Wholesale eCommerce Playbook: Scale Smarter, Sell Better

The wholesale game has changed and taking orders over the phone is not cutting it anymore. Wholesale eCommerce have exponentially grown over the last few years, pushing brands beyond their limits and offering them new opportunities like doing direct to consumer and opening their business to customers.

We are not saying that building relationships in wholesale is not important but eCommerce helps you scale your business exponentially. 

And with a younger new B2B buyers generation entering the market, the shift to wholesale eCommerce is inevitable. This new generation is digital natives and expect to do business the same way they shop on amazon: seamless navigation, personalized catalogs and experience and flexible payment options. 

They might even be doing business while on a roadtrip in California so mobile friendly, real-time inventory is critical. 

Those still relying on manual processes or outdated systems are losing market share to competitors who’ve embraced digital transformation. 

At Core dna, we understand that wholesale operations require more than a shopping cart and a product page. That’s why we’ve built a platform that supports custom sales models, multi-brand catalogs, dynamic pricing, and integrated content and commerce—giving wholesalers everything they need to thrive in today’s digital economy.

What is B2B Wholesale eCommerce?

Wholesale eCommerce is the online sale of goods in bulk, typically from manufacturers or distributors to other businesses. It’s a specialized branch of B2B eCommerce, designed to handle the complexity of high-volume orders, personalized pricing, negotiated contracts, and ongoing buyer relationships.

Unlike B2C, where the focus is on individual customers making one-time purchases, wholesale eCommerce is built around repeat transactions, long-term partnerships, and operational efficiency. And while it shares some characteristics with standard B2B eCommerce, wholesale adds additional layers—such as:

• Tiered pricing and volume-based discounts
• Custom product catalogs by customer group
• Back-order and multi-warehouse fulfillment
• Approval workflows and credit-based payment terms

Wholesale eCommerce is ideal for businesses that sell to:

• Brick-and-mortar retailers
• Online resellers and distributors
• Educational institutions and schools
• Trade show buyers
• Hospitality groups
• Franchise networks

But here’s the bigger opportunity:
When a wholesale business invests in a modern eCommerce platform, it also opens the door to going direct-to-consumer (DTC). With the right infrastructure, you can build two connected but distinct revenue streams—one for your wholesale buyers and another for end customers. This not only helps you diversify your customer base but also gives you greater control over brand messaging, margins, and customer data.

Today’s buyers—wholesale and DTC alike—expect digital tools that make their jobs easier. They want mobile access, self-service portals, real-time inventory visibility, and fast, flexible fulfillment. If you’re not delivering that yet, now’s the time.

7 Tactical Reasons to Embrace Wholesale eCommerce

Wholesale eCommerce isn’t just about digitizing your sales process—it’s about unlocking operational efficiency, improving customer retention, and positioning your business for scalable growth. With the right platform, you can tackle the unique complexities of wholesale head-on and create a buying experience that rivals (and even surpasses) traditional B2C.

Here are seven strategic reasons wholesalers should embrace eCommerce—along with the specific ways Core dna enables each one.

1. Automate Complex Supply Chains and Backorders

Wholesale operations require precise coordination between purchasing, warehousing, inventory management, and fulfillment. Delays, stockouts, and manual data entry can quickly erode margins and damage relationships with key buyers.

Core dna supports advanced integrations with ERP and warehouse management systems using APIs and webhooks, allowing you to:

• Automatically update inventory across multiple warehouses in real time
• Display live stock availability and estimated delivery times to buyers
• Route orders based on location, warehouse inventory, or priority rules
• Manage backorders efficiently by capturing demand and notifying customers when stock is replenished

This kind of automation reduces human error, shortens the order cycle, and ensures that your buyers always have accurate, up-to-date information.

2. Personalize Catalogs, Pricing, and Promotions at Scale

In wholesale, no two customers are the same—and your eCommerce platform needs to reflect that. A retailer in one region may need a completely different catalog, price list, or payment schedule than a buyer in another.

With Core dna, you can:

• Create segmented product catalogs visible only to specific customers or customer groups
• Define customer-specific pricing structures, including contract pricing, volume-based discounts, or special tiered rates
• Launch promotions that apply only to certain segments based on role, geography, product type, or purchase behavior

Personalization at this level not only improves the customer experience but also increases order frequency and average order value by delivering relevant products and pricing every time a customer logs in.

