What Makes a Great B2B Ecommerce Platform?

What makes a great B2B ecommerce platform? Our partners have the answer. 

During the BigCommerce Partner Summit this year, we sat down with some of our great B2B agency and technology partners to find out what they think a great B2B ecommerce platform looks like. 

It’s Flexible

When it comes to ecommerce, flexibility can mean a lot of things. It can mean how flexible a platform is for a user, the business, and how easily it can allow them to integrate workflows like a CRM, shipping applications, technology applications and more. Or it can refer to how flexible a platform is for the shopper — how easily they can research, find and buy the products that they’re looking for. 

When it comes to an ecommerce platform, B2B companies want both. 

“At the end of the day, it’s about flexibility, right? You don’t want to need to tie yourself to any one construct because no one business is the same as any other business. So flexibility is critical. Scalability is critical. And being able to deal with complexity in a simple way is critical.” 

— Shawn Lipman, CEO and Co-Founder, Feedonomics

It Provides a Great Customer Experience

A great customer experience doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen with just an ecommerce platform, either — but a great ecommerce platform will provide the tools necessary to create one. What does an ecommerce website with great customer experience look like? 

Zoom zoom.

Did you know that 60% of B2B buyers say the load speed of an online site has stopped them from completing a purchase? Buyers want a lightning-fast experience that will allow them to research a product, find it, and buy what they want, when they want it. After all, time is money! 

A B2C-like experience is key.

There’s a shift happening in ecommerce — especially in the B2B sector. B2B ecommerce is starting to take trends from B2C and use them to improve customer experience. Convenient on-site search, navigation and product listing, just to name a few, are all things that buyers are expecting from your site. 

Customers want easy account management.

It’s not often that businesses have a single point of contact to buy products from manufacturers or distributors. There can sometimes be two, three and even more individuals who may need the ability to purchase under a business’s account, and each may have different needs or permissions. A great ecommerce platform will help your business meet those needs and more.

“A feature that I look for in B2B ecommerce is support for a customer hierarchy. So an account structure that enables you to have multiple users per account, which BigCommerce offers in their B2B Edition, and then also support for a company’s data model when it comes to complexity in terms of pricing or product.” 

– Lori McDonald, Founder/CEO, Brilliance Business Solutions

Your users aren’t just your customers. 

Customers aren’t the only ones using your ecommerce site. Your sales team should be able to use your site as a tool to boost sales and improve customer satisfaction, both online and offline. 

The Final Word

B2B ecommerce is growing — fast — and 35% of US B2Bs say investing in ecommerce platform technology is one of their top three priorities for the next 12 months. 

Are you part of the 35% that values customer experience, flexibility and improving your company’s digital transformation? BigCommerce B2B Edition could be the tool you need to help grow your ecommerce business. 

B2B Edition is specially designed for B2B businesses. It can help you create valuable experiences that convert customers, it easily integrates with your existing systems (ERP, PIM, CRM, etc.) and you can sell B2B and B2C all on one platform. 

Ready to learn more about this tool and how it can help your business grow? Find out more about B2B Edition here.