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FMCG Distribution & B2B CommerceSaaS Application DevelopmentDevOps Consulting
FMCG B2B Distribution & Wholesale Portal
Engineering a robust B2B portal for bulk FMCG distribution, private labelling, and multi-warehouse inventory management — replacing a phone-and-spreadsheet operation with a single digital order-to-dispatch system.
End-to-end digital distribution replacing manual order processing for regional FMCG wholesale
Client
Confidential — FMCG distributor
Industry
FMCG Distribution & B2B Commerce
Timeline
5 months
Technologies
8+ tools
The Challenge
!Bulk order processing was entirely phone and email-based, so sales reps manually transcribed quantities, SKUs, and delivery windows into a shared spreadsheet. Transcription errors routinely caused wrong-quantity shipments and required rework that delayed dispatch by days.
!Private label product management required custom workflows not supported by generic e-commerce platforms, since each retail partner needed its own artwork, packaging specs, and approval sign-off before a SKU could be produced. Artwork revisions were tracked over email threads, making it hard to confirm which version was actually approved for print.
!Inventory visibility across multiple warehouses was tracked in spreadsheets that were updated at the end of each shift, so the numbers sales reps quoted to customers were frequently hours out of date. This led to overselling of fast-moving lines and last-minute apologies to key accounts.
!Wholesale customers needed tiered pricing per account with credit-limit enforcement on each order, but pricing tiers lived in a separate reference file that reps had to cross-check manually before confirming a quote. Credit limits were enforced only by memory or after-the-fact finance review, so over-limit orders sometimes shipped before anyone noticed.
!No centralised dashboard existed for the sales team to monitor open orders, backorders, and account status, forcing managers to build a daily status report by phone-polling each rep. Backorders in particular were easy to lose track of, and customers often found out about a delay only when the truck failed to arrive.
!Reordering was painful for repeat wholesale customers, who had to re-read out the same 40-60 line SKU list every cycle with no saved template or history to draw from. This added unnecessary call time for both the customer and the order desk and increased the odds of a missed or duplicated line item.
!Order confirmation and dispatch status were communicated ad hoc — a phone call here, an email there — with no consistent trail, so disputes about what was actually ordered or shipped were common and time-consuming to resolve.
!Onboarding new private-label retail partners took weeks because there was no standard intake process; each partner's product specs, pricing agreement, and artwork requirements had to be manually assembled into a working file before the first order could even be placed.
Our Solution
Built a B2B portal supporting bulk ordering with minimum-order-quantity enforcement, tiered pricing, and account credit management, so every quote a customer sees already reflects their negotiated terms and available credit. This removed the manual cross-checking step entirely and let reps quote instantly and accurately.
Developed a private label product management module with custom artwork upload and a structured approval workflow, giving each retail partner a single source of truth for their SKU specs and sign-off status. Version history is preserved automatically, so there is never ambiguity about which artwork was approved for production.
Implemented a multi-warehouse inventory ledger with real-time stock synchronisation and low-stock alerts, replacing the shift-end spreadsheet update with a live feed from each warehouse. Reps and customers now see the same accurate stock number at the same moment, eliminating overselling.
Created a wholesale customer portal with saved order templates, full order history, and one-click reorder shortcuts, so repeat customers can place a 50-line order in minutes instead of re-reading it over the phone. This cut order-desk call volume significantly while reducing line-item errors.
Built an internal sales dashboard showing open orders, backorder queues, and per-account credit utilisation in one view, giving managers real-time visibility without a single phone call. Backorders are now flagged automatically the moment a stock shortfall is detected, rather than discovered at delivery time.
Integrated automated order confirmation, fulfilment status, and dispatch notification workflows so customers and reps receive a consistent, timestamped trail from order placement through delivery. This has made post-dispatch disputes rare and fast to resolve when they do occur.
Standardised the private-label partner onboarding flow into a guided intake process covering product specs, pricing agreements, and artwork requirements, cutting the time to first order from weeks to days. New partners now self-serve much of the setup through the portal rather than relying on back-and-forth email.
Ran the platform on a Dockerised, Terraform-provisioned AWS infrastructure with Redis-backed caching for catalogue and pricing lookups, ensuring the portal stayed fast and reliable even during peak ordering windows at month-end and seasonal promotions.
Measurable Impact
Order processing
100% digital, zero phone/email orders
All bulk orders are placed, tracked, and fulfilled through the platform, eliminating phone and email order-taking entirely.
Stock discrepancies
Reduced to near zero
The real-time multi-warehouse ledger replaced spreadsheet-based tracking, cutting overselling incidents on fast-moving lines to isolated edge cases.
Private label approvals
3-5x faster sign-off cycle
Digital artwork submission and structured sign-off replaced manual email chains, cutting typical approval turnaround from weeks to days.
Account credit errors
Zero over-limit orders shipped
Automated credit-limit enforcement now prevents any order from exceeding an account's approved limit before it is placed.
Partner onboarding time
From 3-4 weeks to 2-3 days
Standardised intake workflows let new private-label retail partners reach their first order far faster than before.
Order desk call volume
Cut by roughly 50-60%
Saved templates and reorder shortcuts let repeat wholesale customers place large orders without re-reading line items by phone.
Order dispute resolution
Resolved in under a day, down from a week
Timestamped confirmation and dispatch trails give both sides a single source of truth when questions arise.
“We used to chase orders by phone all day and cross our fingers on stock counts that were hours old. Now the portal handles everything from placement to dispatch — our team focuses on growing accounts, not chasing paperwork, and our private-label partners get artwork approved in days instead of weeks.”
Technology stack
ReactNode.jsPostgreSQLRedisAWS S3StripeTerraformDocker