A B2B Business Constrained by a Platform Built for Someone Else
Henchman has been making specialist ladders and platforms for working at height since 1994. The product range serves both trade buyers ordering wholesale and direct consumers. The brand has a strong reputation in the professional trades market and a product line that genuinely solves the problems working-at-height jobs create.
When they came to Underwaterpistol, Magento was actively holding the business back. Content management was slow and cumbersome, requiring development support for changes that should have taken minutes. The B2B wholesale ordering process was largely manual: trade buyers had no self-service route and the team had to handle order admin that the platform should have automated. Maintenance costs were high and the total cost of ownership had become difficult to justify given what the platform was delivering.
Self-Service B2B, ERP Integration, and a Platform Built to Last.
01.
Magento to Shopify Plus Migration
The full migration covered product catalog, customer accounts, and order history. Brightpearl ERP was integrated during the migration phase so order management, inventory sync, and fulfillment data moved to an automated flow from day one. URL redirects were built before the cutover to protect existing search rankings.
02.
B2B Wholesale Store with Price Books
A B2B ordering environment was built within Shopify Plus using company accounts and location-based pricing. Returning wholesale buyers log in to see their specific price book without any manual intervention from the Henchman team. Smaller trade retailers can now place orders directly through the store rather than going through a manual process.
03.
Brightpearl ERP Integration
Brightpearl was integrated to automate the connection between the Shopify store and Henchman's back-end operations. Orders placed online flow directly into Brightpearl for fulfillment, inventory levels update in real time, and the manual reconciliation work that had been consuming team time was eliminated.
04.
Simplified Content Management and UX
The new Shopify Plus theme was built with a clean, modern design and a content management setup the internal team can use without developer support. Product pages, delivery information, and trade account content can all be updated directly. The improved checkout displays clear delivery options upfront, reducing drop-off from trade buyers who need to confirm lead times before committing.
“Moving off Magento was the best commercial decision we made that year. The B2B store gave our trade customers a self-service route they actually want to use, and the Brightpearl integration removed a layer of manual work we'd been carrying for years.”
Richard Carey
Managing Director, Henchman
