You've decided your wholesale business needs a B2B ordering portal. Customers want self-service. Your team is drowning in phone orders. The ROI is compelling. If you're still deciding whether you need one at all, start with what a B2B ordering portal actually is.
Now comes the hard part: choosing the right one.
The market is flooded with options. Enterprise platforms promising everything. Lightweight tools that seem too simple. ERP add-ons that technically exist. Each vendor claims to be perfect for wholesale and distribution.
Most aren't.
Here's what actually matters when evaluating B2B ordering portal software—and the red flags that signal a platform will become an expensive regret.
The Features That Actually Matter
After helping wholesalers and distributors implement ordering portals, we've learned which features make the difference between adoption and abandonment.
Speed above everything
This is non-negotiable. If your B2B ecommerce portal takes more than 2-3 seconds to load a page, customers won't use it. They'll pick up the phone—exactly what you're trying to avoid.
Speed isn't a feature vendors advertise honestly. Everyone claims to be fast. Test it yourself with realistic data: your actual product catalogue, your actual customer segments, your actual concurrent users.
A portal that demos beautifully with 100 products might crawl with 10,000. A platform that's fast with 5 users might choke with 50. Test at scale or get burned later.
Customer-specific pricing that actually works
Wholesale pricing is complicated. You need:
- Multiple price lists assigned to different customer tiers
- Customer-specific overrides for negotiated rates
- Volume-based pricing that adjusts automatically based on quantity
- Contract pricing that honours locked rates regardless of list changes
- Promotional pricing that applies conditionally
This isn't optional complexity. It's how wholesale actually works. If a platform can't handle your pricing model natively, you'll spend forever building workarounds—or worse, customers will see wrong prices. This is often where Shopify B2B falls short for serious wholesale operations.
Ask vendors to demonstrate your actual pricing scenario, not a simplified version. If they can't, move on.
Real-time inventory visibility
Your customers need to know what's in stock before they order. Not yesterday's stock levels—current stock levels.
That means real-time integration with your warehouse or ERP. When a picker pulls an item, the portal reflects it. When a delivery arrives, availability updates immediately.
Stale inventory data destroys trust. A customer who orders something "in stock" and learns it's backordered won't make that mistake twice. They'll order from your competitor who shows accurate availability.
Mobile experience (not just mobile compatibility)
"Mobile responsive" isn't enough. Your customers are ordering from job sites, warehouse floors, and delivery vans. They need an experience designed for phones, not a desktop site that technically fits on a small screen.
Look for:
- Touch-optimised interface with buttons big enough to tap accurately
- Fast loading on cellular connections where bandwidth is limited
- Quick-order tools that don't require endless scrolling
- Barcode scanning using the phone's camera
- Offline capability for areas with poor coverage
A sales rep in a customer's warehouse should be able to place an order in under two minutes on their phone. Time it. If you can't, the mobile experience isn't ready.
Reordering and quick-order tools
Most B2B orders are variations of previous orders. The platform should make this effortless:
- One-click reorder from order history
- Standing order templates customers can save and reuse
- Quick-add by SKU for customers who know exactly what they want
- Bulk upload via CSV for large orders
- Favourites and frequently ordered lists
The goal is reducing a 50-item order from 10 minutes to 30 seconds. Customers who can reorder quickly will reorder often.
Proper search and navigation
With thousands of SKUs, customers need to find products fast. That means:
- Search that understands wholesale including part numbers, manufacturer codes, and common misspellings
- Faceted filtering by category, brand, specifications, and availability
- Recent and suggested products based on purchase history
- Category browsing that matches how your customers think
Poor search is a silent killer. Customers who can't find what they want assume you don't stock it. They don't call to check—they order elsewhere.
Account and credit management
B2B isn't pay-now-ship-now. The portal needs to handle:
- Credit limits that block orders exceeding available credit
- Payment terms visibility so customers know their account status
- Invoice access for customers to view and pay outstanding invoices
- Multiple delivery addresses under one account
- User hierarchies so companies can have buyers with different permissions
If your customers need to call accounts receivable to check their credit status, you've failed the self-service test.
Integration: Where Most Platforms Fail
Features are meaningless if the portal doesn't connect properly to your back-end systems. Integration is where B2B ordering software projects succeed or become expensive disappointments.
ERP integration depth
The portal needs to read from and write to your ERP—not through clunky exports and imports, but through proper system integration.
Reading from ERP:
- Real-time pricing including customer-specific rates
- Current inventory levels by location
- Customer account data and credit status
- Product information and availability
Writing to ERP:
- Orders created directly in the ERP sales order module
- Customer updates synced automatically
- Order status reflected back to the portal
Ask vendors: how does data flow? Is it real-time or batched? What happens when integration fails—do orders queue or disappear? Have they integrated with your specific ERP before?
Generic answers are red flags. You want someone who's done your ERP integration specifically.
