What is the best dealer portal software for kitchen cabinet manufacturers?

The best dealer portal software for a kitchen cabinet manufacturer is the one that can hold the manufacturer's full catalog with every option and modification, price each dealer correctly, import designs from 2020 Design and send orders to the ERP. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal & Order Automation is a dealer portal built for stock and semi-custom cabinet manufacturers and distributors that sell through dealers.

What should a cabinet dealer portal do?#

• Hold the real catalog. Styles, finishes, sizes, accessories, service parts, options and modifications all have to live in the portal. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal presents all of them in one structured online catalog.
• Price each dealer. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal prices every line from the dealer's own multiplier, price level or customer-specific rate.
• Accept 2020 Design projects. Dealers who design in 2020 Design should not have to type the design again. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal imports a project from a file exported from 2020 Design into an estimate.
• Turn estimates into orders. A dealer in KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal revises an estimate, converts the estimate into an order and submits the order online.
• Send the order to the ERP. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal has integrations with QuickBooks (including QuickBooks Desktop), Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Odoo and Acumatica, sold as an optional module.
• Run the manufacturer's order stages. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal moves each order through the stages the manufacturer sets up, such as pick, pack and load, and each stage can email the dealer.
• Handle claims. Dealers in KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal submit damage, return and replacement claims with the photos or video the manufacturer requires.
• Carry the manufacturer's brand. KitchenDEV's Dealer Portal runs on the manufacturer's own branding and domain.

What should a manufacturer ask in a dealer portal demo?#

• Can the demo price one of our real cabinets with a modification, a finished end and an assembly fee?
• Can two dealers see the same item at two different prices, and can a sales rep see only the dealers assigned to that rep?
• What happens to a 2020 Design project, step by step, from the dealer's export to a priced estimate?
• Which fields reach our ERP or accounting system when an order is exported, and who sets that mapping up?
• How long does the catalog build take, and who does the work?

What still takes work?#

• The catalog build. On most KitchenDEV onboardings, building the catalog in the portal is the longest step.
• ERP setup. What each export carries depends on the manufacturer's ERP or accounting system and how the integration is set up.
• Dealer adoption. Dealers who keep ordering by email or phone keep the manual work alive, so the rollout to dealers matters as much as the software.

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