3. Manage Dynamic Discounting and Quote Workflows

In the wholesale world, pricing is often fluid. Volume discounts, seasonal offers, and negotiated rates are standard—and managing those manually leads to inconsistencies and missed opportunities.

Core dna’s built-in pricing engine supports:

• Tiered discount structures that automatically adjust based on quantity
• Dynamic pricing rules triggered by customer type, order frequency, or past purchases
• Custom quote workflows that allow your sales team to send, approve, and manage quotes through the platform
• Automated approval processes for discounts, shipping exceptions, or payment terms

This gives your team control over pricing without relying on spreadsheets or back-and-forth emails—and gives your customers a seamless, consistent buying experience.

4. Replace Manual Tasks with Custom Workflows

Many wholesalers still rely on legacy systems or ad hoc processes for order fulfillment, customer communication, and approval routing. These manual touchpoints create bottlenecks and are difficult to scale as your business grows.

Core dna allows you to model your operational workflows directly within the platform:

• Build custom automations for account creation, order approvals, or credit checks
• Route orders to specific departments or warehouses based on predefined business logic
• Trigger communications such as invoices, order confirmations, or back-in-stock alerts automatically
• Reduce data duplication by syncing with CRM, ERP, and financial systems in real time

This streamlining ensures that every part of your order lifecycle moves faster, with fewer errors—and frees up your team to focus on strategic growth rather than operational firefighting.

5. Enhance—Not Replace—Your Sales Team

There’s often a fear that launching a wholesale eCommerce site will undermine or even replace your sales team. In reality, the opposite is true: the right platform enhances your sales team’s capabilities and helps them focus on high-value tasks.

With Core dna, your sales team can:

• Log in as specific accounts to assist with purchases or place orders on behalf of customers
• Monitor buyer behavior and reorder trends to proactively recommend products
• Use customer insights from the platform to tailor their outreach and support efforts
• Manage quotes, approvals, and customer-specific pricing from a centralized dashboard

By automating repetitive tasks and surfacing real-time customer data, you empower your sales reps to act as strategic advisors—not just order takers.

6. Support Multi-Brand Experiences in One Cart

Many wholesalers operate across multiple brands, divisions, or product lines. Without the right infrastructure, managing these identities—and offering a seamless buying experience—can become a logistical nightmare.

Core dna simplifies multi-brand operations by allowing:

• Centralized management of multiple storefronts or brand portals under one admin interface
• Customers to browse across different brand catalogs and add products from multiple sources to a single cart
• Dynamic pricing, tax, and shipping rules based on the brand, location, or customer type
• Brand-specific content and design, while still maintaining unified backend operations

This reduces complexity for your buyers, increases cross-brand purchasing, and improves efficiency across your operations.

7. Offer 24/7 Self-Service with Mobile-First Portals

Wholesale buyers don’t want to wait for business hours to place an order or check the status of a shipment. They expect the same convenience and accessibility they experience as consumers.

Core dna’s mobile-optimized portals give your buyers:

• On-demand access to their personalized catalog, pricing, and order history
• Real-time tracking for pending and fulfilled orders
• Digital access to quotes, invoices, and payment status
• Self-service functionality that reduces the need to contact sales or support

By making it easy for buyers to manage their accounts anytime, from any device, you reduce friction and improve customer satisfaction—while lowering the cost to serve.

Each of these capabilities contributes to a single goal: building a scalable, modern, and customer-centric wholesale business. With Core dna, you’re not patching together tools to keep up—you’re implementing a purpose-built solution that supports your long-term growth strategy from the ground up.

If your business is still trying to manage wholesale orders with manual processes or systems not designed for B2B commerce, now is the time to change. Wholesale eCommerce is no longer a competitive edge—it’s a competitive necessity.

Essential Features to Look for in a Wholesale eCommerce Platform

Choosing an eCommerce platform for wholesale isn’t just about selecting a digital storefront. It’s about investing in a foundation that can support the complexity, scale, and personalization that wholesale demands. Traditional B2C platforms—and even many general-purpose B2B systems—fall short when it comes to fulfilling these needs out of the box.

Below are the non-negotiable features to look for when selecting a wholesale eCommerce platform, based on the needs of modern wholesalers and what Core dna delivers natively.

