B2B Wholesale E Commerce Platform

The distributor had grown steadily over 25 years, building a loyal network of retail partners including supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, and hotels. Despite the business success, the ordering process had barely changed since the company's founding. Retail partners placed orders through three channels: telephone calls to the sales team, fax orders using printed order forms, and increasingly, WhatsApp messages to their assigned sales representatives. The sales office employed 14 people whose primary function was taking orders by phone and manually entering them into the company's ERP system. This process consumed an average of 4 hours per order when accounting for the phone call, manual entry, stock checking, pricing lookup, and order confirmation. During peak periods before major holidays, the phone lines were overwhelmed and orders were delayed or lost entirely.

Pricing was the most error prone aspect of the operation. The distributor operated a complex tiered pricing structure where each retail partner had negotiated rates based on their volume tier, payment history, and specific product agreements. These pricing arrangements were maintained in a combination of spreadsheets, handwritten notes, and the memory of long serving sales representatives. When a sales representative was absent, orders from their accounts were frequently processed at incorrect prices, leading to either margin erosion when prices were set too low or customer complaints and credit notes when prices were set too high. The company estimated that pricing errors affected approximately 8% of all order lines.

Stock visibility was another critical gap. The ERP system maintained stock levels, but sales representatives taking phone orders had no real time access to inventory data. They would accept orders for items that were out of stock, leading to partial deliveries, backorder management headaches, and customer dissatisfaction. Real time stock information existed only in the warehouse management module, which was not accessible to the sales team.

Credit management was handled entirely offline. Each retail partner had a credit limit, but checking available credit required a phone call to the finance department, who would manually look up the account balance. During busy periods, orders were frequently processed without credit checks, occasionally resulting in overdue accounts exceeding their limits by significant amounts. The finance team spent considerable time chasing payments and managing credit exposures reactively rather than proactively.

We built a comprehensive B2B e commerce platform using Nuxt on the frontend with a .NET 8 API backend, designed specifically for the wholesale ordering workflow rather than adapting a consumer e commerce template. The platform integrates bidirectionally with the existing ERP system, treating it as the source of truth for product data, stock levels, and financial records. The product catalogue presents the full 12,000 SKU range with real time stock availability pulled from the ERP every 60 seconds. Products are organized in the category hierarchy familiar to retail buyers, with quick reorder functionality that lets partners duplicate previous orders with a single action. The search is tuned for trade use, supporting product codes, brand names, and partial descriptions that wholesale buyers typically use.

The tiered pricing engine was the most complex component. Every retail partner sees their specific negotiated prices when they log in, calculated from a rules engine that evaluates their volume tier, any product specific agreements, promotional pricing currently active, and quantity based discounts for bulk orders. The pricing rules are managed through an admin interface that the commercial team uses directly, replacing the spreadsheets and handwritten notes entirely. When pricing agreements change, the updates are effective immediately across all channels.

The credit management module integrates with the ERP's accounts receivable data. When a retail partner places an order, the system checks their current balance, credit limit, and payment history in real time. Orders that would exceed the credit limit are held for approval by the finance team rather than being rejected outright, preserving the relationship while protecting the business. Partners with overdue balances beyond 60 days are automatically restricted to cash on delivery terms.

The order workflow is designed around how wholesale buyers actually work. Partners can build orders over several sessions, saving draft orders and adding items throughout the day before submitting. The platform suggests complementary products based on order history and seasonal patterns. A scheduled reorder feature lets partners set up recurring weekly or fortnightly orders for their staple products, with the ability to adjust quantities before each delivery. The Stripe integration handles online payments for cash on delivery conversions and prepayment discounts, while the majority of partners continue on their existing credit terms with invoices generated automatically through the ERP. The sales team, freed from manual order entry, now focuses on relationship management, upselling, and supporting partners who need help transitioning to the digital platform.