Magento case study
Building a Secure B2B Ordering Portal for a UK Manufacturer
A bespoke Magento B2B portal designed around the way a UK carpet manufacturer and its trade customers actually work, combining controlled access, specialist product ordering, commercial pricing and back-office integration.
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The challenge
An established UK carpet manufacturer needed to give trade customers secure online access to products, pricing, ordering and account information without forcing its established commercial processes into a generic consumer ecommerce model.
Carpet products also needed to be ordered using terminology and measurements familiar to the flooring trade. The platform needed to account for widths, rolls, cuts and required lengths while retaining the business information required to process trade orders.
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The solution
The Magento storefront was developed as a controlled trade portal rather than a public consumer store. Authenticated customers can be given access to relevant commercial content, products and pricing according to their account or customer group, alongside trade resources and account-related content.
The product journey was adapted around the way carpet is actually sold. Instead of relying on a conventional quantity box, customers can work with widths, roll and cut availability and the required length, with relevant square-metre pricing presented alongside the product. Roll and tier pricing can be applied where appropriate, together with current stock availability.
Checkout was adapted to capture the information the manufacturer needs to process a trade order, including purchase-order references, purchaser details and delivery instructions. Collection-specific behaviour is also handled where appropriate.
Custom integrations connect Magento with the manufacturer's internal operational systems, allowing commercial, stock, order and fulfilment information to move between the customer-facing portal and the wider business. The account area retains business and customer references and gives customers order history, reorder and invoice information; individual order lines can also carry fulfilment status and expected despatch information.
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The outcome
The result is a secure self-service trade portal that reflects the manufacturer's established products, pricing and purchasing processes rather than forcing them into a generic ecommerce journey. Magento operates as part of the wider business workflow, giving customers convenient online ordering and account visibility while allowing operational information to move between the portal and the manufacturer's internal systems.
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