A B2B ecommerce agency for manufacturers and distributors
Your trade customers order online at their own prices, with their quantity breaks and their payment terms. Stock and orders move between the site and your ERP with nothing keyed in twice.
Updated
From
£12,000 ex VAT
- Timeline
- 8 to 14 weeks
- Pricing
- Fixed price per stage
You need one if
- Your customers order the same part numbers again and again, and the sales office keys each one in.
- Customer price lists live in the ERP and in spreadsheets, not where the customer orders.
- Businesses you do not know want to buy and cannot see how to open a trade account.
- Your distributors order in the evening or at the weekend, when nobody answers.
- Your consumer web shop cannot handle credit accounts, quotes or a minimum order.
What the site contains
-
Customer-specific prices
Each account sees its own price list, discounts and net prices, read from the ERP. Visitors without an account see list price, or no price at all.
-
Quantities and pack sizes
Quantity breaks, sale by box or by pallet, minimum order and carriage-paid threshold, all checked in the basket.
- Optional
Quote to order
The customer turns a basket into a quote request. The salesperson adjusts it, the customer accepts, and the quote becomes a sales order.
-
Payment on account
Ordering against a credit limit and payment terms for account customers. Card or bank transfer payment against a pro-forma, for the others, is an optional module.
-
New account approval
An application form with company number and VAT number, approval by the sales office, then a link to a customer code and a price list.
-
ERP synchronisation
Stock and prices come down from the ERP, orders go up to it. Sage 200, Access Dimensions, Pegasus Opera, Odoo, SAP Business One or an in-house system.
Example: an installer’s first order
A typical journey with the payment and quote modules, to illustrate. The situations are fictional.
- 1
An installer applies for a trade account: company number, VAT number, delivery address.
- 2
The sales office approves the account and assigns a price list. Until a credit limit is set, the installer pays by card or bank transfer.
- 3
They add 12 part numbers. Quantity breaks show, and the basket points out that another £70 would make the order carriage paid.
- 4
For a quantity beyond the price list, they request a quote. The salesperson replies, the installer accepts and the quote becomes an order.
- 5
The sales order is created in the ERP, stock is allocated and the acknowledgement goes out automatically.
How the project runs
Audit
Pricing rules, payment terms, data available in the ERP, and the route an order takes through the sales office today.
1 to 2 weeksSpecification
Mock-ups of the catalogue, the basket and the customer account, a diagram of the data flows with the ERP, scope and price fixed.
2 weeksBuild
A delivery every two weeks. Test orders run the whole way through to the ERP before go-live.
4 to 9 weeksLaunch
Opened to a few customers first, then to the rest in waves, and the sales office is trained. One month of fixes against the specification is included, then maintenance by the month.
1 week, then a month of fixes
Durations to scale, using the longest stated
What the price covers
The starting price is for a site in one language: catalogue, customer accounts, customer-specific prices, basket and ordering on account, linked to one ERP for stock and orders. It includes the specification; the audit is priced separately. The final price is fixed after the specification, before the build.
- Site: catalogue, accounts, customer prices, ordering
- from £12,000 ex VAT
- Optional Online quote module
- from £3,500 ex VAT
- Card or bank transfer payment
- from £1,750 ex VAT
- Audit and roadmap, deducted from the first project we build for you
- £1,650 ex VAT
- Maintenance
- from £390 ex VAT a month
Payment, for each stage
- 30%
- on order
- 70%
- on accepted delivery
B2B ecommerce site or customer portal: what is the difference?
A customer portal and a B2B ecommerce site both take orders online. They are not aimed at the same people and do not start from the same need.
| Point | Customer portal | B2B ecommerce site |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it | Your existing customers, invited one by one. | Your customers, and businesses you do not know yet. |
| What they do there | Track orders, find invoices and documents, repeat an order. | Browse a catalogue, fill a basket, request a quote, order, apply for an account. |
| Catalogue | For logged-in customers only, at their prices. | Open, partly visible without logging in. |
| Opening an account | Done by you, from the ERP. | Done by the visitor, approved by the sales office. |
| Starting price | £10,500 ex VAT, online ordering optional | £12,000 ex VAT, ordering included |
What B2B ecommerce does that a consumer shop does not
A trade buyer does not fill a basket the way a consumer does: they order for their company, on agreed terms. According to Gartner (2025), 61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience. The site still has to know the rules your salesperson applies from memory.
