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? For those who’re within the B2B house — or if you wish to be — chances are you’ll very nicely profit from a B2B ecommerce platform. It may possibly simplify processes on your shoppers and your crew, and make it easier to develop quicker and extra effectively.
Let’s take a better take a look at how an internet storefront might help your B2B enterprise progress, and the way to decide on the precise ecommerce platform.
Why create a B2B ecommerce retailer
Nearly all 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 pondering that ecommerce shops are only for consumer-facing organizations. They are often an extremely {powerful} device for B2B corporations as nicely.
In a latest survey, 41% of B2B customers acknowledged that self-service capabilities would enhance the method of doing enterprise on-line. That’s an enormous quantity! And offering the power for shoppers 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, regardless of the time of day. They might additionally submit an order, and even signal as much as have your merchandise delivered mechanically on a month-to-month foundation.
Or, if you happen to present garden care companies for corporations, a enterprise proprietor may log into their account to regulate the frequency of their companies, or see the subsequent time you’re scheduled to cease by.
B2B ecommerce companies additionally go a good distance in the direction of automating processes. They will take the load off of customer support representatives and increase gross sales crew members’ efforts by a few of the self-service duties we simply mentioned.
They will sync info between varied distribution channels, guaranteeing that the whole lot’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 shopper.
Lastly, an internet retailer acts because the face of your organization and the hub of all of your advertising methods. You’ll be able to hyperlink on to services in your advertising emails and promoting campaigns to spice up on-line transactions.
You’ll be able to create precious content material that guides prospects by your gross sales funnel. And you may monitor the success of your efforts to steer future choices.
Concerns for selecting a B2B ecommerce platform
The ecommerce platform you select is basically the inspiration of your on-line storefront. Let’s dive into some components to think about 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 prospects for B2B corporations. Listed below are a couple of gadgets chances are you’ll promote, together with some examples:
Bodily merchandise
Suppose gear, 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
Gadgets like on-line programs, downloadable eBooks, and software program licenses. TipoType, as an example, gives font licenses to companies and freelancers.
Companies
Choices akin 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 staff’ 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 shoppers across the nation.
Memberships
Entry to a group of advantages and assets, akin to a coaching video library or on-line discussion board. The Interactive Promoting Bureau, as an example, has a membership program with assets, programs, occasion invitations and extra, particularly for media and advertising 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 may see, these all range extensively from each other, however there may also be overlap. You would possibly promote each retail and wholesale merchandise. You would promote each bodily and digital books facet by facet. Or you will have a subscription that features a weekly workplace cleansing, and a field of provides.
The purpose right here is, chances are you’ll need to do enterprise in a wide range of methods on the identical platform — make certain the platform you select helps all of them.
WooCommerce gives promoting performance for all the services listed above, and extra! The truth is, all the instance websites talked about are utilizing WooCommerce. Promote one kind of product or a number of facet by facet. Permit anybody to buy, or limit capabilities to particular shoppers 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, in fact, you need your web site to mirror the persona and traits of that model.
Good B2B ecommerce platforms will permit you full and whole flexibility to design and construct something you may think about — with out having to edit code or rent a developer if you happen to don’t need to.
Since WooCommerce is an extension of WordPress, you may harness the facility of the Block Editor to construct all your pages and posts. The Block Editor lets you drag and drop parts — like paragraphs, headings, photographs, movies, and columns — to create your individual customized format.
You’ll be able to then toggle settings to customise colours, font types, and different design traits to make the web page your individual.
You may also use blocks to construct and design international web site parts, from headers and footers to product web page templates. For instance, you would possibly 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 plenty of free and premium themes you may select from as beginning factors on your web site design. Some are like clean slates, offering simply the fundamentals which you could actually customise to your coronary heart’s content material. Others supply ready-to-go designs and layouts. Simply change photographs, textual content, and colours and get promoting!
Content material possession
For on-line companies, proudly owning your content material is completely important. Your web site is a income — you may’t danger the potential for 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 simply’ve violated their phrases and circumstances. Meaning lack of income, time, and exhausting work!
However while 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.
Cost gateway integration
Cost gateways allow you to gather cash from clients and shoppers securely, then switch that cash into your checking account. There are execs and cons of every device, and sure performance you’ll want on your particular enterprise.
