What is a B2B ordering app?
A B2B ordering app is a private app that a manufacturer, wholesaler or brand gives to its business customers, usually dealers, so they can order products at their agreed prices without calling or messaging the sales office. It is ecommerce, but for known buyers with accounts, credit and negotiated rates rather than anonymous shoppers.
The difference from a consumer shopping app is everywhere. There is no public price; each dealer sees their own. There is often no payment at checkout; the order goes on credit against the dealer's ledger. Orders can be large, with case packs and minimum quantities, and some need a manager's approval before they become real. And the order must end up in your accounting or ERP system, not in a separate silo.
A good B2B ordering app replaces the least valuable part of your sales team's day, writing down orders and checking rates, so they can spend time on dealers who need attention. It does not replace relationships; dealers still call when something is wrong. The app simply takes routine reorders off the phone.
What phone and WhatsApp orders are really costing a manufacturer
Orders taken by phone and WhatsApp chat look free, but they carry hidden costs: staff time to retype them, wrong items or rates caught only at dispatch, orders missed on a busy day, and credit given to dealers who were already overdue.
Picture a typical morning at a mid-sized manufacturer. Forty dealers send orders as voice notes, photos of handwritten lists and typed messages with their own names for products. A sales coordinator decodes each one, checks the rate that dealer is supposed to get, asks accounts about outstanding, and enters it into Tally. By noon a few messages have been buried in the chat, and one dealer who was blocked for overdue payments has quietly had an order accepted.
None of this is anyone's fault; it is what happens when a growing dealer network runs on a chat window. A B2B ordering app structures the order at the source, so the dealer chooses from your catalogue at your price, the credit check is automatic, and the order enters your system without retyping. The table further down shows which pricing models it can hold.
How does a B2B ordering app show each dealer their own prices?
Each dealer is linked to a price list group, such as distributor, dealer, sub-dealer or project buyer, and optionally to contract prices of their own. When the dealer logs in, the B2B ordering app calculates every price from those settings, so no dealer ever sees another's rate.
Real pricing is layered, and the app has to respect the layers in a fixed order. A common sequence is: base price list for the dealer's group, then region-specific adjustments, then any contract price for that dealer and item, then quantity breaks, then active schemes. We write that order down with your sales head before building, because two people in the same company often describe it differently.
Price changes are where dealer apps earn their keep. When you revise rates, you upload the new list with an effective date, and every dealer sees the new price from that morning. Orders placed before the change keep the old rate. Compare that with sending a PDF to two hundred dealers and hoping they read it.
Prices can also be hidden entirely for some products, showing "price on request", which suits made-to-order items where a quote is needed first.
Credit limits and overdue checks before an order is accepted
The app checks the dealer's current outstanding plus the new order against their credit limit, and separately looks for bills older than the credit period. Depending on your policy, it then accepts the order, warns the dealer, or sends it for approval.
For the check to be meaningful, the outstanding must be current. We usually sync ledger balances from Tally or your ERP several times a day, and add orders placed in the app but not yet invoiced. Without that second part, a dealer could place five orders in an hour, each passing the check alone.
Blocking outright is rarely what sales teams want. A softer rule is common: allow the order if the dealer is within the limit and has nothing overdue beyond a set number of days; send it for approval if either condition fails; block it only above a hard ceiling. Dealers see a clear message explaining why, along with their statement and a link to pay, so the conversation starts from facts.
Order approval rules: deciding who approves what
Approval rules send an order to a person only when it breaks a condition you have defined; everything else flows straight through. Good rules approve most orders automatically and stop only the few that need judgement.
Typical conditions are credit limit exceeded, overdue beyond a threshold, discount above the dealer's normal level, quantity well above the dealer's usual order, a product on allocation, or a new dealer's first few orders. Each condition routes to a role: the area sales manager, the accounts head or the owner.
Approvers act from their phone, either in the admin app or from a WhatsApp message with approve and reject options that open the order. We keep an approval log with who decided, when and any comment, which helps when a dealer later disputes a rejected order. If an approver does not act within a set time, the order escalates to the next person rather than waiting silently. The approval matrix table below shows a sample setup.
How do WhatsApp order alerts work in a B2B ordering app?
The app sends WhatsApp messages at each step: order received, approved or held, invoiced, dispatched with transporter and LR number. Your team can also get alerts for new orders and pending approvals. These go through the WhatsApp Business Platform, not a personal phone.
Meta's documentation explains that template messages are the only type that can be sent to a WhatsApp user outside a customer service window, and every template must be categorised as authentication, marketing or utility. Order confirmations and dispatch updates fit the utility category. We draft the templates, you approve the wording, and they are submitted for review in your own WhatsApp Business Account.