B2B Account Portals and User Management

Wholesale relationships rely on long-term trust, negotiated pricing, and account-specific services. A platform must offer robust account management tools tailored to B2B workflows.

Look for features such as:

• Dedicated customer portals that allow buyers to log in, view their order history, and manage invoices, shipping addresses, and purchase orders
• Role-based access control, so you can assign permissions to different team members within a buyer’s organization
• Account segmentation, allowing you to group buyers by tier, location, or custom attributes to deliver personalized experiences

With Core dna, setting up branded B2B portals is seamless, giving your buyers self-service functionality while maintaining complete control on the backend.

Integrated Content and Commerce

Educating your wholesale customers is just as important as selling to them—especially when product lines are complex or technical. A strong platform should unify transactional features with rich, educational content.

Core dna’s integrated CMS + eCommerce architecture allows you to:

• Embed product documentation, videos, and how-to guides directly into your product pages
• Deliver personalized content experiences based on customer type, segment, or region
• Maintain content consistency across portals, websites, and sales channels from a single platform

This integration supports both conversion and customer retention, helping buyers make confident purchasing decisions without needing to pick up the phone.

Advanced Search and Product Discovery

In wholesale, customers often need to locate specific products quickly—sometimes across thousands of SKUs. Without sophisticated search capabilities, even the best catalog becomes unusable.

Look for platforms that offer:

• Elastic and faceted search, enabling buyers to filter by key attributes like brand, size, availability, or compatibility
• Predictive autocomplete and intelligent suggestions to speed up the buying process
• Support for complex product relationships, such as variants, accessories, or bundled products

Core dna’s search engine compiles results from multiple data points to deliver fast, relevant results—helping customers find exactly what they need in just a few clicks.

Sophisticated Price and Discount Engines

Wholesale pricing is rarely one-size-fits-all. You need a platform that can accommodate:

• Tiered pricing structures, based on volume or buyer tier
• Customer-specific pricing, reflecting long-term agreements or negotiated deals
• Dynamic discount rules, such as promotional bundles, spend thresholds, or time-limited offers

Core dna enables advanced pricing logic out of the box, supporting real-time quote generation and flexible cart rules that reflect the way your business actually operates.

Real-Time ERP and CRM Integrations via APIs and Webhooks

Your eCommerce platform shouldn’t operate in a silo. Seamless data exchange with your backend systems is crucial for keeping operations running smoothly and reducing the risk of errors.

Core dna provides:

• Hundreds of pre-built native integrations for ERPs, CRMs, and warehouse systems
• An API-first architecture with powerful webhooks for triggering real-time updates
• Support for multi-warehouse inventory, allowing accurate stock levels and shipping logic to be reflected on the front end

This means your platform can integrate deeply with your business ecosystem—ensuring customers always see the right products, pricing, and availability.

Secure and Scalable Infrastructure

Wholesale orders are high-value and high-volume. The infrastructure supporting your eCommerce platform needs to be built for performance and security from the ground up.

With Core dna, you benefit from:

• Enterprise-grade hosting in a multi-tenant cloud environment with automatic scaling and load balancing
• Built-in security features, including regular patching, secure authentication, and no reliance on third-party plugins
• Optimized performance via advanced caching, lazy loading, CDN delivery, and compression

Whether you’re scaling across regions, launching new brand portals, or handling seasonal spikes in traffic, your site will remain fast, secure, and available.

The right wholesale eCommerce platform should feel like an extension of your business—not a patchwork of workarounds. From managing complex product catalogs to personalizing the buyer experience at scale, Core dna delivers the essential features wholesalers need to grow confidently in a digital-first market.

If your current solution can’t deliver on the features above, it may be time to rethink what your business needs to compete—and win—in the future of wholesale.

Getting Started: A Tactical Checklist for B2B Wholesalers

Digital transformation doesn’t happen overnight—especially in wholesale. But with the right plan in place, your business can make the shift to eCommerce confidently and successfully. Whether you're just beginning or replatforming from an outdated system, these five tactical steps will help you lay the groundwork for a scalable, future-ready wholesale operation.

1. Map Out Your Current Systems and Integrations

Before selecting any platform, take a full inventory of your existing tech stack. This includes:

• ERP, CRM, and accounting software
• Inventory and warehouse management systems
• Order management tools
• Customer service platforms
• Any third-party apps, plugins, or manual processes

Understanding how data flows between these systems is critical. Look for pain points like duplicate entry, slow syncs, or siloed data—and make sure any new platform can either integrate directly or through robust APIs and webhooks.

