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ibuychemikals
How Ibuychemikals Took Chemical Procurement Online With Built-In Buyer Verification and Marketplace Control
Enabling verified B2B/B2C chemical buying, seller management, and pan-India ecommerce operations through a customised StoreHippo setup
About Ibuychemikals
Ibuychemikals is a B2B/B2C chemical marketplace from the Pon Pure Chemicals Group, built to make chemical procurement easier for buyers across India. With 40+ years of industry experience, the marketplace brings laboratory, speciality, industrial, and other chemical products online for businesses, institutions, professionals, and individual buyers.
Ibuychemikals already had an online store on WooCommerce, but the existing setup could not support the expansion plans and custom workflows the business needed. The brand wanted a more flexible ecommerce setup where buyers could discover products, choose different grades and quantities, place orders online, and get them delivered across India. At the same time, sellers could participate through a structured marketplace model.
Chemical ecommerce also required workflows beyond standard online buying. Certain purchases needed buyer verification and identity or address checks, while business customers had to submit documents such as GST, PAN, company details, and relevant licences.
Ibuychemikals moved from WooCommerce to StoreHippo to gain greater flexibility for expansion and build the customised marketplace and KYC workflows its business model required. With StoreHippo, ecommerce, seller management, buyer verification, documentation, and pan-India commerce could be managed through one connected B2B/B2C marketplace.
Explore how Ibuychemikals moved beyond the limitations of its existing ecommerce setup to build a more scalable B2B/B2C chemical marketplace around the distinct requirements of wholesale and retail procurement.
Ibuychemikals’s Company Profile
Industry: Chemical Manufacturing, Distribution and E-commerce
Locations: PAN-India
Use Case: B2B/B2C Multi Vendor Marketplace
Challenge - Taking Chemical Procurement Online Without Losing Control Over Verification and Marketplace Operations
Ibuychemikals wanted to make it easier for customers across India to discover, buy, and manage chemical procurement online. But building a B2B/B2C chemical marketplace meant handling requirements that went well beyond a standard ecommerce journey.
The business needed to support online buying for different customer types, bring sellers onto the marketplace, and manage pan-India orders while also introducing the verification and documentation controls required for chemical purchases.
The key challenges were:
- Outgrowing the Existing WooCommerce Setup - Ibuychemikals was already selling online through WooCommerce, but needed a more flexible platform to expand operations and support custom procurement workflows that the existing setup could not accommodate.
- Building a Marketplace for Wholesale and Retail - Along with enabling direct online purchases, Ibuychemikals needed to onboard sellers, manage vendor participation, and keep customer, seller, catalogue, and order operations connected within one B2B/B2C marketplace.
- Building Buyer Verification Into the Purchase Journey - Certain chemical purchases required identity and address verification. Ibuychemikals needed to introduce KYC without making the online purchase journey lengthy or cumbersome.
- Managing Different Verification Scenarios - Automated KYC would not work in every case. Ibuychemikals needed a way to handle customers who could not complete online verification while still allowing the business to review and approve them manually.
- Collecting Business-Specific Documentation - Chemical purchases could require additional buyer verification through GST, PAN, company details, licences, age-related information, and other relevant documents. Ibuychemikals needed a structured way to collect and review this information without making customer onboarding and order processing unnecessarily cumbersome.
- Supporting Pan-India Chemical Commerce - The marketplace needed to serve customers across India with location- and pincode-based delivery requirements while managing a broad chemical catalogue through one connected commerce setup.
Ibuychemikals needed a flexible ecommerce platform that could combine marketplace operations with customised verification workflows and support both B2B and B2C chemical procurement without forcing the business into a standard online retail model.
Solutions
Custom B2B/B2C Marketplace Solution: StoreHippo’s Connected Chemical Ecommerce Ecosystem for Ibuychemikals
StoreHippo enabled Ibuychemikals to build a connected B2B/B2C chemical marketplace where online buying, seller operations, customer verification, and business documentation could work together within one commerce setup.
Built on StoreHippo’s flexible MACH architecture, built-in marketplace capabilities, and highly customisable workflows, the solution could be adapted around the specific requirements of chemical procurement rather than forcing the business into a standard ecommerce model.
Here is how Ibuychemikals built its digital chemical marketplace with StoreHippo:
1. Unified B2B/B2C Marketplace
Ibuychemikals wanted to give customers a seamless way to buy chemicals online while enabling sellers to reach those buyers through the same connected marketplace. StoreHippo’s built-in B2B and marketplace capabilities gave Ibuychemikals one connected backend to manage products, buyers, sellers, payments, orders, and marketplace operations.