Message charges are billed by Meta or its provider to your account, based on their current pricing for each category; our quote covers building the integration, not the messages. For the setup itself, see WhatsApp Business API integration. Some manufacturers go further and let dealers reorder inside WhatsApp itself; our WhatsApp ordering system page covers that lighter route.
Can a B2B ordering app send orders straight into Tally or an ERP?
Yes. Approved orders can be created as sales orders in TallyPrime or your ERP automatically, with the dealer's ledger and each item already matched, so your team moves straight to invoicing and dispatch.
TallyPrime's official help describes integration through XML over HTTP, with native JSON available from TallyPrime 7.0 onwards, which lets an external app post vouchers and read masters such as ledgers, items and outstanding balances. We typically run a small connector on the computer where Tally is open, sending orders in and pulling balances and stock out at intervals.
For ERPs, the route depends on the product: an API, an import folder, or a database view agreed with your ERP vendor. In either case we decide which system owns which master. Normally the ERP or Tally owns items, ledgers and prices; the app reads them and never overwrites. Duplicate protection matters too; each order carries a unique reference so a retry after a network error never creates a second sales order. More on the connector is on our Tally API integration page.
Catalogue, stock status and minimum order quantities
Dealers order faster from a catalogue that mirrors how they think: by category, brand, size and their past orders. The fastest screen in most dealer apps is "reorder last order", with quantities editable.
Each item can carry photos, specifications, case pack size, minimum order quantity and multiples, so a dealer cannot order seven pieces of something packed in dozens. Stock can be shown as in stock, low or out of stock rather than exact quantities, which many manufacturers prefer not to reveal. Allocation limits can restrict how much of a short item each dealer may order.
For large catalogues with frequent new launches, the catalogue side can be managed like a separate digital catalogue app that shares the same product data, so marketing updates photos and specifications without touching prices.
How do you keep a B2B ordering app private to your dealers?
Most dealer apps are published publicly on Google Play and the App Store but work only after login with credentials you issue, so anyone can download them and no one outside your network can see anything. That is the simplest route and suits most manufacturers.
Stricter options exist. Apple supports custom apps distributed privately to specific organisations through Apple Business Manager; its developer documentation describes them as apps made for a specific organisation, including for dealers and franchises, and says they still pass App Review. Google's managed Google Play lets a developer publish a private app restricted to up to 1,000 organisations. Both routes require each dealer to be set up as an organisation in those systems, which is usually more effort than a dealer network wants.
Access control inside the app matters more than where it is listed. Dealer logins are created or approved by your team, can be switched off instantly when a dealer leaves, and can be limited per device. Each dealer's prices and ledger are checked on the server, not just hidden on the phone, so a technically curious user cannot pull another dealer's rates.
How much does a B2B ordering app cost?
With BtechWaleTech, a custom B2B ordering app for Android and iPhone starts at ₹40,000, and the admin panel for pricing, credit and approvals starts at ₹60,000. WhatsApp alerts and the Tally or ERP push are itemised, with automation starting at ₹40,000.
Estimates from different developers differ mostly because of what sits behind the words "ordering app". The items that change a quote most:
- How many layers of pricing: group lists, contract prices, quantity breaks, schemes
- Credit and overdue checks that need live balances from Tally or an ERP
- Approval rules with escalation, versus a simple accept-all flow
- Two-way sync with accounts, versus a one-way order export
- Number of products and how clean the item master is today
- Dealer ledger, invoice downloads and online payment links
- Extra languages beyond English and Hindi
Ongoing costs are small and paid to their providers: cloud hosting in your account, WhatsApp message charges, Google Play's one-time US$25 registration and Apple's US$99 yearly developer fee. Maintenance is free for two months, then from ₹8,000/mo a month. For broader app budgets see app development cost in India.
App, web portal or WhatsApp: which ordering channel should dealers get?
Give dealers an app when they reorder often from a large catalogue; a web portal when their purchasing staff order from a desktop; and WhatsApp ordering when dealers are small, order a few items and resist installing anything. Many manufacturers end up offering two of the three, all fed by the same backend.
An app gives the best experience on a phone, works with saved logins and push notifications, and can store the catalogue for weak signal. A web portal needs no installation and suits larger dealers or project buyers who build orders from spreadsheets. WhatsApp ordering is the lowest-friction start but awkward for thirty-line orders.
Because pricing, credit and approvals live on the server, adding a second channel later is far cheaper than the first. We usually recommend launching one channel well, then adding another once dealers have settled. The broader choice between apps and sites is discussed in website or app for business.
