B2B Portal for industrial manufacturers — dealers, installers and partners order directly, with configurator and BOM
Self-service B2B software for equipment, component and industrial-material manufacturers. Product configurator with dynamic BOM, multi-level approval quoting, technical catalogs with CAD drawings, per-line lead time, ERP integration (SAP, Oracle, Infor, Charisma, Senior) and CRM for your dealers/installers.
Why B2B selling at the manufacturer doesn't fit a classic e-commerce shop
An industrial manufacturer doesn't sell direct to end-user — sells through a network of dealers, installers, integrators, authorized service centers. Each partner has specific commercial terms (net contracted price, volume discount, quarterly rebate), orders products often configurable (length, finish, voltage, custom dimension), with different lead times (in stock / 2 weeks / 6 weeks MTO).
A classic e-commerce shop (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento) is built for B2C: single price, immediate stock, card checkout. Doesn't cover: per-partner pricing, product configurator, dynamic BOM, quoting with technical validation, per-line lead time, ERP integration with production inventory, credit terms, retroactive rebate.
The Azuvio B2B portal for manufacturers addresses exactly these gaps: dealer/installer logs in, configures the product, sees contracted price and real lead time, places a quote request or direct order (per your rules), the quote enters internal workflow (commercial + technical approval), confirmation goes to partner with final BOM and delivery date. Plus native CRM integration for partner-pipeline management.
What the B2B portal does for an industrial manufacturer
The features that matter when selling configurable products through a partner network.
- Product configurator with dynamic BOM — Partner picks options (model, dimension, finish, accessories). Configurator validates compatibility, generates complete BOM, computes price and lead time. Zero manual "specific forum" quoting.
- Contracted price per partner + rebate — Each dealer/installer sees their price (net, volume discount, quarterly rebate calculated live on current pipeline). Plus payment terms: net 30/60/90, early-payment discount, order deposit.
- Technical catalogs with sheets & CAD — For each product/variant: PDF tech sheet, CAD drawing (DWG/DXF/STEP/IGES), install instructions, CE/ISO certs, conformity declarations. All downloadable from portal, current version guaranteed.
- Real per-line lead time — For each SKU: in stock / produced week X / MTO with computed date. Based on ERP MRP — not rule of thumb. Partner sees real date before confirming quote.
- Quote-to-order workflow — RFQ → quote (with commercial and technical validation, multi-approver) → partner accept → order. All documents versioned, complete audit trail, optional e-signature.
- CRM integration for partner pipeline — Each RFQ/quote appears in your CRM (Azuvio CRM or external). See pipeline per partner, conversion rate, average value, loss reasons. Plus automatic segmentation: active / dormant / churn-risk dealer.
- Co-branding & marketing materials — Portal offers dealers: HD product images, demo video, co-branded marketing materials (dealer logo + manufacturer), social media kits, translations (EN/RO/+). Cuts dealer marketing overhead.
- Training & certifications — Online courses (video + quiz) per product, technical certifications with digital badge, physical workshop calendar, training materials. Certified partners become "Premium installer" in your public catalog — real incentive.
Email / manual quoting vs Azuvio B2B Portal
1 HVAC equipment manufacturer, 280 active dealers, ~150 RFQ/month.
| Aspect | Email + Excel + phone | Azuvio B2B Portal |
|---|
| RFQ channel | Email with free-form specs | Structured configurator — validated input |
| Product configuration | Manual by commercial engineer | Self-service by partner with rules |
| Compatibility validation | Manual, post-RFQ, often missed | Automatic in configurator, real-time |
| Lead time calculation | Rule of thumb / estimate | ERP MRP, real-time per line |
| Quote issuance time | 2-5 business days | 10-30 minutes (auto) / 4 hours (with approval) |
| Quote versions | Lost emails, version confusion | Complete audit trail, current version visible |
| Technical materials | Email attachments, version mismatch | Centralized library, current version guaranteed |
| Partner pipeline | Commercial Excel, outdated | Live CRM — RFQ, conversion, value |
| New dealer onboarding | 2-4 weeks training | Portal self-onboarding + e-learning |
| RFQ → order conversion | 35-50% | 55-70% (faster quoting + transparency) |
B2B portal implementation for industrial manufacturer — 8-10 weeks
More complex than FMCG distribution due to configurator + quote workflow.
