Do you supply companies that assist companies develop, rent, or handle their groups? Do you provide merchandise particularly to corporations? Do you promote gadgets wholesale? In the event you’re within the B2B house — or if you wish to be — you might very effectively profit from a B2B ecommerce platform. It may possibly simplify processes to your purchasers and your group, and assist you to develop quicker and extra effectively.

Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at how a web-based storefront may help your B2B enterprise progress, and the way to decide on the correct ecommerce platform.

Why create a B2B ecommerce retailer

The vast majority of on-line shops you’re conversant in could also be B2C (business-to-consumer), supplying your canine’s meals, your son’s birthday presents, or your favourite specialty groceries. 

However don’t be lured into considering that ecommerce shops are only for consumer-facing organizations. They are often an extremely {powerful} device for B2B corporations as effectively. 

In a latest survey, 41% of B2B customers acknowledged that self-service capabilities would enhance the method of doing enterprise on-line. That’s a giant quantity! And offering the power for purchasers to handle their accounts and carry out different associated duties is a spotlight of ecommerce performance. 

For instance, as an alternative of calling to ask for a quote, a sourcing supervisor may submit a request on-line and discover out this info instantly, irrespective of the time of day. They may additionally submit an order, and even signal as much as have your merchandise delivered robotically on a month-to-month foundation. 

Or, for those who present garden care companies for corporations, a enterprise proprietor may log into their account to regulate the frequency of their companies, or see the following time you’re scheduled to cease by.

B2B ecommerce companies additionally go a great distance in direction of automating processes. They will take the load off of customer support representatives and enhance gross sales group members’ efforts by way of a number of the self-service duties we simply mentioned. 

They will sync info between numerous distribution channels, making certain that every thing’s up-to-date and correct. And so they can take away the painful steps concerned in manually sending invoices and quotes, then following up with each potential consumer.

Lastly, a web-based retailer acts because the face of your organization and the hub of all of your advertising and marketing methods. You possibly can hyperlink on to services in your advertising and marketing emails and promoting campaigns to spice up on-line transactions. 

You possibly can create precious content material that guides prospects by way of your gross sales funnel. And you may monitor the success of your efforts to steer future selections.

Issues for selecting a B2B ecommerce platform

The ecommerce platform you select is basically the muse of your on-line storefront. Let’s dive into some components to contemplate when selecting one, and study why WooCommerce is the highest answer for B2B on-line shops.

Varieties of merchandise you’re promoting

There are an enormous number of potentialities for B2B corporations. Listed here are a number of gadgets you might promote, together with some examples: 

Bodily merchandise

Assume tools, printed coaching books, and cleansing provides. Storage and Dealing with Gear, for instance, provides eco-friendly procuring carts to retail and grocery shops.

Digital merchandise

Objects like on-line programs, downloadable eBooks, and software program licenses. TipoType, as an example, provides font licenses to companies and freelancers.

Providers

Choices equivalent to graphic design, accounting, and authorized assist. Your Profit Retailer is a service supplier, promoting healthcare protection that corporations can embrace as a part of their workers’ compensation packages.

Wholesale gadgets

Promoting giant volumes of merchandise to retailers, primarily performing as their provider. Porta Professional Chem, for instance, sells transportable restroom merchandise to purchasers across the nation. 

Memberships

Entry to a set of advantages and sources, equivalent to a coaching video library or on-line discussion board. The Interactive Promoting Bureau, as an example, has a membership program with sources, programs, occasion invitations and extra, particularly for media and advertising and marketing corporations. 

Subscriptions

Recurring services or products, like a yearly license, weekly cleansing service, or month-to-month field of espresso pods for the break room. Design Modo sells digital subscriptions to design instruments, however subscriptions also can contain bodily merchandise or even newsletters.

As you possibly can see, these all fluctuate broadly from each other, however there will also be overlap. You may promote each retail and wholesale merchandise. You possibly can promote each bodily and digital books aspect by aspect. Or you might have a subscription that features a weekly workplace cleansing, and a field of provides.

The purpose right here is, you might need to do enterprise in a wide range of methods on the identical platform — be certain that the platform you select helps all of them.

WooCommerce gives promoting performance for the entire services listed above, and extra! In reality, the entire instance websites talked about are utilizing WooCommerce. Promote one sort of product or a number of aspect by aspect. Permit anybody to buy, or prohibit capabilities to particular purchasers or wholesale clients.

