Online shopping is booming. Thanks to sleek e-retail stores and advanced online payment systems, more and more customers are turning to the internet to snap up products and services. But the growth of ecommerce hasn’t only changed how individuals shop. It’s also altered the way business purchasers obtain their wares.
Online business-to-business (B2B) salesjumped17% in 2021, and as of 2022, nearly two-thirds of B2B companiesofferonline sales. Many online businesses partner with B2B ecommerce websites with features specifically designed to streamline their purchasing process.
What are business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce websites?
A B2B ecommerce website is an online store that sells products, services, or information to business clients to expand customer reach and reduce cost-to-serve. In other words, B2B ecommerce stores facilitate direct exchanges between two businesses online—between a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer, for instance—rather than between businesses and consumers
For example, if you run a small print shop that supplies signage and promotional products to other businesses, a B2B ecommerce platform can allow your business clients to directly place orders online, decreasing purchase barriers and driving revenue.
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Only Shopify comes with built-in features that help you sell B2B and DTC from a single store or platform. Tailor the shopping experience for each buyer with customized product and pricing publishing, quantity rules, payment terms, and more—no third-party apps or coding required.
Explore B2B on ShopifyB2B ecommerce websites vs. business-to-consumer (B2C) websites
Whereas B2B ecommerce websites market and sell products between two businesses, business-to-consumer (B2C) websites allow businesses to sell directly to consumers.
While B2B and B2C websites don’t share target audiences, they do have some commonalities. Both B2C and B2B ecommerce websites:
- Offer user-friendly interfaces
- Are SEO- and conversion-optimized
- Provide detailed product descriptions and ample product data
- Support rewards and customer benefit coupons
- Accept multiple payment methods
Because businesses have uniquebuying processes, volume requirements, and expectations for vendor relationships, B2B ecommerce websites require additional functionality to meet the needs of business clients. Standard B2B-specific features include contract pricing, bulk purchasing options, quote management, automatic recording options, and shopping cart sharing functions. Here’s what this means:
Contract pricing
While prices on B2C sites sometimes change, they’re typically the same for all customers. B2B ecommerce websites, on the other hand, require advanced pricing capabilities. Prices on B2B sites vary depending on the contract and customer. For example, legacy customers may have access to discounts that are not available to new clients.
一些B2B电子商务平台提供内置的魂斗罗ct pricing, allowing you to sort customers and offer different pricing tiers to other customer groups.
Bulk purchasing options
Businesses often need to purchase items in bulk.A good B2B websitemakes it easy for customers to place bulk orders and add volume-based (or wholesale) pricing functions, which can automatically adjust the price per item based on quantity. For instance, a bulk discount may apply to custom-dyed socks: the more socks you buy, the less each pair costs.
Automatic reordering options
Just as businesses often need to order in bulk, they also often need to repeat orders. For example, suppose your business provides zippers and buttons to a tailor. In this case, your client might expect to reorder every six months without the hassle of respecifying what they need.
Allowing your business clients to reorder automatically through your online store saves time and supports revenue generation by decreasing customer attrition.
Shopping cart sharing
B2C and B2B ecommerce websites serve two distinct buying processes. While the B2C buying process is relatively simple—a customer sees your handmade clogs, craves them, and makes a purchase—the B2B buying process tends to be more complex. For business clients, purchasing decisions are often made collaboratively and may require review and approval by multiple parties before being finalized.
Shopping cartsharing functions and in-platform approval workflows on B2B ecommerce websites make it easier for business clients to plan, review, approve, and complete purchases from your online store.
Quote management
Another key feature of the B2B buying process is the request for quote (RFQ). Instead of making purchasing decisions based on list prices, many businesses request individualized quotes that reflect their specific contract needs. Companies might submit RFQs to multiple suppliers before choosing a vendor.
B2B ecommerce websites can make it easy for your customers to request a quote for your products or services by including online quote generators or options to submit an RFQ online. Many allow you to both receive and respond to RFQs on their platforms.
Try it:Shopify’s Free Purchase Order Template
6 Popular B2B ecommerce websites
Choosing the right B2B ecommerce website platform for your business depends on your business model, target audience, technology budget, and the features and integrations you need. The following five providers are popular with small-business owners for their flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and range of services:
1. Shopify Plus
Shopify Plusis the B2B ecommerce side of Canadian-based Shopify (which typically operates in the B2C space). Shopify’s enterprise offering was designed with companies who operate both B2C and B2B businesses in mind, making it easy to sell to both customers and wholesale accounts from the same store. Plus, it offers unique customizability for each customer, meaning that your wholesale customers can have an experience tailored to them, their needs, and their pricing.
