B2B Fashion and Wholesale Trade Platform

Is a B2B platform right for your wholesale business?

A standard online store is usually designed for end customers: one public price, a shopping cart, payment and delivery. Wholesale works differently. One shop may have a negotiated discount, another may buy only certain brands, while a third may receive goods on credit or with a minimum quantity by size and colour.

A custom platform is more suitable when you have several types of buyers, seasonal collections, different price lists, requests that require approval, warehouses or a need to connect to an ERP. It can include a public section for showcasing collections and a secure area for approved trade customers.

What roles and permissions are needed?

Roles are defined according to how your team works. Each role sees only the information and actions it needs.

• Administrator, manages users, companies, price lists, catalogues, settings and permissions.
• Sales representative, sees their assigned customers, prepares quotes and tracks requests and orders.
• Customer company, browses available products, prices and stock levels, submits requests and tracks their status.
• Buyer or customer employee, works on behalf of a specific company with limited permissions.
• Warehouse employee, sees confirmed orders, reserves quantities and updates fulfilment status.
• Finance or management user, receives reports on turnover, orders, outstanding liabilities and stock movements.

When needed, one company can have multiple users with different permissions. For example, the owner approves the order while the buyer only prepares it.

How are fashion catalogues organised?

The catalogue should reflect how trade customers choose products. A product can have a brand, collection, season, category, style, colour, size, material, images, technical specifications and related items. For clothing and footwear, variants are managed separately so stock can be tracked by size and colour, rather than only as the total quantity for the style.

• Filters by brand, category, collection, season, size and colour.
• A catalogue visible only to specific customer groups or markets.
• Minimum order quantity and order increment.
• Favourite products, repeat-order lists and product information downloads.
• Images and materials for trade customers that are not visible to public visitors.
• Product status, in stock, available on request, incoming or discontinued.

How do customer-specific prices and stock levels work?

The platform can use a base price, price lists by customer group, individually negotiated prices and promotional terms. The priority between these rules is defined in advance so there is no dispute over which price should be displayed. Customers see only their own price, while administrators can compare prices and terms across companies.

Stock is not just one overall figure either. It can be shown by warehouse, channel or status, available quantity, reserved quantity, expected delivery and stock allocated to a specific customer. If the system is connected to an ERP or warehouse management software, the platform receives the data automatically according to a defined schedule or via API.

How does a request or order work?

A B2B customer does not always buy immediately. Often, they collect styles, submit a request, wait for quantities to be confirmed, and only then receive the final price and delivery timeframe. That is why the platform can keep requests separate from confirmed orders.

1. 01
   Process analysis

   We define the customer types, roles, catalogues, pricing rules, warehouses and how requests are currently received.

2. 02
   Data model

   We organise the products, variants, sizes, colours, companies, price lists, warehouse quantities and order statuses.

3. 03
   Prototype and interface

   We show how a trader finds a product, adds quantities, submits a request and tracks the response. We also define the admin panel.

4. 04
   Development and integrations

   We build the customer area, catalogue, pricing rules, requests, orders and connections to an ERP, warehouse system, payment provider or courier where needed.

5. 05
   Testing with real-world scenarios

   We test different customers, prices, quantities, partial fulfilment, out-of-stock items, cancellations and catalogue changes.

6. 06
   Launch and training

   We load the initial data, train the team and document rules for adding products, customers, prices and users.

How does the platform connect to an ERP or warehouse system?

The integration depends on the system you use. If an API is available, products, variants, prices, customers, stock levels and order statuses can be exchanged. If there is no API, we design an import and export process using CSV, Excel, XML or another format, defining the frequency and direction of the exchange.

It is important for each piece of information to have a single source of truth. The ERP can be the source for inventory and invoices, while the B2B platform can be the source for the customer catalogue and requests. This avoids duplicate products, mismatched quantities and manual data entry. For more complex scenarios, we can also connect the system through API integrations.

When is a custom solution better than a standard online store?

A standard store may be enough if you sell under the same terms to everyone and have a simple catalogue. A custom solution makes sense when business rules are part of the sales process itself, not just the website design.

What does a similar B2B project look like?

In Labimex, B2B e-commerce platform, the catalogue and quotation system are tailored to sales to professional customers. The project is a useful example of how product information and requests can be organised outside a standard online store.

How much does a B2B fashion platform cost?

The estimated range for custom software, ERP and related business systems is €3,000-€29,300. The specific quote depends on the number of roles, the complexity of product variants, pricing rules, number of warehouses, import method, ERP integration, approval workflows and required reports.

The first version can start with a catalogue, customer area, prices, requests and basic stock information. Later, automatic orders, mobile access, forecasting, marketplace connections or additional warehouse processes can be added if they are justified by the team’s workflow.

What do you need to prepare?

• Sample product files with sizes, colours, photos and categories.
• A list of customer groups and pricing rules.
• A description of your warehouses and which stock is shown to the customer.
• Sample enquiries, confirmed orders, refusals and partial deliveries.
• Access to, or documentation for, your ERP, warehouse system and other integrations.
• A list of employees and the actions each role must be able to perform.

How should we discuss your platform?

For the initial discussion, prepare a sample catalogue, price list and description of your current process from enquiry to delivery. You can send the information through the contact form; we will then clarify the scope, integrations and the right first version.