From spreadsheet-based quoting to a real-time B2B ordering platform – built and supported for nine years
How we replaced ND Channel’s manual, Excel-driven pricing process with a custom B2B ordering platform that calculates jewelry production costs in real time – covering live precious metal pricing across gold, silver, palladium and titanium, and integrating directly with QuickBooks for automated invoicing across the US market.
ND Channel is a US-based wholesale jewelry manufacturer producing made-to-order pieces – rings, bracelets, earrings – for jewelry retailers across the United States.
The company operates on a build-to-order model where every piece is individually priced and produced, meaning the speed and accuracy of quoting directly shapes the customer experience and the business’s competitive position.
Website type: Custom B2B ordering & pricing platform
Type: Full Project Delivery +long-term Support & Development
Timeline: Project launched around 2017 – partnership still active in 2026 (9+ years)
KEY PROBLEMS BEFORE COLLABORATION
Challenges
Quoting was a manual, spreadsheet-driven process. Every made-to-order jewelry piece required calculating the cost of materials, labour and finishing – a process maintained across complex Excel sheets that no automation could touch. Every quote was a delay.
Pricing depended on volatile commodity values. The cost of a single piece changes with the live market prices of gold, silver, palladium and titanium. Static price lists couldn’t keep up – every update required manual recalculation across every product line.
B2B clients expected speed competitors couldn’t deliver. Jewelry retailers ordering from a wholesale producer don’t have time to wait for a manually-quoted email reply – they need to see what something will cost and place the order. The manual process was a competitive ceiling.
Invoicing wasn’t connected to the ordering process. Orders that had been quoted and accepted still had to be entered separately into the accounting system, doubling the operational overhead on every transaction.
What we had to solve
- Replace the spreadsheet-based quoting process with a fully online B2B ordering platform
- Build a real-time pricing engine capable of calculating order costs based on live precious metal market values (gold, silver, palladium, titanium) and more than 20 different product parameters
- Integrate the platform directly with the client’s accounting system (QuickBooks) – eliminating duplicate data entry across the order-to-invoice flow
- Architect the platform as two coordinated applications: a client-facing ordering panel and an internal administrative panel for the pricing engine
- Build a foundation stable enough to support the business for years – not just months – as production volumes grew
“Every quote used to be a spreadsheet – and every spreadsheet was a delay. We needed a platform that worked at the speed our customers expected.”
ND Channel
OUR SOLUTION
Our solution for ND Channel
WLC.team delivered ND Channel’s ordering platform as a custom-built B2B system designed for one purpose: real-time quoting and ordering of made-to-order jewelry. The architecture separates the customer-facing ordering experience from the internal pricing engine, giving the business operational control on the back end while delivering instant, accurate pricing to wholesale clients on the front end and connecting the entire flow to QuickBooks so that orders become invoices automatically. Nine years on, the platform still runs the business, with WLC supporting and extending it continuously.
SOLUTION 01
Custom B2B ordering platform built from the ground up
SOLUTION 02
Real-time pricing engine for gold, silver, palladium and titanium
SOLUTION 03
Live integration with QuickBooks for automated US invoicing
SOLUTION 04
Two-application architecture: customer panel + admin panel
SOLUTION 05
Long-term partnership: 9+ years of continuous development and support
What we implemented
1. A real-time pricing engine
- The core of the system: a custom calculator that prices every piece of jewelry based on a set of parameters, which can be chosen in arbitrary order, taking into account the current market value of its component materials. What used to take a spreadsheet exercise now happens instantly, on the screen, as the customer configures the order. The business’s most operationally expensive process became its fastest one.
2. A B2B ordering platform built around the production model
- Unlike standard e-commerce, ND Channel doesn’t sell finished products from inventory – every order is a request to manufacture. The platform was designed around this reality: B2B clients configure their order, see the live calculated price, and place it directly into the production queue. No phone calls, no spreadsheets, no waiting.
3. Two coordinated applications – front and back
- The platform was deliberately built as two separate applications: a customer-facing ordering panel and an internal administrative panel housing the pricing engine and order management workflows. This separation lets the business control pricing logic, materials and operational rules on the back end without ever exposing that complexity to clients on the front end.
4. Direct integration with QuickBooks
- Every order flows directly into QuickBooks for invoicing – no manual re-entry, no duplicated bookkeeping, no risk of data falling between systems. For a B2B operation invoicing across the US market, this is the difference between a platform that helps and a platform that runs the business.
5. A foundation built to last – and it has
- The platform was built on a custom architecture chosen specifically for the long-term needs of a production-oriented B2B business – and it’s still running nearly a decade later. Throughout that time, WLC has provided continuous support, evolution and new feature delivery, including a frontend redesign refresh in recent years.
Let’s talk about how we can apply similar solutions to your project.
EFFECTS
Results (Before → After)
Real-time, instant, configurable directly by B2B clients
Manual, spreadsheet-driven, delay and error-prone
Live calculation based on real-time market prices
Tied to manual updates of metal market values
Direct integration with QuickBooks – orders become invoices automatically
Separate manual entry into accounting system
See the price, place the order
Wait for a quoted reply
Two-application platform: customer panel + administrative pricing engine
None – Excel and email
9+ years of continuous development and support
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“What used to take a spreadsheet, an email, and a wait now happens on the screen, in front of the customer. That single change reset what we could offer.”
ND Channel
Why it worked
- Built for the business model, not retrofitted from a generic e-commerce template – ND Channel makes to order, and the platform reflects that from the ground up
- Real-time pricing treated as core infrastructure – not a nice-to-have feature, but the engine the whole business runs on
- Operational integration over operational handoff – orders flow directly into invoicing, removing the duplicate-entry tax that drags down most B2B operations
- A partnership that compounds over time – nine years of continuous work means deep architectural knowledge, fast issue resolution, and a partner who understands the business as well as the code
“The platform they built in 2017 still runs the business today. That’s the kind of partnership we were looking for – and the kind we got.”
ND Channel