Enterprise B2B Commerce For a Steel Manufacturer
Enterprise B2B commerce for a steel manufacturer with 116 years of history
Macsteel is a manufacturer, merchandiser and distributor of steel in Africa, with 116 years of history and over 40 service centres, branches and warehouses. Every trade customer buys on its own negotiated prices, stock allocation and credit terms. nopStation built a B2B store on nopCommerce that honours all of them online, kept live from Macsteel's ERP.
Customers buy through business accounts. Each of the 7,400+ accounts is synced from SAP with its own pricing, stock allocation and credit terms, and more than 3,000 of them are active trade accounts.
Impact
What the store changed for Macsteel's business
The outcomes below follow directly from what was built.
More ways to sell, on one platform
- A card-paying consumer channel runs alongside trade accounts, with delivery limited to areas Macsteel can serve.
- Direct buyers, distributors and sales reps all order through the same store.
Less manual work for Macsteel staff
- Invoices, signed proofs of delivery, mill test certificates and statements are self-service in My Account.
- Bulk orders from Excel, reorders and named order lists support repeat buying.
Fewer surprises between the store and SAP
- Price, stock and credit are checked live against SAP.
- Buyers are warned before they pass their credit limit.
- A failed order is retried, flagged to the sales rep and can be resent by an admin.
Challenge → solution
Eight questions we had to answer to put Macsteel online
Open any question to see what the buyer faced and what nopStation built.
01 How does every account get its own price online? Each buyer sees its own price and stock, and Macsteel admins control what every account can see and pay.
The challenge
Each trade customer expects its own negotiated prices and stock allocation, set per account and per customer group, as Macsteel sells offline.
What nopStation built
- Per-account and group-wise pricing set by Macsteel admins
- Per-account and group-wise stock allocation, with availability shown to buyers
- Per-account product visibility, plus include and exclude lists
Why it matters to the business
Online buying only works for trade customers if it honours the negotiated terms they already have offline.
02 What if the price changes after the buyer looks? The figure a buyer confirms is the figure SAP holds, and a failed order does not disappear.
The challenge
With a scheduled sync alone, a price, stock level or credit limit could change in SAP without the buyer seeing it, and an order that failed to reach SAP could be lost.
What nopStation built
- SAP webhooks push accounts, ship-to addresses, products, prices, stock, orders and credit as they change
- Live price, stock and credit checks on the product page and in the cart
- Failed orders are retried, flagged to the sales rep and resent by an admin
Why it matters to the business
A wrong price, stock level or credit position at checkout, or an order that never reaches SAP, becomes a commercial and finance problem. Live checks and order recovery remove that exposure.
03 Who orders when the buyer is a distributor or a sales rep? Distributors and sales reps place orders for their customers on the same platform.
The challenge
Customers buy from Macsteel companies directly or through distributors. Distributors buy for their linked customers, and sales reps order for customers in their zone.
What nopStation built
- Sales channel linking company, distributor, customer and sales representative
- Distributors purchase on behalf of their linked customers
- Sales clerks listed per account, with the rep shown to the customer
Why it matters to the business
Distributors and sales reps are part of how Macsteel sells, so the store has to support them rather than bypass them.
04 How do you make a very long steel order painless? Large and repeat orders are rebuilt from a list or a past order, and credit buyers are not stopped at checkout.
The challenge
Trade buyers order long product lists, buy the same steel repeatedly, and need to buy on credit so checkout never holds them up.
What nopStation built
- Quick bulk orders from an Excel (.xlsx) product list
- Reorder from order history, plus named order lists and favourites
- On-account credit settled through invoicing, with a warning before the limit is passed
Why it matters to the business
Repeat buyers keep using the store when long orders and credit purchases are quick to place.
05 Can private customers and trade accounts share one store? A card-paying consumer channel runs alongside trade buying, limited to addresses Macsteel can serve.
The challenge
Macsteel wanted to sell to private customers paying by card, and to deliver only where a warehouse or Macsteel Express store can serve the address.
What nopStation built
- B2C registration with email verification and its own shipping rates
- Soltrack checks against service areas, no-go zones, branches, hubs and Express stores
- PayGate card payments, and collection or delivery at checkout
Why it matters to the business
A consumer channel adds a new customer group without Macsteel taking on deliveries it cannot serve.
06 How do you price a big job before committing stock? Negotiated jobs are priced first, and each order carries the buyer's own reference, date and instructions into SAP.
The challenge
Large or negotiated jobs need a price before stock and credit are committed, and buyers need their own references and dates on every order.