Accounting and finance system connection
Beyond the ERP, can the portal connect to:
- Accounting software for invoice and payment data
- Credit management systems for real-time credit decisions
- Payment gateways for online payment processing
These integrations determine whether customers can pay online, view invoices, and understand their account status—all critical for true self-service.
Warehouse and fulfilment integration
Orders need to reach your warehouse automatically. That means integration with:
- Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) for pick list generation
- Shipping carriers for rate calculation and tracking
- 3PL providers if you outsource fulfilment
The moment an order requires manual intervention to reach the warehouse, you've created a bottleneck. True automation means order-to-pick with zero human touches.
Red Flags to Watch For
We've seen enough B2B portal implementations to know the warning signs of trouble ahead.
"We can customise that"
Every platform has gaps. Some vendors fill them with custom development promises: "We can build that for you."
Be cautious. Custom development means:
- Higher costs (often undisclosed until you're committed)
- Longer timelines
- Features that may not survive platform upgrades
- Dependency on that vendor forever
If your core requirements need customisation, the platform isn't right for you. Find one where your needs are standard features.
Integration "connectors" that aren't
Vendors love listing integrations: "Connects with NetSuite, SAP, MYOB, Dynamics..."
Dig deeper. A "connector" might mean:
- Full bi-directional real-time sync (rare)
- One-way data push on a schedule (common)
- Export/import via CSV with manual steps (worthless)
- "Available via our professional services team" (doesn't exist yet)
Ask for a reference customer using your specific ERP. Talk to them. Ask how the integration actually works.
Beautiful demo, vague on details
Demo environments are designed to impress. They're fast because they have no data. They're smooth because they're showing happy paths.
Ask to see:
- A customer with complex pricing viewing their specific prices
- An order that tests credit limits
- Search results with your realistic product volume
- The admin interface where you'll manage everything
If they can't show you these, they're hiding something.
No wholesale-specific references
A vendor might have great case studies—in retail, or hospitality, or generic B2B. But wholesale distribution has specific requirements that other industries don't share.
Ask for references from businesses like yours: similar industry, similar complexity, similar scale. If they don't have them, you'll be their guinea pig.
Pricing that doesn't include everything
SaaS pricing is notoriously opaque. The base subscription might exclude:
- Transaction fees above a certain volume
- Integration setup and maintenance
- Premium support
- Additional users or customer accounts
- API calls beyond a limit
Get a total cost of ownership that includes everything you'll actually need. A $500/month platform that costs $50,000 to implement is actually a $50,500 platform.
Questions to Ask Every Vendor
Before committing to any B2B ecommerce platform, get clear answers:
On pricing:
- Show me how you'd handle our specific pricing scenario (provide a real example)
- How do price updates flow from our ERP to the portal?
- Can customers see their specific negotiated prices, or just tier pricing?
On integration:
- Have you integrated with [our specific ERP] before? Can I talk to that customer?
- What happens if integration fails mid-order?
- How long does a typical integration with our systems take?
On performance:
- Can I test with our product catalogue size?
- What happens at peak load with X concurrent users?
- What's your uptime guarantee and what happens when you miss it?
On support:
- Who supports us after launch—your team or a partner?
- What's included versus extra cost?
- How quickly do you respond to critical issues?
On references:
- Can I speak to three customers similar to our business?
- Can I see a live portal (not a demo) with wholesale complexity?
Vendors who can't answer these clearly aren't ready for your business.
Build vs Buy: When Custom Makes Sense
Off-the-shelf B2B ordering platforms work well when:
- Your pricing model is relatively standard
- Your product catalogue fits the platform's data model
- Integration with your ERP is already proven
- You can adapt your processes to the platform
Custom-built portals make sense when:
- Your pricing or product logic is genuinely unique
- You need deep integration with multiple legacy systems
- The portal is a competitive differentiator, not just a utility
- Off-the-shelf options can't handle your complexity without massive customisation
Custom costs more upfront but delivers exactly what you need. Off-the-shelf is faster to launch but may require compromises. Choose based on where your complexity actually lies.
Making the Decision
Choosing B2B ordering portal software isn't about finding the most features. It's about finding the right fit for your specific wholesale operation.
Start with your non-negotiables. What must the platform do on day one? Those requirements eliminate most options quickly.
Test with your data. Any serious vendor will let you pilot with real products, real pricing, and real complexity. If they won't, they know it won't work.
Talk to references. Not testimonials on the website—actual conversations with actual customers. Ask about implementation, support, and what they'd do differently.
Consider total cost. Software subscription, implementation, integration, customisation, training, ongoing support. The cheapest platform is rarely the least expensive solution.
Plan for growth. Will this platform handle double your current volume? Triple? You don't want to migrate again in two years.
The right B2B ordering portal transforms your wholesale operation. The wrong one becomes an expensive obstacle that customers avoid and staff resent.
Choose carefully. And before you launch, review the common mistakes when launching a B2B portal so you don't repeat them.
Need help evaluating B2B ordering portal options for your wholesale business? Book a call with our team. We'll assess your requirements and help you understand what's realistic—whether that's an existing platform or a custom solution.
