Trading Company Website & Back Office Guide

A buyer looking for a trading company online usually has a list in hand: forty boxes of gloves, a few rolls of wire, a pallet of shipping boxes. They are not browsing for inspiration. They want to know quickly whether you stock it, roughly what it costs, and how fast you can quote and deliver. A good trading company website answers those three questions, and the back office behind it keeps the promise.

Show what you stock, by category

Group products the way buyers think: hardware, electrical, janitorial, safety, office, foodservice, packaging. Each item needs a clear name, an item code and the unit you sell it in, because "each", "box" and "case" change the price. If you prefer to quote rather than publish prices, say "price on request" plainly instead of hiding the product.

Make "request a quote" the main action

Trade customers rarely check out a cart. They send a list. Let visitors collect items as they browse and send the whole list in one request, with a free-text box for anything not in your catalogue. Ask only for name, company, email, phone and the products and quantities.

Trust signals buyers check

• Delivery areas, order cut-off times and free-delivery minimums.
• Payment options, including Net 30 terms for approved businesses.
• How you handle tax-exempt orders: send a resale or exemption certificate once, and it stays on file.
• A returns policy that mentions credit memos, not just refunds.

Documents that match how you trade

A quotation should convert into an invoice without retyping. Invoices need gap-free numbering, sales tax shown per line (or none for exempt customers) and remittance details. Many will-call counters still need three kinds of printout: a full-page invoice for the customer's accounts payable team, an 80 mm receipt for counter sales, and NCR multi-part copies (original, duplicate, triplicate) for the file. Plan for all three from day one.

Stock, purchases and the money in between

Stock should leave when an invoice is issued and come back on a return. Purchase orders should record goods received in part or in full and update your cost price. Supplier bills and customer receipts then give you real receivables and payables aging, so you can see who owes what and who you need to pay this week.

Local search for distributors

Most business buyers search locally: "janitorial supply Houston" or "wholesale electrical supplies near me". Put your city and delivery area in page titles and headings, keep your name, address and hours identical on your site and your Google Business Profile.

A ready-made starting point

The Kestrel General Trading template is a dynamic website with five pages: Home, Products, About, Request a Quote and a staff Back Office. The quote form collects name, company, email, phone, products and quantities, and a message. It pre-fills from the visitor's quote list and saves every request to your own Postgres database.

The back office runs on the same database behind staff sign-in with Owner, Sales, Store and Accounts roles. It covers products and inventory, customers and vendors (with a tax-exempt flag for resale customers), quotes, invoices, credit memos, purchase orders and receiving, expenses, simple payroll records and reports. Quotes, invoices, receipts and payslips print on Letter or A4, 80 mm thermal rolls or as NCR multi-part copies. Products added in the back office appear on the website's catalogue, and enquiries and products can also be managed from the "Manage live data" panel. You deploy it to your own Vercel account.

Browse more dynamic website templates, or read how to build a website that captures leads.