Service

B2B wholesale platform development

For wholesalers and brands with trade customers who need an ordering platform built around account pricing, credit terms, pack sizes and the way their sales team and buyers actually agree an order, rather than a retail shop with a trade login bolted on.

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The problem

What goes wrong today

Where it usually starts

A wholesaler supplying a few hundred independent retailers takes orders by email, by phone to a sales representative and from a PDF price list that goes out of date the week it is sent.

Each account has its own agreed terms: a discount band, a minimum order, thirty days credit for the old accounts and payment up front for the new ones.
Those terms live in the sales manager's head and in the accounts system, so the person keying the order into the back office checks the discount by looking up the last invoice.
A retailer orders seven of a product that only ships in packs of six, and the representative calls to sort it out.

Where it gets harder

Quotes for larger orders are typed into a spreadsheet, emailed, negotiated by reply and retyped as an order once agreed.

A buyer with several shops sends orders from three different people and the head office later disputes one of them because nobody approved it.
Credit limits are checked after the goods have left, if at all.
The sales team spends its week reconciling orders instead of selling, the accounts team chases invoices with the wrong purchase-order number, and the brand's best accounts still cannot see live stock or their own price list without ringing someone.

Scope of the service

What the build covers

A custom wholesale platform build normally covers the account, pricing and ordering core of a trade business. Trade accounts are applied for online, reviewed by your sales team and approved with a price tier, a credit arrangement, a minimum order value and the representative who looks after them. The catalogue carries trade products with pack sizes, minimum quantities, case and unit pricing and stock per warehouse, shown only to approved accounts and priced by their tier. Ordering covers a fast order form for buyers who know their codes, bulk upload from a spreadsheet, reorder from history and a quote request that your representative prices and the buyer converts into an order. Checkout takes a purchase-order number, applies the account's terms and either takes card payment through the payment adapter or raises an invoice on credit within the limit, with configurable VAT rules per line. Buyer accounts support several users per account with approval chains, so a shop manager can raise an order that head office approves. Price lists are exported per account, and the back office sees orders, credit exposure and representative activity.

We map your trade relationships first: how accounts are approved, how many price tiers really exist, which products have pack rules, how quotes are negotiated, how credit is granted and what the accounts system needs back. Each becomes a named stage in the scope document.

Deliberately out of scope

Your accounting ledger and credit control decisions, which stay in the accounts system we connect to, warehouse picking beyond raising the order, and sales commission calculations

When the scope grows

Scoping scenario

A drinks brand supplies pubs, restaurant groups and regional distributors on different price lists, with distributors buying by pallet, restaurant groups ordering per site against a head-office credit line, and a representative who must approve any order above a set value before it is confirmed. The per-site ordering against a group credit limit and the representative approval step make this a custom build, and the scope document says so plainly.

Deliverables

What you receive

Discovery notes from walking through account approval, a quote negotiation and an order on credit
A written scope document naming each workflow stage, the price tier and credit model and what is left out
Designs of the account application, the trade catalogue and fast order form, the quote view and the approval screens
The build, deployed to your hosting or ours, with the payment provider and accounts system connected
Migration of trade accounts, price lists, products and order history from your current tools
Training for sales, representatives and accounts staff, with written guides for buyers
Handover material and full ownership of the source code and your data

Process

How a project runs

Each stage maps onto the project view in your client panel. Durations are set in your proposal, never on this page.

Onboarding

Access to your current price lists, account records, accounts system and any existing portal; the credit and approval rules as they are applied today.
Project stage: Onboarding
Planning

Discovery with the sales manager, a representative and the accounts team; the tier model, pack rules, quote process and credit handling are written into the scope document.
Project stage: Planning
Design

Fast order form, bulk upload and quote screens designed for buyers who order in a hurry; account, approval and credit views designed for your sales and accounts staff.
Project stage: Design
Development

Built in layers: accounts and pricing first, then catalogue and ordering, then quotes, credit invoicing and approval chains, then the accounts connection.
Project stage: Development
Client review

Representatives and a few friendly trade customers raise orders, quotes and approvals against real price lists with the payment provider in test mode and tell us where the terms are wrong.
Project stage: Client review
Revisions

Changes from the review are made and re-checked against the scope document.
Project stage: Revisions
Ready for launch

Accounts and price lists migrated, credit limits reconciled with the accounts system, invoices and payments verified against live accounts you control, launch checklist signed off.
Project stage: Ready for launch
Delivered

Trade orders run through the platform; hosting and maintenance continue under their own agreement if taken.
Project stage: Delivered

Integrations

Commonly integrated

Systems this kind of business usually asks us to connect. Each integration is confirmed during discovery; none is assumed.

