Waterco's Digital Leap: A Blueprint for B2B Modernization

SYDNEY, AU – July 27, 2026 – In a move that signals a profound shift for industrial-era businesses, global swimming pool product manufacturer Waterco has traded its decades-old system of phone and email orders for a sophisticated B2B digital commerce platform. The launch, powered by BigCommerce, is more than a simple website upgrade; it represents a fundamental re-architecting of how a complex, high-volume business interacts with its customers, manages its vast inventory, and positions itself for future growth. This transformation provides a compelling case study for the thousands of manufacturing and distribution firms still grappling with the transition to a digital-first economy.

Founded in 1981, Waterco grew from a PVC pipe importer into a sprawling enterprise manufacturing and distributing everything from pool pumps to water treatment chemicals. With a catalog of over 45,000 products and ownership of brands like the 90-year-old Davey pump company and the Swimart retail franchise, its operational complexity ballooned. But as the business scaled, its ordering process remained stubbornly analog, creating a significant drag on efficiency and growth.

The Bottleneck of Tradition in a Digital Age

For years, Waterco’s B2B customers—a network of dealers, distributors, and franchisees—relied on customer service teams to place orders. This manual process, dependent on phone calls and emails, became a critical bottleneck. During the industry's peak seasonal surges, customers faced potential delays as they navigated multiple interactions just to confirm pricing, check stock availability, and get an order status update. The system strained internal resources and limited the company's ability to scale effectively.

“Our business has grown enormously since 1981, but the way many of our customers ordered from us hadn't kept pace,” said Bryan Goh, chief operating officer at Waterco, in a recent announcement. The challenge he describes is not unique. Across the manufacturing and distribution sectors, countless businesses are discovering that legacy systems are ill-equipped to meet the demands of modern B2B buyers, who increasingly expect the seamless, self-service experience they enjoy as consumers. Industry analysis confirms that B2B online sales are growing substantially faster than their offline counterparts, underscoring a powerful shift in buyer behavior. The expectation is no longer just about placing an order; it's about 24/7 access to information, account management, and logistical transparency.

For Waterco, the reliance on manual data entry meant its service teams were mired in administrative tasks rather than focusing on higher-value customer support and strategic relationship building. This operational friction was a clear impetus for change.

Building a Modern B2B Engine

Waterco's solution was to partner with BigCommerce, a subsidiary of the newly branded Commerce, to build a modern, self-service B2B experience. The new platform is engineered to handle the immense complexity of Waterco's business. It provides a single online portal where customers can browse the full 45,000-product catalog, view real-time inventory, place orders at their convenience, and manage their accounts.

The platform's capabilities go far beyond a simple shopping cart. It incorporates sophisticated B2B functionalities essential for a manufacturer, including self-service quoting, pay-on-account options with enforced credit limits, and automated freight calculations for hazardous materials like pool chemicals. It also features a purpose-built system for ordering spare parts, designed to help customers select the correct component from the outset, thereby reducing costly returns of technical products.

This digital overhaul necessitated a deep internal transformation. “Bringing this to life meant rethinking how our business operates behind the scenes, not just how customers place an order,” noted Marco Contreras, Waterco's head of IT and the project's lead. “Every branch did things differently, so we had to standardize how orders are packed and shipped.”

The technical foundation for this change is a "composable architecture," a flexible approach gaining traction across the enterprise software landscape. Instead of relying on a single, monolithic system, Waterco combined best-of-breed components: a fast, modern storefront built with React on BigCommerce's Catalyst framework, a custom middleware layer to handle business logic, and a product information management (PIM) system, all connected to its Epicor ERP as the central source of truth for product, customer, and order data. This modular strategy allows for greater agility, enabling the company to swap or upgrade individual components without overhauling the entire system.

The Strategic Payoff: Beyond the Shopping Cart

The immediate benefit of Waterco's new platform is clear: a faster, more convenient purchasing experience for its customers. But the strategic implications run much deeper, touching on operational excellence, customer loyalty, and long-term scalability. By automating routine inquiries and transactions, the system liberates Waterco's internal teams. As COO Bryan Goh explained, the goal is to empower his teams "to focus on service rather than data entry." This shift from transactional support to advisory service is a key differentiator in a competitive market.

Furthermore, by giving customers powerful self-service tools, Waterco is not just improving efficiency but also fostering loyalty. B2B buyers who can easily manage their own accounts, track orders in real-time, and access detailed product information are more likely to remain engaged and satisfied partners. This enhanced experience directly impacts the bottom line, as industry reports consistently link customer satisfaction in the B2B space with increased retention and share of wallet.

The new platform also serves as a crucial foundation for the company's future ambitions. Waterco has already announced plans to consolidate its various business units, including the Davey brand and its New Zealand operations, onto a single Epicor ERP environment. This move toward a unified operational backbone is a classic strategy for driving efficiency in a large, diversified company. A scalable, API-driven e-commerce platform like BigCommerce is essential to support such an integration, ensuring that the front-end customer experience remains seamless as the back-end systems are unified. It provides the technical framework necessary for future growth, including potential expansion into new international markets.

A Ripple Effect Across Manufacturing

Waterco’s digital transformation is a microcosm of a much larger trend reshaping the global economy. For decades, manufacturers and distributors have built their success on physical products and supply chain muscle. Today, digital capability has become an equally critical pillar of competitive advantage. The move to a modern commerce platform is no longer a niche strategy for digitally native brands but an urgent imperative for established industrial players.

“Waterco’s transformation demonstrates how manufacturers and distributors can modernise complex B2B operations without sacrificing the flexibility needed to support growth,” said Shannon Ingrey, a vice president at Commerce. This sentiment echoes throughout the industry, where leaders are recognizing that digital platforms do more than just facilitate sales—they generate valuable data, streamline byzantine processes, and create more resilient supply chains.

The path Waterco has taken—embracing a composable, self-service model to tackle operational complexity—offers a clear blueprint for other B2B companies. As buyers' expectations continue to evolve and the pace of business accelerates, the firms that successfully integrate digital tools into the core of their operations will be the ones to thrive. Those that remain tethered to the analog processes of the past risk being outmaneuvered by more agile, customer-centric competitors in an increasingly intelligent, multi-surface world.