It doesn’t matter what you need to promote or the way you promote it, WooCommerce makes it attainable.

Design flexibility 

Simply as your services are distinctive, your model is, too. And, after all, you need your web site to mirror the persona and traits of that model.

Good B2B ecommerce platforms will enable you full and complete flexibility to design and construct something you possibly can think about — with out having to edit code or rent a developer for those who don’t need to. 

Since WooCommerce is an extension of WordPress, you possibly can harness the ability of the Block Editor to construct your entire pages and posts. The Block Editor allows you to drag and drop parts — like paragraphs, headings, pictures, movies, and columns — to create your individual customized structure.

You possibly can then toggle settings to customise colours, font types, and different design traits to make the web page your individual.

It’s also possible to use blocks to construct and design international web site parts, from headers and footers to product web page templates. For instance, you may add associated merchandise, movies, or specs to your product pages. Or maybe you need to add filters to your class web page sidebar. All of that is attainable with out working with code or hiring a developer.

There are additionally numerous free and premium themes you possibly can select from as beginning factors to your web site design. Some are like clean slates, offering simply the fundamentals you can actually customise to your coronary heart’s content material. Others supply ready-to-go designs and layouts. Simply swap pictures, textual content, and colours and get promoting!

Content material possession

For on-line companies, proudly owning your content material is completely crucial. Your web site is a income — you possibly can’t threat the potential of it disappearing. 

You see, many proprietary B2B ecommerce platforms can take your web site down with no warning in the event that they resolve that you just’ve violated their phrases and circumstances. Which means lack of income, time, and arduous work!

However whenever you use WordPress and WooCommerce, you personal and management what you create! Your web site is hosted wherever you’d prefer it and also you’ll by no means have to fret about WooCommerce taking down your web site. As a result of it’s simply that — yours.

Fee gateway integration

Fee gateways allow you to gather cash from clients and purchasers securely, then switch that cash into your checking account. There are professionals and cons of every device, and sure performance you’ll want to your particular enterprise. 

For instance, you might want to gather recurring funds, settle for a number of currencies, combine with categorical pay instruments like Apple Pay, or supply financing choices. 

You’ll need to guarantee that the ecommerce platform you select works with the one you need to use — particularly if what you are promoting already makes use of one thing for cost assortment and invoicing. 

WooCommerce integrates with a wide selection of cost options, together with:

It’s also possible to use a fully-integrated cost gateway from WooCommerce, known as WooPayments. It has a consumer pleasant interface, permitting you to handle funds and refunds from the WordPress dashboard. Plus, it’s free to get began.Nevertheless it nonetheless gives world-class performance, like categorical pay choices, recurring cost assortment, and multi-currency help.

See a full listing of gateways and study extra about selecting a cost gateway for what you are promoting.

Transport

In the event you promote bodily merchandise, then transport goes to be an necessary issue on the subject of selecting an ecommerce platform. Transport will be difficult, so that you want a device that lets you arrange charges the best way you need, and that integrates with any transport carriers you’re employed with. 

That is very true for those who ship giant volumes of merchandise directly, or have particular necessities like refrigeration.

With WooCommerce, you’ve got loads of completely different choices. Combine with conventional carriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS, or specialty suppliers like Purolator and Aramex. Cost flat fee transport charges, supply free transport, or cost primarily based on a wide range of components like weight and cart complete. 

You possibly can even arrange difficult guidelines with the Desk Fee Transport extension. Handle every thing out of your WordPress dashboard with WooCommerce Transport or connect with third-party instruments like ShipStation.

Learn extra in our ecommerce transport information.

Integration with different software program

There are a wide selection of instruments that you could be already use to run what you are promoting, or know that you just need to implement sooner or later. A few of these could also be advertising and marketing and customer support associated — suppose e mail advertising and marketing platforms or CRM instruments to arrange buyer information — however we’ll contact on these a bit later.

Others might embrace enterprise useful resource administration software program (ERPs), stock administration instruments, accounting software program, collaboration instruments, and so on. The purpose right here is that it is best to take the time to confirm that the platform you select works seamlessly with the entire different sorts of software program which might be crucial to what you are promoting. 