Shopify Plus offers:
- Customizable customer profiles, with unique checkout flows for each customer
- The ability to set custom price lists for different buyers or accounts
- Nearly infinite customization and expandability viaShopify’s App Store
- The ability to set payment terms for each account
2. Alibaba
Alibabais an online marketplace and B2B ecommerce website based in China. Alibaba is the world’s largest ecommerce platform for small businesses and provides raw materials and finished products to buyers in multiple industries.
With over18 million usersin over 240 countries, Alibaba is a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses that sell in overseas markets and participate in cross-border trade.
Alibaba offers sellers free product listings for 30 days, and members receive both a storefront and product pages. B2B sellers can choose between a standard, extended, or premium plan (with higher-tier plans offering increased keyword ad spend and enhanced account management services). Alibaba also provides premium additions, like gold and verified suppliers,which allow for 10 and 40 product showcases, respectively, and include additional services like R&D support and quality control.
Alibaba’s standard plan costs $3,500 per year and comes with:
- Unlimited product postings
- Online stores
- Analytics dashboard
- Built-in CRM
- Keyword data
- Ability to accept and respond to quotes
- Wholesale pricing
3. Amazon Business
Amazon is an online marketplace, and the largest ecommerce platform in the US. Amazon sites see over213 million unique usersper month and annual sales of over $300 billion.
Amazon Business, the B2B side of Amazon, offers multi-user accounts, approval options, and payment by invoice. Like Alibaba, Amazon supplies multiple industries and provides an online storefront and product pages.
Amazon Business’s basic plan costs $40 a month (plus referral fees, which range from 8% to 45% of item cost) and comes with:
- Payment via invoice
- Approval workflows
- Multi-user accounts
- Customer groups
- Fulfillment network
- Online stores
- Wholesale pricing
- Virtual dashboard and product data analytics
- Ability to accept and respond to quotes
- Automatic reordering
4. Mercateo
Mercateois an ecommerce procurement platform that sells products from verified suppliers. Mercateo is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and is not currently available to US businesses or sellers.
Unlike marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba, which require business owners to set up B2B storefronts on their sites, Mercateo connects supplier catalogs directly to its centralized interface, allowing businesses to sell products without setting up an online store.
Mercateo offers:
- Free supplier memberships
- No seller ranking
- Business-specific contract pricing
- Single-creditor options
- Analytics and reporting
5. WooCommerce
WooCommerceis an open-source ecommerce platform and the preferred commerce plug-in for WordPress websites. In 2022,29% of the top million ecommerce websitesused WooCommerce.
WooCommerce supports online stores, offers a mobile app, and accepts multiple forms of payment. Unlike Amazon Business and Alibaba, WooCommerce doesn’t host individual storefronts within a larger marketplace, instead integrating with WordPress and allowing you to create separate online stores.
WooCommerce is open-source, meaning the main plug-in is free of charge. The B2B extension costs $70 for a lifetime license. WooCommerce B2B comes with:
- Customer groups
- Volume-based discounts
- Wholesale pricing
- RFQ functionality
- Advanced tax management
- Shipping management
- WordPress integration
- Automatic reordering
6. Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)
Like WooCommerce,Adobe Commerce(formerly known as Magento) is an open-source ecommerce platform. Adobe Commercepowersover 270,000 sites and handles over $100 billion in gross merchandise annually. The platform provides various products and services, including online stores,inventory management, and fulfillment support.
The platform’s B2B-focused offering includes:
- Company accounts and customer groups
- Self-service customer portals
- Purchasing workflows
- RFQ functionality
- Postponed payment options
- Advanced analytics
- Automatic reordering through an extension
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B2B ecommerce websites FAQ
What is a B2B ecommerce website?
Can Shopify be used for B2B?
Yes, you can use Shopify for B2B sales.
Shopify Plusis Shopify’s dedicated B2B ecommerce platform. It offers direct-to-consumer and wholesale purchasing functions. Features include customer accounts, 24/7 customer support, CRM integration, and more. Shopify Plus accepts over 100 payment providers and international currencies.