Do you provide providers that assist companies develop, rent, or handle their groups? Do you provide merchandise particularly to firms? Do you promote objects wholesale? In case you’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 staff, and aid you develop quicker and extra effectively.
Let’s take a better take a look at how an internet storefront may also help your B2B enterprise progress, and the way to decide on the appropriate 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 firms as nicely.
In a current survey, 41% of B2B consumers said that self-service capabilities would enhance the method of doing enterprise on-line. That’s a giant 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 might 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 routinely on a month-to-month foundation.
Or, in the event you present garden care providers for firms, a enterprise proprietor might log into their account to regulate the frequency of their providers, or see the subsequent time you’re scheduled to cease by.
B2B ecommerce companies additionally go a good distance in direction of automating processes. They’ll take the load off of customer support representatives and enhance gross sales staff members’ efforts via among the self-service duties we simply mentioned.
They’ll sync info between numerous 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 every potential shopper.
Lastly, an internet retailer acts because the face of your organization and the hub of all of your advertising and marketing methods. You’ll be able to hyperlink on to services in your advertising and marketing emails and promoting campaigns to spice up on-line transactions.
You’ll be able to create invaluable content material that guides prospects via your gross sales funnel. And you’ll monitor the success of your efforts to steer future selections.
Concerns 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 think about when selecting one, and look at 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 firms. Listed below are just a few objects chances are you’ll promote, together with some examples:
Bodily merchandise
Assume gear, printed coaching books, and cleansing provides. Storage and Dealing with Tools, for instance, provides eco-friendly buying carts to retail and grocery shops.
Digital merchandise
Gadgets like on-line programs, downloadable eBooks, and software program licenses. TipoType, as an illustration, provides font licenses to companies and freelancers.
Providers
Choices reminiscent of graphic design, accounting, and authorized assist. Your Profit Retailer is a service supplier, promoting healthcare protection that firms can embody as a part of their workers’ compensation packages.
Wholesale objects
Promoting giant volumes of merchandise to retailers, primarily appearing 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, reminiscent of a coaching video library or on-line discussion board. The Interactive Promoting Bureau, as an illustration, has a membership program with assets, programs, occasion invitations and extra, particularly for media and advertising and marketing firms.
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 can even contain bodily merchandise or even newsletters.
As you possibly can see, these all differ extensively from each other, however there can be overlap. You would possibly promote each retail and wholesale merchandise. You might promote each bodily and digital books aspect by aspect. Or you could have a subscription that features a weekly workplace cleansing, and a field of provides.
The purpose right here is, chances are you’ll wish to do enterprise in quite a lot of methods on the identical platform — be certain the platform you select helps all of them.
WooCommerce gives promoting performance for all the services listed above, and extra! In reality, all the instance websites talked about are utilizing WooCommerce. Promote one kind of product or a number of aspect by aspect. Permit anybody to buy, or prohibit capabilities to particular shoppers or wholesale prospects.
It doesn’t matter what you wish to promote or the way you promote it, WooCommerce makes it potential.
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 in the event you don’t wish to.
Since WooCommerce is an extension of WordPress, you possibly can harness the facility of the Block Editor to construct your entire pages and posts. The Block Editor allows you to drag and drop parts — like paragraphs, headings, photographs, movies, and columns — to create your personal 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 personal.
It’s also possible to use blocks to construct and design world website 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 wish to add filters to your class web page sidebar. All of that is potential 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 on your website design. Some are like clean slates, offering simply the fundamentals that you may really customise to your coronary heart’s content material. Others provide ready-to-go designs and layouts. Simply swap photographs, textual content, and colours and get promoting!
Content material possession
For on-line companies, proudly owning your content material is totally essential. 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 website down with no warning in the event that they determine that you just’ve violated their phrases and circumstances. Meaning lack of income, time, and exhausting work!
However once 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 website. As a result of it’s simply that — yours.
Cost gateway integration
Cost gateways allow you to gather cash from prospects and shoppers securely, then switch that cash into your checking account. There are professionals 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 categorical pay instruments like Apple Pay, or provide financing choices.
You’ll wish to be sure that the ecommerce platform you select works with the one you wish to use — particularly if your online business already makes use of one thing for cost assortment and invoicing.
