Building Motico: An Industrial B2B Store in 6 Weeks

Motico Solutions is an industrial abrasives distributor based in Lebanon. They came to us with a clear problem: their sales team was spending hours every day on WhatsApp sending product photos, prices, and availability updates to workshop owners across the country. They needed a B2B e-commerce store, and they needed it fast.

The Brief

• 500+ products across grinding wheels, cutting discs, sanding sheets, and abrasive belts
• Product variants (sizes, grits, quantities) with stock tracking
• B2B pricing tiers based on customer type
• Order management with status updates
• Admin dashboard for inventory and orders
• Mobile-responsive, workshop owners browse on phones
• Deadline: 6 weeks from kickoff to launch

Week 1-2: Scope and Design

We spent the first week in discovery: understanding the product catalog structure, customer segments, and the sales workflow we needed to replace. The key insight was that workshop owners don't browse, they search for specific product codes or filter by type and size. So we designed the catalog around powerful search and filters, not visual browsing.

Design was template-based (customized to Motico's brand) to save time. We used a clean, professional layout with large product images and prominent pricing. No unnecessary visual flair, industrial buyers want speed and clarity.

Week 3-4: Core Development

The tech stack: React + TypeScript frontend, Supabase for the backend (database, auth, storage). This let us build fast without setting up a separate API server.

• Product catalog, grid view with instant search, category filters, and sort by price/name
• Variant management, each product can have multiple sizes and grit levels with individual stock counts
• Cart and checkout, add to cart, review order, submit with delivery notes
• Inventory tracking, real-time stock levels with low-stock alerts via email

Week 5: Admin Dashboard and Testing

The admin panel was critical, Motico's team needed to manage products, update prices, track orders, and monitor stock without touching code. We built a full CRUD dashboard with bulk product import via CSV (they had 500+ products in a spreadsheet).

Week 6: Launch

Final week was dedicated to data migration, testing on real devices, and training the Motico team. We imported all 500+ products, set up inventory alerts, and ran through the full order flow end-to-end.

The store launched on time. Within the first month, Motico reported a 40% reduction in WhatsApp-based ordering and their sales team was able to focus on new customer acquisition instead of manual order processing.

Lessons Learned

• Template-based design saves weeks without sacrificing professionalism for B2B use cases
• Supabase is perfect for fast MVPs, auth, database, and storage in one platform
• CSV import is essential for stores with large existing catalogs
• B2B stores prioritize function over form, search and filters matter more than visual design