RMG | Medical, Dental & Healthcare Supplies FAQ

Question 1

Can you gate Rx-only, DEA, and license-restricted products properly?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and in this category the gate is the storefront, not a form in someone’s inbox. We build license and credential capture into account onboarding, verify against the categories each account is actually allowed to buy (Rx-only, professional-use, controlled, state-restricted), and enforce it at the catalog, cart, and checkout layers so a restricted item can’t be ordered by an unqualified account. Expiration is the part most distributors get burned on, so we track license expiry with renewal reminders and automatic re-gating rather than letting a lapsed license keep buying.

Question 2

Do you handle contract and GPO pricing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It’s the highest-leverage pricing work in the category. Tier eligibility, GPO contract pricing, member-level rules, local agreements, and the rebate and chargeback trail behind them. We build the pricing logic so the portal shows the same price the contract says, sync it bidirectionally with your ERP, and surface off-contract substitutes as exceptions instead of silent margin leakage. When the portal price and the contract price disagree, buyers stop trusting the portal, and that trust is the whole project.

Question 3

Can you connect to hospital and IDN procurement: punchout, EDI, GHX?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and for enterprise accounts it’s usually mandatory. Hospital and IDN buyers work inside their own procurement systems, so we build punchout catalogs (cXML and OCI for Coupa, SAP Ariba, Oracle, Workday), EDI transaction sets for POs, acknowledgements, invoices, and price catalogs, and connectivity to healthcare exchanges such as GHX. Done right, the enterprise volume that never touched your storefront becomes digital revenue without asking the buyer to change how they work.

Question 4

Do you handle lot, expiry, and UDI traceability and recalls?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on the commerce side. We model UDI, GTIN, manufacturer part numbers, lot, and expiration as real catalog and order data, so the order record knows what shipped, not just what was bought. That turns a recall into a query: identify affected lots, identify the accounts that received them, and trigger notification and return workflows in hours rather than a week of spreadsheets. FEFO expectations and short-dated stock get surfaced at the PDP and in fulfillment logic rather than discovered on delivery.

Question 5

Our UOM and pack-size errors drive constant credits. Can you fix that?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it’s usually a data-model problem rather than a UX one. Each, box, case, sleeve, and dispenser all coexist in this catalog, often with different manufacturer conventions per line. We model UOM as structured data with conversions, show unit-of-measure and unit price explicitly at every step (search, PDP, cart, order guide, invoice), and validate against how the item actually ships. That single fix reliably takes a measurable share of credits, re-picks, and inbound calls out of the operation.

Question 6

Do you build order guides, par levels, and autoship for practices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For a practice this is the entire experience. Each account reorders the same 40–150 consumable SKUs on a predictable cycle, so we build customer-specific order guides, par-level counting that converts to a cart, one-tap reorder from history, standing and scheduled orders, and autoship for the truly predictable items. The bar is simple: a practice manager with four minutes between patients has to be able to finish the order faster than calling the rep.

Question 7

Our reps own these accounts. Won’t a portal cut them out?

Accepted Answer

It shouldn’t, and when the build is right, reps champion it. Territory reps in this category hold real relationships, so we build rep-assisted ordering, quote-to-cart, order-on-behalf-of, CRM integration, account dashboards, and commission attribution so digital orders still credit the rep. Self-service absorbs the routine consumable reorders that were eating the rep’s week, which frees them for equipment, new lines, and clinical conversations. We build the same way for DSO, multi-location, and IDN groups, where corporate manages catalogs, contracts, and approvals while each location orders against its own pars.

Question 8

Do you handle equipment quotes, financing, and service scheduling?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Consumables and capital equipment are two different sales, and most sites only serve the first. We build configure-and-quote flows for chairs, autoclaves, imaging, and other capital lines, financing and lease application handoffs, installation scheduling, and service and repair request flows with status visibility, plus the parts and consumable attach that follows an installed base. It runs on the same platform and catalog as the consumables business rather than as a separate microsite nobody maintains.

Question 9

Do you do regulatory consulting, HIPAA compliance, or FDA submissions?

Accepted Answer

No. We’re an ecommerce and digital team, not a regulatory or quality firm. We don’t run 510(k) submissions, own your QMS, write your regulatory claims, or certify anything. What we own is the commerce system around a regulated catalog: license gating, contract pricing, traceability data, procurement integration, and content workflows that keep approved claims where they belong. We work alongside your RA/QA and compliance teams, and where a flow would otherwise touch protected health information, we design it to stay out of scope or to hand off to a system built for it.

Question 10

What platforms do you build on, and how long does a build take?

Accepted Answer

Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce B2B, and Shopify Plus B2B, plus headless on Next.js when catalog size, punchout, or ERP complexity justifies it. We recommend around your account mix (practices vs IDNs), pricing complexity, and integration load rather than a default. On timing: first commit inside 30 days, with most full builds landing in the 3–6 month range. License gating, contract and GPO pricing, punchout and EDI, and traceability work add time; a focused portal rebuild moves faster. We scope it precisely in the free site audit before kickoff, so the timeline isn’t a guess.

Comparison criteria	RMG	Distribution ERP’s “ordering portal”	Big SI / consultancy	DTC agency doing B2B as side work
Vertical fluency	Medical + dental supply B2B commerce, end-to-end	Distribution-native, ecommerce-light	Healthcare-adjacent, spread thin	Generalist B2B ecommerce agency
Contract & GPO pricing depth	Tier eligibility, member pricing, chargeback trails	Native, but hard to change	Strong, at premium retainer	Rarely scoped
License gating & restricted categories	Enforced at catalog, cart, and checkout	Flag on the account record	Sometimes, as a policy doc	Not their problem
Traceability (UDI, lot, expiry)	Modeled into catalog and order data	In the ERP, not the storefront	Sometimes	Rarely
Punchout, EDI & GHX	cXML / OCI punchout, EDI sets, exchange connectivity	EDI yes, modern punchout rarely	Yes, on a long timeline	Generalist B2B templates
Speed to first commit	2–3 weeks	60–90 days of configuration	90–120 days of decks	30 days
Engagement model	Tiered: build, scale, or rescue	Tied to ERP license forever	Multi-year retainer	Project or retainer

A catalog
that has rules,
and knows it.

“Order it before
my 2 o’clock.”

A portal a fraction of accounts use, while the rest call, email, or hand the rep a list

The 40–150 consumable SKUs each account buys every cycle, nowhere near one tap from checkout

Contract and GPO pricing that’s “in the system” but the rep still confirms the tier by email

License and credential gating handled by a PDF form and somebody’s inbox

Lot, expiry, and UDI data missing from the order record, so a recall becomes a spreadsheet exercise

Unit-of-measure errors that turn into credits, re-picks, and inbound calls every single week

Backorders and allocation with no substitution path, so the account finds out at delivery

Hospital and IDN procurement that never reaches you, while digital share stalls at 12%

Every service that gets the practice,
the contract, and the compliance gate right.

UDI, lot, expiry, and unit of measure. Modeled as real data.

Order guides, contract pricing, and four-minute reorders.

Punchout, EDI, and the exchange your enterprise buyers live in.

License gating, recalls, capital equipment, and demand.

Medical supply ecommerce
runs on four numbers.

Practice account adoption rate

Contract & GPO price accuracy

Consumable reorder frequency

Digital channel share

Show you the money.

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to this story.

Here's what happens
after you fill out the form.

30-min
discovery call

Free site audit

Scoped
proposal

First wins inside
30 days

Get them out
of the way.

If medical supply isn't the only fit, try these.

Let's audit your storefront.

A catalog that has rules, and knows it.

“Order it before my 2 o’clock.”