What a trade portal does
A trade portal is a private section of your website for account customers. Each customer signs in and sees the prices you have agreed with them, the stock you hold today and everything they have ordered before.
They can reorder last month's job in two taps, download an invoice without asking accounts, and check where a delivery is without ringing the warehouse.
What it replaces
- Price lists sent by email and out of date within a week
- Phone calls to ask what is in stock
- Orders typed twice, once from the email and once into your accounting system
- Statements and invoices chased by hand
- Customers who order from someone else because it was easier at nine at night
How we build one
We start with how your customers order today and which system holds your prices and stock. The portal reads from that system, so your team keeps working the way it does now.
The first version usually covers sign in, account pricing, stock and ordering. Invoices, statements, quotes and delivery tracking follow in later stages, each one agreed and quoted before it starts.
What your team gets
Fewer interruptions, for a start. Orders arrive complete and correct, already matched to the right account. Your staff add and remove products themselves, without calling us.
Questions
Should we build a custom trade portal or use Shopify B2B?
Shopify B2B suits a business with simple pricing and a catalogue that fits a standard store. A custom portal is the better choice when each customer has agreed prices, when stock lives in another system, or when ordering has rules a standard store cannot follow. We will tell you honestly which one fits before you spend anything.
Can a trade portal show different prices to different customers?
Yes. That is the main reason businesses build one. Each account sees its own agreed prices, and you can set them by customer, by group or by product.
Will it connect to Xero, MYOB or our stock system?
Yes for Xero and MYOB. Both are built to connect to other software, so orders, invoices, customers and prices can pass between them and your portal without anyone typing them twice. Most stock systems connect the same way. If yours is older or unusual, we confirm exactly what it allows before you commit to anything.
How long does a trade portal take to build?
A first working version usually takes weeks, not months. We build in stages, so your customers start ordering through it early while the remaining features are added.