.

With iPaaS.com’s hub-and-spoke model, CDS now sends and receives data between Shopware, Akeneo, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV efficiently, with centralized control over all business logic and data flows. This architecture allows for future changes, like swapping ERPs or adding new systems, without requiring a rebuild.

iPaaS.com worked closely with Shopware to support new platform features developed specifically for this project. Orders, product data, inventory updates, and fulfillment details now move rapidly across systems and storefronts.

The Outcome

The successful launch of all three Shopware storefronts, VaporBeast, SouthBeachSmoke, and VaporFi, marked a major milestone for CDS. Their operations are now more flexible, resilient, and scalable and can operate at a much lower cost. With complex requirements met and integrations standardized through iPaaS.com, CDS can continue to evolve its tech stack without having to start over.

This project not only supported CDS’s digital transformation but also contributed to advancements in Shopware’s own platform, as their team implemented new core features to support the project. CDS is now positioned to move forward with further integration efforts, including a new ERP and third-party logistics systems.

With iPaaS.com’s granular approach to data accountability, typos and other issues are now reported in near-real-time via Slack, and can be addressed proactively. From the onset of the project, CDS was clear that customer success was crucial. That’s why we added a feature that prioritizes certain types of data, worked to ensuringe that even during large product catalog updates, order data is prioritized. In other words, shipping orders and providing order status and tracking information to the shopper is always top-priority.

With 2,000 products (+ thousands of variants as well as kits), 100,000 customers, and 300,000 historical orders, 70+ Shopware extensions – including 20 custom plugins that were built for their launch on Shopware, this is indeed one of the most complex and largest scale Shopware instances in the world. To quote the Shopware team “iPaaS.com serves as the integration backbone, connecting VaporFi’s core systems, including the ERP and PIM. This hub handles bundle logic, order flow, and multi-system data orchestration, creating a scalable commerce infrastructure. This ecosystem supports both day-to-day operations and future expansion.”

Solution25, a leading Shopware partner, played a key role in launching CDS’s new websites and configuring the iPaaS.com integration. Their expertise in Shopware implementation and system architecture was instrumental in the project’s success.

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