For instance, chances are you’ll want to gather recurring funds, settle for a number of currencies, combine with specific 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 your small business already makes use of one thing for fee assortment and invoicing.
WooCommerce integrates with a wide selection of fee options, together with:
You may also use a fully-integrated fee gateway from WooCommerce, known as WooPayments. It has a person 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 specific pay choices, recurring fee assortment, and multi-currency assist.
See a full listing of gateways and study extra about selecting a fee gateway for your small business.
Transport
For those who promote bodily merchandise, then transport goes to be an necessary issue in terms of selecting an ecommerce platform. Transport may be sophisticated, so that you want a device that means that you can arrange charges the way in which you need, and that integrates with any transport carriers you’re employed with.
That is very true if you happen to ship giant volumes of merchandise directly, or have particular necessities like refrigeration.
With WooCommerce, you’ve a number of totally different choices. Combine with conventional carriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS, or specialty suppliers like Purolator and Aramex. Cost flat price transport charges, supply free transport, or cost based mostly on a wide range of components like weight and cart whole.
You’ll be able to even arrange sophisticated guidelines with the Desk Price Transport extension. Handle the whole lot 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 your small business, or know that you simply need to implement sooner or later. A few of these could also be advertising and customer support associated — assume e mail advertising platforms or CRM instruments to prepare buyer information — however we’ll contact on these a bit later.
Others could embrace enterprise useful resource administration software program (ERPs), stock administration instruments, accounting software program, collaboration instruments, and many others. The purpose right here is that you need to take the time to confirm that the platform you select works seamlessly with all the different kinds of software program which are important to your small business.
WooCommerce, for instance, gives high-quality extensions that make most of these integrations seamless and quick. And if, for some motive, one doesn’t exist already for the device that you simply want, you may 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 shopper visits your web site and it’s tough to make use of, they’ll probably surrender and store with a competitor as an alternative. Second, search engines like google and yahoo take into account person expertise when figuring out rankings. Your job, for now, is to discover a platform that makes creating a wonderful person expertise attainable. Listed below are some components to consider:
Website pace
Keep away from gradual load occasions that may drive potential shoppers away! Your platform must be as light-weight as attainable by default, and supply the power so that you can optimize for pace. Get high pace suggestions.
A streamlined checkout expertise
The checkout course of must be as easy-to-use and easy as attainable to forestall deserted carts. WooCommerce gives instruments for one-page checkout, specific fee choices, on-site funds, and extra to assist with this.
Simple-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 may also use instruments like Jetpack Search, that gives a buyer pleasant interface with advantages that embrace prompt filters and spelling correction.
Intuitive buyer accounts or self-service portal
The companies that you simply 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 crew. Suppose altering subscription frequency, requesting a refund, updating fee info, and enhancing 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.
Cell-friendly design
Your web site ought to look nice on gadgets of all sizes — desktops, tablets, and cell phones. WordPress and WooCommerce are responsive by default, and there are many nice mobile-friendly themes you may select from.
Safety
Safety is necessary for any ecommerce web site, however arguably much more so for people who have a enterprise to enterprise operation. Not solely do you need to keep away from placing your shoppers’ info in danger, you additionally need to shield your exhausting 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 secure.
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 can 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 supply a complete safety answer on your complete B2B ecommerce retailer.
Jetpack Safety is a superb instance of this. In a single plan constructed particularly for WordPress websites, you may arrange:
- Spam safety
- Actual-time, off-site backups
- Automated malware scanning and one-click fixes
- An exercise log that exhibits all actions taken in your web site
- Brute power assault safety
- A robust web site firewall
- Downtime monitoring
- Two-factor authentication
Past incorporating most of these 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 assist, and extra.
Customer support and advertising
Advertising and marketing instruments, in fact, make it easier to attain new prospects and encourage extra gross sales from present ones. Good customer support helps you retain consumers 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 simply work with ought to make all your customer support and advertising methods attainable, whether or not which means integrating seamlessly with instruments you already use or making it straightforward so as to add monitoring codes.
Listed below are some advertising 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 assist boards and ticketing techniques
Add reside chat to your web site, create a assist discussion board, or combine with instruments like Freshdesk and HelpScout.
Shopper portal prospects
Construct a shopper portal that allows clients to entry assets and documentation, talk together with your service crew, edit their purchases, and extra.
