B2B ordering portals for wholesalers whose orders still arrive as Excel files
A B2B ordering portal lets trade customers order the way they already do, without anyone in your office re-typing it. We build and run them for wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers: trade accounts with their own price lists, stock customers can see, quick reorders, and orders passed to your ERP instead of being re-typed. If your ERP has an API, we connect it; we check that on the first call. The closest thing we have built is an auto-parts shop that syncs its catalogue from the order management system and sends orders back through an outbox that retries when the order system doesn’t answer.
Our ordering system is ten years old, and only one person understands it.
It still runs the business, so nobody dares to change it. Every new request is a workaround, and the person who knows it is a single point of failure.
We start by reading the code and the data, and we keep the old system running while we work. Then we replace it piece by piece, with tests around each part we touch, so orders keep flowing while the new parts go live. Customer accounts, price agreements and order history move across with checks on the columns that matter, so nothing is retyped. You approve the plan before we start.
Where B2B orders go wrong, and what we build for it
Every order is re-typed into the ERP
Orders come as emails, Excel attachments and WhatsApp messages. Someone keys in each line, and a wrong quantity ships.
What we buildA portal where trade customers order from your catalogue, with orders passed to the ERP through an outbox that resends if the ERP doesn’t answer.
Each customer has a different price
Reps quote from memory or an old file, and margin leaks on every discount nobody recorded.
What we buildCustomer-specific price lists, minimum quantities and terms, applied when that customer logs in.
“Is it in stock?” and “Where is my order?”
Customers can’t see either, so they phone or email the office.
What we buildStock and order status shown in the portal, read from the ERP or warehouse system you already run.
Nobody uses the ERP’s web module
It was built for accountants, not buyers, and customers refuse to log in.
What we buildA portal built for the people who order: search by code, repeat a previous order, or upload a spreadsheet of lines.
Quotes never become orders
Reps build quotes in spreadsheets, and when the customer says yes the whole thing is typed again.
What we buildQuotes made in the portal that the customer accepts with one click, turning into an order with the same lines. Quote files can also come out as xlsx or csv, as they do on the freight platform we built.
A new channel means another manual export
Adding a marketplace or a new country means one more spreadsheet that someone fills in every week.
What we buildOne catalogue source feeding each channel. The auto-parts shop works this way with its order management system, so the shop and the marketplaces draw on the same stock.
The order that used to be re-typed
The buyer uploads their usual file
The same Excel sheet they email today, dropped into the portal or sent to an order inbox.
The portal reads it
Each line is matched to your item codes and the buyer’s price list. Unknown codes and short stock are flagged, not guessed.
The buyer confirms
They fix the flagged lines and confirm. They see the same prices your sales team would quote.
The order lands in the ERP
It arrives as a finished order. Nobody types it, and the buyer can reorder it next time with one click.
An example of how it would work, not a client story.
Portal, ERP and stock in one loop
What we build
What we build for a wholesaler
Two parts come straight from systems we have built: catalogue and order sync from the auto-parts shop, and structured quote files from the freight platform.
- Trade accounts with their own prices, minimums and terms.
- Orders sent to your ERP through an outbox that resends on failure.
- Stock and order status in the portal.
- Automated tests run against a fake ERP, so no real order is touched.
Re-typing Excel orders into the ERP?
Tell us how an order reaches your office today.
How the work runs, step by step
Tell us what happens today
Tell us how orders, quotes and price lists move between your customers, your reps and the ERP now. We reply within one business day, usually within a few hours.
A free first look
An online call, and an outside check of your site with XRay, our own audit tool. A deeper audit is scoped after the call.
Build, or take over
We build the missing parts, or take over a system someone else built. One team covers analysis, build, testing and DevOps.
Keep it running
Fixes, security updates and new features. Hourly billing, one rate for the whole team, a report every week.
You own the code, the data and every account. More on how we work and the systems we have built.
What this doesn’t do
No ERP replacement by default. If the ERP holds your stock and accounts properly, the portal sits in front of it.
No marketplace account management. We connect the systems. Running your listings stays with you.
No prices before we talk. Billing is hourly with weekly reports, scoped after the call.
Questions we get from wholesalers
Can the portal work with our ERP?
Usually, if the ERP has an API or can exchange files on a schedule. We check that on the first call. In the auto-parts shop, orders go to the order system through an outbox that resends if the order system doesn’t answer.
Can each customer see their own prices?
Yes. Price lists, minimum quantities and payment terms are set per customer or per group, and only that customer sees them.
Can customers upload an order as a spreadsheet?
Yes. They upload the file, the portal checks codes and quantities, shows the lines it couldn’t match, and the order goes through once it is clean.
Each customer needs their own login, and our staff sign in with company accounts.
Each customer sees only their own records, enforced in the database, not just on the screen. Sign-in through your company identity provider is agreed in the scope, and we check what it supports on the first call.
We sell in several countries, languages and currencies.
We have built sites in several languages with hreflang: a freight platform and a car-service site, each in three languages. Prices per currency and tax per country usually come from your ERP, so we look at how it holds them on the first call.
Our large customers order through punchout from their own purchasing system.
We have no punchout case to show. Punchout standards such as OCI and cXML are documented, so we check what your customers’ systems expect on the first call and tell you what building it involves.
Who owns the portal?
You do. You own the code, the data and every account.
Where to go from here
Orders still arriving as Excel files?
Name your ERP and tell us how trade customers order today.
We reply within one business day, Tallinn time (EET), usually within a few hours. No obligation.