Custom order app development
An order app is built for the customer who needs the same fifty items every week, not for the visitor who is looking something up once. Appfront builds custom order apps for wholesalers, manufacturers and suppliers: ordering from the shop floor, with the right customer price, the right stock and an order that lands directly in your ERP.
What is an order app?
An order app is a mobile application that lets business customers order directly from you, usually from the place where they notice that something is running low: the warehouse, the cold store, the building site or the shelf. The difference from an online shop lies in how the user behaves. They don't search, they repeat. They already know the item, want to check whether it is in stock and want to be finished in a few taps.
That is why the search bar is rarely the most important part of a good order app. More often it is the previous order, the customer's own product list and the barcode scanner. If you work with GS1 article numbers, the phone's camera can act as a scanner: the GTIN on the packaging points straight to the right item, even if the customer doesn't know your internal product code. For deliveries to multiple locations, the same principle works with GLN location codes.
This page is about the app. If you want customers to place orders through the browser, see bestelportaal laten maken or the B2B e-commerce portal. If you're concerned with processing after the order has been placed, a custom order management system is the right starting point.
Repeating instead of searching
The app opens on the customer's previous order and their own product list. Adopting and adjusting a standard order takes a few taps, rather than the buyer searching for the same items together again every week.
The price this customer pays
Customer-specific prices, tiered discounts, contract terms and promotions come from your ERP and apply identically in every channel. The buyer sees at once what a larger order does to the unit price, without phoning or reaching for a price list.
Even without a good connection
In a cold store, a warehouse or on a building site, the connection drops out. The app builds the order locally and sends it as soon as the network is back, so a half-finished order never gets lost.
How we build your order app
An order app stands or falls with how well it connects to your range, your pricing agreements and your order processing. We therefore start with the data you already have and with how your customers actually order.
We map out your range, pricing structure and order flow: how items are structured, which tiered prices and customer agreements apply, and what happens to an order once it comes in. We also look at who places orders and under which conditions.
We design the ordering flow around repetition and speed, and the data model around item, customer, price and stock. In doing so we establish which data comes live from the ERP and which the app keeps available locally.
We build in short iterations and test with real customers, because conditions on the shop floor almost always differ from what was planned in the office. We build the integrations early, so the order flow works end to end from the start.
A controlled rollout to a first group of customers, followed by a wider rollout, monitoring for failed orders and ongoing development as your range and agreements change.
What an order app does in practice
The setup varies by sector, but these components recur in almost every order app we build for business customers.
Scanning and ordering
The camera reads the barcode on the packaging or shelf and adds the item straight to the order. With GS1 article numbers this also works on packaging from your suppliers, so the buyer doesn't need to know your internal coding.
Order lists per customer
Fixed lists per branch, department or buyer, with the customer's own naming alongside your product description. That saves searching and prevents the wrong variant being ordered by mistake.
Prices and volume discounts from the ERP
Customer prices, volume discounts, contract prices and promotions come directly from Exact Online, AFAS, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP or whichever package you use. That way the price in the app matches the invoice.
Stock and lead time
Live stock levels and expected delivery dates per item, plus alternatives if something isn't available. The buyer sees before checking out what is coming and when, rather than having to phone afterwards.
Order confirmation and delivery tracking
The order goes to your order processing and the status comes back into the app: confirmed, picked, on its way. If you work with EDI, the confirmation (ORDRSP) and the despatch advice (DESADV) can feed those statuses automatically.
Ordering on behalf of the customer
Your sales representative or driver can place an order on the spot on behalf of the customer, with the same prices and agreements, and with a record of who placed the order. Useful for customers who prefer to have someone order for them rather than opening an app themselves.
Who we build ordering apps for
Repeat-ordering needs differ by sector. These are the types of organisation we come across most often.
Wholesalers and distributors
Organisations with a broad range, customer-specific pricing agreements and customers who order on a regular schedule. See also custom groothandel software development and the specific solution for AGF wholesalers.
Manufacturers with their own sales
Producers who supply dealers, installers or processors directly and want to take ordering off the phone and out of the inbox, without giving up their existing agreements.
Hospitality and food suppliers
Suppliers whose customers order several times a week based on what is in the fridge. Speed, stock visibility and a reliable cut-off time matter more here than an extensive product presentation.
Technical and construction suppliers
Suppliers who receive orders from the building site or from the service bus, where the connection comes and goes and gloves determine how the app is used. For related B2B work, see also B2B app development.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
The app is useless without the integration behind it. Products, customer prices, stock and order status come from your ERP, and the order has to flow back into it without manual intervention. If you exchange data with supply chain partners via EDI, we align with the messages involved: ORDERS for the purchase order, ORDRSP for the confirmation, DESADV for the dispatch advice and INVOIC for the invoice, exchanged via AS2, SFTP or a VAN provider. For invoices to the public sector and an increasing number of business customers, this runs through Peppol. See also EDI integration development.
If you supply ships and want orders signed off on board, have a look at our app for order handling in ship provisioning.