Content material creation capabilities
Recurrently create lovely, efficient weblog posts, touchdown pages, and extra to assist the remainder of your advertising efforts and educate potential clients. The Block Editor means that you can do all of this with out touching a line of code.
Integration with a wide selection of promoting 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, observe up on deserted carts, and extra.
Simplicity for crew members
Give every member of your crew their very own account with permissions based mostly on their function. Permitted accounts can reply to assist questions, view and course of orders, administer refunds, publish weblog posts, and extra.
Electronic mail advertising
Electronic mail is without doubt one of the strongest advertising strategies at your disposal. Ship deserted cart emails. Keep high of thoughts with related content material and updates. Welcome new shoppers to your small business.
And, with WooCommerce, you may combine all kinds of instruments that may make it easier to accomplish this, akin to MailPoet. You’ll be able to even implement buyer segmentation, to market to consumers based mostly on earlier habits, likes and dislikes, and different traits.
Extra performance
The performance you want in your B2B eCommerce retailer is particular to your organization. So assume by any particular necessities that you’ve got. Listed below are some examples of important ecommerce options that will apply to you:
- Buyer particular pricing. You could need to supply particular pricing for sure shoppers based mostly on the settlement you’ve with their firm. This can be based mostly on person function (e.g. gold tier vs. silver tier) or every particular person enterprise you’re employed with.
- Invoicing. Let clients place orders with out fee, then ship an bill to their firm at a later time.
- Quotes. You’ll be able to disguise costs and the “add to cart” button and require customers to request a quote as an alternative. That is nice for tasks or orders with customized pricing.
- Deposits. Let corporations place a deposit or begin a fee plan.
- Merchandise displayed based mostly on person function. For those who promote to various kinds of shoppers, chances are you’ll need to disguise sure merchandise or classes based mostly on their person function.
- Value calculation based mostly on measurements. Add a value calculator based mostly on components like weight, space, size, and quantity. That is excellent for gear producers or customized design tasks.
- Wholesale capabilities. Arrange a wholesale ecommerce retailer with customized person roles and pricing, registration varieties, privatization, and guidelines for transport, tax exemption, and extra.
- Quantity reductions. Provide bulk pricing and quantity reductions to clients based mostly on the variety of merchandise they buy or the overall of their cart.
Scalability
The B2B ecommerce platform that you simply 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 must also load shortly, whether or not you’ve 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 may have (the truth is, this check web site had a million!).
It’s constructed to deal with giant volumes of orders and site visitors spikes. It’s a very free B2B ecommerce platform, although chances are you’ll need to use paid extensions, and the pricing isn’t based mostly on components like gross sales or clients.
The most effective half? You’ll be able to select any internet hosting supplier that you simply’d like. That signifies that, whereas you will have a shared internet hosting plan proper now, you may all the time 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 assist and discounted extensions. Be taught extra about how our crew might help your small business 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 exhausting to make use of, tough for brand spanking new staff 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 if you happen to’d like, you definitely don’t should in an effort to profit from your WooCommerce retailer. As we talked about earlier, the Block Editor lets you 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 enhancing fields — no code needed!
Retailer managers can entry the whole lot from stock administration and web site analytics instruments to order info all in a single platform. And if you happen to use instruments like Jetpack CRM, WooCommerce Transport, and WooPayments, you may deal with label printing, funds, refunds, quotes, and extra immediately out of your dashboard as nicely.
Plus, WooCommerce gives unmatched buyer assist and thorough documentation that can assist you each step of the way in which.
And if you happen to do need to rent knowledgeable to develop, preserve, or customise your retailer, try our listing of WooExperts. They’re vetted, high-quality businesses prepared to assist!
Examples of B2B ecommerce companies
Do you’ve a wholesale retailer or different B2B operation and need slightly little bit of inspiration? Let’s take a look at a couple 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 solely with their B2B shoppers 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 couple of choose merchandise with out creating an account.
Transport charges and pricing for present clients relies on particular person 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 gear for a century! They serve industries akin 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 enchantment to a wide range of audiences. They’ve an easy-to-use product finder device that permits customers to pick their trade and placement to find out methods to entry particular gadgets. In addition they incorporate options like breadcrumbs, search instruments, and nested menus to information customers to the precise merchandise.
