Collecting data is faster when the other party enters it
Customer portals, dealer portals and supplier portals on the same catalogue, with their own prices and their own documents.
What this is about
A portal is a closed environment for one party: one customer, one dealer or one supplier. Whoever logs in sees their own prices, their own assortment, their own orders and their own documents — and nothing else. Trade prices stay behind the login, which in this industry is a condition for working with dealers at all.
On the purchasing side it works the other way round: there your supplier enters their own data, for example the packaging data the European packaging regulation requires from you, including certificates and documents. That saves your team collecting by email, and it saves the argument about who had which version — because the latest version is in the portal and not in someone's sent items.
Who we built this for
Companies working with regular buyers rather than one-off customers: wholesalers with dealers, distributors with contract customers, producers with a chain of suppliers. And anyone currently collecting data by email and maintaining the spreadsheet themselves.
The tipping point usually lies at around ten regular relations. Below that an email is quicker; above it you lose half a day a week keeping track of who has delivered what and which price agreement now applies. A portal moves that work to the party that already holds the data, and gives you an overview instead of a pile of attachments. That is also the moment when dealers start asking for an environment of their own.
What actually happens
A portal is technically the same engine as the E-commerce module, with different rights and different prices. So a second portal is not a second system, and an improvement on one side reaches the other.
What makes a portal genuinely usable is the combination of rights and repetition. The price has to be right for this one party, the order list has to resemble what they ordered last time, and who may approve has to be fixed. Without those three it is a webshop with a login screen in front of it, and your dealer will simply carry on phoning.
Own prices per party
The agreed price or discount, visible after login and nowhere else. Anyone not logged in sees no trade price.
Own order lists
Standard articles, previous orders and a quick repeat order, because a dealer mostly orders the same things and does not want to look for them every time.
Own documents
Price agreements, proofs, certificates and invoices in one place with the right party, rather than in a folder you maintain yourself.
Supplier portal for packaging data and documentation
Your suppliers enter packaging data, certificates and specifications themselves. You get a complete set instead of a mailbox full of attachments.
Budgets and approval
A customer with several locations can set a budget per location and have orders approved before they reach you.
Rights per user
Who may order, who may only look, who may approve. Set per party, not per system.
Own address and own design
A portal has its own web address and follows the branding of the party using it.
How it fits with the rest
A portal runs on the same catalogue from the PIM and the same order flow as the ERP module, with the price agreements from the CRM. Magic Logo sits in it where that fits, so a dealer can place their own customer's logo without having to call you. The copy comes from the CMS, so a portal does not get its own content system.
The difference with Brand Sites is whose brand it carries. Portalen is the portal you give to your customers, dealers and suppliers; Brand Sites is the same mechanism under your customer's brand and without our name. Either way you maintain one environment.
Tell us which data you now collect by email
We will put a portal in place with the fields you actually need, and a counter showing which party has not delivered yet. That is what a mailbox cannot tell you.
If you work with dealers we do the same on the sales side: own prices, own order list and a repeat order in two actions.