The ability for distributors to allow end-users to search for products  from their own existing website has been something of a big ask until recently. The Trade Only Search team have solved this problem with a very simple add on. Not only this but the search panel it creates is as advanced as TradeOnlySearch itself.

Nigel Hill, TradeOnlySearch.com developer:

We had to jump through a few hoops to get this product working, but luckily distributors won’t need to make such an effort to put a complete product search solution on their own site(s).

The functionality behind the API is simple – it reads live product data from TradeOnlySearch and displays it on your own website;

Anyone who runs their own site, even using free hosting can add this API to their site. It could even be placed in a blog. It’s so simple to implement.

By placing a small amount of HTML on any web page, the API kicks in. It loads in the advanced search panel from which end-users can find products and send enquiries. The product data is 100% live, it doesn’t leave the site it’s on and enquiries go straight to the distributor’s inbox.

Using the very simple management page on Search distributors can choose which search options they want to display on their panel(s), colours, categories, price range, etc etc.

To find out more about the Search Panel API, if you’re a subscribed user, just log in to Trade Only and click API from your account menu.

This is an example of the live API