There has never been a more advantageous time to make an online purchase. You would be mistaken if you believed that the digital revolution of online purchasing was confined to business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. According to Statista, the global business-to-business e-commerce market is worth $12.2 trillion (2019). Business-to-business e-commerce is more than six times the size of consumer-to-consumer e-commerce.
Aspiring entrepreneurs today must answer the question, “How can you profit from this growing market?” It all begins, as is customary, with the proper equipment.
Businesses in the B2B industry are presently employing various technologies to increase sales, ranging from ERP systems to self-service chatbots. We feel that the most critical asset is finding the best e-commerce platform for your organization.
Suppose you wish to succeed in this highly competitive industry. In that case, whether you sell wholesale commodities to developers and company owners or offer digital services and education, you’ll need the right B2B e-commerce platform.
Your B2B platform will include marketing and analytics tools, as well as customized checkout experiences to aid in customer conversion.
Where should you begin?
There are certain parallels between B2C and B2B product sales processes.
It makes no difference if you’re promoting your goods to an entire organization or a single consumer. These technologies include landing page builders, automated email marketing, and social media integrations.
Your business must be able to conduct transactions in addition to fulfilling requests. It is crucial to select a B2B platform that offers a solid (secure) checkout experience, as well as other services such as shipping rates for your online store, inventory management, and more.
However, B2B e-commerce presents several particular challenges that must be handled. For instance, in B2B commerce, would you like to:
- Obtain a digital copy of your work? If this is the case, you’ll need a B2B digital commerce platform that enables you to download plugins and even build client subscriptions.
- You can provide consultations and price quotations. Booking forms and primary contact information may be essential for the operation of your website.
- Should your consumers have the option of subscribing to recurring services? As a result, your B2B clients will demand an easy method for often repurchasing your services and products.
- Are you able to advertise your items in a variety of ways? Ascertain that your e-commerce business, via the use of order management software, is capable of managing orders across several platforms, including social media.
It is critical to have wholesale options: It may be necessary to develop an automated approach for calculating discount rates on large orders and shipping expenses.
Our staff has hand-picked these B2B e-commerce website builders and tools to save your valuable time and effort while seeking the appropriate e-commerce capabilities.
There are several excellent B2B e-commerce systems available
BigCommerce is an excellent platform for B2B e-commerce sales, but it is only one of several ideal solutions. BigCommerce’s comprehensive suite of tools is designed to get small businesses and huge companies, up and operating, as quickly and successfully as possible. There are several possibilities for ERP support, and you may contact the appropriate individuals to connect your platform with the finest in the industry.
BigCommerce is one of the most competent e-commerce firm store builders on the market, supporting consumers that desire gorgeous websites with social media integration and advanced checkouts. It’s a hard-to-beat powerhouse when it comes to e-commerce corporate store builders. Having access to PCI DSS assistance lets you have confidence in the security of the sensitive information you get from clients. Additionally, it is a simple technique for organizing your product catalog and inventories.
BigCommerce is an excellent choice for SaaS organizations and service-based businesses, as it has built-in quotation builders. This option enables you to place an order more quickly.
Here are several vital features:
- Subscribing and reordering is a simple process.
- Additional shipping options
- The cost of manufacturing a single item
- Discounts for large quantities are applied automatically.
- Payment services dedicated to business-to-business transactions
- Customer relationship management (CRM) systems and back-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
- You can obtain a discount and customize your pricing.
- Segmentation is crucial for success.
- Website design that is both responsive and elegant
- Quote providers in the quote generator
Pricing: The base plan’s monthly charge is around $29.95, while the Plus plan’s monthly fee is approximately $79.95. To upgrade to the Pro plan, you’ll need to pay an extra $299.95 every month.
You’ve probably heard of the Magento platform if you’re a B2B e-tailer. One of the most acceptable options for an e-commerce platform, it is suitable for nearly every type of business. Magento’s other benefits include its ease of installation and management, and its ability to provide a broad range of functionality with low maintenance.
Magento is one of the most popular platforms for B2B e-commerce. Magento, for example, is now the top B2B platform on the market, according to the Forrester Wave. If you’re searching for an e-commerce platform that is user-friendly and easy to link with other systems, this is an excellent option.
Only a few e-commerce software systems are purpose-built to enable firms to sell directly to other enterprises. With this platform, you’ll be able to fulfill even the most challenging business objectives with ease.
Here are a few of the standard features:
- Reliable cloud-based performance
- A wide variety of business-to-business capabilities
- Pricing and a catalog that is tailored to your exact needs
- Practical and durable merchandising characteristics
- The integration of the back-end system is easy.
- Assistance is available for business accounts.
- The shopping expedition went swimmingly.
- The selling features of a product can be found across several channels.
- Reporting and data analytics that are simple to grasp
- Quote requests and negotiations are encouraged.
- Ordering and inventory management are both excellent.
- Magento costs around $22,000 per year for an entire enterprise site or $2000 per year for cloud support and hosting.
OroCommerce was designed from the ground up to meet the unique needs of business-to-business e-commerce companies. OroCommerce is your best bet for expanding your business’s online presence. This cutting-edge software platform includes an online shopping platform. It was created to assist you in expanding your business.
OroCommerce includes an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) solution that enables business leaders to build sales funnels and forecast future sales and marketing results. Additionally, the technology enables communication with both commercial and residential clients.
OroCommerce can handle everything from self-service websites to quote-to-order solutions for B2B businesses and all in between! This is made feasible by working in an open-source environment with a large and active community.
Customers of OroCommerce who transact with other businesses are frequently extensive and medium-sized distributors and manufacturers worldwide, as seen in the following list.
Below are some of the features:
- Numerous uses, including markets, B2B2B, and business-to-consumer (B2B2C)
- On the back end, the construction of retail sites and the pre-installed CRM software maintenance
- Features for search engine optimization (SEO) are built-in.
- Sales and marketing reports are accessible.
- An environment built on open-source software
- Assigning roles and authorizing access
- Workflows for RFQ, CPQ, and QTC in their native languages
- Process management software
- The capacity to handle many websites, organizations, and languages
- Pricing alternatives that may be customized, as well as a range of price-lists
- APIs for synchronizing e-commerce and enterprise resource planning systems that are open to the public
- You’ll have access to an extensive collection of extensions.
- Future expansion potential
- Creating surroundings that are readily altered
- Enterprise clients are entitled to complimentary, round-the-clock service.
OroCommerce is also available in two editions: Community and Enterprise. Additionally, anyone may obtain a free copy of the open-source community edition. Additionally, do not hesitate to contact OroCommerce support to obtain an accurate price quote for the Enterprise Edition.
Key takeaway
When picking a B2B e-commerce platform, it’s critical to prioritize essential features for you. When it comes to selecting an e-commerce platform, the demands of a business owner will differ significantly from those of someone searching for the most adaptable and extendable platform imaginable. Which platform would you select for your B2B company’s e-commerce transformation?
