The morning order
Cable and fittings at trade price, Net 30, the PO typed as a comment. Two minutes, and the van is loaded.
Trade & building supplies
A trade counter that knows the account, the price and the pallet count.
Merchants sell to the trade on terms, by the metre and by the pallet, from a counter and a yard where the Wi-Fi does not reach. The till prices from the customer's Magento group, puts the order on their Net 30 account with the PO number, keeps selling in the rain, and takes the last pallet off the website the moment it is sold.
- Ordered paving out in the yard
- Paid by card, off signal
- Order synced when signal returned
- Invoiced to the Net 30 account#000000141 · 612.00 GBP
What you run into
The problems this kind of business actually has.
Account customers served like cash customers
Terms, PO references and trade pricing kept in a separate system, re-keyed into the website's orders at the end of the day.
Yards and sheds with no signal
Sales stop, or go on paper, whenever the connection drops or IT puts the site into maintenance.
Stock in three places, counted in none
The yard, the warehouse and the website each think they have the last pallet.
Orders by phone and from the van
Half the business arrives by phone or on a site visit and never sees the checkout.
What fits
The features that answer them, across the three products.
B2B tenders and trade pricingPoint of Sale Net terms, layaway, store credit, split tenders and customer-group pricing at the counter.Offline and maintenance-mode sellingPoint of Sale Encrypted local catalogue, orders queued and re-sent, never charged twice.Multi-source inventoryPoint of Sale Salable stock per source, transfers from the iPad, returns to the right place.Fast native checkoutPoint of Sale Sold by the metre, any-barcode search, quotes held in the cloud.Field salesPoint of Sale Reps sell from the full catalogue on site and sync from the van.B2B paymentsPayments Suite Pay Now on invoices, deferred capture on despatch, quotes to cash.
In practice
Three moments from a working week.
The wet Tuesday in the yard
Three pallets of paving sold from the local catalogue with one bar of signal, paid by card, queued, and in Magento before the customer is home.
Cut lengths at the timber counter
Sawn timber sold by the metre from an iPad on a rugged stand, priced from the customer's group, the last of the batch taken off the website as it is sold.
The products
One Magento, one customer record, one set of numbers.
Everything ebizmarts builds writes to the same Adobe Commerce or Magento Open Source store, so the till, the checkout and the marketing platform see the same customer, the same stock and the same order.
Other industries
Furniture, bathroom, kitchen and lighting showroomsMore range than floor space, considered purchases, deposits and balances, and deliveries weeks later.B2B distributors and wholesalersPhone orders, reps on the road, invoices on terms and payment links, all on one Magento order book.Fashion and beautyLoyalty and gift cards that work in both channels, stores that fulfil web orders, and brands that keep their audiences apart.Sports, outdoor and seasonal retailStock across stores and a warehouse, seasonal staff, two currencies in the drawer, and launches that sell out in an hour.Direct-to-consumer brandsMobile checkouts that finish, carts that come back, segments that start from real orders, and pop-ups and fairs that take real orders.
Questions
What merchants in this sector ask first.
Do account orders create invoices?
That is set per tender in the Magento admin: each can create the invoice, create the shipment and open the drawer, or not. Statements come from Magento, where every counter order already sits with its PO reference.
Can we keep selling when the site is down?
Yes. The till carries the catalogue, prices and promotions locally, sells through outages and Magento maintenance windows, and re-sends the orders when the store is back.
Does it handle goods sold by length or weight?
Yes. Fractional quantities and decimal stock are supported, and a barcode scan can add a fractional unit.
How do reps on the road fit in?
The same app on an iPad: full catalogue, account pricing, quotes, deposits on a pocket reader, and sync from the van. The rep is on the order for commission.
Tell us what you sell and how.
Half an hour on a call and we will map your counter, your checkout and your marketing onto the features that fit, with your own catalogue.