WooCommerce, for instance, provides high-quality extensions that make these kinds of integrations seamless and quick. And if, for some motive, one doesn’t exist already for the device that you just want, you possibly can benefit from the REST API and rent a developer to create one for you.

Consumer expertise

Consumer expertise is necessary for any enterprise, for a wide range of causes. First, if a possible buyer or consumer visits your web site and it’s troublesome to make use of, they’ll most probably hand over and store with a competitor as an alternative. Second, search engines like google contemplate consumer expertise when figuring out rankings. Your job, for now, is to discover a platform that makes creating a superb consumer expertise attainable. Listed here are some components to consider:

Website velocity

Keep away from sluggish load occasions that may drive potential purchasers away! Your platform needs to be as light-weight as attainable by default, and supply the power so that you can optimize for velocity. Get prime velocity suggestions.

A streamlined checkout expertise

The checkout course of needs to be as easy-to-use and easy as attainable to forestall deserted carts. WooCommerce gives instruments for one-page checkout, categorical cost choices, on-site funds, and extra to assist with this. 

Straightforward-to-use search instruments

Assist guests discover precisely what they’re on the lookout for with an intuitive search bar. WordPress has nice built-in search performance, however you can too use instruments like Jetpack Search, that gives a buyer pleasant interface with advantages that embrace on the spot filters and spelling correction.

Intuitive buyer accounts or self-service portal

The companies that you just work with need to have the ability to replace their accounts and orders with out an enormous problem. Ideally, they need to be capable to make easy modifications with no need the assistance of your customer support group. Assume altering subscription frequency, requesting a refund, updating cost info, and modifying a password.

Content material group

Search for a B2B ecommerce platform that helps you construction your menus, categorize posts and merchandise, and add options like breadcrumbs to assist with navigation. Since WordPress was constructed as a running a blog platform from the start, its content material instruments are unmatched.

Cellular-friendly design

Your web site ought to look nice on units of all sizes — desktops, tablets, and cellphones. WordPress and WooCommerce are responsive by default, and there are many nice mobile-friendly themes you possibly can select from.

Safety

Safety is necessary for any ecommerce web site, however arguably much more so for those who have a enterprise to enterprise operation. Not solely do you need to keep away from placing your purchasers’ info in danger, you additionally need to defend your arduous work and content material. That’s why it’s so necessary to decide on a safe platform with loads of instruments to maintain your on-line enterprise protected.

To start, select ecommerce software program that’s constructed on a basis of safety. WordPress and WooCommerce, for instance, prioritize safety and, with a few easy steps in your finish, your web site and buyer info will likely be locked down.

Additionally search for a platform that makes it easy to combine options like real-time backups, computerized malware scans, exercise logs, internet software firewalls (WAFs), and different comparable instruments. These work collectively to offer a complete safety answer to your whole B2B ecommerce retailer.

Jetpack Safety is a superb instance of this. In a single plan constructed particularly for WordPress websites, you possibly can arrange:

• Spam safety
• Actual-time, off-site backups
• Computerized malware scanning and one-click fixes
• An exercise log that reveals all actions taken in your web site
• Brute power assault safety
• A strong web site firewall
• Downtime monitoring
• Two-factor authentication

Past incorporating these kinds of instruments, WooCommerce permits you to decide on your individual safe internet hosting supplier, which ought to ideally supply important options like SSL certificates, server-level backups, buyer help, and extra.

Customer support and advertising and marketing

Advertising and marketing instruments, after all, assist you to attain new prospects and encourage extra gross sales from present ones. Good customer support helps you retain patrons round and drive them to unfold the phrase about your organization. They’re each key to a profitable B2B ecommerce retailer.

The B2B ecommerce platform that you just work with ought to make your entire customer support and advertising and marketing methods attainable, whether or not meaning integrating seamlessly with instruments you already use or making it simple so as to add monitoring codes. 

Listed here are some advertising and marketing and customer support capabilities included with WooCommerce:

Integration with CRMs

Connect with the CRM of your selecting with extensions for Jetpack CRM, HubSpot, Salesforce, and extra.

Integration with help boards and ticketing methods

Add stay chat to your web site, create a help discussion board, or combine with instruments like Freshdesk and HelpScout.