Moving dealers from the phone to the app
Dealers adopt a B2B ordering app when it is faster than calling and when they get something from it: accurate rates, instant confirmation, their statement on demand, and perhaps a small incentive.
Start with twenty or thirty dealers who already order often and trust your team. Your sales staff install the app with them, place the first order together, and collect feedback. After two or three weeks, fix what bothered them and invite the next group. Keep phone ordering open throughout, but have staff enter phone orders in the same system so everything shows in one place.
Small incentives help: an extra scheme for app orders during the first month, priority dispatch, or loyalty points. We join the rollout remotely with short Hindi or English video walkthroughs your team can forward, and a WhatsApp group for problems, fixing issues in quick updates.
B2B ordering app timeline and handover
Plan for about 6–10 weeks for the dealer app, with the admin panel and integrations built alongside. The first two weeks go on pricing rules, item and dealer masters, and the Tally or ERP connection, because everything else depends on them.
Weeks three to six cover the catalogue, cart, credit checks and approvals, shown weekly on a test build that your sales team can install. The final weeks add WhatsApp templates, store listings and a pilot with real dealers. Apple and Google review times vary, so we submit early.
At handover you hold the code repository, cloud account, database, Google Play and App Store accounts and all admin logins. One of us builds the app and panel, another of us handles the cloud, the accounts integration and data, and the third of us runs the plan, dealer pilot and testing, all reachable on one WhatsApp group. Two months of maintenance follow at no charge; see our terms for how handover is recorded.
Dealer rates are confidential: security in a B2B ordering app
Dealer-wise pricing is commercially sensitive; if one dealer sees another's rate, you will hear about it the same day. Security in a B2B ordering app is therefore about server-side checks, not just a login screen.
- Every price, ledger and order request is checked on the server against the logged-in dealer
- Admin roles limit which staff see margins, contract prices and credit settings
- Dealer logins can be disabled instantly, and optionally tied to one device
- All traffic runs over HTTPS, and data is stored in your cloud account
- An audit log records price changes, approvals and credit limit edits
- Contact details and ledgers are personal or business data, handled with notice and access control
Our security work page explains how we approach testing more generally.
B2B ordering app across India
We build B2B ordering apps for manufacturers and wholesalers across India, working remotely with owners, sales coordinators and accounts teams. Dealer networks look different in each industrial cluster.
Engineering and pipe-fitting makers in Rajkot sell through hundreds of hardware dealers. Hosiery and cycle-part manufacturers in Ludhiana supply wholesalers nationwide. Pump and motor makers in Coimbatore run dealer networks across the south. Auto component and machinery firms in Faridabad serve spare-part dealers. Home textile makers in Panipat supply wholesalers with large seasonal catalogues. Handicraft and furniture exporters in Jodhpur also sell to domestic retailers. Foundries and machinery suppliers in Belagavi and electrical wholesalers in Thane handle dealers who reorder weekly.
The dealer app can show English and Hindi, with another Indian language added where you supply or approve the translations.
Worked example: pipe-fittings maker with 180 dealers
This is a hypothetical scenario. Imagine a PVC pipe and fittings manufacturer near Rajkot with 180 dealers across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It has three price groups, contract rates for a dozen large dealers, quarterly schemes, and dealers ordering by WhatsApp voice notes and photos. Two coordinators retype everything into Tally.
The first release would give dealers an Android app with their group or contract prices, a catalogue with case packs and MOQs, "reorder last order", and their outstanding balance pulled from Tally every hour. Orders within limit and nothing overdue beyond 45 days would go straight to Tally as sales orders; others would wait for the sales manager's approval on WhatsApp. Dealers would get order and dispatch confirmations on WhatsApp.
A second phase could add the iPhone version for larger dealers, a web portal for project buyers and loyalty points. Rollout would start with the thirty most active dealers.
At our starting prices, the dealer app would begin at ₹40,000 and the admin panel at ₹60,000, with the Tally connector and WhatsApp alerts itemised after reviewing their Tally setup. It is an illustration, not a real client project.
B2B ordering app scoping checklist
Gather these before you ask for quotes. Even partial answers make every estimate you receive more comparable.
- Number of dealers and how many order at least weekly
- Price list groups, contract prices and how schemes are applied
- Credit limits and overdue rules as your accounts team applies them today
- Which orders need approval, and by whom
- Your accounting or ERP system, and who maintains it
- Item master with codes, pack sizes, MOQs and photos
- Messages dealers should receive: confirmation, dispatch, payment reminders
- Android only, or iPhone too; app, web portal or both
- Languages dealers are comfortable with
Send what you have through our contact page or WhatsApp. A product website to attract new dealers can be planned with a manufacturer website developer at the same time.