The challenge
The distributor sells both wholesale (B2B) and retail (B2C) from a single storefront. B2B distribution has requirements an off-the-shelf store can't meet: every account needs its own pricing, orders ship via couriers on account, and the catalog runs to thousands of SKUs across hundreds of categories. They needed a platform built around how distribution actually works - and a partner who would still be there years later.
Account pricing
Every customer needs their own contract price and quantity breaks, not one public list.
Distribution catalog
Thousands of SKUs across hundreds of categories, serving B2B and B2C from one store.
A partner for the long run
A platform that would still be maintained and evolving many years after launch.
What we built
A heavily customized AspDotNetStorefront platform tailored to the distributor's business.
- ◆Tiered, account-specific pricingA custom pricing engine (multi-tier import_stock pricing) so each customer sees their own contract price and quantity breaks, not one public list.
- ◆Two-way Sage ERP integrationInventory is managed in Sage and synced both ways, customers can be created in the ERP and synced to the store, and web orders flow back into Sage automatically. The storefront and the ERP run as one system.
- ◆B2B ordering built for repeat buyersFavorites, reorder, recurring orders, quantity discounts, and a promotions engine (coupons, gift-with-purchase).
- ◆Courier-integrated fulfilmentLive Direct Freight courier rates alongside UPS/FedEx, in-store collection, and free-shipping rules.
- ◆Complete commerce operationsMulti-gateway payments (PayPal Commerce, Braintree, Authorize.Net, Amazon Pay), purchase orders, gift cards, Avalara tax, and MaxMind fraud screening.
- ◆Findability & marketingDoofinder product search and MailChimp cart-event integration.
The stack
Custom, self-hosted commerce the client owns - and it isn't standing still: the store publishes a live OpenAI Agentic Commerce product feed, so its catalog is discoverable by AI shopping agents today.
Delivery model: Direct client. Silex built the platform to fit exactly how the distributor sells and has run it as a long-term partner ever since - with the client owning the code, data and hosting outright.
Results
A platform the distributor has trusted and grown on since 2009 - a 2,100-product, 650-category catalog serving B2B and B2C from one system. The distributor owns all of it: no per-seat SaaS fees, no lock-in; the platform is a business asset, not a subscription that raises its own rent.
"We've run our whole B2B and retail business on this platform for seventeen years. It's ours - the code, the data, all of it - and it still does exactly what our customers need, right down to talking straight to our ERP."
- Managing Director, Australian B2B/B2C distributor (illustrative - attribution pending client approval)
Why it matters
This is the Silex model in one client: build a platform fit to exactly how a distributor sells, then run it as a long-term partner - for the better part of two decades - with the client owning every line of it.
