Which platform should we use?

It depends on the order flow, and we take no commission from any of them. The right answer is usually determined by pricing and integration requirements rather than the storefront.

Can we show customer-specific pricing?

Yes, read live from wherever it's maintained rather than copied into the store. A customer seeing a price that doesn't match their invoice is worse than no store.

What about punchout and EDI?

Both are common requests from larger customers and usually the reason a project starts. They should be scoped from the beginning.

Our last attempt stalled. Why would this be different?

Most stalled B2B e-commerce projects failed at pricing and integration, not the storefront — which is exactly why we start from a real order rather than a design.

AliveCommerce / What we do / Web and revenue

E-commerce development

Consumer e-commerce is a solved problem. Yours isn't, because your customers have negotiated pricing, credit terms and approved catalogues that a standard storefront has no idea what to do with. The store isn't the hard part. The handoff to operations is.

EngagementDefined project, FBSC

Shaped byPricing logic and integration depth

PlatformWhatever fits — no commissions

Talk to us about this What drives the cost

Fixed budgetAgreed before work starts. Scope flexes, the number doesn’t.

No vendor pays usNo commissions, referral fees or markup. Ever.

You own everythingCode, documentation, credentials — throughout, not at the end.

Nearly 20 years2,000+ projects for 500+ organizations, from SOHO to Fortune 1000.

What's included.

Scoped and priced up front. Exclusions written as explicitly as inclusions.

Platform evaluation and selection

Chosen on order flow and integration requirements rather than storefront templates, which is the easy part.

B2B pricing and catalogue logic

Contract pricing, customer-specific catalogues, minimum quantities, approved lists and credit holds — the normal case, not edge cases.

ERP and inventory integration

Live pricing and stock read from the system of record. An online order that gets re-keyed has moved the work, not removed it.

Punchout and EDI

cXML punchout and EDI for larger customers, scoped in from the beginning rather than bolted on.

Marketplace and channel integration

Amazon, distributor portals and marketplaces, with inventory that stays in step.

Pre-e-commerce evaluation

Whether you're ready at all, and what has to be true operationally first. Sometimes the answer is not yet.

How we approach it.

In this order, because doing them out of order is how these go wrong.

Follow a real order first

From placement to fulfilment, before choosing anything. The platform decision falls out of that rather than the reverse.

Keep pricing where it lives

Read it from the system that owns it. Duplicating pricing into the store guarantees drift, and drifted pricing costs more trust than the store earns.

Make it reach operations

Integration to fulfilment is where the return actually is.

Sequence it

One customer segment, one catalogue subset. Prove the mechanics before extending — scale without foundations is the failure mode here.

What moves the cost

Pricing logic

Standard catalogue versus contract pricing and punchout

First phase

8 to 16 weeks

One segment, real pricing, integrated orders

Most common trigger

A customer request

Usually your largest one

Not sure this is what you need?

Tell us what's actually happening and we'll say which part of this applies — or that a different approach fits better, or that you don't need us yet. That last answer is more common than you'd expect.

Get a straight answer Or call 416-639-5876, weekdays 8:30–5:30 ET

What we work with.

Chosen on fit. We take no commission or referral fee from any of them.

Shopify PlusAdobe CommerceBigCommerceWooCommerceOdoo eCommerceNetSuiteBusiness CentralProphet 21cXML punchoutEDI X12AvalaraShipStation

If this shouldn't be a project.

Some of this work never really ends. When that's true, we'll say so rather than selling you a project that restarts in three years.

Continuous ownership

DARWIN

Once it's live. Catalogue, merchandising, conversion and the storefront evolving monthly rather than being rebuilt.

See DARWIN

Systems behind it

Champion1

The ERP, WMS and integrations the store depends on, managed alongside it.

See Champion1

Straight answers.

Start the Conversation.

No qualification questionnaire. No nurture sequence. A person reads it and replies within a business day — and tells you plainly if we're not the right fit.

01A person reads itNot a scoring model. It goes to whoever would actually do the work.

02A reply within a business dayUsually a question or two rather than a calendar link.

03A conversation, not a pitchTwenty to ninety minutes. No deck, no slides.

04Then, only if it's warrantedA scope or assessment with a price attached before any work starts.

Prefer to talk first? 416-639-5876 · [email protected]

About e-commerce development

Three fields. We'll ask the rest on the call.

Related.

Articles are matched by tag; services, capabilities and programs are curated.

Tell us what's breaking.

We'll tell you roughly what this costs, how long it takes, and whether it's worth doing at all — including when the honest answer is that you don't need us.

Start the Conversation

Knowledge and process

Applications and data

Customer and web

Browse by symptom instead

The structure

Continuous ownership

Before you commit

Start with one problem

Priority sectors

Also

Or by situation

Not sure you fit?

Reading

Most read

Proof

Nobody owns the application layer