How to Select a B2B E-commerce Platform? 10 Questions to Consider
This article was reviewed and updated on August 17th, 2023
A B2B platform allows you to quickly and conveniently order goods and services for your business online.
Over the last 20 years, the available B2B solutions have improved, becoming increasingly attuned to business needs and taking inspiration from the B2C sector.
"For years, Inter Cars has seen an increase in sales made using our e-commerce solutions. In some markets, their share has already reached 80-90%".
In many companies, such systems are now indispensable for everyday work tasks. If you’re wondering what B2B e-commerce platform to choose and what variables to consider, we have prepared a list of 10 questions to make your search easier.
1. What do you want to achieve with the B2B e-commerce platform?
A B2B e-commerce system can address various needs, and it's worth asking what business objectives you want it to meet in your organization.
Do you want to:
- Encourage customers to order online to reduce service costs?
- Make it easier for customers to order products on mobile devices?
- Optimize the work of the sales team and improve day-to-day customer service?
Having precise expectations regarding the B2B e-commerce platform is essential, as it will help you choose more accurately. In a survey conducted by e-point and the Mobile Institute, companies implementing B2B e-commerce mentioned benefits such as:
- Gaining new customers
- An increase in sales
- Changing how they communicate with customers
"Our decision to start using the e-commerce channel was based on market trends. I fully agree that changes in the market have never been so fast, and in the future, they will never be as slow as they are today. It is certain that with a dynamically changing market, manufacturers or suppliers who do not keep up with it will be left behind. We don't see this as a threat but as an opportunity - and it's up to us to take advantage of it".
2. Is the platform you consider tailored to the needs of B2B sales?
Let's be clear: the sales processes in B2B are so complex and different in every company that it’s impossible to manage with a simple B2C platform. A solution for B2C that offers a shopping cart, but no complex approval or negotiation processes, will not work well in B2B.
Therefore, verify that the platform you are considering offers B2B-dedicated features and see examples of its implementations in B2B e-commerce. Your technology partner should also have knowledge and experience in B2B platform development and understand the specifics of your business.
3. What features do you need? Can the platform offer them, or can they be easily implemented?
It’s challenging to write down an exhaustive list of required features at the beginning of the project. Many appear as the platform develops, including during discussions and workshops with your technology partner. However, at the initial planning stage, it is worth thinking about how ordering goods or services is done in your company today, how it could change and be more efficient, and what functionality it will require.
To make it easier, we have compiled a shortlist of questions:
- Can user groups be assigned common attributes (e.g., preferences, minimum order value, showing certain products only to selected user groups)?
- Is search convenient and offers advanced features? This is especially important if you provide complex products or have a wide assortment. Make sure the customer will be able to find and order the correct product efficiently.
- Is it possible to personalize prices or set different price levels? In B2B, the terms and conditions for each business partner are established individually, so the system must reflect this.
- Does the system support a multi-step ordering process (including approvals, the ability to share purchase lists, invite other users to edit, and comment)?
- Does the system allow for an online price negotiation process?
- Is it possible to order products not shown in the catalog structure (e.g. training or additional services, which can be priced only after receiving the order)?
- Is there a "reorder" option - placing the same order without entering the catalog and searching for products again?
- Is the system mobile-friendly? More and more B2B customers are using smartphones for business purposes. Mobile devices drive, or at least influence, more than 40% of revenue in leading B2B organizations.
- Does the platform support self-service? Is it easy for users to find the information they need?
- What payment methods does the platform offer? Does it support the ones your customers use?
- Will the system be helpful for your sales team? Will they have easy access to the customer information they need? Will it help them optimize their work?
4. Can the B2B platform be tailored to your business?
In B2B, the buying process is often unique to the specifics of the industry, product, or service. That's why it's highly advised for a prospective platform to flexibly adapt to the shape of your purchasing process and other internal processes.
5. What integrations do you require?
Integrating different systems allows the information to be centralized and flow quickly between teams and employees. The key to success is understanding that data flow processes derive from business logic. So it is not primarily a question of technology but of business processes.
Therefore, don't only think about whether the new B2B platform should integrate with your ERP or other back-office systems, payment methods, or CRM. Start with the processes that will have to be supported by the technology.
6. How can an e-commerce platform assist you in product information and catalog management?
For a B2B e-commerce platform (and sales in general) to work efficiently, your product data needs to be ordered. Otten, a separate solution is required to ensure that product data from different sources (e.g. ERP, marketing materials) is available in one place and then distributed to different applications (e-commerce system, PDFs, mobile app, POS, etc.). With its assistance, you can quickly introduce new products to your catalog and ensure the quality of product information across channels.
This is what PIM (Product Information Management) class solutions do. They have already become part of many e-commerce platforms.
7. What licensing form is best suited for your business?
The licensing method is a key factor in determining the long-term cost of the selected solution and how much influence you will have on the system in the future.
In truth, as many factors must be considered, this is a topic that deserves its own article. There is no space here to consider the pros and cons for all methods, so let's just list some examples to show how many options there are to choose from:
- Off-the-shelf software, closed-source license.