Consumer portal potentialities

Construct a consumer portal that allows clients to entry sources and documentation, talk along with your service group, edit their purchases, and extra. 

Content material creation capabilities

Often create stunning, efficient weblog posts, touchdown pages, and extra to help the remainder of your advertising and marketing efforts and educate potential clients. The Block Editor lets you do all of this with out touching a line of code.

Integration with a wide selection of selling instruments

Monitor site visitors with Google Analytics, connect with social media platforms like Fb and TikTok, publish Google adverts proper out of your dashboard, ship e mail messages, comply with up on deserted carts, and extra.

Simplicity for group members

Give every member of your group their very own account with permissions primarily based on their function. Accredited accounts can reply to help questions, view and course of orders, administer refunds, publish weblog posts, and extra.

Electronic mail advertising and marketing

Electronic mail is likely one of the strongest advertising and marketing strategies at your disposal. Ship deserted cart emails. Keep prime of thoughts with related content material and updates. Welcome new purchasers to what you are promoting.

And, with WooCommerce, you possibly can combine all kinds of instruments that may assist you to accomplish this, equivalent to MailPoet. You possibly can even implement buyer segmentation, to market to patrons primarily based on earlier conduct, likes and dislikes, and different traits. 

Extra performance

The performance you want in your B2B eCommerce retailer is particular to your organization. So suppose by way of any particular necessities that you’ve. Listed here are some examples of important ecommerce options that will apply to you:

• Buyer particular pricing. You might need to supply particular pricing for sure purchasers primarily based on the settlement you’ve got with their firm. This can be primarily based on consumer function (e.g. gold tier vs. silver tier) or every particular person enterprise you’re employed with.
• Invoicing. Let clients place orders with out cost, then ship an bill to their firm at a later time. 
• Quotes. You possibly can disguise costs and the “add to cart” button and require customers to request a quote as an alternative. That is nice for initiatives or orders with customized pricing. 
• Deposits. Let corporations place a deposit or begin a cost plan.
• Merchandise displayed primarily based on consumer function. In the event you promote to several types of purchasers, you might need to disguise sure merchandise or classes primarily based on their consumer function. 
• Worth calculation primarily based on measurements. Add a worth calculator primarily based on components like weight, space, size, and quantity. That is excellent for tools producers or customized design initiatives.
• Wholesale capabilities. Arrange a wholesale ecommerce retailer with customized consumer roles and pricing, registration kinds, privatization, and guidelines for transport, tax exemption, and extra.
• Quantity reductions. Supply bulk pricing and quantity reductions to clients primarily based on the variety of merchandise they buy or the overall of their cart.

Scalability 

The B2B ecommerce platform that you just select ought to by no means maintain you again. Be careful for ones that base charges off of gross sales, variety of clients, or quantity of web site visits. Your platform also needs to load rapidly, whether or not you’ve got 100 guests or 100,000. 

WooCommerce can scale with you to any dimension. There’s no restrict to the variety of merchandise or variations you possibly can have (in actual fact, this take a look at web site had a million!). 

It’s constructed to deal with giant volumes of orders and site visitors spikes. It’s a totally free B2B ecommerce platform, although you might need to use paid extensions, and the pricing is rarely primarily based on components like gross sales or clients.

The most effective half? You possibly can select any internet hosting supplier that you just’d like. That signifies that, whereas you might have a shared internet hosting plan proper now, you possibly can at all times improve to a VPS or devoted server as your site visitors will increase with out impacting your on-line retailer.

With Woo, high-volume shops qualify for distinctive advantages like devoted help and discounted extensions. Study extra about how our group may help what you are promoting develop.

Ease of use and administration

Within the enterprise world, time is cash. And you may’t afford to waste time on a platform that’s arduous to make use of, troublesome for brand spanking new workers to study, and that requires a developer to make even the smallest of modifications. 

Whilst you can rent a developer to handle your web site for those who’d like, you definitely don’t need to with a view to take advantage of your WooCommerce retailer. As we talked about earlier, the Block Editor allows you to rearrange, add, and delete parts by merely dragging and dropping. 

Need to revise your merchandise? You are able to do so by clicking buttons and modifying fields — no code essential!