Pro tip: Document how product, customer, and order data is handled today to identify where automation can deliver the most value.

2. Analyze Your Sales Process and Identify Opportunities for Automation

Wholesale businesses often rely heavily on manual workflows—especially in quoting, approvals, and customer onboarding. While some human touch is essential, many of these steps can be streamlined or automated to save time and reduce error.

Ask yourself:

• Where are reps spending most of their time?
• Which steps of the buying journey require manual intervention?
• Can quotes, invoices, or product recommendations be automated based on rules?

Platforms like Core dna allow you to build custom workflows that reflect your business model—so your sales team can focus on strategic growth, not repetitive admin.

3. Define Your Digital Product Strategy

Going online means presenting your products in a new, more accessible way. That means thinking beyond simple listings and considering:

• Catalog complexity: Do you sell across multiple brands, categories, or variants?
• Bundling and kitting: Will customers need the ability to build custom bundles or kits?
• Returns and reordering: Can your system support easy reordering or manage RMA workflows?

Also consider how product data is enriched: images, technical specs, compatibility guides, and downloadable resources all improve conversion and reduce customer support inquiries.

Core dna’s integrated content and commerce model makes it easy to deliver both transactional and educational content side-by-side—crucial in wholesale environments where buyers need to make informed decisions.

4. Address Internal Change Management—Especially Among Sales

A shift to wholesale eCommerce doesn’t just affect technology. It affects people—especially your sales team.

Too often, eCommerce is viewed internally as a threat to traditional sales roles. That’s why it’s critical to position your new platform as a tool that supports, not replaces, your team. Successful change management includes:

• Involving sales leadership early in the process
• Showing how the platform will free up time and drive more qualified leads
• Offering training and visibility into the customer portal and backend systems
• Defining how commissions, customer ownership, and quote approvals will be handled moving forward

When your internal team sees the platform as an ally, adoption increases—and the customer experience improves.

5. Prepare the Right RFP Questions for Platform Vendors

Not all platforms are built with wholesale in mind. When evaluating vendors, make sure your RFP includes questions that dig into:

• B2B-specific capabilities (tiered pricing, custom catalogs, account-level access)
• Integration flexibility with your existing ERP, CRM, and WMS tools
• Workflow automation and approval routing
• Content management and personalization capabilities
• Security, scalability, and support guarantees

Also ask about long-term flexibility. Can the platform evolve as your needs grow? Can it support both wholesale and DTC if you decide to go multi-channel?

If you need help, Core dna offers a comprehensive eCommerce RFP template tailored for B2B and wholesale businesses.

Getting started with wholesale eCommerce doesn’t require a complete overhaul—it requires a focused plan. By mapping out your systems, rethinking your sales process, and preparing your internal teams, you can build a foundation that supports faster growth, better customer experiences, and fewer operational headaches.

Digital transformation doesn’t have to be complex—but it does have to be intentional. And with the right platform partner, you won’t just keep up—you’ll lead.

How Core dna Powers High-Performance Wholesale eCommerce

Wholesale businesses have unique needs that most eCommerce platforms aren’t built to support out of the box. That’s where Core dna stands apart. From flexible pricing models to powerful integrations and personalized buying experiences, Core dna was designed from the ground up to handle the complexity of wholesale.

Here’s how Core dna enables wholesalers to move faster, sell smarter, and scale without compromise.

Personalized Catalogs and B2B Portals

Not every buyer needs access to your full product line or the same pricing structure. Core dna makes it easy to build account-specific portals that reflect unique business relationships.

• Display personalized product catalogs based on customer segments or agreements
• Serve different pricing tiers or custom quotes for specific clients
• Control visibility of content, availability, and promotions by region or role
• Enable B2B buyers to manage their accounts, view order history, and reorder effortlessly

This level of personalization leads to higher engagement, greater loyalty, and fewer barriers to purchase.

Multi-Brand Shopping with Unified Checkout

Wholesalers managing multiple brands or product lines often struggle with fragmented systems or disconnected storefronts. Core dna simplifies this by enabling multi-brand management through a single platform.

