Distribution & wholesale
A storefront that knows which account is signed in
Distribution isn't anonymous retail. The person on your site has an account number, a negotiated price, and usually a part number they already know. We build for that buyer: sign in, see your price, reorder in a minute — and leave the phone free for the calls that actually need a person.
A distributor site is a catalog with a login on it. Public visitors see products; signed-in accounts see their own negotiated price, their order history, and the documents their branch keeps asking your team for. Behind it, the price rules and stock levels come from the system that already runs your inventory, so the site and the ERP never disagree.
You already know every account and what it pays. The site's job is to carry that.
Your price list, tier multipliers, contract exceptions, and the parts each customer reorders already exist — spread across your ERP (the system that already runs inventory, pricing, and orders), a few spreadsheets, and the people who take the orders. Putting that online is a pricing and permissions question before it is a design one. We settle which products the public may browse, which numbers appear only after sign-in, and what a buyer can finish at 11pm without a rep — then build the catalog around the answers.
What we build for this sector
A catalog built for part numbers
Search that tolerates how buyers actually type — part numbers with or without dashes, your number or the manufacturer's, superseded items pointing at their replacement. For the buyer who is still deciding, the same catalog narrows by spec, size, material, and brand.
Pricing that follows the account
Tiers, multipliers, contract pricing, and quantity breaks resolved for whoever is signed in, so each account sees its own numbers and nobody sees anyone else's. If your policy is that pricing stays behind a login, the public catalog simply shows the product and a way to ask.
Ordering the way B2B actually buys
Quick order by pasting a list of part numbers, upload a spreadsheet, save standing lists, reorder straight from history, attach a PO number, and request a quote when the order needs a human. Accounts on terms check out on terms rather than being forced through a card form.
A dealer and rep portal
One signed-in place for order history and tracking, open and paid invoices, current price lists, spec sheets and safety data sheets, warranty and return forms, and the logos and product photos your dealers keep emailing your team for.
Connected to the system of record
Stock levels, pricing, and customer records read from your ERP through an API — a direct link between two programs — or a scheduled file exchange where that's what exists. Orders land back in it as orders, instead of arriving as an email somebody rekeys.
Product data you can keep straight
Bulk import and export, consistent attributes, images and documents attached to the right items, and a clear owner for each field. Updating thousands of items is a spreadsheet job for your team, not a support ticket for a developer.
Three ways the site can talk to your ERP
Which one fits depends on what your system already exposes. All three are real options we build; the trade-offs are the whole conversation.
| Measure | Live API | Scheduled file exchange | Manual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock accuracy | Live APIReal-time | Scheduled file exchangeNightly, or on your schedule | ManualAs often as someone updates it |
| Order routing | Live APIAutomatic | Scheduled file exchangeBatched | ManualBy hand |
| Setup effort | Live APIHighest | Scheduled file exchangeModerate | ManualNone |
| Ongoing cost | Live APILowest | Scheduled file exchangeLow | ManualHighest, in staff time |
How a distribution project runs
- 1
Map the accounts and the price rules
We write down every kind of person who signs in — buyer, branch, rep, dealer, admin — and how price is decided for each. Exceptions included, because the exceptions are the part that breaks things later.
- 2
Look at the real catalog
You send an export and we work with what is actually there: attributes, duplicates, missing images, the fields that only make sense to one person. Then we agree what the source of truth is before anyone designs a page.
- 3
Design the two paths
The buyer who knows the part number and wants three clicks, and the one comparing options by spec. Plus the signed-in account view, shown with your real products and a real price list in it.
- 4
Build and connect
We develop the catalog and portal, wire up the ERP link, shipping, and payments, then push real orders end to end — including a backorder, a credit, and a return — before anyone outside sees it.
- 5
Roll out account by account
A first group of accounts comes on and we watch closely, then the rest follow. Phone and email ordering keep running the whole time; nothing gets switched off to force adoption.
A good fit if
- Every account has its own pricing
- Orders arrive by phone, email, and PDF
- Your catalog runs into thousands of items
- Dealers ask your team for the same documents each week
- Reps need the current price list from a truck
Questions we get
Tell us how your accounts buy today.
A few quick questions — about two minutes.