B2B customer portals
Do your wholesale orders still arrive by email for someone to retype?
I build B2B portals where every customer sees their own price list, their order history and their payment terms. Orders reach your stock and invoicing systems without retyping.
Manufacturers and distributors who contact me usually describe the same situation. Orders arrive by email, in a spreadsheet attachment or over the phone. Someone in the office retypes them into the stock system, occasionally mistypes a quantity or a price, and the resulting complaint then takes a week to settle. Meanwhile the customer has no idea whether an item is in stock, what it costs at their agreed discount or when it will arrive. The people are not the problem. There is simply no place where an order can be created correctly the first time.
A B2B portal is a closed area for your established customers. They log in, see their price list, their payment terms and their history, and place orders themselves at any hour of the day. Over nineteen years I have built several of these, from a simple ordering interface on top of an existing warehouse system to a platform with multiple branches and order approval. In most cases the warehouse and accounting software stayed exactly as it was. What changed was how data reached it and who entered it.
01
A separate price list for every customer
Wholesale rarely sells to everyone on the same terms. The portal therefore calculates prices from who is logged in: a contract price on a product, a group discount tier, a volume break or a temporary promotion. Each customer sees only the range they are entitled to, with prices both excluding and including VAT so nothing has to be recalculated by hand. Pricing rules can be managed in the administration or pulled from the system where they already live, so your sales team never maintains two price lists at once.
- Contract prices and discount tiers
- Volume breaks and temporary promotions
- Catalogue restricted by agreement
- Prices shown with and without VAT
02
Order history and effortless repeat ordering
The most common wholesale order is a repeat of the previous one. The portal shows the full history with statuses, delivery notes and downloadable invoices, and lets a customer load an old order back into the cart and simply adjust quantities. Saved shopping lists, favourite items and order notes belong here as well. Your office loses dozens of calls asking what was ordered last time, and the customer gets the answer faster than they could have dialled the number.
- Orders, statuses and delivery notes in one place
- Repeat a previous order in a single click
- Favourite items and saved shopping lists
- Invoices and documents available to download
03
Bulk ordering without endless clicking
A customer ordering a hundred items does not want to browse a catalogue like a consumer. So I add quick ordering by product code, spreadsheet and CSV import, ordering by packs, cartons or pallets, and bulk quantity entry directly in a table view. Every line checks availability and minimum order quantity, which prevents orders your warehouse cannot fulfil. The difference shows immediately: what used to take twenty minutes in a spreadsheet takes about two minutes in the portal.
- Quick ordering by product code
- Import an order from a spreadsheet or CSV
- Ordering by packs, cartons and pallets
- Availability checked on every line
04
Payment terms, credit limits and approvals
In wholesale, payment terms are part of the relationship rather than a checkout setting. The portal knows each customer's terms, credit limit and permitted payment methods, and offers payment on invoice or prepayment accordingly. When a customer has several buyers, each gets their own account with its own rights, and a larger order can wait for a manager's approval. If a credit limit is exceeded, the order is not silently blocked. It receives a clear status and your sales contact is notified.
- Payment terms and credit limits per contract
- Payment on invoice or prepayment
- Several users under one customer account
- Larger orders held for manager approval
05
Connecting to stock, invoicing and what it costs
A portal only pays off when an order does not land in yet another inbox. I connect it to your warehouse or ERP system and to invoicing, either through an API or through an agreed file exchange when the software vendor offers no API. Stock levels, prices and documents then move on their own. My rate is €40 per hour including VAT. A first working version with price lists, ordering and one integration typically falls between 60 and 120 hours, depending on how complex your pricing rules are and what interface your system exposes.
- Warehouse or ERP integration via API or file exchange
- Invoices and delivery notes issued automatically
- €40 per hour including VAT
- First working version roughly 60 to 120 hours
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Frequently asked questions about B2B portals
How much does a custom B2B portal cost?
A first working version typically falls between 60 and 120 hours, which is €2,400 to €4,800 including VAT at my rate of €40 per hour. The complexity of your price lists and the state of your warehouse integration influence that range the most.
Can it connect to our existing warehouse system?
In most cases yes. If the system offers an API, I work with it directly. If it does not, we agree a scheduled file exchange or read from its database. I verify what is genuinely available before committing to a scope.
Is this the same as a wholesale e-shop?
Not quite. An e-shop sells to everyone on the same terms, while a portal sells to a known customer on agreed ones. If you already run WooCommerce, B2B logic can be added on top of it. For complex rules a separate Laravel portal is usually the better fit.
Will our customers manage without training?
That is the main design criterion. The interface has to work without a manual: log in, see prices, repeat the last order. I prepare a short guide for launch and watch the first weeks to see where people hesitate.
How long does it take to launch?
With a clear scope and an available API, a first version usually takes six to ten weeks including testing on real data. I recommend launching with a handful of customers first and expanding once their feedback is in.
Want orders that nobody has to retype?
Tell me how many customers you supply, which system runs your stock and what slows orders down today. I will reply with a scope and an estimate.
Discuss a B2B portal