What a dealer portal for manufacturers has to do, how it differs from a customer portal, why ERP-resolved tier pricing is the whole project, and buy-versus-build, from an agency that builds them.

Electrical and lighting distribution ecommerce turns on unit-of-measure logic, project-based buying, and spec-driven catalogs. The trade-specific mechanics a general ecommerce build will miss.

Medical and lab equipment ecommerce adds entitlements, lot/serial traceability, regulatory data control, and GPO/contract pricing on top of B2B distribution. The control and compliance mechanics that decide it.

Industrial and MRO distribution ecommerce is a catalog, part-number, pricing, and branch-fulfillment problem – not a design problem. The mechanics that actually decide whether an industrial distributor’s online channel works.

Why B2B checkout is not B2C checkout: net terms and pay-on-account, ERP-enforced credit limits, tax exemption and resale certificates, PO numbers and approvals – and what lives in the ERP versus the storefront.

Why B2B buyers now expect self-service, the seven things a real portal must do, how a portal differs from a storefront, and the honest buy-versus-build decision – from an agency that builds them.

Why B2B sales reps should order on behalf of customers inside the same portal – at the customer’s real pricing, into the same ERP flow – instead of a separate rep app that disagrees with the portal.

The ordering mechanics that make a B2B portal usable for repeat buyers: requisition lists, quick order by SKU and customer part number, bulk/CSV upload, saved carts, and reorder – and the ERP data each needs.

How distributor pricing really works – multipliers, price columns, cost-plus, matrices, quantity breaks – and how to put it on a storefront or B2B portal so the web price matches the counter price to the penny.

Seven B2B portal builders compared honestly: ERP integration depth, delivery models, verifiable references, and when to buy software instead of hiring anyone.

The P21 integration is identical on either platform. What actually decides between Shopware and Adobe Commerce for a distributor: economics, catalog shape, and rollout phasing.