Key admin features in Food B2B marketplace

Admins play a critical role in managing marketplace operations, ensuring compliance, overseeing vendor and buyer activities, and optimizing financial workflows. A well-built admin panel must provide full control, automation, and data-driven insights to keep the platform running efficiently at an enterprise scale.

User & role management

Multi-tier user roles & permissions

A B2B F&B marketplace requires a secure, multi-tier role management system to control admin access based on responsibilities. Our platform includes granular role-based access control (RBAC), allowing businesses to assign specific permissions to different admin roles.

✅ RBAC module – Customizable role assignments, ensuring each admin has access only to relevant features.

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Approval workflows for vendors & buyers

To maintain high-quality suppliers and prevent fraud, our marketplace includes a controlled onboarding process for both vendors and buyers. This ensures that only verified, compliant businesses can access the platform.

✅ Mercur requests module – An approval workflow by requiring manual validation of registration requests before granting access.

✅ Approval logic – Admins can review documents, check compliance, and approve or reject applications based on pre-set criteria.

✅ Notifications – Applicants receive updates on their approval status.

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Global product catalog management

A centralized product catalog ensures consistency across vendors while maintaining marketplace quality. Instead of multiple vendors listing the same product differently, admins create and manage a single global product listing that vendors can connect their stock to.

✅ Mercur global product module – Admins define standardized product listings, including descriptions, images, and compliance details.

✅ Vendor stock connection – Vendors select products from the global catalog and link their stock, pricing, and availability.

✅ Optional vendor product requests – If enabled, vendors can request to add unique products, subject to admin approval.

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Product catalog & reviews oversight

AI-powered content & compliance validation

Maintaining accurate, compliant, and high-quality product data is essential for a B2B F&B marketplace. Vendors often submit products with missing details, incorrect descriptions, or non-compliant labels. To prevent duplicate listings, misleading information, and regulatory risks, our solution uses AI-driven validation to ensure all product data meets marketplace standards.

✅ Data validation module (Mercur Connect) – Admins can configure custom verification rules and define acceptable risk levels. The system automatically flags issues for review.

✅ AI-powered review & compliance check – A built-in LLM analyzes product listings, descriptions, and buyer reviews to detect missing data, compliance gaps, or restricted content.

✅ Automated alerts & corrections – If a product lacks crucial details (e.g., FDA certification, allergen info) or contains restricted terms, the system suggests corrections or escalates for admin approval.

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PIM (Product Information Management): Akeneo integration

Managing accurate and compliant product data is critical in a B2B F&B marketplace, where detailed descriptions, images, and regulatory requirements play a key role. Our system integrates Akeneo, a leading PIM solution, to centralize and streamline product data management.

✅ Centralized product data – Stores and manages descriptions, images, nutritional facts, and compliance details in one place.

✅ Seamless vendor data sync – Vendors can update product details, while admins maintain consistency and accuracy across the marketplace.

✅ Compliance management – Supports regulatory labeling (FDA, USDA), allergen tracking, and organic certifications to ensure marketplace compliance.

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Why Akeneo?

Akeneo is designed for Food & Beverage businesses, ensuring structured, enriched, and compliant product information across multiple vendors. It helps maintain high-quality, searchable catalogs, improving buyer confidence and operational efficiency. 

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Vendor & buyer management

Buyer tiering: Custom terms for different buyer segments

In a B2B F&B marketplace, not all buyers operate at the same scale. Large distributors, restaurant chains, and independent retailers have different purchasing behaviors, order volumes, and pricing expectations. To accommodate this, our platform enables buyer tiering, allowing businesses to assign custom pricing, payment terms, and order conditions based on buyer categories.

✅ Tier-based pricing & discounts – Buyers are segmented into tiers (e.g., wholesale distributors, grocery chains, independent retailers) with custom pricing, volume discounts, and exclusive deals.

✅ Flexible payment terms – Large buyers can be assigned Net 30/60/90 payment options, while smaller retailers operate on standard checkout terms.

✅ Automated tier assignment – Admins can manually assign tiers or configure rules that automatically categorize buyers based on purchase volume, frequency, or contract agreements.

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Performance tracking for buyers & vendors

Ensuring high marketplace standards requires continuous monitoring of vendor and buyer performance. Late deliveries, slow response times, or frequent disputes can impact trust and efficiency. Our Performance Tracking Module in Mercur helps monitor key KPIs, ensuring only reliable vendors and buyers remain active on the platform.

✅ Vendor performance monitoring – Tracks delivery accuracy, order fulfillment speed, response times, and dispute rates. Consistently low-performing vendors are flagged for review.

✅ Buyer reliability scoring – Monitors order consistency, payment history, and dispute frequency to detect high-risk buyers.

✅ Automated alerts & actions – The system automatically flags underperforming vendors and risky buyers, notifying admins for intervention.

✅ Customizable KPI rules – Admins can define performance benchmarks and set automated triggers for penalties, warnings, or account reviews.

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Order oversight

Multi-vendor order management & monitoring

Managing multi-vendor orders in a B2B F&B marketplace requires full visibility into each part of the fulfillment process. Our system allows admins to track and manage orders across multiple vendors, ensuring smooth operations and on-time deliveries.

✅ Unified order view – Admins can see all vendor shipments within a single order, with each part split by supplier.