- Week 1-2 — Product modeling & configurator rules — Inventory product families, identify configurable parameters, define compatibility rules, option dependencies, per-combo price computation. Output: complete configurator model validated by engineering + commercial.
- Week 3-4 — ERP & MRP integration — ERP connection (SAP/Oracle/Infor/Charisma/Senior) for: product catalog + attributes, per-partner prices, stock (finished goods + components), MRP for lead time computation. Sandbox testing.
- Week 5 — Quote workflow & approvals — Configure RFQ → quote → accept → order workflow. Approval rules: who validates (commercial/technical/financial), value thresholds, SLA-breach escalation. Notifications on each transition.
- Week 6 — Portal branding + technical materials — Portal customization with your identity. Upload technical library (PDF sheets, CADs, certs). Configure marketing materials per partner tier.
- Week 7 — Onboarding 20 pilot dealers — Select 20 representative dealers (mixed tier), create accounts, live training (2h/dealer) + tutorial video, dedicated WhatsApp/Teams support.
- Week 8-10 — Tuning & rollout — Based on pilot feedback: configurator, workflow, UX adjustments. Then rollout to rest of network with adoption incentives (extra rebate for portal RFQ, support priority).
Real problems at industrial manufacturers — and portal solution
- Problem: Commercial engineer spends 60% of time configuring products for manual quoting — no time for strategic selling. Azuvio B2B Portal solution: Self-service configurator. Engineer intervenes only on complex / custom configurations — 10-15% of volume.
- Problem: Quote takes 2-5 business days. Faster competition wins the deal. Azuvio B2B Portal solution: Standard quotes in 10-30 min (auto), approval quotes in 4h. Conversion rate +15-25%.
- Problem: Dealers use old CAD drawings (2022 version) for end-customer quoting — delivery mismatches. Azuvio B2B Portal solution: Centralized library with current-version guarantee. Dealers notified on update.
- Problem: Lead times mispromised — 4 weeks promised, 8 weeks actual. Reputation eroded. Azuvio B2B Portal solution: Real-time lead time from MRP. Promise = reality.
- Problem: Partner pipeline unknown — you don't know which dealer is active, dormant, at-risk. Azuvio B2B Portal solution: Live CRM with RFQ tracking. Proactive churn-risk dealer identification.
- Problem: New dealer onboarding takes 1 month (product + portal + process training). Slow time-to-first-order. Azuvio B2B Portal solution: Portal self-onboarding + structured e-learning. Time-to-first-order: 3-5 days.
Built for manufacturers with 50+ B2B partner networks
Representative scenarios — numbers depend on catalog complexity and current digitalization level.
- HVAC equipment manufacturer — 280 dealers, 12 countries — RFQ→order conversion: from 42% to 61% in 6 months. Average quote-issuance time: from 3.2 days to 4.5 hours. Commercial engineers reallocated 50% of time to strategic deals (>50k EUR).
- Electrical component manufacturer — 180 industrial distributors — Portal adoption: 78% RFQs via portal at 4 months. Eliminated 1.5 customer-service FTEs (reallocated to complex-deal technical support). New dealer onboarding: from 28 days to 6 days.
- Office B2B furniture manufacturer — 95 regional integrators — Catalog with configurator: 1,200 base products × 8,500 possible combinations. Auto-quoting: 73% of RFQs with response under 30 minutes. Configuration errors (returned for modification): from 12% to 1.8%.
Technical & commercial details
Configurator engine
Rule-based engine supporting: linear parameters (length, width), discrete parameters (model, finish), conditional parameters (option X available only if model = Y), cross-parameter validation (forbidden combos), formula-based price computation (base price + per-option supplement × quantity), per-BOM lead time computation. Configurator is visually editable by your team — no code.
