Open flagship · full dossier readable below · no form, no NDA
Client
Sanicare GmbH
Unit
prodct [CX] · + [Elements] adj.
Duration
Ongoing · 2024 →
Shape
Managed delivery · embedded team
Headline
Took over the Shopware operation mid-crisis. Stabilised it. Now run it as Sanicare's delivery partner.
// prodct [CX] case · Sanicare · 2024 → ongoing · healthcare & pharmacy e-commerce · managed delivery

From stuck
to shipping every sprint.

We took over Sanicare's Shopware operation from the previous supplier mid-crisis: parallel micro-projects running out of time, a major Shopware update stuck in coordination, tech debt accumulating faster than the team could pay it down. We treated it as a delivery problem first. One managed team, one framework, one cadence. The shop stabilised, the backlog moved, the update shipped — and the partnership has run as an ongoing contract since.

1 takeover
// Shopware estate from previous supplier, mid-crisis
// no downtime
Ongoing
// long-term managed delivery contract, still running
// primary partner
1 team
// Marketing + Delivery Lead + Tech PO + developers, embedded
// one cadence
Sprint
// fast feature prioritisation, sprint-based delivery
// delivery-first
// 01 / the situation

Too many projects. Too little delivery.

// diagnosed
2024
Shopware 6, ERP + 3rd-party integrations, marketing automation

When we walked in, Sanicare had a shop, a supplier, and a pile of parallel micro-projects — none of them finishing. A major Shopware update had been stuck for months in coordination and delivery. Tech debt was accumulating faster than features were shipping.

It wasn't a missing-platform problem. Shopware 6 was fine. It wasn't a missing-people problem either — the Sanicare marketing team knew what they wanted. The gap was in delivery: the cadence, the prioritisation, the ownership of the integration landscape that sat behind the shop.

Sanicare asked us to take over the whole operation from the existing supplier — end to end, holistically — and bring a delivery framework that could unblock the Shopware update, stabilise the tech debt, and run the shop as a product, not a series of side projects.

  • #01 Supplier takeover, no downtime. The existing supplier needed to be replaced without interrupting the running Shopware operation or losing the domain knowledge buried in their tickets. — priority 1
  • #02 Major Shopware update stuck. A big version upgrade had been in planning for months. Every stakeholder had a different view of the critical path. Nobody owned the actual cutover. — priority 1
  • #03 Parallel micro-projects, no delivery flow. Several small initiatives running alongside each other, each with its own deadline, pulling the same developers in three directions. — priority 1
  • #04 Growing tech debt. Integrations, rules and connected systems were accumulating unpaid work. Every new feature landed on shakier ground than the last. — priority 2
  • #05 Marketing team ready to move. Strong product thinking on the Sanicare side — waiting for a delivery partner that could keep pace with the ideas instead of explaining why they couldn't ship. — constraint

The ask we accepted: take over, stabilise, ship. Reorganise the collaboration model as delivery-driven. Put fast prioritisation and sprint-based delivery in place. Treat the Shopware estate as one product with one cadence, not a portfolio of micro-projects.

// 02 / approach

Holistic end-to-end. Delivery-driven.

// phase 01

Full takeover with a shipment framework.

prodct took over the operation from the existing supplier — not in pieces, not as a pilot. Holistic end-to-end, with the delivery framework and quality gates in place on day one. The existing backlog, integrations and running changes were inventoried and triaged, not inherited wholesale.

Week 1–4
Takeover live · delivery framework in place
// phase 02

Collaboration mode reorganised — delivery-driven.

We reshaped how Sanicare marketing and the prodct delivery team worked together: one weekly prioritisation loop, one sprint cadence, one board showing what ships and what doesn't. No steering committee theatre. Decisions close to the work.

Month 1–2
Sprint cadence + prioritisation loop live
// phase 03

Fast prioritisation, sprint-based shipment.

The backlog stopped being a wishlist. We introduced a tight prioritisation model — every sprint opened with the next ten candidates, scored against marketing impact and tech cost. Developers got a clean brief; marketing got a forecastable release line.

Ongoing
Feature velocity stabilised · stuck Shopware update shipped
// phase 04

Run as a product, not a project.

Since the stabilisation, Sanicare runs on a long-term managed delivery contract with prodct. Same team, same cadence, steadily paying down tech debt while shipping marketing-led features on top. It stopped being a rescue; it became the normal operating model.

Ongoing
Long-term managed delivery · primary partner
// 03 / what we run

Shopware at the centre. Everything else integrated and owned.

LAYERS →
// experience
Shopware 6 storefront Dynamic Yield · personalisation FactFinder · search & merchandising
// marketing
Brevo · email & automation Campaign calendar Lifecycle flows
// platform
Shopware 6 core + extensions Rules, catalogue, pricing Release pipeline · sprintable
// integration
ERP connector 3rd-party integrations · managed Error + monitoring rules
// delivery
Sprint cadence · weekly prio Release cadence · predictable One board · shared with marketing

A managed stack — run by the same team that ships on it.

The visible layer is what Sanicare's customers see: the Shopware storefront, personalisation via Dynamic Yield, on-site search through FactFinder, lifecycle emails from Brevo. The decisive layer is underneath it: a Shopware platform that can absorb a sprint of work without breaking, integrations that are managed rather than merely connected, and a release pipeline the marketing team can rely on.

Every one of those pieces is owned by prodct operationally — and owned by Sanicare commercially. No black boxes, no proprietary layers, no reason the contract couldn't transfer out tomorrow. That's exactly what keeps it in place.

// shop platform
Shopware 6
// personalisation
Dynamic Yield
// search
FactFinder
// marketing automation
Brevo (+ lifecycle flows)
// integrations
ERP, 3rd-party, managed
// delivery cadence
Sprint · weekly prio loop
// 04 / outcomes

What shipping every sprint actually looks like.

// prioritisation
Fast
Weekly prioritisation loop. Marketing signals → scored backlog → sprint commit. The next ten things to ship are always visible.
// shopware
Stable
Performant Shopware 6 shop. The stuck upgrade is live, the platform is tuned, release cadence is predictable instead of heroic.
// integrations
Smooth
ERP + 3rd-party syncs running clean. Integrations are managed — not just connected — with monitoring and rules that catch issues before the business does.
// client POV
captured during retrospective
"

prodct is our first choice partner for technology and e-commerce execution, helping us efficiently develop and execute our technology and integration landscape.

LB
Linda Becker
// Head of Marketing · Sanicare.de
// 05 / status

Not a handoff. A running contract.

// current engagement shape

Ongoing long-term managed delivery.

There isn't a handover date. Sanicare continues on a long-term managed delivery contract — prodct is the primary technology & e-commerce execution partner, embedded with the Sanicare marketing team.

Embedded team. 1 Delivery Lead, 1 technical PO and 2–4 developers from prodct, working inside the Sanicare marketing team's cadence.
Sprint delivery. Fast prioritisation, weekly commit, predictable release line. The Shopware update that was stuck got shipped; new features land every sprint.
Managed integrations. ERP, FactFinder, Dynamic Yield, Brevo and the rest of the connected estate are monitored and maintained — not just kept running.
Tech-debt discipline. Every sprint has a carved-out slice for platform health. Debt is being paid down while features ship on top.
Commercially owned by Sanicare. Code, integrations, data and vendor relationships sit with Sanicare. prodct is the delivery partner — replaceable on paper, trusted in practice.

Shop stuck?
Supplier not shipping?

30 minutes with the partner leading [CX]. We'll tell you within the call whether a managed-delivery takeover fits your situation.