How Bold keeps a grip on growth in both B2B and B2C with iWeb

Bold started ten years ago with a single idea: a smart door lock that no longer requires a key. Today the company has grown into a specialist in smart access solutions for the front door, with a portfolio of locks and accessories that make sharing access easier in all kinds of ways. From a handful of people to more than 25 employees, and from the Netherlands alone to all of Europe. What makes Bold special is that the product fits both the consumer and the business market one-on-one. And it is precisely that dual market that calls for an administration that keeps everything separate down to the smallest detail.

As COO, Hiske Braaksma is responsible for the operational side of Bold, from supply chain and logistics to customer service. It is exactly from that role that the collaboration with iWebDevelopment comes into play: getting the e-commerce platform and the financial administration to work together smoothly.

The challenge: one product, two markets and plenty of variation

Bold sells to both consumers and businesses. B2B at Bold means sports clubs, hotels, vacancy management, housing corporations and above all offices, where the number of flexible workspaces is growing fast and access rights change constantly. Whether it involves an SME or a private individual at home with a concrete access problem, Bold solves it.

That broad market has a downside on the administrative side. Every sales channel, every country and every order type has to be separately recognisable in the accounting. Bold sells within the Netherlands, within the EU and beyond, with all the VAT variations that come with it. Orders, returns, cost centres, cost units and VAT determinations all had to be correct down to the detail level. And when Bold switched from Shopify to the open-source platform Medusa in January 2025, there simply turned out to be no standard connector with Exact Online.

The solution: a custom connector between Medusa and Exact Online

The collaboration between Bold and iWebDevelopment began back in July 2019, now more than seven years ago. During that time Bold's e-commerce platform grew along with the company: from WooCommerce to Shopify to Medusa. At every step iWeb made sure the administration moved along effortlessly.

The switch to Medusa was the biggest. Because there was no standard connector between Medusa and Exact Online, iWeb built one fully custom, the first time with Medusa for both Bold and iWeb. In several coordination sessions it was determined, right down to the level of each order and return, exactly what had to happen: how orders and returns flow through, how cost centres and cost units are assigned, and how VAT is determined for sales within the Netherlands, within the EU and beyond. All those variations were tested extensively before the connector went live.

The daily processes that the connector now handles fully automatically:

• Creating sales orders: all orders from Medusa are automatically created as sales orders in Exact Online.
• Automatic invoicing and delivery: with the correct VAT determination per country.
• Processing returns: including allocation to the right cost center.
• Splitting sales channels and countries: through cost centers (sales channel) and cost units (country), so B2B, B2C and each country can be viewed separately.
• Reconciling payments: incoming payments are automatically matched to the right invoices.

The impact: from guesswork to real-time insight

What really matters for Bold is that the data comes in already structured. The split by sales channel and country is determined the moment it arrives, so the team no longer has to search manually in the financial system to figure out how something fits together.

"Our data comes in largely structured already. That speeds up the reporting cycle considerably and gives us real-time insight into where we stand. It not only saves us searching in our financial systems, it also allows us to make strategic decisions faster based on current figures."

Hiske Braaksma, COO @ Bold

An exact time saving is hard to put into figures, but the difference in daily work is clearly noticeable. Faster reporting, faster switching and always working with current figures.

From customer to partnership

After seven years of working together, Hiske describes iWeb's role very deliberately.

"We don't see this relationship as a customer-supplier relationship, but as a strategic partnership. We sit at the table together, think from the same interest and build the next phase jointly."

Hiske Braaksma, COO @ Bold

For Bold, iWeb is in practice the fixed point of contact, with short lines and quick responses.

"What stands out is the consistency in follow-up. Actions are picked up and there is active feedback. With other parties you often see communication stopping the moment something is finished. That reliability is exactly what you need in a partnership where continuity is central."

Hiske Braaksma, COO @ Bold

And when something gets complicated, both parties would rather pick up the phone than let an email exchange drag on for months. Because iWeb knows Bold's environment inside out, there is never a need to explain from scratch what is going on.

Do you also want a grip on a growing, international operation?

At iWebDevelopment we help companies like Bold to connect their e-commerce and administration in a smart way. Whether you work with Medusa, Shopify, Exact Online or a combination of channels and countries, we make sure the data ends up in the right place without you having to keep an eye on it constantly.

Curious what we can do for your processes? Get in touch for a no-obligation conversation. We are happy to think along with you.