Payment works differently in an ordering app than many clients expect. Because these are physical goods delivered outside the app, Apple's App Store Review Guidelines (section 3.1.5) actually require you to use a payment method other than in-app purchase. In practice that means payment on account, direct debit or iDEAL, exactly as you already do. More on how we work: app development and software development.
Why choose Appfront for your ordering app?
Appfront builds custom software with smart technology and thoughtful design, working in design and development sprints. For an ordering app, that means we start with your pricing structure and order flow, not the screen. A beautiful app that shows the wrong price costs you more than it earns.
Standard B2B webshop platforms often fall short on exactly the things your customers deal with every day: price tiers that vary by customer and product group, packaging units that differ from the ordering unit, or a range that differs by branch. Custom development lets you follow that logic rather than work around it.
The process begins with a no-obligation introductory conversation, followed by planning, development and maintenance. Because the app relies on your ERP, we involve your application manager or ERP partner early in the process.
See also our wider services: app development, software development and till software development. Have questions? Get in touch with us.
- Custom apps for iOS, Android and web
- Ordering flow designed around repeat orders and speed
- Customer prices, price tiers and contract terms from your ERP
- Barcode scanning with GS1 article numbers
- Ordering offline and syncing as soon as there's a connection
- Integrations with Exact Online, AFAS, Dynamics and SAP
- EDI messages and Peppol for supply chain data exchange
- Order status shown back in the app for the buyer
- Ordering on behalf of the customer by a sales rep or driver
- Ongoing management, monitoring and further development
Security and reliability for an ordering app
An ordering app handles commercially sensitive information: your pricing agreements per customer. Access control is therefore not an afterthought. Each user sees only the range, prices and delivery addresses of their own organisation, and within a customer a distinction can be made between who may order, who may only view, and who must approve.
Reliability is the second half of the story. An order that quietly disappears in the integration with your ERP costs more than a fault you can see. That's why we build order flows with confirmation and recovery: failed messages go into a queue, are resubmitted and, if the errors persist, are passed to a member of staff rather than to a log file nobody reads. We process orderers' personal data in line with the GDPR.
Read more about our security approach: information security policy and vulnerability disclosure policy. Discuss your situation without obligation via our contact form.
- Prices and range strictly separated per customer
- Roles for ordering, viewing and approving
- Encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest
- GDPR-compliant processing of user data
- Order flows with confirmation, queuing and recovery
- Alerts for failed or stalled orders
- Audit logging of orders and price changes
- Monitoring and alerting on the ERP integration
Frequently asked questions about an ordering app
Answers to the questions we receive most often about custom ordering apps for business customers.
An ordering app is a mobile application that lets business customers place orders directly with you, usually from wherever they are when they run out of stock. Its use differs from a webshop: the customer does not search for products but repeats an order they already know. The app therefore centres on previous orders, standing order lists and scanning, with the correct customer price and current stock shown alongside.
A order portal works in the browser and is strong when someone at a desk is putting together a detailed order or looking up documents and history. An app is strong on the shop floor: scanning, repeating orders quickly and carrying on when the connection drops. Many organisations combine both on the same data. See also our page on getting an order portal built.
Yes, that is usually the most important part of the project. We integrate with packages such as Exact Online, AFAS, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and SAP, and with custom systems via an API. Products, customer prices, price breaks and stock come from there, and the order is written back to it without a manual step in between. We decide during the design which data is fetched live and which the app keeps locally.
Yes. If you trade with customers or supply chain partners who exchange data via EDI, we connect using the usual EDIFACT messages: ORDERS for the purchase order, ORDRSP for the order confirmation, DESADV for the dispatch advice and INVOIC for the invoice, via AS2, SFTP or a VAN provider. For e-invoicing to the public sector and an increasing number of business customers, we use Peppol.
For physical goods delivered outside the app, Apple's guideline 3.1.5 in the App Store Review Guidelines specifies that you should not use in-app purchases, but a standard payment method instead. In B2B this almost always means delivery on account with existing payment terms, possibly supplemented by direct debit or iDEAL for customers without a credit limit.
Largely, yes, if we design for it. The range, customer prices and order lists can stay available locally, so the person ordering can carry on working in a cold store, warehouse or basement. The order is built and stored locally and sent as soon as the connection is back. Stock levels are the exception: they are only current when there is a connection, and we make that visible in the interface.
Yes. We model the customer organisation explicitly, with branches, departments and the buyers beneath them. At each level you can set up separate order lists, delivery addresses and authorisations, and if you wish, add an approval step above a certain order value. This allows a branch employee to order while head office keeps control over what is purchased.
We build custom software. For B2B ordering, standard platforms often get stuck on price tiers that differ per customer and product group, packaging units that differ from the order unit, or ranges that vary per branch. Custom software lets the app follow your logic rather than the other way round, and it can grow along when your range or agreements change.
Ready to build your ordering app?
Tell us how your customers order now: by phone, by email, with a spreadsheet, or in a portal that does not fit how the shop floor works. We are happy to think along about the ordering flow, the integration with your ERP and how you keep pricing agreements consistent across every channel. The first conversation is no obligation.