This made it easier to run wholesale and retail commerce together, onboard sellers faster, keep catalogue and order data connected, and manage marketplace activity without switching between separate systems.
2. Custom KYC Verification Built Into the Buying Journey
Ibuychemikals needed to verify buyers for applicable chemical purchases without making the online buying journey feel slow or restrictive.StoreHippo’s headless, highly customisable architecture enabled a tailored video KYC workflow to be built directly into the order journey. Verification could be triggered after payment, allowing customers to complete the purchase first while still retaining the required verification checkpoint.
This helped Ibuychemikals keep the buying experience smoother for customers while maintaining greater control over who could complete regulated or verification-led chemical purchases.
3. Integrated KYC With Automated and Manual Verification
Ibuychemikals needed a verification workflow that could handle both automated checks and exceptions without interrupting the buying journey. StoreHippo’s API-first architecture enabled third-party video KYC with Aadhaar/DigiLocker-based verification to integrate directly into the purchase flow, while cases that couldn't be verified automatically were routed to the admin for manual review and approval.
This gave Ibuychemikals a more resilient verification process, reduced the risk of genuine buyers getting stuck midway, and allowed the business to manage automated and manual KYC scenarios through a single workflow.
4. Custom B2B Verification and Documentation Workflows
Ibuychemikals needed a way to handle the additional verification requirements that come with B2B chemical purchases. Using StoreHippo’s easy customisation capabilities, the marketplace could collect PAN, GST details, company information, applicable licences, and other supporting documents as part of the buyer verification journey.
This gave Ibuychemikals a more structured way to onboard and verify business buyers while continuing to serve retail and professional customers through the same connected commerce backend.
5. End-to-End Marketplace Solutions
Ibuychemikals needed its day-to-day marketplace operations to stay simple across buyer, seller, product, payment, order, and fulfilment workflows.
StoreHippo brought these operations together through built-in commerce and marketplace capabilities, including:
- Product and catalogue management for handling a broad chemical assortment, pricing, categories, and inventory.
- Customer buying journeys covering registration, cart, checkout, payments, and order management.
- Seller and vendor operations for onboarding sellers and managing commissions, payouts, order visibility, and other marketplace workflows.
- Tax and fulfilment workflows with built-in GST support, shipping configuration, and location-based delivery.
- Admin and business visibility through role-based access, notifications, reports, analytics, and SEO tools.
This gave Ibuychemikals a more connected way to run its B2B/B2C marketplace while reducing dependence on separate plugins and tools for core commerce operations.
6. Pan-India Commerce With Pincode-Based Fulfilment
Ibuychemikals needed to serve customers across India while managing buying and delivery availability accurately for different locations. StoreHippo’s built-in location and PIN code-based shopping and shipping capabilities enabled the marketplace to check serviceability and manage shipping availability based on customer PIN codes. This enabled Ibuychemikals to sell chemicals across different grades and quantities while keeping fulfilment workflows connected for smoother delivery operations.
This helped the business support pan-India chemical procurement with better control over serviceability and fulfilment, without creating separate commerce setups for different regions.
7. Migration From WooCommerce and Quick Go-Live
Ibuychemikals migrated from WooCommerce to StoreHippo to gain the flexibility needed for expansion and custom workflows. StoreHippo’s API-first architecture and import capabilities helped move existing user and product data through APIs and data files into the new marketplace setup.
With custom marketplace, KYC, and commerce workflows implemented, ibuychemikals went live on StoreHippo in two months.
A Digital Marketplace Built to Grow With the Business
Ibuychemikals needed a commerce setup that could handle the realities of chemical procurement today, without limiting how the business could evolve tomorrow.
With StoreHippo’s built-in marketplace capabilities, flexible MACH architecture, API-first integrations, and customisable workflows, the business could shape its marketplace around its own requirements and continue adding new buyer, seller, verification, and operational workflows as those requirements change.
The result is not just a connected B2B/B2C marketplace, but a commerce foundation that can grow with Ibuychemikals as its catalogue, seller network, customer base, and pan-India operations expand.
StoreHippo is proud to support Ibuychemikals as its technology partner, helping the business keep evolving its digital chemical procurement journey with greater flexibility and control.