B2B ecommerce for manufacturers: organize the network without cutting out the distributor
For manufacturers selling through the channel
The retailer buys on the portal and is served by the local distributor.
The manufacturer runs the network in a single portal; the order goes to whoever serves that ZIP code, without cutting out the channel.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
For network leaders
The network rebalances stock across centers before it buys.
Replenishment Agent rebalances and alerts on its own, because both can be undone; a purchase suggestion goes to a person.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
For the manufacturer’s reps
The rep negotiates within the limit and keeps the relationship.
He sees the role’s discount ceiling on every line; anything above asks for a reason and escalates in the same order.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
Solution · Manufacturers
Manufacturers sell to distributors, dealers and networks, often through reps. They need channel pricing and a portal that organizes the network without cutting out the distributor. CWS Platform turns the commercial policy into rules the system applies on every order, over the ERP you already run.
In short
B2B ecommerce for manufacturers is the channel through which an industry sells to distributors, dealers and networks, with a price per channel. On CWS Platform the manufacturer organizes the network in one portal without cutting out the distributor: each participant keeps its own prices and terms, and every transaction is traceable by origin, so the channel stops being a blind spot.
- Every exception sent for approval carries a Reason Code, and the rules apply the same way to reps and to the AI Agents. Source: business rules engine.
- Each manufacturer and distributor configures its own prices, payment terms, lead times and approval limits. Source: Pirelli Conecta case.
- A dedicated condition for one manufacturer's line, without creating a new price table. Source: B2B pricing engine.
- On Pirelli Conecta, more than 100 workshops in a network of more than 450 already buy through the portal, with a catalog of over 60,000 items. Source: Pirelli Conecta case.
Channel pricing and reps inside the channel are among the criteria in the guide to choosing a B2B ecommerce platform. The discount approval workflow page shows reps negotiating inside the rule.
Inside the platform
The manufacturer's network in one portal, with everyone's own rules
Three CWS Platform screens: buying from several distributors in the same cart, the master record the store inherits and the discount that goes up for approval.
Distributor network
The network buys from several distributors in a single cart
Each distributor becomes its own order, with its own price, lead time and rules, and the cart shows which store serves the region. The manufacturer organizes the network's buying without taking the distributor's sale.
Pain it removes: a manufacturer portal that runs over the distributor.
CWS Platform demo screen, completed with fictitious data to show the use.
Master record
The master record arrives ready, and the store doesn't redo it
Manufacturer code, name, composition, tax code and dimensions come from the SKU master record, and the store sees them without editing. Internal code, price, warehouse and stock are its own.
Pain it removes: the same product registered a different way at each store in the network.
CWS Platform demo screen, completed with fictitious data to show the use.
Approval with a reason
Discounts above the limit go up for approval, with the reason
An order with a discount beyond the rep's ceiling enters the manager's queue with the Reason Code, the margin and the approval level. Every approval and rejection stays in the order history.
Pain it removes: discounts beyond the limit approved with no record of who and why.
CWS Platform demo screen, completed with fictitious data to show the use.
Governed rules
Each role’s discount limit, written once in the panel.
Across the rep network, consultants, coordinators, managers and executives each have their own limit, by customer type and price table, with priority set in the Commerce Rules Engine (CDL Workspace), among 1,029 configurable parameters. The portal applies the rule to the price the distributor and the reseller see, and nobody recalculates by hand.
See the Commerce Rules Engine →
Core pain
Scale and reach, and still no view of what the channel sold at the end. Without sell-out there is no forecast, no smart replenishment and no measurable campaign, and every change to a commercial rule waits in a development queue.
The manufacturer's network in 1 minute
What changes for a manufacturer
A price per channel, not a new table per channel
Price tags segment by catalog attribute, which allows a dedicated condition for one manufacturer's line without creating a new table.
B2B pricing engine →The network organized, the distributor kept
A manufacturer or an association can organize purchasing for an entire network from selected distributors, and governance protects each link's commercial terms so the network signs on.
governed B2B marketplace platform →Sell-out you can finally see
An anchor manufacturer with scale and reach often does not know how much the channel sold at the end.
How does the channel stop being a blind spot?
Every transaction becomes traceable by origin, and the anchor can activate the channel by rule rather than by phone.
Reps inside the channel
The rep negotiates in the same cart as the buyer, inside the approval limits, and routine reorders move to the self-service portal on the same core.
guided selling →Two more: policy as configuration and the image bank.
Commercial policy as configuration
Approval limits, credit and discounts are rules the system applies the same way to sales reps and to the AI Agents, and every exception sent for approval carries a Reason Code.
business rules engine →The brand's image bank, opened to resellers
The manufacturer opens the approved image bank to resellers, who generate variations in their own context within what the brand allows.
AI product imagery and catalog →
Persona · Sales director, manufacturer
My channel is no longer a blind spot, and I didn't take the sale from my distributors.
Each participant keeps its own prices in the portal, every transaction is traceable by origin, and commercial policy becomes rules applied on every order.
Persona · Director, distributor
I joined the manufacturer's portal, and my prices and terms are still my call.
In the governed marketplace, each distributor configures its own prices, payment terms and approval limits, and governance protects each link's commercial terms.
In chat
Buyers ask by need; the cart comes back by spec.
Maintenance buyers send their list their own way, sometimes as a photo, sometimes with a product name in another language. The Sales Copilot recognizes each item, checks the standard, size and unit of sale, and hands back a cart with the right product in the right pack, at that customer's price.
In operation
Pirelli Conecta · manufacturer-organized buying network
100+ workshops buying
Pirelli's official network of dealers and service centers buys parts from selected manufacturers and distributors, launched in April 2026, in a network of more than 450 workshops and with a catalog the portal advertises at over 60,000 items. Scale case: size figures only, no result figures.
Read the Pirelli Conecta case →MTE-Thomson, a manufacturer that built its own digital sales channel to strengthen its distribution, is also a CWS Platform customer. It is the other shape of the same engine: the manufacturer selling through its own channel, where Pirelli Conecta has the network buying from many.
Distributor network
Several banners and branches in one account.
The manufacturer puts its distributor network in one portal: branches of different banners in the same list, and the retailer picks the one that serves them without opening another account.
See the Marketplace Center →Frequently asked questions
What is B2B ecommerce for manufacturers?
It is the digital channel through which a manufacturer sells to distributors, dealers and networks, often through sales reps and with a price per channel. On CWS Platform the manufacturer organizes that network in a portal without cutting out the distributor, and every rule of the commercial policy is configuration the system applies on each order.
How does a manufacturer sell online without cutting out its distributors?
By putting them inside the same portal instead of around it. Each manufacturer and distributor configures its own prices, payment terms, lead times and approval limits, and every transaction stays traceable by origin, so the manufacturer sees the channel without taking the sale from it.
Can a manufacturer's sales reps work inside the portal?
Yes. The rep works in the Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub), in the same cart as the buyer, with every discount inside the approval limit of the profile and a Reason Code, while routine reorders go to self-service.