B2B Distribution · UK-wide
ERP Portal Case Study | £30m+ Orders Without Replacing the ERP
A production ERP portal for a UK B2B distributor — live stock, account pricing, and self-service checkout on the existing ERP. £30m+ ordered in 2025.
Overview
Searching for a real ERP portal example? A high-volume UK B2B distributor was still taking most orders by phone and email. Trade customers needed a proper ERP portal — live stock, account pricing, and self-service checkout — without raw ERP logins. We built a React ERP portal wired into the ERP so distributors and trade buyers could order online while credit rules, pricing, and stock stayed under commercial control. In 2025 the portal processed over £30 million in orders and became the primary channel.
What an ERP portal is (and is not)
An ERP portal is a customer-facing web app that reads and writes the ERP safely: live stock, account pricing, credit limits, and order creation — without giving buyers a raw ERP login. It is not a separate product catalogue that drifts out of sync, and it is not a full ERP replacement. For UK B2B distributors, that pattern is usually the fastest way to move phone and email orders online.
Dig into the patterns: ERP customer portal guide, self-service portal for distributors, and B2B portals for SMEs.
ERP portal vs a plain website vs emailing orders
Searchers often compare an ERP portal with a marketing website or with keeping trade orders on email. Here is the practical difference for UK B2B distributors:
| Approach | What customers get | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Plain website / brochure shop | Marketing pages, maybe a contact form or a catalogue that is updated by hand | No live stock, no account pricing, no credit checks — orders still land in an inbox |
| Emailing or phoning orders | Familiar for trade buyers; sales desk types lines into the ERP | Errors, delays, no out-of-hours ordering, and rising desk cost as volume grows |
| ERP portal | Live stock, account prices, credit rules, and self-service checkout that writes orders into the ERP | Needs proper integration — but the ERP stays the system of record, not a second shop database |
This case study is the third path: a React portal on the existing ERP that moved £30m+ of orders online in 2025 without a rip-and-replace.
The Challenge
The client needed to:
- Reduce order processing via phone and manual entry
- Expose live ERP data to customers safely
- Support complex stock scenarios: available stock, pre-order/incoming stock, stock already allocated to purchase orders
- Preserve account-specific pricing and credit rules
- Lower transaction costs associated with card payments
- At the same time, the solution had to integrate cleanly with a long-established ERP without destabilising core operations
The Solution
We built a React-based customer portal tightly integrated with the ERP, designed for scale and long-term stability.
- Self-checkout ordering with ERP-validated pricing
- Real-time stock checking, including free stock, incoming stock, and stock allocated to purchase orders
- Ability to pre-order stock before arrival
- Automatic ERP order creation with full audit trail
- Secure login and customer-specific access
- Order history with searchable line-level detail
- Downloadable price lists tied to ERP pricing rules
- Account statements and balance visibility
- Pay-by-bank integration, reducing reliance on card payments and lowering transaction fees
- Live stock and pricing feeds
- Order and allocation synchronisation
- Credit limits and account rules enforced at checkout
- No duplication of pricing or product logic outside the ERP
The Result
- Over £30 million in orders processed in 2025 through the portal
- Significant channel shift from phone to online, reducing manual order handling
- Substantial time savings for sales and admin teams
- Faster order placement for customers, including out-of-hours ordering
- Reduced payment processing costs through bank-based payments
- System running with minimal ongoing upkeep
- The portal became the primary ordering channel, freeing internal teams to focus on higher-value work rather than data entry
Why This Matters
If your sales desk is still typing ERP orders because customers cannot self-serve, an ERP portal is usually the fix — not a full ERP replacement. This ERP portal case study shows how to expose stock, pricing, and ordering safely, shift volume online, and keep the ERP as the system of record. Useful reading: our guides to ERP customer portals and distributor self-service portals.
Related guides
Still running quotes, orders or paperwork in Excel and inboxes? See how we replace spreadsheets, emails and paperwork with one system.
