Customers

How dCommerce represents customer organisations, contacts, and the account structures that drive pricing and ordering.

In dCommerce, customers are organisations - business accounts you sell to - not individual shoppers. Each organisation is the anchor for contract pricing, catalogue visibility, ship-to addresses, contacts, and orders.

You (the merchant) administer organisations in the admin console. Trade customers on those organisations use the customer portal only after a contact is given sign-in access.

What this capability covers

  • Customer organisations with status and commercial context
  • Contacts associated with an organisation (and with orders - login optional)
  • Users created from contacts when portal access is required
  • Addresses used for shipping and related order details

Account-level behaviour - contract pricing, restricted products, portal access - is tied to the organisation, so commercial rules stay consistent for the account.

Why it matters

Wholesale ordering rarely works on a one-size-fits-all customer record. Distributors need account-level agreements, named buyers, and clear ship-to details before an order is trustworthy enough for the back office.

dCommerce keeps that context available wherever orders are placed - admin console, customer portal, or other enabled channels - so pricing and eligibility rules can be applied before an order progresses.

How customer organisations are set up

Organisations are set up deliberately so pricing, access, and ordering rules are correct from day one.

  • Admin console - your team creates organisations, contacts, and addresses. Staff can place orders and assign a contact without giving that person a login. Portal access is granted later by turning a contact into a user.
  • ERP integration - when connected, customer master data (and associated people) can be synchronised from your system of record. You do not need an ERP to run organisations in dCommerce.
  • Invitations - customer users can be invited by email so they can sign in to the customer portal without your team sharing credentials.

Self-service registration can be enabled where it suits your business model, but most deployments start with admin provisioning and invitations so access stays controlled. Account status - such as inactive or on credit hold - can restrict ordering when commercial rules require it.