Options to Build a Dealer Portal with Salesforce Platform

There are several ways to build a dealer portal, ranging from fully Salesforce-native solutions to hybrid and custom architectures.

1) Experience Cloud (standard portal option)

What it is
Salesforce’s official platform for providing external users (dealers, partners, customers) with a branded site that authenticates directly into Salesforce.

Best for dealer portals that require:

• Secure login with role-based access (dealers see only their own accounts, opportunities, orders, and cases)

• Knowledge articles, files, and announcements

• Case management, order status tracking, RMAs, and warranty claims

• Partner lead registration and deal registration

How it is built:

• Configure an Experience Cloud site and pages

• Use standard components and extend them with custom Lightning Web Components (LWC) as such as:

  • Dealer ordering

  • Inventory visibility and allocation

  • Returns and warranty claim wizards

  • Pricing and discount calculators

  • Multi-step guided processes

• Use Sharing Sets and Sharing Rules to enforce data access per dealer

Pros

• Fastest implementation path

• Fully supported by Salesforce

• Leverages Salesforce’s native security and sharing model

Cons

• Higher licensing costs

• “Pixel-perfect” or highly customized UX typically requires additional LWC development

2) Full custom front end outside Salesforce (Salesforce as backend)

What it is
A completely custom web application (for example, React, Next.js, or Angular) that uses Salesforce APIs.

Best for:

• Highly customized UI/UX requirements

• Complex product search or configurator experiences

• High-traffic portals or specialized performance requirements

Pros

• Full control over user experience and branding

• Lower Salesforce portal licensing costs

Cons

• Higher engineering effort

• Requires custom authentication, security, caching, API management, and governance

GoldFinch Licensing Considerations

Across all three approaches, if dealer users require direct read/write access to GoldFinch objects, they must have a GoldFinch license. GoldFinch offers volume-based discounts when access is limited to a defined subset of objects.

If you want to avoid direct licensing requirements, there are two alternative options:

Option 1: Indirect access via Apex APIs

You can expose controlled functionality through Apex APIs that allow portal users to indirectly access GoldFinch objects. In this model:

• Portal users have no direct permissions on GoldFinch objects

• All access is mediated through Apex logic

• Business rules, validation, and security are enforced at the API layer

Read Access GoldFinch Objects from Salesforce Community Customer Portal for more details.

Option 2: Custom objects with data synchronization

You can create custom Salesforce objects specifically for portal access and replicate data from GoldFinch objects into these custom objects. Portal users interact only with the custom objects.

This approach requires:

• A robust synchronization mechanism between GoldFinch and custom objects

• Careful handling of data consistency

• Awareness of duplicate data storage and long-term data governance

Summary

Each approach involves a trade-off among licensing costs, implementation complexity, and long-term maintainability. The right choice depends on the scope of dealer functionality, user volume, performance needs, and desired level of customization.

Article Options-to-Build-a-Dealer-Portal-with-Salesforce-Platform  ·  Last updated February 02, 2026 · GoldFinch ERP Help Center