- Price depends on the customer. Price list, discount by product group, agreed net price, validity dates.
- Price depends on the quantity. Quantity breaks, pack sizes, a minimum per line or per order.
- Not everything is bought with a click. Made-to-order products and large quantities go through a quote, from the same basket.
- Payment is seldom taken with the order. Credit account, 30-day terms, a credit limit watched by accounts.
- Several people per account. Whoever prepares the order is not always the one who approves it.
- The catalogue is technical. It rests on a product catalogue with filters and datasheets; for the data behind it, see the PIM guide.
Bespoke, subscription software or your ERP’s module?
A bespoke B2B site is not the right choice for everyone. Compare before you decide.
| Option | Advantage | Limit | Choose it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription ecommerce software with B2B features | Online quickly, with a proven basket and checkout. | A subscription for as long as you use it, pricing rules limited to what the tool allows, an ERP connector to add. | You have one or two price lists and few special rules. |
| Ecommerce module from your ERP vendor | Prices and stock already linked. | Basic catalogue and search, screens that are hard to adapt. | The module covers your rules and the buying experience is not a concern. |
| Bespoke B2B site | Follows your pricing, quoting and payment rules; the code becomes yours as each stage is paid. | A higher cost up front, and 8 to 14 weeks from the audit to go-live. | Your commercial rules are how you compete and no tool reproduces them. |
The audit compares the three options against your actual rules. If it concludes that subscription software will do, we say so.
ERP integration: which system holds the truth?
A site that shows wrong stock or an out-of-date price makes more work for the sales office than it saves. So each piece of data has one source and one direction of travel.
| Data | Source | Direction | Usual frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part numbers and prices | ERP | ERP to site | Nightly, or on change |
| Available stock | ERP | ERP to site | Every few minutes, or on request |
| Sales orders | Site | Site to ERP | On confirmation |
| Customer accounts | ERP | ERP to site; new accounts go through the sales office | Nightly |
| Order status | ERP | ERP to site | Several times a day |
If the ERP is down, the site carries on showing the last data received and holds new orders until it is back. The cost of the connection depends on the number of flows and on what the ERP can expose: an API, files or a connector.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a B2B ecommerce site cost?
From £12,000 ex VAT for the catalogue, accounts, customer-specific prices and ordering on account, linked to your ERP. Online quotes and card payment are modules priced separately.
How long before the site is open?
Allow 8 to 14 weeks from the audit to go-live for the first customers. The timescale depends on the number of data flows with the ERP and on how complex the pricing rules are.
Will it work with our ERP?
Yes, if stock and prices can be read from it and orders created in it, through an API, file exchange or a connector: Sage 200, Access Dimensions, Pegasus Opera, Odoo, SAP Business One or an in-house system. The audit checks both directions first.
Do we have to take payment online?
No. Account customers order on account and pay on their usual terms. Card or bank transfer payment is an optional module for new accounts, with the payment provider you choose, on an account in your name.
Will competitors be able to see our prices?
Only if you decide so. Prices can be public, hidden, or shown after login. Agreed prices are shown only to the customer they belong to; that separation is tested before go-live.
How is this different from a customer portal?
The customer portal serves your existing customers: tracking, documents, reorders. The ecommerce site offers an open catalogue and account applications, to win new customers. Both share the same data and can work side by side.
Who owns the site?
The code repository, the hosting and the domain name are opened in your name from day one, and rights in the code pass to you as each stage is paid. The site is hosted in the European Union. Maintenance, from £390 ex VAT a month, has no lock-in.
Read next
- Service
Customer portal
Your customers track orders and find their documents without calling the sales office. from £10,500 - Service
Product catalogue and PIM
Your part numbers online with filters and datasheets, updated from an ERP export or a spreadsheet. from £7,000 - Automation
Sales order entry
Orders received by e‑mail or PDF become drafts in the ERP. from £3,400 - Guide
PIM software for manufacturers
A PIM holds product data in one place and sends it everywhere in the same form.
Start with a fixed-price audit
In one to two weeks you know what to build, in what order and in what price range. The audit fee is deducted from the first project we build for you.
£1,650 ex VAT 1 to 2 weeks See a sample report