ByteQuix / Examples / Wholesale and Distribution
Example // Wholesale and Distribution

B2B contractor ordering portal. Online reorder for your top contractor accounts.

Contractors call, text, email, and fax the lumberyard's inside-sales counter all day to place orders. The rep keys each one into the LBM ERP or POS, looks up the customer's pricing tier and credit status, asks which job it is for, and confirms will-call, yard pickup, or job-site delivery. Repeat orders for the same job get re-keyed every time. After hours, customers cannot order. They go to the competitor with a portal.

01
The trigger

It starts when a contractor logs in.

The moment that kicks off the workflow. Today this is the email someone reads, the call someone takes, the document someone walks across the office. The tool replaces the human router.

02
The work

4 steps. The tool handles them.

  1. 01

    We seed the top accounts and their usual items

    Pilot weeks 1 to 2: we encode each pilot contractor's usual SKUs and their negotiated pricing into the tool. No full catalog yet; just the items they actually reorder.

  2. 02

    Each contractor gets a branded reorder login

    One URL per pilot contractor. They see their usual items and their own pricing, not a generic catalog.

  3. 03

    Orders email straight to the counter rep

    A submitted order lands in the counter rep's inbox in the format they already work from. No ERP write-back in the pilot.

  4. 04

    After-hours orders are captured, not lost

    Orders placed at 8 PM are waiting on the counter rep first thing in the morning instead of walking to a competitor.

03
The outcome

30-day proof.

After-hours captured
Share of repeat orders shifted to the portal

The pilot starts with your top 5 to 10 contractor accounts and their actual reorder pattern. The first 2 to 3 weeks, we encode the SKUs they buy most against their negotiated pricing. By day 30, those contractors are placing repeat orders online and the after-hours orders that used to walk to a competitor stay with you.

From there it grows. On the monthly, the next tool layers in your full catalog so contractors can find items they have not bought before. The one after pulls in live credit status, then job tagging, then will-call vs yard-pickup vs job-site delivery options, then two-way ERP write-back so orders flow into the ERP queue instead of email. Eventually the destination is the full 24/7 portal the Solutions Library describes.

Your monthly is flat once the pilot graduates onto Starter. Small refinements stay included. Adding a new capability (full catalog, credit status, ERP write-back) is a new tool, and we tell you about it openly before we build it. Most distributors grow into Growth tier across the first year as the contractor base shifts more of its order volume online.

How it costs and how fast

$800 pilot: online reorder for your top contractor accounts on their usual items at negotiated pricing, orders to your counter rep. 2 to 3 weeks to build, 30 days live. After the pilot, the engagement graduates onto Starter ($295/mo). The portal grows from there as full catalog, credit status, and ERP write-back layer in.

04
Who this fits

Where this build fits, where it does not.

This fits small and mid-sized wholesale building-materials distributors, hardware-plumbing-heating distributors, and machinery wholesalers whose top contractor accounts reorder routinely. Typical fit: 25 to 100 person distributors with 50 to 200 active contractor accounts where the top 20 percent account for 60 to 80 percent of order volume. It works when the contractor's reorder behavior is predictable enough to be templated. It does not fit distributors whose business is primarily counter-based walk-in volume or whose contractor accounts are too small to justify portal training.

05
How it integrates

Built on top of what you already run.

The pilot encodes the pilot contractors' usual SKUs and negotiated pricing into the tool. Orders email to the counter rep in the format they already work. No ERP write-back, no live credit status, no full catalog in the pilot. As the tool grows on the monthly, full catalog sync, live credit status, job tagging, delivery options, and two-way ERP write-back (Epicor BisTrack, Spruce, Eclipse, Prophet 21, Acumatica, Sage 100/300, or similar) layer in one tool at a time.

Common questions

Specific questions buyers ask about this build.

What does the $800 pilot actually deliver, exactly?

Online reorder for your top 5 to 10 contractor accounts on their usual items at their negotiated pricing, with orders emailed straight to your counter rep. By day 30, those contractors are placing repeat orders online and the after-hours orders that used to walk away stay with you. From there, full catalog, credit status, and ERP write-back layer in over the monthly.

What if our contractors are not tech-forward?

The pilot focuses on the contractors most likely to adopt: long-tenured accounts whose reorder rhythm is predictable. For a contractor who buys the same 12 SKUs every Monday, the portal opens with those 12 SKUs ready to confirm. If those contractors adopt, the rest follow as the portal grows.

Will inside sales lose accounts they currently manage?

Inside sales loses the routine reorder typing. They keep the relationship work: complex projects, new SKUs, exception orders, follow-up, growth conversations. Most inside-sales teams welcome the change once they see it.

Will the monthly nickel-and-dime me?

Your monthly is flat. Small refinements to a running tool are included. Adding the full catalog, credit status, or ERP write-back is a new tool, and we tell you about it openly before we build it. Most clients stay at their starting tier, and that is fine with us.

07
More builds like this

See more wholesale and distribution builds.

This build fits other operations in the same industry, with their own outcomes and metrics.

Wholesale and Distribution industry hub →
More reading

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Custom-software pricing is opaque on purpose. Here is what each delivery model actually costs, what you get for the money, and which one fits a 10 to 50 employee business.

Read the field note →

Pilot this build in 1 to 3 weeks. $800.

Book a discovery call and we will scope the pilot the same week.