Lastly, they created detailed product pages that embrace all the data their company shoppers would possibly want. They embrace pictures, detailed descriptions, specs, manuals, efficiency graphs, and hyperlinks to their customer support crew.
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 assist, 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 fee mechanisms, e mail service suppliers (ESPs), third-party logistics (3PL) companies, and ERP integration options. OKdo additionally has totally different variations of their web site out there to worldwide customers based mostly on their location.
Their product pages are chock full of data like pictures, movies, wishlist instruments, specs, critiques, reference docs, and extra. Plus, they’ve a information hub with tons of useful info for every kind of buyer.
4. ISC Gross sales
ISC Gross sales is an industrial gear provide firm with greater than 17,000 merchandise listed on their B2B ecommerce retailer. To make sorting by all of these gadgets simpler, they’ve a wide range of product selectors that slim down the product class based mostly on clients’ wants.
In addition they make use of filters, classes and sub-categories, search instruments, and detailed product listings to assist customers discover the precise 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 based mostly out of New York. They ship nationwide, and promote the whole lot from banners and signage to flags and automobile wraps.
Their customization course of permits companies to pick particulars like dimension and materials, and even add their information immediately 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 worldwide wholesaler and retailer of tires for industrial gear. They function an easy-to-use filtering device that lets customers slim down their search by dimension, ply ranking, and model — or they will merely kind in what they’re on the lookout for.
Different options embrace an intricate filtering sidebar on product class pages, industrial credit score financing, reside chat capabilities, and even a membership program that features reductions.
FAQs about B2B ecommerce platforms
Nonetheless have questions? Let’s deal with a few 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 good to promote to companies on-line. It goes past your primary 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 assist the B2B enterprise mannequin, making issues as straightforward as attainable for the corporate utilizing it, together with their shoppers.
What’s WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that features all of the ecommerce options it’s good to 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 outlets 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. It is a enterprise mannequin that’s fairly frequent, the truth is. With a device like WooCommerce, you may promote the identical merchandise to each B2B and B2C clients on the identical storefront.
For instance, the B2B for WooCommerce extension lets you:
- Conceal merchandise and gadgets based mostly on person function. For instance, you may have some gadgets out there for B2C clients, with others seen simply to the companies you’re employed with.
- Configure buyer particular pricing for various person roles. So that you might need one set of costs for traditional customers and one other, with reductions, for wholesale consumers.
- Permit B2B clients to request a quote. You’ll be able to even customise the quote type fields only for your small business wants.
These are only a few examples. You’ll be able to 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 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 suitable ecommerce software program for your small business to enterprise firm will rely upon the particular wants you’ve. We’ve offered a reasonably complete listing of issues, from pricing and performance to safety and advertising capabilities. Sit down together with your crew, make an inventory of what you need to accomplish together with your retailer, and guarantee that the platform you select checks all of the packing containers.
WooCommerce and WordPress are versatile and {powerful} sufficient to satisfy the wants of almost any enterprise to enterprise operation. Not solely does it supply extensions to satisfy the wants of B2B organizations, it additionally gives wonderful assist, 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. Be taught extra about how WooCommerce scales.
You may additionally need to take into account WordPress VIP, a complicated answer constructed particularly for enterprise organizations. Along with the wonderful options which are 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 various kinds of B2B companies?
Since B2B merely stands for “enterprise to enterprise”, this could cowl a wide selection of organizations. Listed below are a couple of of the commonest varieties:
- Product-based: Promote bodily gadgets to different corporations. They is perhaps wholesalers, distributors, or producers.
- Service-based: Promote companies to different corporations. Suppose 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 would possibly present all or any of those choices to their clients, and the construction of their operation could look totally different. The necessary issue is that they’re promoting to companies, although they could additionally promote to shoppers.
Construct and develop your B2B ecommerce retailer with WooCommerce
Whether or not you’re a longtime B2B firm or simply beginning out, WooCommerce gives all of the instruments and suppleness it’s good to develop. You’ll be able to create and customise with out writing or enhancing any code in any respect, or work with a developer to design an intricate promoting platform.
It harnesses the facility of WordPress to supply unmatched content material capabilities, and contains plenty of extensions that make it easier to customise the web expertise on your clients. Plus, it might assist enhance your advertising methods and even make your crew extra environment friendly.
Searching for extra info? These guides might help:
Able to develop? Get began with the high B2B ecommerce platform right this moment.