Dynamic BOM & MRP integration
For each configuration: complete BOM auto-generated (components, quantities, warehouse locations). Sent to ERP at order conversion → MRP computes real lead time (stock / production / MTO). Production gets fabrication orders with complete specs, zero transcription errors.
Quote workflow & approvals
Configurable workflow: who validates commercially (price override), technically (feasibility), financially (credit limit, payment terms). Conditional rules: quote <10k EUR and margin >25% → auto-approved; quote >50k EUR → commercial director approval. SLA per level with auto-escalation.
Rebate engine
Quarterly/annual rebate computation per partner: base (% of sales over threshold), bonus (for strategic / new product promotion), penalties (for high returns). Live computation with partner visibility — sees current cumulative gain any time.
Documents & signatures
Auto-generation: branded PDF quote, confirmed order with complete specs, pro-forma invoice, shipping tracking, quality certs. Optional e-signature (DocuSign, Signaturit, ANAF). Complete audit trail for compliance (ISO 9001, IATF, ATEX).
Co-branding & marketing
Co-branded materials generator: takeover with dealer logo on standard materials (brochures, product sheets, video). Asset library with controlled access per partner tier (Bronze / Silver / Gold / Premium). Material-usage tracking per dealer.
Training & certifications
Integrated LMS: video courses, quizzes, certifications with digital badge. Physical workshop calendar with online enrollment. Per-dealer progress tracking. Certified partners shown in public store locator with Premium badge.
API & integrations
Documented REST API for: catalog, configurator (programmatic configuration), prices, orders, stock. Webhooks on key events. Native integrations: SAP, Oracle, Infor, Charisma, Senior, Dynamics 365 BC. CAD library connector: Autodesk, SolidWorks, PTC.
FAQ
- How complex can the configurator be?
- Support for: tens of parameters per product, thousands of possible combinations, complex conditional rules (if model=X and option Y then disable option Z), cross-parameter validation, formula-based price. Most complex live case: 47 parameters on a single product, ~280,000 validated combinations.
- Does it integrate with our CAD (SolidWorks/Autodesk Inventor)?
- Yes. We can extract parametric drawings from your CAD model at configuration (if infrastructure allows) or serve pre-generated per-variant drawings (more common). Format support: DWG, DXF, STEP, IGES, 3D PDF.
- Does it support catalogs with thousands of SKUs + variants?
- Yes. Largest live catalog: 8,400 base products × 12 average attributes per product. Search & filtering optimized for high volume.
- How does per-partner pricing work?
- Multiple price lists per tier (Bronze/Silver/Gold), per-dealer net contracted price, volume discounts (quantity or value), retroactive rebate (computed quarterly/annually). All synced with your ERP.
- Does it integrate with our external CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive)?
- Yes, native connectors + REST API. RFQs and quotes sync bidirectionally with your CRM. Or use Azuvio's native CRM integrated with the portal.
- How long is implementation?
- 8-10 weeks standard for a 20-dealer pilot. Full rollout 4-6 months depending on catalog complexity and network.
- How much does it cost?
- SaaS per internal user + activity (active portal partners + RFQ/orders). For a manufacturer with 200-500 partners, ROI comes from: 30-50% commercial-engineer time reduction on manual quoting + 15-25% conversion increase + 70% dealer onboarding cut. See /pricing.
- Does it support MTO selling with long lead times?
- Yes. Configurator computes real lead time from MRP, including MTO with 6-12 week terms. Partner sees real date before confirming. Plus possibility of deposit/down payment on MTO order.
- How do we manage partners who don't want to use the portal?
- Hybrid transition: portal + classic channels (email/phone) in parallel initially. Portal incentives: extra rebate, lead-time priority, exclusive marketing materials. At 6-9 months, ~90% of dealers voluntarily adopt.
The Azuvio stack for B2B industrial manufacturers
B2B Portal + CRM + OMS + WMS — in one platform.
Want to accelerate sales through your partner network?
2-minute B2B portal demo for industrial manufacturer. See configurator, dynamic BOM, approval quoting, CRM integration and technical materials.