A B2B ordering portal is the online store that a wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer gives to its business customers. It shows the full catalogue, but with each customer's own negotiated prices, credit terms and reorder lists. It is also called a B2B e-commerce portal or a dealer ordering app. In India, many shopkeepers and dealers use these portals as apps on their phones.
Why is it different from an ordinary online store? In an ordinary store, every shopper sees the same price and pays at checkout. In B2B selling, each customer has its own price list, often agreed after negotiation. Many customers buy on credit: they receive the goods now and pay within 30 or 45 days. The portal must also apply minimum order sizes, show the stock at the nearest warehouse, and produce a GST invoice for every order.
Take, for example, a plumbing-supplies wholesaler in Ludhiana that sells to 1,200 hardware shops across Punjab. Earlier, its sales staff took orders by phone and WhatsApp, and typed them into the accounts system every evening. Mistakes were common. Now each shop owner logs in to the portal. One shop owner sees the list prices with his agreed 8% discount, his credit limit of ₹3 lakh, and ₹1.1 lakh that he has not yet paid. He opens his reorder list, which shows the pipes and fittings he bought last month. He changes three quantities and places an order of ₹42,000. The portal checks that the order fits within his remaining credit of ₹1.9 lakh. It sends the order to the wholesaler's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which reserves the stock and creates the invoice with GST.
The catalogue on the portal comes from product information management (PIM), so every photo and specification is correct. Sales representatives see the same catalogue on their phones when they visit shops, through field sales software. When an invoice falls due, accounts receivable (AR) automation sends reminders and matches each payment to the right invoice.
For large catalogues, search matters. A buyer may type a description instead of a product code. Industrial product search matches that description to the right item.
How is a portal different from a B2B marketplace? A portal belongs to one seller, and its users already buy from that seller. A marketplace lists many sellers, and helps a business find a new supplier. Some portals also offer credit to small shops through partner lenders, in the form of MSME loans, using each shop's order history.