WooCommerce integrates with a big 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 person pleasant interface, permitting you to handle funds and refunds from the WordPress dashboard. Plus, it’s free to get began.However it nonetheless gives world-class performance, like categorical pay choices, recurring cost assortment, and multi-currency assist.
See a full checklist of gateways and study extra about selecting a cost gateway for your online business.
Transport
In case you promote bodily merchandise, then transport goes to be an vital issue with regards to selecting an ecommerce platform. Transport may be difficult, so that you want a device that means that you can arrange charges the best way you need, and that integrates with any transport carriers you’re employed with.
That is very true in the event you ship giant volumes of merchandise without delay, or have particular necessities like refrigeration.
With WooCommerce, you might have a whole lot 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, provide free transport, or cost based mostly on quite a lot of components like weight and cart complete.
You’ll be able to even arrange difficult 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 big selection of instruments that you could be already use to run your online business, or know that you just wish to implement sooner or later. A few of these could also be advertising and marketing and customer support associated — assume e-mail advertising and marketing platforms or CRM instruments to prepare buyer information — however we’ll contact on these a bit later.
Others could embody enterprise useful resource administration software program (ERPs), stock administration instruments, accounting software program, collaboration instruments, and so forth. The purpose right here is that it’s best to take the time to confirm that the platform you select works seamlessly with all the different forms of software program which are essential to your online business.
WooCommerce, for instance, provides high-quality extensions that make some of these integrations seamless and quick. And if, for some cause, 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.
Person expertise
Person expertise is vital for any enterprise, for quite a lot of causes. First, if a possible buyer or shopper visits your website and it’s tough to make use of, they’ll almost definitely 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 superb person expertise potential. Listed below are some components to consider:
Website pace
Keep away from sluggish load occasions that may drive potential shoppers away! Your platform needs to be as light-weight as potential by default, and supply the power so that you can optimize for pace. Get prime pace ideas.
A streamlined checkout expertise
The checkout course of needs to be as easy-to-use and easy as potential to stop deserted carts. WooCommerce gives instruments for one-page checkout, categorical cost choices, on-site funds, and extra to assist with this.
Simple-to-use search instruments
Assist guests discover precisely what they’re searching for with an intuitive search bar. WordPress has nice built-in search performance, however you too can use instruments like Jetpack Search, that provides a buyer pleasant interface with advantages that embody prompt 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 trouble. Ideally, they need to be capable to make easy modifications with no need the assistance of your customer support staff. Assume altering subscription frequency, requesting a refund, updating cost 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 unequalled.
Cellular-friendly design
Your website ought to look nice on units of all sizes — desktops, tablets, and cell phones. WordPress and WooCommerce are responsive by default, and there are many nice mobile-friendly themes you possibly can select from.
Safety
Safety is vital for any ecommerce web site, however arguably much more so for people who have a enterprise to enterprise operation. Not solely do you wish to keep away from placing your shoppers’ info in danger, you additionally wish to defend your exhausting work and content material. That’s why it’s so vital 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 will probably be locked down.
Additionally search for a platform that makes it easy to combine options like real-time backups, automated malware scans, exercise logs, net utility firewalls (WAFs), and different comparable instruments. These work collectively to offer a complete safety answer on your total B2B ecommerce retailer.
Jetpack Safety is a wonderful 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 website
- Brute drive assault safety
- A robust web site firewall
- Downtime monitoring
- Two-factor authentication
Past incorporating some of these instruments, WooCommerce permits you to decide on your personal safe internet hosting supplier, which ought to ideally provide important options like SSL certificates, server-level backups, buyer assist, and extra.
Customer support and advertising and marketing
Advertising instruments, after all, aid you 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 just work with ought to make your entire customer support and advertising and marketing methods potential, 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 marketing and customer support capabilities included with WooCommerce:
Integration with CRMs
Hook up with the CRM of your selecting with extensions for Jetpack CRM, HubSpot, Salesforce, and extra.
Integration with assist boards and ticketing programs
Add stay chat to your website, create a assist discussion board, or combine with instruments like Freshdesk and HelpScout.
Consumer portal potentialities
Construct a shopper portal that permits prospects to entry assets and documentation, talk along with your service staff, edit their purchases, and extra.