- Off-the-shelf software, open-source license.
- Off-the-shelf software, open- or closed-source, subscription-based, SaaS license
- Custom software, without the release of source code.
- Custom software, with the release of source code, without the right to redistribute.
- Custom software, with the release of source code, including the right to redistribute unmodified or modified versions, both in the closed-source and open-source form.
- Custom software based on off-the-shelf open-source software, with the release of the source code, including the right to redistribute the source and modified versions.
8. Are you paying attention to the B2B Customer Experience?
Implementing a B2B e-commerce platform is not just a technological challenge. It also requires looking at the business user experience. Perhaps the platform you are considering meets all the technological requirements but is not intuitive enough for the users. Then it will be hard to achieve the established goals. After all, it is the company's employees and its customers who are supposed to use it.
What is Customer Experience?
Customer Experience (CX) is the aggregate of all customer interactions and experiences at each relationship stage with a company: from the first contact to the last purchase, as well as post-purchase support. It includes all channels and all points of contact.
This term includes more than just marketing, service, or location.
Customer Experience in the B2B industry is based on six pillars:
- Personalization: knowing and understanding the customer, responding to their needs.
- Honesty, transparency, and integrity: building trust through accountability and looking out for the customer's interests.
- Optimization: offering solutions that allow the customers to reduce the time and resources previously spent on a task.
- Problem solving: responding to complaints or difficulties so the customer feels their issue has been handled efficiently and professionally.
- Adequate expectations: making only realistic promises to customers about your offer.
- Empathy: understanding the customer's situation, challenges, and emotions.
The Customer Experience perspective is crucial. After all, you want to give your customers and employees a new platform to improve their experience and make ordering more convenient, friendly, and comfortable.
We recommend involving UX specialists in selecting and implementing a B2B platform at the earliest possible stage. Learn more about our approach.
Consider especially the loading speed of the platform (both for clients and employees) and whether it offers convenient, easy-to-use search mechanisms.
80% of B2B customers base their purchasing decisions on the shopping experience, and are willing to pay up to 30% more for a better experience. More than half (56%) of respondents report paying more for a product in the past six months because the experience was better than other, cheaper options.
9. Are you considering international expansion?
If you are considering expanding your business to foreign markets, your choice of a B2B platform is particularly important because it can be an excellent tool for international growth.
A growth model based on an e-commerce platform allows you to offer your products in new markets faster and at a lower cost. The traditional model focuses on building a physical presence in a new country, setting up infrastructure, and hiring people there. Using an e-commerce platform, meanwhile, you can launch sales without this initial investment.
Traditional expansion model |
e-commerce expansion model |
| Costly, risky, and lengthy team recruitment, difficulty in transferring organization's culture to employees in the new country | Lower staffing requirements and associated risks |
| Requires physical infrastructure (stores, warehouses) on-site | Sales can be conducted using existing infrastructure or cheaper services in a neighboring country |
| Longer time to introduce new products and solutions | Ability to quickly introduce a new product, service or other innovation |
| Long period of opening to a new market associated with building a physical presence | Short period of opening to a new market, ability to quickly put up a front for a new country and start selling |
E-commerce allows for exploring a new market and probing its depth at a much lower cost. In the traditional model, before assessing whether a new market is ready and interested in your product, you must build infrastructure, which is very expensive and means vast losses if it fails.
Expansion based on an international e-commerce platform is cheaper and less risk-prone. You can quickly prepare a dedicated version of the platform and launch it in a new market, allowing you to study its business potential. The behavior of real users lets you decide whether it is worthwhile to commit more resources. When a particular market is not ready for your offer, you can easily withdraw while maintaining the foundation for returning in a few years.
10. Is your current B2B e-commerce platform performing well?
You may already have a B2B e-commerce platform. What to do when you have doubts about its performance? How to examine its quality?
"The most straightforward test can be done by counting the number of salesforce FTEs. Often, despite having systems in place, an army of people still works in these departments, making handling sales very expensive. There can be various reasons for this. For example, customers may not like to use electronic devices for orders (which is hard to believe with the ever-increasing value of e-commerce)".
Zenon Kosicki
Advisor to the Board
e-point SA
Or it could be that e-commerce systems created many years ago are too far removed from customers' daily experiences. Even in this day and age, they prefer to call or send an e-mail. I have encountered the latter example many times. Companies are often afraid of significant changes even if the e-commerce system is clearly not convenient and attractive enough for users - adds Zenon Kosicki, Advisor to the Board at e-point SA.
It might be helpful to perform a User Experience audit to review, optimize or entirely redesign the path to purchase. Current technologies allow for editing the client-facing layer (front-end) of the B2B platform without changing the system's internal structure, which companies are so protective of.
Conclusion
According to Vantage Market Research, the global B2B e-commerce market was valued at $7.1 trillion in 2022 and is projected to reach a staggering $26.6 trillion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 18%.
Do not hesitate; it's not worth delaying investment in this sales channel any longer. Let's discuss implementing an effective B2B e-commerce platform for your company.