The verdict in three sentences
A wholesaler paying EUR 25,000 a year to maintain a slow, outdated Magento 2 store is mostly funding technical debt, not growth. For 18,000 SKUs and 2,200 trade accounts, three routes make sense in 2026: Shopify Plus (from USD 2,300 a month), Sylius (EUR 30,000 to 70,000 project cost) or a custom build around your B2B rules. The decision comes down to pricing complexity, ERP integration and a clean migration of accounts, order history and SEO redirects, over 4 to 7 months.
Why a wholesaler's Magento 2 becomes a problem
In Berlin or Amsterdam, many wholesalers launched Magento 2 between 2017 and 2020 with an agency, added 40 to 80 extensions, then delayed upgrades. Every PHP or Magento upgrade breaks a module, category pages exceed 4 seconds and maintenance bills grow. Older releases of the 2.4 line no longer receive security patches, which exposes the store and complicates customer security audits.
| Symptom | Typical 2026 cost or impact | What the audit reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance retainer | EUR 18,000 to 35,000 a year | Time spent fixing, not improving |
| Magento-optimised hosting | EUR 400 to 1,200 a month | Oversized servers to mask slowness |
| Version upgrade | EUR 15,000 to 40,000 per major jump | Extensions abandoned by vendors |
| Category page load time | 3 to 6 s | Falling B2B conversion |
| Time to ship a feature | 3 to 8 weeks | Undocumented custom code |
| Agency lock-in | High | Shrinking pool of Magento developers |
Shopify Plus, Sylius or custom: the numbers
| Criterion | Shopify Plus | Sylius | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | From USD 2,300 a month, plus a fee above a revenue threshold | Open source, paid Plus edition optional | None |
| Migration project (2026 ballpark) | EUR 25,000 to 60,000 | EUR 30,000 to 70,000 | Depends on scope, see our grid below |
| Customer and volume pricing | Native B2B, limited for very complex grids | Very flexible (Symfony) | Fully flexible |
| ERP integration (SAP Business One, Exact, Microsoft Dynamics) | Via app or middleware | Dedicated development | Dedicated development |
| Hosting | Included | Your responsibility, EUR 150 to 500 a month | Your responsibility |
| Developer availability in Germany and the Netherlands | High | Active European community | Depends on supplier |
| Typical timeline | 4 to 5 months | 5 to 7 months | 4 to 7 months |
Shopify Plus fits if your B2B is simple: catalogues per company, volume discounts, net 30 terms. Sylius wins with nested price lists, multiple selling units (item, carton, pallet) and an in-house or partner PHP team. Custom is justified when the B2B portal becomes an operational tool: recurring orders, buying group terms, negotiated quotes. At Kolonell, that case is quoted in our medium application band, 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (EUR 6,100 to 10,670), or complex, 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (EUR 10,670 to 22,870+), with maintenance at 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA a month (EUR 53, 114 or 183).
What not to get wrong during migration
Customer accounts first. Magento password hashes do not always carry over: plan a guided reset by email, announced three weeks ahead with a direct link. Order history next: your 2,200 accounts often reorder from past orders, so migrate at least 24 months. Then SEO: every product and category URL needs a 301 redirect, often more than 20,000 of them, tested before go-live. A poorly redirected migration commonly loses 30 to 50% of organic traffic for several months. For German customers, also check that legal pages, VAT display and the Impressum survive the move.
Switch outside your peaks: never in September for an office supplies wholesaler, never before the holidays for food.
Mini case study
Lena, managing director of a wholesale supplies business in Berlin, pays EUR 25,000 a year for maintenance and EUR 800 a month for hosting, EUR 34,600 a year in total. An urgent upgrade is quoted at EUR 30,000. With Sylius, the project costs EUR 55,000, hosting EUR 300 a month and maintenance EUR 9,000 a year, so EUR 12,600 of running costs. The annual saving is EUR 22,000, and the avoided upgrade already covers more than half the project. Over three years total cost drops from EUR 133,800 (Magento plus upgrade) to EUR 92,800 (Sylius), before counting the conversion gain from pages twice as fast.
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FAQ
Can we keep the same URLs after migration?
Partly. URL structures differ by platform, Shopify for instance enforces its own prefixes. You need a complete 301 redirect plan, often 15,000 to 25,000 lines for 18,000 SKUs.
Does Shopify Plus really handle B2B?
Yes for common needs: company catalogues, negotiated prices, payment terms. For multi-level grids by buying group and selling unit, you need third-party apps adding USD 200 to 800 a month.
How long does the switch itself take?
Go-live happens overnight with a 2 to 4 hour order freeze. The preceding weeks are for test migrations, at least three full rehearsals.
Should we redesign at the same time?
It is advisable, as porting the Magento theme costs almost as much as a new design. Allow 4 to 6 weeks of design in the plan.
What happens to our ERP integration?
It is rebuilt, ideally through an API or middleware rather than direct database scripts. That is often 20 to 30% of the total budget.
Let's scope your project. Share your Magento version, extensions and ERP, and we will deliver a migration audit and a 4 to 7 month cutover plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