Retailer managers can entry every thing from stock administration and web site analytics instruments to order info all in a single platform. And for those who use instruments like Jetpack CRM, WooCommerce Transport, and WooPayments, you possibly can deal with label printing, funds, refunds, quotes, and extra instantly out of your dashboard as effectively. 

Plus, WooCommerce provides unmatched buyer help and thorough documentation that can assist you each step of the best way.

And for those who do need to rent knowledgeable to develop, preserve, or customise your retailer, take a look at our listing of WooExperts. They’re vetted, high-quality businesses prepared to assist!

Examples of B2B ecommerce companies

Do you’ve got a wholesale retailer or different B2B operation and wish just a little little bit of inspiration? Let’s have a look at a number of examples of shops utilizing WooCommerce to run a B2B operation.

1. Porta Professional Chem

Porta Professional Chem is a provider for the transportable restroom trade, promoting gadgets like bathroom paper, sanitizer, and cleaners to companies across the nation. Their store was constructed totally with their B2B purchasers in thoughts.

Utilizing instruments just like the B2B for WooCommerce extension, they hid pricing for almost all of their merchandise, making these simply seen to logged-in clients. New guests can simply request a quote for an merchandise in the event that they’d like, or buy a number of choose merchandise with out creating an account.

Transport charges and pricing for present clients is predicated on particular consumer roles assigned to every one. The web site additionally has {powerful} options like a mega menu to make discovering gadgets simpler, accounts that clients can handle on the backend, and invoicing capabilities. 

2. Fuji Electrical

Fuji Electrical has been an innovator in industrial energy electronics tools for a century! They serve industries equivalent to energy era, automotive, manufacturing, and medical with gadgets from blowers and pumps to semiconductors and generators.

Contemplating their extensive scope, their web site wanted to attraction to a wide range of audiences. They’ve an easy-to-use product finder device that permits customers to pick out their trade and placement to find out easy methods to entry particular gadgets. Additionally they incorporate options like breadcrumbs, search instruments, and nested menus to information customers to the correct merchandise.

Lastly, they created detailed product pages that embrace all the data their company purchasers may want. They embrace images, detailed descriptions, specs, manuals, efficiency graphs, and hyperlinks to their customer support group.

3. OKdo

OKdo is a know-how firm that sells merchandise centered on single-board computing and the Web of Issues. They provide {hardware}, software program, growth help, and manufacturing to hobbyists, enterprise homeowners, industrial designers, and resellers.

They used APIs and customized integrations to hook up with all of the instruments that they want, together with cost mechanisms, e mail service suppliers (ESPs), third-party logistics (3PL) companies, and ERP integration options. OKdo additionally has completely different variations of their web site accessible to worldwide customers primarily based on their location.

Their product pages are chock full of data like images, movies, wishlist instruments, specs, critiques, reference docs, and extra. Plus, they’ve a data hub with tons of useful info for every sort of buyer. 

4. ISC Gross sales

ISC Gross sales is an industrial tools provide firm with greater than 17,000 merchandise listed on their B2B ecommerce retailer. To make sorting by way of all of these gadgets simpler, they’ve a wide range of product selectors that slender down the product class primarily based on clients’ wants.

Additionally they make use of filters, classes and sub-categories, search instruments, and detailed product listings to assist customers discover the correct match for them. For some merchandise, they’ve buttons to request a quote relatively than pricing.

5. Gorilla Printing

Gorilla Printing is a large-format printing firm primarily based out of New York. They ship nationwide, and promote every thing from banners and signage to flags and automobile wraps.

Their customization course of permits companies to pick out particulars like dimension and materials, and even add their information instantly on the web site. If an organization isn’t fairly positive what they’re on the lookout for, they will fill out a quick quote type to get some assist.

6. OTRUSA

OTRUSA is a world wholesaler and retailer of tires for industrial tools. They function an easy-to-use filtering device that lets customers slender down their search by dimension, ply ranking, and model — or they will merely sort in what they’re on the lookout for.

Different options embrace an intricate filtering sidebar on product class pages, industrial credit score financing, stay chat capabilities, and even a membership program that features reductions.

FAQs about B2B ecommerce platforms

Nonetheless have questions? Let’s deal with a number of the most typical ones.

What’s a B2B ecommerce platform?