Content material creation capabilities
Often create stunning, efficient weblog posts, touchdown pages, and extra to assist the remainder of your advertising and marketing efforts and educate potential prospects. The Block Editor means that you can do all of this with out touching a line of code.
Integration with a big selection of promoting instruments
Monitor visitors with Google Analytics, connect with social media platforms like Fb and TikTok, publish Google advertisements proper out of your dashboard, ship e-mail messages, comply with up on deserted carts, and extra.
Simplicity for staff members
Give every member of your staff their very own account with permissions based mostly on their position. Accepted accounts can reply to assist questions, view and course of orders, administer refunds, publish weblog posts, and extra.
Electronic mail advertising and marketing
Electronic mail is without doubt 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 shoppers to your online business.
And, with WooCommerce, you possibly can combine all kinds of instruments that may aid you accomplish this, reminiscent of MailPoet. You’ll be able to even implement buyer segmentation, to market to consumers based mostly 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 assume via any particular necessities that you’ve. Listed below are some examples of important ecommerce options that will apply to you:
- Buyer particular pricing. Chances are you’ll wish to provide particular pricing for sure shoppers based mostly on the settlement you might have with their firm. This can be based mostly on person position (e.g. gold tier vs. silver tier) or every particular person enterprise you’re employed with.
- Invoicing. Let prospects place orders with out cost, then ship an bill to their firm at a later time.
- Quotes. You’ll be able to conceal costs and the “add to cart” button and require consumers to request a quote as an alternative. That is nice for tasks or orders with customized pricing.
- Deposits. Let firms place a deposit or begin a cost plan.
- Merchandise displayed based mostly on person position. In case you promote to various kinds of shoppers, chances are you’ll wish to conceal sure merchandise or classes based mostly on their person position.
- Worth calculation based mostly on measurements. Add a value calculator based mostly on components like weight, space, size, and quantity. That is good 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 prospects based mostly on the variety of merchandise they buy or the full 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 prospects, or quantity of website visits. Your platform must also load rapidly, whether or not you might have 100 guests or 100,000.
WooCommerce can scale with you to any measurement. There’s no restrict to the variety of merchandise or variations you possibly can have (in actual fact, this take a look at website had a million!).
It’s constructed to deal with giant volumes of orders and visitors spikes. It’s a very free B2B ecommerce platform, although chances are you’ll wish to use paid extensions, and the pricing is rarely based mostly on components like gross sales or prospects.
The very best half? You’ll be able to select any internet hosting supplier that you just’d like. That signifies that, whereas you could have a shared internet hosting plan proper now, you possibly can all the time improve to a VPS or devoted server as your 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 staff may also help your online business develop.
Ease of use and administration
Within the enterprise world, time is cash. And you’ll’t afford to waste time on a platform that’s exhausting to make use of, tough for brand spanking new workers to study, and that requires a developer to make even the smallest of modifications.
When you can rent a developer to handle your website in the event you’d like, you actually don’t need to as a way to profit from 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 enhancing fields — no code essential!
Retailer managers can entry the whole lot from stock administration and website analytics instruments to order info all in a single platform. And in the event you use instruments like Jetpack CRM, WooCommerce Transport, and WooPayments, you possibly can deal with label printing, funds, refunds, quotes, and extra immediately out of your dashboard as nicely.
Plus, WooCommerce provides unequalled buyer assist and thorough documentation that will help you each step of the best way.
And in the event you do wish to rent knowledgeable to develop, preserve, or customise your retailer, try our checklist of WooExperts. They’re vetted, high-quality companies prepared to assist!
Examples of B2B ecommerce companies
Do you might have a wholesale retailer or different B2B operation and wish a little bit little bit of inspiration? Let’s take a look at just a few 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 objects like rest room 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 prospects. New guests can simply request a quote for an merchandise in the event that they’d like, or buy just a few choose merchandise with out creating an account.
Transport charges and pricing for present prospects is predicated on particular person roles assigned to every one. The web site additionally has {powerful} options like a mega menu to make discovering objects simpler, accounts that prospects 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 reminiscent of energy technology, automotive, manufacturing, and medical with objects from blowers and pumps to semiconductors and generators.
