How Carrier Cut Ecommerce Costs 95% and Launched B2B Sites in 30 Days with Shopify

Introduction

Carrier, an industry heavyweight in HVAC and refrigeration systems, faced an uphill battle: every new ecommerce site cost up to $2 million and took as long as a year to build. Complex customer segments—dealers, distributors, technicians, national accounts, and homeowners—demanded tailored online experiences. But the monolith platform they used was rigid, expensive, and slow. Carrier knew it needed a change.

The Challenge

Steve Duran, Associate Director of Global Commerce, realized the team could either hire a massive tech workforce or adopt a SaaS solution. Carrier’s goal wasn’t to become a software house—it was to create exceptional climate solutions. The decision came down to flexibility, speed, and cost. Could a cloud platform handle the intricacies of multi-channel B2B sales without derailing core operations?

The Solution

Carrier partnered with EY and Tidal Commerce to migrate to Shopify. External experts brought best practices from other complex commerce implementations, confirming Shopify’s roadmap and B2B investments aligned with Carrier’s vision. The team builtOneCommerce, a global accelerator on Shopify components encompassing roughly 80% of shared business requirements for enterprise sites.

OneCommerce standardized templates, checkout flows, pricing tiers, and integrations—turning a nine-month project into a three-week launch. Engineering talent got excited by modern code, APIs, and reusable components. Instead of custom dev for every region or segment, Carrier now spins up unlimited sites at startup pace.

The Results

Since going live, Carrier has launched new ecommerce experiences in30 days—down from 9–12 months. Development cost per site plummeted to$100 000from up to $2 million. Rapid iteration allows testing go-to-market motions in weeks, not years, opening the door to billion-dollar ideas.

Engineers now build solutions that matter for a century-old brand, attracting top talent. Plus, Carrier’s commerce team can focus on strategy, not infrastructure. Shopify’s ongoing investments in B2B features mean Carrier stays ahead of mobile, VR, and conversational commerce trends.

Future Outlook

Steve predicts that Shopify’s pace of innovation will let Carrier explore new sales channels—direct, wholesale, and international—without ramping up headcount. With a proven accelerator in place, every new market launch will be measured in days and six-figure budgets, not months and multi-million-dollar investments.

Carrier’s story shows how a global enterprise can trade monolithic slow for modular fast, turning commerce into a growth engine.