A enterprise to enterprise (B2B) ecommerce platform is software program that gives all of the instruments it’s essential promote to companies on-line. It goes past your fundamental on-line retailer, permitting entry to specialised performance like wholesale pricing, invoicing, quotes, bulk reductions, and extra. 

In the end, high-quality software program will help the B2B enterprise mannequin, making issues as simple as attainable for the corporate utilizing it, together with their purchasers.

What’s WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that features all of the ecommerce options it’s essential promote on-line, from product listings to checkout and cart performance. It’s extraordinarily versatile, with a big library of free and premium extensions that add on to the already-powerful core performance.

WooCommerce is run by Automattic, the corporate behind WordPress.com, and is utilized by an enormous number of shops. Ecommerce retailers from small handmade artisans to giant enterprise companies benefit from its {powerful} instruments to search out success. 

Is it attainable to run a B2B/B2C hybrid ecommerce retailer?

Sure, completely. This can be a enterprise mannequin that’s fairly frequent, in actual fact. With a device like WooCommerce, you possibly can promote the identical merchandise to each B2B and B2C clients on the identical storefront.

For instance, the B2B for WooCommerce extension allows you to:

• Cover merchandise and gadgets primarily based on consumer function. For instance, you possibly can have some gadgets accessible for B2C clients, with others seen simply to the companies you’re employed with.
• Configure buyer particular pricing for various consumer roles. So that you might need one set of costs for normal customers and one other, with reductions, for wholesale patrons.
• Permit B2B clients to request a quote. You possibly can even customise the quote type fields only for what you are promoting wants. 

These are just some examples. You possibly can customise your WooCommerce retailer to suit no matter your wants are. The important thing right here, although, is to personalize the expertise (and your advertising and marketing methods!) for each B2C and B2B clients, so each really feel like their wants are being met. 

How do I select between B2B ecommerce platforms for my enterprise?

The correct ecommerce software program for what you are promoting to enterprise firm will rely upon the precise wants you’ve got. We’ve supplied a fairly complete listing of concerns, from pricing and performance to safety and advertising and marketing capabilities. Sit down along with your group, make a listing of what you need to accomplish along with your retailer, and guarantee that the platform you select checks all of the bins.

WooCommerce and WordPress are versatile and {powerful} sufficient to fulfill the wants of practically any enterprise to enterprise operation. Not solely does it supply extensions to fulfill the wants of B2B organizations, it additionally provides glorious help, safety options, content material creation instruments, and extra. 

Is WooCommerce an enterprise-grade ecommerce platform?

WooCommerce is a superb alternative for enterprise companies. It gives all of the performance wanted to scale and is constructed for a big quantity of orders. Enterprise shops will profit from limitless flexibility, full content material possession, and free core software program no matter your gross sales quantity. Study extra about how WooCommerce scales.

You might also need to contemplate WordPress VIP, a sophisticated answer constructed particularly for enterprise organizations. Along with the wonderful options which might be already included with WordPress and WooCommerce, you profit from complete safety, top-level internet hosting, information analytics, and content material instruments designed across the wants of enterprises. 

What are the several types of B2B companies?

Since B2B merely stands for “enterprise to enterprise”, this may cowl a wide selection of organizations. Listed here are a number of of the most typical sorts:

• Product-based: Promote bodily gadgets to different corporations. They is perhaps wholesalers, distributors, or producers. 
• Service-based: Promote companies to different corporations. Assume accounting, session, or insurance coverage suppliers.
• Software program-based: Promote software program that helps companies in some capability. This contains invoicing instruments, safety companies, and extra.

A retailer on a B2B ecommerce platform may present all or any of those choices to their clients, and the construction of their operation might look completely different. The necessary issue is that they’re promoting to companies, although they could additionally promote to customers.

Construct and develop your B2B ecommerce retailer with WooCommerce

Whether or not you’re a longtime B2B firm or simply beginning out, WooCommerce provides all of the instruments and suppleness it’s essential develop. You possibly can create and customise with out writing or modifying any code in any respect, or work with a developer to design an intricate promoting platform.

It harnesses the ability of WordPress to offer unmatched content material capabilities, and contains numerous extensions that assist you to customise the web expertise to your clients. Plus, it could possibly assist enhance your advertising and marketing methods and even make your group extra environment friendly.

Searching for extra info? These guides may help:

Able to develop? Get began with the prime B2B ecommerce platform immediately.