The verdict in three sentences
For an industrial parts distributor in Dubai or London, the website is not a brochure: it is a catalogue of 12,000 part numbers organised by brand and dimension, linked to a request for quotation that a plant buyer can send at 2 a.m. Industrial buyers search for an exact part number first (SKF 6205-2RS, 16B chain, ISO 6020 cylinder), then lead time, then price. A realistic 2026 budget is 25,000 to 60,000 USD in Dubai or 18,000 to 45,000 GBP in London, over 6 to 9 weeks.
What an industrial buyer is looking for
A maintenance manager at a cement plant in Ras Al Khaimah or a food factory in the Midlands has a line down. Every hour costs money. They type the bearing or gearbox reference into Google, and the first distributor that shows the part number, availability and a "Request a quote" button gets the call.
The website must be built around the product page, not the "About us" page. Your 900 existing industrial accounts will use it too, saving three calls to sales.
| Buyer need | Expected answer on the site | Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Find an exact part number | One page per manufacturer reference | Full-text and dimension search |
| Check compatibility | Cross-brand equivalents | Cross-reference table |
| Check availability | In stock, on order, lead time | Synced stock indicator |
| Get a price | Quote within 24 h | Multi-line RFQ form |
| Justify the purchase | Datasheet PDF, certificate of origin | Downloads per product |
| Order urgently | Direct contact | Call and WhatsApp buttons |
Structuring a 12,000-reference catalogue
The main workload is data, not design. A catalogue of bearings, power transmission and hydraulics is structured on three levels: family (ball bearings, belts, hydraulic pumps), brand (SKF, FAG, NSK, Gates, Bosch Rexroth, Parker), then the reference with its dimensions (bore, outside diameter, width, nominal pressure).
Three things make the difference:
- Dimension search: a technician who has removed a bearing with an unreadable marking must be able to enter 25 x 52 x 15 mm and get matching references.
- Import from your ERP or spreadsheet: stock updates must be automatic, at least daily. A frozen catalogue loses trust at the first wrong "in stock".
- RFQ basket: the buyer adds 15 references with quantities and receives one consolidated quote. That replaces scattered emails.
A trilingual site makes sense in the Gulf: English for most buyers, Arabic for government and semi-government accounts, sometimes French for North and West African re-export customers.
Budget, hosting and timeline
| Item | Dubai agency (USD) | London agency (GBP) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 to 15 page corporate site | 8,000 to 18,000 | 6,000 to 14,000 | Design, copy, translation |
| 12,000-reference catalogue with search | 10,000 to 25,000 | 8,000 to 20,000 | Depends on source data quality |
| RFQ basket and customer area | 5,000 to 12,000 | 4,000 to 10,000 | Request history |
| Hosting and CDN per year | 600 to 2,400 | 500 to 2,000 | UAE or EU region |
| Total timeline | 6 to 9 weeks | 6 to 9 weeks | Including 2 to 3 weeks of data work |
*Order of magnitude for 2026, ERP licences excluded.*
Hosting in a UAE cloud region suits Gulf customers and local data expectations; a UK or EU region suits a European client base. Both should sit behind a CDN for fast product pages.
With Kolonell, the website layer follows our grid: Starter 1,220 to 1,830 EUR (800,000 to 1,200,000 FCFA), Growth 1,830 to 3,050 EUR (1,200,000 to 2,000,000 FCFA), Premium 3,050 to 5,340 EUR (2,000,000 to 3,500,000 FCFA). An ERP-connected catalogue with an RFQ basket is a custom application: 3,810 to 6,100 EUR (2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA) for a simple build, 6,100 to 10,670 EUR (4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA) if synchronisation is complex. Languages are set in the quote. Maintenance from 53 EUR (35,000 FCFA) per month.
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Mini case study
Omar, managing director of a bearings and hydraulics distributor in Jebel Ali, handles 40 price requests a week by phone and email. Each one takes a salesperson about 25 minutes to identify references, check stock and reply.
With an RFQ basket that pre-fills references and stock, that drops to 10 minutes. Time saved: 40 x 15 minutes = 600 minutes, or 10 hours a week, about 480 hours a year. If conversion rises from 25% to 30% on average orders of 1,300 USD, that is 2 extra orders a week, roughly 130,000 USD of additional revenue over 50 weeks.
FAQ
Should prices be shown in the catalogue?
For B2B accounts, prices are usually shown after login, with customer-specific discounts. Public prices can be limited to 200 or 300 fast-moving references to capture small buyers.
How long to publish 12,000 references?
With a clean source file, 2 to 3 weeks. If descriptions need normalising and dimensions adding, plan 4 to 6 weeks of data work.
Is an Arabic version worth it?
In the Gulf it helps with government tenders and semi-government buyers. Arabic versions of the key pages (home, catalogue, contact) usually cover 80% of the need.
Can the site connect to our ERP?
Yes, through a scheduled CSV export or an API. Daily sync is the minimum; hourly sync avoids most stock errors.
What return from Google?
Exact part-number searches are relatively uncompetitive. With well-indexed product pages, organic traffic usually starts within 2 to 3 months.
Let's scope your project. We define the catalogue structure, data migration and RFQ basket with you, for a launch in 6 to 9 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