• Showcase multiple brands with unique designs or product assortments
• Allow buyers to browse across brands while checking out in a single, consolidated cart
• Manage all stores, catalogs, and rules from one centralized admin

This functionality streamlines the buying experience, boosts average order value, and reduces the friction of managing multiple storefronts.

Native Integrations—No Plugins Required

Many platforms rely on third-party plugins for core features like ERP or CRM integration. These add-ons often create reliability, performance, and security issues—especially for wholesale businesses dealing with large orders and sensitive data.

Core dna is different:

• Integrates natively with your backend systems—ERP, CRM, PIM, WMS—via advanced APIs and webhooks
• Supports real-time data sync for inventory, pricing, orders, and shipping
• Eliminates dependency on plugins, reducing security risks and maintenance burdens

This gives your operations team full visibility and control, while enabling seamless customer experiences on the front end.

Dynamic Pricing and Discount Rules

Flexible pricing is essential in wholesale. Core dna offers a sophisticated pricing engine that supports:

• Tiered pricing based on volume, customer group, or purchase frequency
• Customer-specific pricing tied to contract terms
• Automated discount and promotional rules triggered by order value, bundles, or seasonal offers

These capabilities ensure you can serve your customers accurately and competitively—without needing manual intervention from sales or finance.

Secure, Scalable Cloud Infrastructure

Wholesale businesses operate at scale, and the platform supporting them must deliver performance, security, and uptime without compromise.

Core dna offers:

• Enterprise-grade cloud hosting with automatic scaling and load balancing
• Built-in security protocols that remove reliance on third-party plugins
• Optimized performance with CDN delivery, lazy loading, caching, and compression
• Continuous updates and proactive patching (26+ updates annually)

Whether you're managing seasonal demand or expanding into new markets, Core dna ensures your digital infrastructure is ready to grow with you.

Integrated CMS for Content + Commerce

Wholesale customers don’t just need to buy—they need to learn. With Core dna, you can deliver educational content alongside transactional experiences to drive confidence and conversion.

• Combine product pages with videos, spec sheets, FAQs, and documentation
• Create learning hubs or support sections within B2B portals
• Personalize content based on buyer profile or location
• Maintain brand consistency across all digital properties with one content engine

This blend of content and commerce not only improves the user experience but also reduces support overhead and speeds up the sales cycle.

Real Results: Randy’s and Clark Rubber

Core dna isn’t just built for wholesale—it’s battle-tested.

Randy’s Worldwide, a multi-brand automotive parts distributor, used Core dna to consolidate seven eCommerce sites into a single command center—streamlining operations and enhancing both B2B and DTC performance.

“We can integrate new websites into our environment with a small amount of effort that creates a big impact. This is where Core dna shines in this relationship.”— James Campbell-Harris, eCommerce Manager at Randy’s Worldwide

Clark Rubber, an iconic Australian brand with over 60 physical locations, chose Core dna to build their “Store of the Future,” leveraging Core dna’s flexible product architecture and scalable infrastructure.

“Migrating our eCommerce platform to Core dna will help us achieve our vision... offering endless aisles, extensive product information, and exceptional service both online and in-store.”— Mick Guerin, General Manager of Marketing at Clark Rubber

These are just two examples of how Core dna helps wholesale businesses modernize their operations, deliver exceptional user experience. 

Wholesale eCommerce is a Growth Engine

The wholesale industry is undergoing a major transformation. Buyers expect faster access, personalized experiences, and frictionless transactions—just like they get as consumers. Relying on outdated processes and disconnected systems is no longer sustainable.

But this shift isn’t just a challenge—it’s a strategic opportunity.

By investing in a modern wholesale eCommerce platform, your business can unlock:

• Increased revenue through better customer engagement and larger order volumes
• Improved operational efficiency by automating complex workflows and eliminating manual overhead
• Stronger buyer relationships via personalized catalogs, self-service portals, and mobile-first access
• And critically, the ability to expand into direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels—creating two connected but distinct business models from one unified digital foundation

Launching or upgrading your wholesale eCommerce platform also opens the door to serving new audiences, testing new product lines, and owning more of the customer experience—all without disrupting your core B2B operations.

At Core dna, we’ve helped brands like Randy’s and Clark Rubber turn eCommerce into a true growth engine—supporting everything from complex B2B pricing models to seamless multi-brand experiences and integrated DTC storefronts.

If you're ready to future-proof your wholesale business and explore what’s next, we’re ready to help.