Answer
An online shop is typically geared towards product search, basket, checkout and winning new customers. A B2B customer portal often starts at a different point: existing customers want to see their individual prices, approved product ranges, documents, delivery status, devices, service cases or repeat orders. Not every portal therefore needs a complete shop from the outset.
The boundaries can be fluid. A portal can allow ordering, and a shop can have protected B2B areas. For planning, what matters more is which questions customers ask by phone or email today and which answers come bindingly from which systems. schukai recommends starting with a frequent self-service task that can be clearly verified, instead of collecting every possibility of a “customer portal” in the abstract.
As of 3 September 2026
Further reading
Related topic: Shop and customer portal