Where standard Shopware configuration actually stops
Shopware's rule builder handles a lot of pricing and promotion logic out of the box, but it hits real limits on volume-based tiers, contract-specific pricing, or rules that depend on data outside the standard product model. That's usually the first thing custom development gets called in for.
Checkout is the other common gap — multi-step approval flows, non-standard payment terms, or validation logic tied to a customer's account status rather than the cart contents. None of that is configurable through the admin; it has to be built.