Accounting and ERP systems for accounts, invoices, credit limits and payment allocation
Card and bank payment providers through the provider-independent payment layer
Warehouse and stock systems for availability per warehouse and order release
Pallet and parcel carriers for delivery booking and tracking
Email providers for order confirmations, quotes, approvals and statements
Company information services for checks at account application, as a record of the result
Product information systems holding specifications and trade images

How we would approach it

Worked example

Concept demo

A drinks brand supplying pubs, restaurant groups and distributors

In this scoping scenario, a drinks brand sells to independent pubs on a standard trade list, to restaurant groups on negotiated group prices with each site ordering separately against a head-office credit line, and to regional distributors who buy by the pallet on a third list. Any order above a value the sales manager sets must be approved by the account's representative before it is confirmed. The scope we would propose: price tiers attached to accounts with group accounts holding child sites, credit exposure calculated across all sites in a group and checked at checkout, pallet-only products with pack rules per tier, a representative approval queue with the order held until approved, and invoices raised in the accounts system with the purchase-order number and site reference the group's own system expects.

The custom route is needed because of the group credit line shared across sites and the representative approval step, which go beyond the single-account tiers and buyer-side approval the package assumes.

Concept demo: a scoping scenario written to show how we would approach the work. It is not a delivered client project.

Pricing

What affects the price

Every proposal is priced on scope. These are the factors that move it most for this kind of build.

Number of price tiers and whether prices are negotiated per account
Credit terms, limits and how closely the accounts system must be kept in step
Pack size and minimum quantity rules across the catalogue
Quote process depth and whether representatives price quotes inside the platform
Buyer approval chains and group accounts with several sites
Payment provider and whether card, bank transfer and credit invoicing all apply
Volume of accounts, price lists and order history to migrate
Hosting choice: your own hosting or ours

Custom development · Commerce

Discovery notes from walking through account approval, a quote negotiation and an order on credit
A written scope document naming each workflow stage, the price tier and credit model and what is left out
Designs of the account application, the trade catalogue and fast order form, the quote view and the approval screens
The build, deployed to your hosting or ours, with the payment provider and accounts system connected

Priced per proposal. A written proposal is the only binding figure.

Get a project quote See the software package

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

When is the package enough and when do we need a custom build?

If approved accounts on a handful of price tiers, pack rules, purchase-order numbers, credit invoicing within a limit and buyer-side approval cover your trade, the wholesale ordering package is the right fit and we quote for that. Group credit lines across sites, representative approval steps, negotiated per-account prices or a deep accounts system connection point to the custom route.

How are credit terms and limits handled?

Each account carries the terms and limit your accounts team sets or the accounts system holds. At checkout the platform checks the open balance against the limit and either raises an invoice on credit, asks for card payment or holds the order for review, according to rules you configure. Decisions about who gets credit remain with you.

Can our sales representatives place orders for customers?

Yes. A representative can raise an order or a quote on behalf of any account they look after, see that account's history and price list, and approve orders where the scope includes an approval step.

Can you move our existing accounts and price lists?

Usually yes. Accounts, contacts, tiers, price lists and order history are exported from your current spreadsheets, portal or accounts system and imported, and buyers are invited to set their own logins. The scope document states what can be carried over once we have seen the data.

Who owns the platform afterwards?

You do. The source code, accounts, price lists and orders are handed over at delivery. Hosting and maintenance are optional and agreed separately, and the platform can be moved to another provider.

Get a project quote for b2b wholesale software

Answer a few questions about your business, your current systems and what should change. We reply with a clear, competitive proposal.

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B2B wholesale platform development

What goes wrong today

What the build covers

Deliberately out of scope

When the scope grows

What you receive

How a project runs

Onboarding

Planning

Design

Development

Client review

Revisions

Ready for launch

Delivered