A B2B ordering portal for wholesale
6 min read
Short answer
A B2B portal is not a web shop with a login. The difference is that each customer sees their own prices, their own range and their own credit limit, orders the same things repeatedly, and needs history and availability rather than photographs. Build it as a web shop and you get a web shop nobody uses.
01Four things a web shop does not have
- 01Price levels — every customer has their own, and some have exceptions on individual items.
- 02Credit limit and balance — an order above the limit should go for approval, not through.
- 03Repeat ordering — the most used button in the whole portal is “order the same as last time”.
- 04Availability and dates — a B2B customer needs to know when, not whether.
02What decides whether it is adopted
How fast an order can be entered. The buyer on the other side orders forty items and until now did it by e-mail in three minutes. If the portal takes ten, they go back to e-mail.
Which is why the most important screen is not the catalogue but fast entry: search by code, a table of quantities, an import from a spreadsheet.
03Moving off e-mail orders
Not overnight and not for everyone at once. Leave e-mail open and offer the portal first to the customers who order most often — they gain most and will be the first to say what is missing.
E-mail can be switched off once most orders come through the portal. Any earlier and the order arrives by phone and somebody retypes it, which is exactly what you set out to remove.
04Connecting stock and accounting
Availability has to come from stock, or the portal promises goods that are not there. It need not be real time — for most wholesalers a refresh every few minutes is enough.
Orders go to the system where they are processed, and the status and delivery note number come back. Invoicing stays in accounting; the portal only displays it.
Frequently asked
- What is the difference between a B2B portal and a web shop?
- Individual pricing per customer, credit limits and balances, repeat ordering, and availability with a delivery date. A web shop addresses none of these.
- Does availability have to be real time?
- No. For most wholesalers a refresh from stock every few minutes is enough; what matters is that the number is not hours old.
- When should e-mail ordering be switched off?
- Once most orders come through the portal. Earlier than that, orders move to the phone and somebody retypes them by hand.