A distribution company switches on its B2B ordering portal. An email goes out to dealers, logins are handed out, and in the first week a handful of orders arrive through the portal. Three months later, the figures show that most orders are still coming through the old channels: phone calls, WhatsApp messages and notes passed to the sales rep.
That rarely means the portal is bad. From the dealer's side, the old way is simply still easier. Below are the most common reasons dealers don't make the move, and what can be done about each of them.
1. The phone is still faster
Put yourself in the dealer's shoes. Ringing the rep with "the usual from last week, and two more cases of this one" takes ten seconds. If the portal means remembering a password, hunting for products one at a time and adding each to a cart over five minutes, the dealer will pick up the phone.
What you can do:
- Reorder: A "repeat last order" button is a strong contender for the most-used feature in any B2B portal.
- Quick add by product code: Dealers know your product codes better than you do; let them type a code and a quantity instead of searching.
- Bulk upload from Excel: A dealer who already builds the order in a spreadsheet should be able to upload that spreadsheet as it is.
- Screens that work well on a phone: Many dealers order from their phone in the shop, not from a desk.
2. They don't trust what the portal shows
The dealer sees one price on the portal while the rep quotes another on the phone. Or a product the portal lists as in stock turns out to be unavailable. After this happens once or twice, the dealer treats the portal as a catalogue and goes on ordering by phone.
The fix is in the integration, not the design:
- Price lists, discounts, campaigns and free-goods rules should come from the ERP instead of being kept up by hand inside the portal.
- Stock and prices should sync at regular intervals, and orders should sync immediately.
- The portal and the rep's screen should show the same data. One rep telling a dealer "never mind what the portal says" is enough to wreck its credibility.
3. They still ring head office to check their balance
Dealers don't only call head office about orders. "What's my balance, which cheque is due, has my last payment gone through?" are questions that ring the same phone.
When the portal shows the customer account statement, the balance, upcoming payments and the credit limit, dealers log in to check their account as well as to order. More often than not, that is what turns the portal into something they open every day. Add an option to pay by card, and the "how should I pay?" calls go down too.
4. They can't see what happened to their order
A dealer who orders by phone asks on the same phone when the goods will arrive. If they order through the portal and then still have to call to find out where the order is, they have gained nothing.
Showing each stage on the portal (approval, picking, dispatch, delivery note, courier tracking) cuts the "where's my order?" calls and gives the dealer a tangible reason to order online.
5. The rep sees the portal as a rival
One reason that is easy to overlook sits in the field team. If a rep believes portal orders will cut into their commission or make them less important, they won't recommend it, and may even tell the dealer "just message me, I'll sort it out".
What you can do in that case:
- State plainly that portal orders from a dealer will still be credited to that dealer's rep and won't touch their commission.
- Show the dealer's portal orders on the rep's screen, so the rep can draw on that history during visits.
- Redefine the rep's role: less carrying of routine orders, more introducing new products, solving problems and visiting dealers who aren't placing orders.
The portal doesn't replace the field team. It hands routine ordering to the dealer and frees up the rep's time.
6. The switch was announced, not planned
An email that says "Our portal is now live, your login details are attached" is not a transition plan. For most dealers this is a new habit, and new habits form in a few steps:
- Start with a pilot: Begin with a few dealers who are comfortable with technology and iron out the problems together.
- Let reps show it on visits: Placing the first order together, on the dealer's own phone, works far better than a guide sent by email.
- Follow up: Look at which dealers have never logged in and which left an order in the cart without finishing it, and talk to them.
- Consider an incentive: A concrete advantage, such as a small portal-only campaign or a later order cut-off time, makes the first step easier.
7. The old channel never closed
If phone and WhatsApp orders are accepted indefinitely, some dealers will never move. Closing those channels overnight can cost you dealers, but never closing them means running two separate systems for good.
The middle ground is to make the portal the default for routine orders and keep the phone for exceptions and emergencies. When a routine order still arrives by phone and someone at head office has to key it into the portal or the ERP, a polite reminder to the dealer helps speed up the switch.
In short
Dealers use the portal once it is easier and more reliable than the old way. Shortcuts like reorder and quick add, accurate prices and stock from the ERP, account statements and order tracking, backing from the field team and a planned transition will reduce phone orders on their own.
These are the principles we build B2B ordering portals on: dealer-specific prices and campaigns, account statements and credit limits, quick ordering and shipment tracking, collections through a virtual POS, and two-way integration with Logo, Mikro, Netsis or SAP. At companies that use BernSFA, portal orders also show up on the rep's screen.
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