Software for retailers, when customer structure and tax cases do not fit an off-the-shelf system
A reseller brings its own end customers. Part of the range falls under the margin scheme, another part runs on commission. And both groups should be able to see for themselves where their contracts, revenue and commissions stand. Attek Solutions develops the software for retail businesses that maps exactly that — rented, without upfront investment, from €500 a month.
Why retail businesses come to us
Three reasons, almost always in combination.
The customer structure does not fit any standard model.
Parties hold several roles at the same time, partners bring their own end customers, several contractual relationships run in parallel.
Several tax paths meet in the same business.
Standard taxation next to the margin scheme next to commission business next to intra-Community supply — and all of it has to appear correctly on the document and still be traceable three years later.
Customers and partners should be able to help themselves.
Without anyone in sales answering the same three questions five times a week.
Three tiers, with commission flowing back and one party in several roles
Customer structures no off-the-shelf system knows
As soon as it is about relationships rather than goods, almost every available system works with the same model: a company, contacts attached to it, cases attached to those. In retail, reality regularly looks different.
One party holds several roles at the same time.
The same business buys from you, refers customers to you and occasionally supplies you. Set it up three times and no report adds up; set it up once and the role does not fit.
Resellers bring their own end customers.
The relationship has three tiers: you supply the reseller, whose end customer has its own terms, its own contacts and its own contract. The reseller receives commission on the revenue of its end customers.
Several contractual relationships run in parallel.
With the same customer there is a framework agreement, a commission arrangement and a single project order at the same time — with different durations, different terms and different people responsible.
One customer has several business divisions.
Separate orders, separate contacts, a shared invoice address — or the other way round.
The usual workaround is free-text fields, tags, companies set up twice and a spreadsheet on the side. For recording data that is enough. For evaluating it, it is not: the question “How much revenue does this partner bring in across all of its end customers?” cannot be answered with a tag field. And that is the question you want to ask when you negotiate terms.
Stating tax paths cleanly and traceably
In retail, several VAT treatments regularly meet within the same business:
- Standard taxation at 19 or 7 per cent
- Margin scheme under section 25a of the German VAT Act (UStG) for second-hand goods, works of art and collectors' items — with no VAT shown separately on the invoice
- Commission business under section 383 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), where the supply only takes place once the commission agent sells
- Intra-Community supply with verification of the VAT identification number and proof of arrival
- Export supply to a third country with proof of export
- Reverse charge under section 13b UStG
- Distance sales to private customers in other EU countries via the One Stop Shop (OSS) scheme
The effort does not arise from the individual rule, but at three other points. The correct treatment has to be derived automatically from customer type, country, type of goods and the evidence available. The document has to carry the mandatory details that go with it — a note on a tax exemption looks different from a note on the margin scheme. And the decision has to remain traceable when someone asks three years later why this case was treated the way it was.
That is exactly where workarounds with free-text fields fail: they record the information, but they derive nothing from it and prove nothing.
The same logic applies to the GoBD, the German principles for the proper keeping of digital records: who changed which record and when has to remain traceable, and the original state has to be identifiable. That is not an additional feature but a property that is in the data model from the start — or is not.
One portal for customers and for sales partners
A system of your own allows something off-the-shelf software rarely offers in retail: an area in which your customers and partners look things up themselves.
What end customers see
- Current contracts and their durations
- Order history
- Open and paid invoices
- Status of ongoing deliveries
- Documents to download
- Individual terms
What resellers and sales partners see
- The end customers they have referred
- The revenue that came from them
- Commissions settled and still open
- Ongoing projects and their status
- Outstanding deliveries
The effect is twofold. Your customers get answers without calling. And your sales people no longer answer the same question about the status of a commission statement five times a week.
A portal does require the data behind it to be correct — which is why it is almost always the second step and not the first. If you cannot evaluate revenue per partner cleanly, you cannot display it either.
Orders do not only come through the shop
In theory, orders run through the shop and the marketplace. In practice they arrive via WhatsApp, by email as a PDF or a photo, by phone, through a contact form — and from regular customers sometimes as a voice message.
What happens then: someone types them up. That produces typing errors, orders are left lying when the person responsible is on holiday, and nobody can say how many enquiries actually came in.
- All channels run into one inbox. WhatsApp Business, email inboxes, forms, marketplace interfaces, shop.
- Orders are prepared instead of typed up. Line items are recognised from email and PDF and matched to the customer; the employee checks and confirms.
