B2B office supplies e-commerce platform: 2026 cost in London

The verdict in three sentences

For an office supplies distributor serving 900 companies and public bodies, a custom B2B e-commerce platform costs between 15 and 35 million FCFA excluding VAT (about EUR 22,900 to 53,400) and ships in 4 to 5 months. The return comes from removing paper orders, re-keying and pricing errors, with buyer approval workflows that match how procurement teams actually work. The decisive choice covers three modules: per-customer negotiated pricing, mixed payment (30-day terms, card, Wave) and integration with the sales management system.

The figures below come from a Dakar distributor project and are kept in FCFA; a London deployment follows the same scope, with GBP payment rails replacing mobile money.

What your 900 customers actually expect from a B2B platform

A buyer at a bank, an NGO or a ministry does not order like a consumer. They have a restricted catalogue approved by management, negotiated prices, a cap per department and often two levels of approval. A standard online shop fails exactly there. The platform must reproduce the paper purchase order, only better: traceable, fast and with no pricing errors.

2026 budget: 15 to 35 million FCFA excluding VAT

These are 2026 orders of magnitude for Dakar. The gap between the two versions comes mainly from the number of approval levels, the depth of the sales system integration and the number of payment methods.

Also budget for 18% VAT in Senegal, hosting and ongoing improvements, priced according to traffic and the service level you need.

Payment: combining 30-day terms, card and Wave

Large accounts and public bodies almost always pay on terms. SME customers and small urgent orders increasingly pay by mobile money. The platform has to handle both without friction.

The credit control module is the most profitable: it automatically holds an order when a customer exceeds their limit or has an invoice more than 60 days overdue.

Mini case study

Moussa, sales director of an office supplies distributor in Dakar's Plateau district, processes 2,600 purchase orders a month. Each order takes about 12 minutes of entry and checking, 520 hours a month, the equivalent of 3 sales assistants. If he moves 60% of orders online in the first year, he frees about 310 hours a month. At a loaded cost of 2,500 FCFA per hour, the direct saving reaches 775,000 FCFA a month, 9.3 million FCFA a year, before counting avoided pricing errors (about 1% of revenue according to his own records). A full version at 35 million FCFA pays back in 2 to 3 years on productivity alone, faster if pricing errors disappear.

FAQ

Can we keep our current sales management software?

Yes, the platform connects to the existing software for stock, prices and invoices. Depending on the tool, integration costs between 2 and 7 million FCFA excluding VAT.

How do we handle public bodies that require a signed purchase order?

The approval workflow generates a timestamped PDF purchase order with the approvers' names. It replaces the paper signature in most procurement departments, and the order can still be printed if the procedure requires it.

How much does a Wave payment cost on a 500,000 FCFA order?

With fees around 1%, expect about 5,000 FCFA. That is often cheaper than the administrative cost of chasing a 30-day invoice.

How quickly do customers adopt the platform?

The observed order of magnitude is 30 to 40% of orders online after 6 months and 60% after a year, if sales reps onboard the 100 largest accounts.

Can we start with a smaller version?

Yes, an essential version at 15 million FCFA covers catalogue, per-customer pricing, simple approval and payment. Advanced modules are added later without a rebuild.

Let's scope your project. Tell us your number of customers, SKUs and your sales software and we will propose a scope, an indicative budget and a 4 to 5 month plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.