Rooted in Tradition, Powered by Tech: How East Coast Tropicals Drives 90% of B2B Orders Online with B2B Wave

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Most people don’t think of plant wholesalers as pioneers. But then again, most people haven’t met the team at East Coast Tropicals, where vibrant foliage meets bold thinking.

Florida, 2015. Alan Andrews and Daniel Tedder launched East Coast Tropicals, a wholesale foliage plant business rooted in tradition. By 2021,  a new graft took hold. Scott Mickulin joined as partner and Head of Sales & Operations, bringing with him another thriving plant container and home décor distribution business.

But behind the lush product lines, the operation was like a living time capsule. Ordering relied on endless paper and email loops. Their B2B website was nothing more than “a landing page”, Mickulin shares, and their wholesale platform struggled to sync with QuickBooks Enterprise.

Could this deeply traditional business successfully step into the digital age without losing its roots? Yes, with the right tech. And they found it in B2B Wave’s capable platform.

Challenge

Mickulin’s world ran like a slow-motion office from decades past. Orders, from about 85 customers, trickled in through phone calls, emailed forms, or through a stripped-down B2B portal. “We would have one or two that would just put in orders, and it was really just a form that they were using to submit orders,” Mickulin recalls. That form? Customer service printed it out, then manually keyed it into QuickBooks Enterprise.

The workflow was as barebones as their website—nothing integrated well with QuickBooks. Staff entered everything manually: products, orders, and even photos. Six people scrambled Mondays and Tuesdays to process orders, while three customer service reps handled the details.

Mickulin was ready to shake things up. “I really believed ultimately that, if you gave these customers a tool, they would take advantage of it.” Still, doubt lingered. “What I was concerned about is would they adapt to that because there’s nobody in the industry that’s even coming close to doing that.”

But doubt didn’t shake his conviction. He had experience with integrations and a clear vision: he needed a B2B eCommerce platform with a clean QuickBooks Enterprise integration that simplified wholesale ordering, even for their complex business. “We wanted that to be an easier process than the way that we were doing it,” he adds.

So he started looking, and B2B Wave made the shortlist.

Solution

B2B Wave felt different than other platforms: no bells, no whistles, just a sleek, user-friendly B2B eCommerce system with robust backend capabilities

Customers were ready to leave tradition behind for two reasons: simplicity and visibility. “We made it simple for them,” Mickulin says. And finally, buyers got something they’d long wanted: product photos of over 4,000 different plant varieties.

That visual access transformed the portal from a storefront into a true B2B sales tool. “Customers liked just the fact that they were able to place an order on there and saw either what we had in stock or what they could source,” Mickulin explains. “I think that’s really helpful that they can kind of use that as a tool also to be able to build that relationship,” adds Beth Burkett, Marketing Manager at East Coast Tropicals.

Internally, the platform’s customization capabilities impressed the team. They could control everything: hide or display products, add banners, tweak product views, and update the website’s language to match customer expectations. “What’s so great about the portal is the customization,” says Burkett.

The team recently added custom fields and a dedicated tab for their Tropical Rewards program. “You have all the tools and resources for us to control everything ourselves. And you’re also very quick to respond,” Burkett shares. “And I just cannot say enough about that.”

At the core of it all, a powerful QuickBooks Enterprise integration—a non-negotiable for Mickulin. “One of the bigger features is candidly that integration,” Mickulin emphasizes. “That in itself is really what propels us,” he notes.

And what sealed the deal? The partnership. The B2B Wave team wasn’t just about the tech. “I came to realize really quickly that you understood our business,” Mickulin says.

Results

East Coast Tropicals underwent a complete transformation. The impact? Clear, measurable, compelling.

These days, Burkett reports that “90% of customers place orders online themselves,” a massive leap from the old-school days of calls, faxes, and that clunky website form. Even better, 99% of all orders flow through the portal, either by sales reps or directly by buyers.

The QuickBooks integration, the company’s operational spine, bridged legacy systems with a modern B2B eCommerce solution, giving the team the best of both worlds.

The shift was cultural, too. Customers gained visibility, speed, and trust. Sales reps stopped manually entering orders and started building relationships.

The team leaned on onboarding materials, such as user guides and B2B Wave’s Knowledge Base, to take full control of their platform and tailor the customer experience. These tools also made customer onboarding smooth. “They’re very detailed and the step-by-step instructions there—they’re fantastic,” Burkett shares.

Financially? The launch of a dedicated B2B portal for their seasonal spring product line hit a home run for the team. “We had over a 40% increase in sales this past year just by implementing that. And it was the first time that we used it,” Mickulin shares. And they’re not slowing down. With that momentum, the team recently rolled out a custom rewards program on their main foliage wholesale website to drive loyalty and increase repeat business.

Summing it up? Burkett nails it with three words: User-friendly, customizable, responsive.

East Coast Tropical’s story reminds us that sometimes, the smart move is a brave step forward. B2B Wave didn’t just modernize this plant wholesale and distribution business: it preserved its soul. Because tradition and innovation can grow together.

Take your wholesale business online with B2B Wave

East Coast Tropicals streamlined its operations, shifted to online ordering, and saw a 40% increase in sales, without sacrificing what made their business unique. Ready to modernize your wholesale business? Request a B2B Wave demo today.