- Every enquiry has a status. Nothing sits in a personal inbox that only one person can see.
- Customer contact stays in the same channel. Follow-up questions go back to where the customer wrote.
Business use of WhatsApp has to run through the official Business interface, not through the private app. That is part of the implementation.
How it works
- 01Intro call, 30 minutes. You describe your problem. We tell you honestly whether custom software pays off for you or whether off-the-shelf software is the better choice.
- 02Personal demo. Instead of slides you get software: we take a problem you described in the intro call and show it to you as a working application. That way you judge from your own case whether the effort is worth it, before you sign anything.
- 03Requirements workshop. We go through your workflows until we have understood them completely. Free of charge.
- 04Signing the contract. After the requirements workshop you receive a fixed monthly price for your requirements, and we sign the contracts.
- 05First productive version after one to two months. This is when you start paying — not before.
- 06Operations and continued development. Your workflows now run automatically and your team gains time for the business. We take care of operations, maintenance and support.
Existing data is migrated and existing systems such as the inventory management system are connected — or replaced, if that is part of the project.
The process in detail — including what you contribute yourself →
The alternatives compared
What is compared here is how retailers cover the relationship and tax side today.
| Criterion | Off-the-shelf CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive) | Custom development from the inventory management vendor | Excel and manual work on the side | Attek CSaaS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parties in several roles | improvised via tags | rarely provided for | manual | provided for |
| Resellers with their own end customers | no | with effort | manual | provided for |
| Commission settlement | no | add-on module | manual | part of the solution |
| Several tax paths in parallel | not provided for | depends on the project | error-prone | provided for |
| Evidence for the tax decision | no | depends on the project | no | provided for |
| Portal for customers and partners | limited | additional licence | no | part of the solution |
| Order intake from WhatsApp and email | no | rarely | manual | provided for |
| Upfront investment | low | project costs | none | €0 |
| Ongoing costs | licence per user | maintenance plus hourly rates | working time | Approx. €1,000–1,500+/month, everything included |
When you do not need a system of your own
As long as the budget is small and your cases are standard cases, you do not need a system of your own: you sell directly to end customers, your range is taxed uniformly, orders come in through the shop and the marketplace. Off-the-shelf systems cover that better and more cheaply than we ever could.
Talk to us as soon as you want to grow, have to cut costs or are looking for new revenue channels. Anyone who regularly builds ways around their software pays for it in working time — and that grows with every customer. Licences per user do the same with every new hire. A partner portal in which resellers manage their own end customers is business that an off-the-shelf system does not provide for at all. A system of your own costs from €500 a month, typically €1,000–1,500. The price depends on the scope of functionality, not on how many people work with it.
Common questions
My software does not map my customer structure. What are my options?
What matters is whether the deviation is in the process or in the data model. Processes can be adjusted in most systems. Relationship structures cannot — if a system knows a company with contacts, additional fields will not turn that into a partner with its own end customers. In that case a system of your own alongside the existing software is usually the faster route than a switch.
Can different tax paths be assigned automatically?
Yes. The system derives the treatment from customer type, country, type of goods and the evidence available, states it on the document with the matching mandatory details and documents the decision traceably. Which rules apply is set by your tax adviser.
Can the margin scheme and standard taxation be handled in the same system?
Yes, both run in parallel — with separate invoice presentation and separate reporting. A free-text field does record this information, but it does not evaluate it and does not state it correctly.
Can resellers see their commissions themselves?
Yes. In the partner portal they see the end customers they have referred, the revenue that came from them, commissions settled and open, and the status of ongoing projects.
Does this replace my inventory management system?
Only if you want it to. As a rule your inventory management system stays in use and is connected: we build the system for the area next to it — customer structures, contracts, commissions, tax paths, portals. If the inventory management system is to be replaced, that is possible too; it is then planned as a separate project with its own scope.
Who develops custom software for retailers?
Attek Solutions GmbH from Berlin develops custom retail software and provides it on a rental basis — without upfront investment, with operations and continued development included in the monthly price.
Can orders be taken over from WhatsApp?
Yes, through the WhatsApp Business interface. Messages run into the same inbox as emails and forms, line items are prepared, and the employee checks and confirms.
What does it cost?
Between €1,000 and €1,500 a month, with a lower limit of €500. No setup fee, no upfront investment, no hourly rates. First productive version after one to two months.
Describe your customer and partner structure to us.
In the intro call we tell you whether an off-the-shelf system can map it — and if not, what a system of your own would cost. 30 minutes, free of charge.
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