# Fourteen B2B e-commerce stores on a single platform https://www.mecexis.com/en/projects/nou-grup-ecommerce/ The B2B e-commerce platform shared by Nou Grup's members. Each with its own store, brand and ERP, and the cost split among them all. **Nou Grup** is a buying group of electrical supply distributors with more than 50 members and 100 points of sale. So that its members could sell online and stand up to the big players, we built a shared B2B e-commerce platform. Today 14 members have their own store, with their own brand, ERP and prices, and they all run on the same foundation. The effort and the cost are shared, and each member keeps its independence. ## Independent distributors against the online giants Over 30 years, more than 50 members and 100 points of sale **Nou Grup** brings together independent electrical supply distributors in Spain. It has been in the sector for more than 30 years and has more than 50 members and 100 points of sale. Its members compete with large online platforms that grow more powerful every year, and selling online was no longer optional. But building a B2B e-commerce store alone is expensive and, for most members, almost impossible to take on. ## Every member is a world of its own An online store for a B2B distributor is not just any store. And here it was not one store but many, each with its own way of working. - Each member works with its own ERP, and the store had to talk to it. - Each member needs its own servers, with resources sized to fit, and must be able to leave Nou Grup one day without losing its store. - Some have one warehouse, others several, and some have them spread across different locations. - Pricing is complex. Each customer has its own price, can request quotes and, for some products, the price changes with the quantity. - A catalogue of more than one and a half million products has to be kept up to date. - And searching such a large catalogue had to be fast. ## Share the foundation, not the store The effort is shared and each member keeps its independence Instead of a separate project for each member, we built a single platform that they all share. Every improvement is built once and reaches every member, and the cost is split between them. An update is rolled out to every store at once, automatically. But sharing the foundation does not mean sharing everything. Each member has its own store, with its own brand and its own servers, with the resources it needs, a low cost and room to grow. And if one day it leaves Nou Grup, it keeps its store. ## Built for B2B selling Everything an electrical supply distributor needs to sell online to its professional customers. ### Connected to its ERP The store connects to the ERP each member already uses, so it does not have to change the way it works. ### Stock by warehouse Each member sees the stock in each of its warehouses, and the platform works out which one to ship each order from so it leaves from the nearest. ### A price for every customer Each customer sees its own price, with volume discounts on the products that have them, and can request a quote straight from the store. ### A shared catalogue A central catalogue, with direct imports from manufacturers, that each member can use as it is or combine with its own catalogue. ### Over 1.5 million products, instantly A search engine built for huge catalogues, listing products with their descriptions in milliseconds. ### Fast with any price Prices and stock are cached, so the store stays fast even though every customer sees different prices. ## The project in numbers Each member sells under its own brand, and they all grow on the same foundation - 14: Members' B2B e-commerce stores in production - +1.5 M: Product references in the shared catalogue - 1: Platform and a single deployment for all ## Ready for what comes next New features without rebuilding the foundation Because the platform is modular, adding features means adding new pieces. The foundation is already prepared to make the leap to B2C sales and to add simpler returns, product reviews, dynamic promotions or the Google Merchant integration to reach more customers. ## How the Nou Grup e-commerce platform works How one common platform works for several partners, each with its own shop, ERP and prices. A shared B2B e-commerce platform, without losing independence ### What is the Nou Grup e-commerce platform? It is a B2B e-commerce platform shared by the members of Nou Grup, who are electrical supply distributors. Each member has its own store, but they all run on the same foundation. ### Does each member have its own store? Yes. Each one sells with its own brand, catalogue, prices and servers. What they share is the platform, the improvements and the cost. ### What happens if a member leaves the group? It keeps its store. Because each member has its own servers, it can carry on selling online on its own. ### Does it integrate with each member's ERP? Yes. The store connects to the ERP each member already uses, without it having to change systems. ### How does per-customer pricing work? Each customer sees its own price list when it enters the store, with any volume discounts that apply, and can request a quote straight from the website. ### Can you build a B2B e-commerce platform like this for my company? Yes, for a single company or for a group. The ERP connection, per-customer pricing, stock by warehouse and huge catalogues work just the same for a single distributor. And if you are several companies, a shared platform splits the cost and leaves each of you with its own store. We will work it out with you. > What Mecexis has achieved is to understand the complexity of our purchasing group and translate it into an e-commerce platform that not only works seamlessly with our central management, but also empowers each of our partners individually. Alex Servat — Group Coordinator - Nou Grup