Wholesale and distribution
Wholesale & Distribution Software Design
Ordering platforms and buyer portals for distributors, where the competition is a chat thread at nine at night.
Five-star reviews from clients on Upwork
The problem
What this software has to survive
Distribution software is complicated because the trade itself is complicated, so the design has to hold all of it.
Layered pricing
List price, customer tier and promotional price, and then the one account with an arrangement which is older than the software.
Orders from everywhere
Orders arrive through chat threads, phone calls, a field agent’s notebook and a buyer’s handwritten list.
Stock with conditions
Consignment, reservations and partial availability, sometimes with two warehouses on one order.
Payment reality
Cash on delivery, terms, part payments, post-dated cheques and a collection day.
Geographic fulfilment
Routes, delivery windows and restricted hours, with provincial runs which take days.
Users who are fast
Someone who enters two hundred orders a day has a keyboard path, so a prettier screen which is slower is a downgrade.
Where the work is
Four screens decide adoption,
and the rest is detail.
Order entry has to be right first,
because everything after it depends on it.
Four screens / one workflow at a time
Screen / 01
Order entry is the screen which decides everything, with repeat orders, product lookup by whatever the buyer calls the item, quantities in the units which they actually use and a running total which they trust.
Screen / 02
The buyer portal is used by a store owner on a phone, at night, on a poor connection and without training, so I design it for that moment.
Screen / 03
The back office holds order management, exceptions, credit and returns, and it's where the operations team works all day.
Screen / 04
The exceptions are short deliveries, price disputes and returns, and they decide whether staff trust the system enough to retire their parallel spreadsheet.
The one screen which matters
Order entry decides adoption
Everything else in a distribution platform can be adequate, but if order entry is slower than sending a message, buyers keep sending messages and the software becomes a place where someone retypes them.
So I design order entry first and measure it hardest, and four things make it faster than a message.
- Repeat the last order in one action, because most orders are near-repeats
- Product lookup by the name which the buyer uses for it
- Quantities in the units they actually order in, whether cases, sacks or dozens
- A running total which they trust before they commit
What it costs
I quote each project once I've read the brief
I quote from how an order moves through your team today, since one workflow such as ordering, fulfilment or returns is a smaller job than a buyer portal with its back office. One workflow mostly takes 3 to 5 weeks, and discovery starts with watching how orders arrive today, because I think those workarounds are the real requirements.
Common questions
Before you contact me
What is a B2B ordering portal?
It's the screen which a buyer uses to place a repeat order without phoning anyone, with product lookup by whatever they call the item, quantities in the units which they actually use, their own pricing and a running total which they trust, and everything else in a distribution platform exists to serve that screen.
How long does a buyer portal take to design?
The ordering workflow itself takes three to five weeks, and longer once the back office and the exceptions are in scope, but I think the order of release matters more than speed here, so shipping order entry first and running it beside the existing channel works better than launching everything at once.
Our buyers order by chat. Will they use a portal?
They will once it's faster for them than the chat, which makes it a design problem more than a training one, and repeat ordering, memory of the last order and an easy login are what move it. I would expect to run both channels for a while and measure the split.
Should buyers have a mobile app or a mobile web portal?
I would almost always start with the web, because a store owner ordering at nine at night won't install an app for one supplier, and an app puts a release cycle in front of every fix, so build the mobile web experience properly and then revisit the app once you know the portal is used every day.
Do you work with our ERP or inventory system?
Yes, and it means an early conversation about what your data can and can't express, because I think designing a screen which the back end can't serve is the most common waste in this category.
Do you know Philippine distribution specifically?
Yes, it's the market which I work in day to day, with sari-sari stores and mini marts as buyers, cash on delivery and terms, and provincial routes, and the same patterns hold across Southeast Asia.
Do we need an ordering portal or a better website first?
I would start where orders are stuck, so when buyers can't find what you stock or what it costs, a catalogue website comes first, like the one which the Northloop concept shows for an industrial parts range, and when they know what they want but ordering is slow, the portal comes first. Catalogue sites are on website design.
Can you help before we have built anything?
Yes, and I think it's the best time, because designing the ordering flow before it's built costs far less than discovering in month six that the pricing model can't express what sales promised.
The thinking behind it
Guides I've written
Client reviews
Always built
on trust
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Mike is an absolute star. A great communicator who takes initiative, and has the skills to complete the job well each and every time. He is a fantastic partner in all-things design and development, is a pleasure and easy to communicate with.
Gwyn P. Founder, Sail Digital
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Mike was one of the easiest consultants we have worked with. Good attitude, willing to take on feedback, good designs and willing to please. Will have no hesitation to hire!
Fiona M. Director, CArio
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Mike not only gave us an amazing new website but also gave us time back to focus on growing our SaaS company and the confidence to know that we can leverage their skills again in the future. I unreservedly recommend!
Andrew Former director, shibumi
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Mike helped us design and develop our new website in Webflow. He is very responsive to changes and iterations, and helped find faster ways to implement what we wanted.
Julien R. Founder, Hire Donna
Ordering from you should be easier than sending a chat message.
Tell me how orders reach you today and where they go wrong, and I think that conversation usually shows where time and orders slip away and what a faster path for your buyers would look like.