Contemplating their vast scope, their web site wanted to enchantment to quite a lot of audiences. They’ve an easy-to-use product finder device that permits consumers to pick their trade and placement to find out entry particular objects. Additionally they incorporate options like breadcrumbs, search instruments, and nested menus to information consumers to the appropriate merchandise.
Lastly, they created detailed product pages that embody all the knowledge their company shoppers would possibly want. They embody pictures, detailed descriptions, specs, manuals, efficiency graphs, and hyperlinks to their customer support staff.
3. OKdo
OKdo is a know-how firm that sells merchandise targeted on single-board computing and the Web of Issues. They provide {hardware}, software program, improvement assist, and manufacturing to hobbyists, enterprise homeowners, industrial designers, and resellers.
They used APIs and customized integrations to connect with all of the instruments that they want, together with cost mechanisms, e-mail service suppliers (ESPs), third-party logistics (3PL) providers, and ERP integration options. OKdo additionally has totally different variations of their website accessible 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 data 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 via all of these objects simpler, they’ve quite a lot of product selectors that slender down the product class based mostly on prospects’ wants.
Additionally they make use of filters, classes and sub-categories, search instruments, and detailed product listings to assist consumers discover the appropriate match for them. For some merchandise, they’ve buttons to request a quote reasonably 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 car wraps.
Their customization course of permits companies to pick particulars like measurement and materials, and even add their recordsdata immediately on the web site. If an organization isn’t fairly certain what they’re searching for, they’ll fill out a quick quote type to get some assist.
6. OTRUSA
OTRUSA is a world wholesaler and retailer of tires for industrial gear. They function an easy-to-use filtering device that lets consumers slender down their search by measurement, ply score, and model — or they’ll merely kind in what they’re searching for.
Different options embody an intricate filtering sidebar on product class pages, business credit score financing, stay chat capabilities, and even a membership program that features reductions.
FAQs about B2B ecommerce platforms
Nonetheless have questions? Let’s handle among 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 you have 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.
Finally, high-quality software program will assist the B2B enterprise mannequin, making issues as straightforward as potential 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 you have 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 potential 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 prospects on the identical storefront.
For instance, the B2B for WooCommerce extension allows you to:
- Cover merchandise and objects based mostly on person position. For instance, you can have some objects accessible for B2C prospects, 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 consumers and one other, with reductions, for wholesale consumers.
- Permit B2B prospects to request a quote. You’ll be able to even customise the quote type fields only for your online business wants.
These are just some 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 and marketing methods!) for each B2C and B2B prospects, so each really feel like their wants are being met.
How do I select between B2B ecommerce platforms for my enterprise?
The fitting ecommerce software program for your online business to enterprise firm will rely on the particular wants you might have. We’ve offered a reasonably complete checklist of issues, from pricing and performance to safety and advertising and marketing capabilities. Sit down along with your staff, make a listing of what you wish to accomplish along with your retailer, and be sure that the platform you select checks all of the packing containers.
WooCommerce and WordPress are versatile and {powerful} sufficient to fulfill the wants of almost any enterprise to enterprise operation. Not solely does it provide extensions to fulfill the wants of B2B organizations, it additionally provides wonderful assist, safety options, content material creation instruments, and extra.
Is WooCommerce an enterprise-grade ecommerce platform?
WooCommerce is a wonderful selection 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 might also wish 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 will cowl a big selection of organizations. Listed below are just a few of the commonest sorts:
- Product-based: Promote bodily objects to different firms. They is perhaps wholesalers, distributors, or producers.
- Service-based: Promote providers to different firms. Assume accounting, session, or insurance coverage suppliers.
- Software program-based: Promote software program that helps companies in some capability. This contains invoicing instruments, safety providers, and extra.
A retailer on a B2B ecommerce platform would possibly present all or any of those choices to their prospects, and the construction of their operation could look totally different. The vital 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 provides all of the instruments and adaptability you have 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 offer unequalled content material capabilities, and contains numerous extensions that aid you customise the net expertise on your prospects. Plus, it may possibly assist enhance your advertising and marketing methods and even make your staff extra environment friendly.
Searching for extra info? These guides may also help:
Able to develop? Get began with the prime B2B ecommerce platform in the present day.