✅ Real-time fulfillment monitoring – Track order status per vendor, including processing, shipping, and delivery updates.

✅ Issue detection & alerts – The system flags delays, incomplete shipments, or fulfillment issues, allowing admins to intervene.

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Cold-chain logistics integration

Ensuring perishable goods arrive fresh and within safe temperature ranges is critical in a B2B F&B marketplace. Our solution integrates with EasyPost to provide real-time tracking and monitoring of temperature-controlled shipments, ensuring compliance with food safety standards.

✅ Live temperature monitoring – Supports cold-chain carriers like FedEx Cold Chain and UPS Temperature True, providing real-time temperature data for sensitive shipments.

✅ Shipment tracking & alerts – Admins can track each order’s cold-chain status, receiving alerts if temperatures deviate from safe ranges.

✅ EasyPost integration – Automates carrier selection, label generation, and multi-carrier tracking, ensuring the most reliable shipping option for perishable goods.

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Why EasyPost?

EasyPost connects to 100+ carriers, including specialized cold-chain providers, enabling automated rate comparisons, tracking, and compliance checks—all within a single integration.

With real-time oversight of cold-chain shipments, admins can ensure food safety, prevent spoilage, and build trust with buyers, maintaining high marketplace standards. 

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Dispute resolution management

In a B2B F&B marketplace, order issues like quality complaints, refunds, or delivery disputes can arise. Our system provides a structured dispute resolution process, allowing admins to mediate between buyers and vendors to ensure fair outcomes.

✅ Admin oversight – Marketplace admins can review disputes, request evidence, and facilitate resolutions.

✅ Structured workflow – Buyers and vendors submit claims with order details, photos, and supporting documents for faster case handling.

✅ Automated escalation – If unresolved, disputes can be escalated to arbitration or marketplace policies applied.

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Financial & stock control

Commission management: Flexible marketplace fee structure

A B2B F&B marketplace needs a dynamic commission system to manage revenue efficiently. Our Commission Management Module allows admins to define custom commission rules based on different factors, ensuring flexibility while maximizing profitability.

✅ Rule-based commission structure – Admins can set different commission rates using predefined rules, automatically applied based on transaction details.

✅ Multi-level commission rules – Commissions can be based on default marketplace rates, product categories, specific product types, individual sellers, or a combination of these factors. This ensures tailored fee structures that align with vendor agreements and marketplace strategy.

✅ Automated fee calculation – The system calculates and applies commissions at checkout, ensuring accurate payouts and transparent financial operations.

✅ Admin control & adjustments – Admins can modify, override, or create new rules anytime to adapt to changing business needs.

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Payments & checkout: Stripe Connect

Our marketplace integrates Stripe Connect to handle split payments, Net 30/60/90 terms, and automated vendor payouts, ensuring seamless transactions across multiple suppliers.

✅ Split payments & Multi-vendor payouts – Payments are automatically distributed to vendors while deducting marketplace commissions.

✅ Flexible payment terms – Supports Net 30/60/90, giving buyers payment flexibility while ensuring vendors get paid on time.

✅ Secure & compliant transactions – Automates KYC, tax reporting, and fraud prevention, keeping payments safe and regulatory-compliant.

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Why Stripe Connect?

Stripe Connect powers leading marketplaces like DoorDash and Instacart, offering scalability, automation, and trusted financial infrastructure. It enables fast, secure, and flexible payments, making it the ideal solution for a high-volume B2B F&B marketplace.

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Tax & Invoice automation

Handling tax calculations and invoicing in a B2B F&B marketplace requires precision and automation to ensure compliance with state and federal tax laws. Our system automates invoice generation and tax application, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors.

✅ Automated invoice generation – The system generates invoices for every transaction, ensuring buyers receive a single, consolidated invoice while vendors are settled accordingly.

✅ Stripe Tax integration – Automatically calculates and applies the correct tax rates based on buyer and seller locations, ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations.

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Demand forecasting

Accurate demand forecasting is crucial for a B2B F&B marketplace to prevent overstocking, stockouts, and supply chain inefficiencies. Our system integrates Amazon Forecast to provide AI-driven predictions, helping vendors optimize inventory and production planning.

✅ Vendor-specific forecasting – Predictions are tailored to each vendor's historical sales data, rather than providing generic marketplace-wide demand insights.

✅ Segmented supply allocation – The system distributes demand forecasts only to selected vendors based on availability, production capacity, and location, preventing oversupply.

✅ Dynamic synchronization – Vendors can confirm production adjustments, and the system dynamically adjusts recommendations if multiple vendors respond, ensuring balanced supply.

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Why Amazon Forecast?

Amazon Forecast uses machine learning to analyze historical data and predict demand with high accuracy. Companies in grocery and perishable goods industries use it to reduce stockouts, optimize orders, and lower costs, ensuring the right products are available at the right time.

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Fraud detection

Protecting transactions is essential in a B2B F&B marketplace, where high-value orders and multiple vendors increase fraud risks. Our system integrates Stripe Radar to detect and prevent fraudulent activity in real time.

✅ AI-powered fraud detection – Stripe Radar analyzes order patterns, payment behavior, and risk signals to block suspicious transactions.

✅ Real-time monitoring – Identifies unusual order volumes, unauthorized vendor activity, and potential chargeback risks.

✅ Automated alerts – Flags high-risk transactions, allowing admins to review or block before processing.

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