{"id":1308,"slug":"portal-vs-marketing-site-vs-ecommerce","title":"A portal is private + authenticated + account-scoped — unlike a marketing site (public, anonymous, same for everyone) or an e-commerce account (transaction/order-history oriented)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["customer-facing-tools","client-portals"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** A **public marketing site** is open to anonymous visitors and shows the same content to everyone. A **client portal** is private and authenticated; content is account-specific. A **retail e-commerce account** is transaction- and order-history-oriented for discrete one-off purchases. A **client/service portal** is relationship-, service-, and project-oriented for ongoing engagements.\n\n**Source:** oski.site/blog/web-portal-development-cost ; wayfront.com ; agencyhandy.com/what-is-a-client-portal\n\n**Confidence:** Verified (definitional/logical).\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Clarifies who a portal is *for*. Most Candid clients are professional-services / B2B / ongoing-relationship businesses, which is the right shape for a portal *if* the three-trigger test passes ([[rule-portal-three-trigger-test]]).","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"portal-definition-authenticated-private-account-scoped","title":"Definition: a client portal is a private, authenticated section of a business's software where a specific client logs in to see and do things tied to their own account","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-client-portals-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: client portals for SMBs — the honest case (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-20T17:57:32.074Z","updated_at":"2026-06-20T17:57:32.074Z"}