What nopStation built
- Quotes with an expiry date, converted to orders while valid
- Buyer PO numbers, unique per account and safe for finance
- Chosen delivery dates with lead days and cutoff, plus delivery instructions passed to SAP
Why it matters to the business
Big jobs are negotiated. Quotes let the price be agreed before stock and credit are committed, and buyer references keep finance records clean.
07 How do buyers get invoices without emailing anyone? Buyers find their own documents, which reduces the requests Macsteel staff handle by email.
The challenge
Buyers asked staff for invoices, proofs of delivery, test certificates and statements, and many work across several accounts and addresses.
What nopStation built
- Download invoices, signed proofs of delivery, mill test certificates and monthly statements
- One login across accounts, sales organisations and ship-to addresses
- Savings shown for this year and all time, and updated terms accepted in-flow
Why it matters to the business
Every invoice or certificate a buyer can download is one less request for Macsteel staff to handle by email.
08 How do you run promotions across 6,800+ products? Macsteel can run promotions and reserve branch stock for counter sales, while buyers search the whole range.
The challenge
Macsteel needed promotions on top of account prices, a reserve of branch stock for counter sales, and search that works across the full catalogue.
What nopStation built
- Time-bound specials on top of account and group prices
- Online stock allowance per account that resets on a schedule
- Category price lists in Excel or PDF, DooFinder search, spec sheets and back-in-stock alerts
Why it matters to the business
Promotions and branch stock reserves let Macsteel use the online channel without disturbing counter sales.
How it works
Follow one trade order, from cart to documents
Five steps, all visible to the buyer and the sales team. Scroll to follow one order.
- Step 1 · Behind the scenes
Prices and stock stay current
A new price, stock level, credit limit or account detail reaches the store the moment it changes in Macsteel's ERP (SAP). A scheduled sync stays as a safety net.
- Step 2 · On the product page
The buyer sees live figures
The product page and cart confirm the current price, available quantity and remaining credit before the buyer commits.
- Step 3 · At checkout
Checkout on the buyer's terms
PO number, delivery date from lead days and daily cutoff, delivery or collection, and special instructions.
- Step 4 · Order placed
The order goes straight through
Sent to the ERP with its reference, date and instructions. If it fails: retry, notify the rep, admin resend.
- Step 5 · After delivery
Documents come back
Invoice, signed proof of delivery and mill test certificate appear in the buyer's account, with monthly statements.
Technology
How the platform is built
What we used and how the pieces connect.
Live SAP integration
Webhooks push accounts, ship-to addresses, products, prices, stock, orders and credit as they change. A scheduled incremental sync runs as a safety net.
Built to recover
Failed orders are retried, the sales rep is notified and an admin can resend. SAP errors are shown in plain language.
Plugin-based
Core B2B features are delivered as plugins, with no changes to the nopCommerce source code.
Screens
Inside the store
Three screens from the live platform.
Consumer registration: delivery is checked before the account exists
Private customers pin their delivery address on a map. Registration continues only where a Macsteel warehouse can serve the location, and customers in Express zones are sent to the Express shop.
Quotes: price the large jobs before committing stock
Buyers turn a cart into a quote, track its status and expiry date in My Account, and convert or requote it in one click.
Account transactions: credit and documents without an email
Buyers see their credit limit, credit used and available credit, and download invoices and signed proofs of delivery from the files SAP produces.
FAQ
Common questions about the Macsteel B2B store
Can each trade customer get its own prices online?
Yes. Each product can carry an account price, a group price and a time-bound special, and the price a buyer sees can be any of these or a combination of them. Stock allocation and product visibility are set per account too.
Can distributors and sales reps order on behalf of customers?
Yes. Customers buy directly or through distributors, distributors buy for their linked customers, and sales reps place orders for customers in their zone, all on the same store.
How do trade buyers place large or repeat orders?
Buyers upload a long product list from Excel, reorder from order history or keep named order lists. For negotiated jobs they request a quote and convert it to an order before it expires.
Can business customers buy on credit?
Yes. Trade accounts buy on account and settle through invoicing. The store warns buyers before an order would pass their credit limit.
Can trade and consumer customers buy on the same site?
Yes. Trade customers keep buying on account with their own pricing. Private customers register separately, pay by card through PayGate and get their own shipping rates.
What can buyers do for themselves in their account?
Buyers download invoices, signed proofs of delivery, mill test certificates and monthly statements, switch between accounts and delivery addresses with one login, and see their savings.
Does the B2B store work with an existing ERP?
Yes. Macsteel's store is connected to SAP, so prices, stock, credit and orders stay in step as they change, with a scheduled sync as a safety net. If an order does not go through, the store retries it, notifies the sales rep and lets an admin resend it.
Planning a B2B store on top of your ERP?
Talk to the team that built Macsteel's platform about pricing, credit and live ERP data for your own customers.
Talk to our team
