Table of contents
Overview
Definition
Special features in B2B
Advantages
B2B: finding the right online shop
Requirements for payments
Setting up a B2B shop: First steps
Best practices
Successfully building B2B e-commerce: This is what matters
25. 4. 2024
Overview: B2B e-commerce
Consider the special features of B2B e-commerce
Select a B2B shop system based on your own goals
Via Mollie: Offer B2B payment methods easily
Use best practices for your own B2B online shop
Build long-term business relationships through after-sales marketing
Definition
B2B e-commerce is the online trade of goods and services between companies.
A B2B shop is therefore geared towards business customers so that they can conveniently shop and pay online. B2B customers want a smooth shopping experience - just like all customers in e-commerce, whether B2B or B2C. Other trends that are currently important in B2B online retail can also be observed.
B2B e-commerce: current trends
Flexible B2B payments
High goods values require payment methods tailored to B2B e-commerce. In addition to traditional purchase on account, credit cards and Buy Now, Pay Later are among the most popular payment methods in the B2B sector. Via Mollie, you can offer your B2B customers these and other payment methods via a single contract.
Personalised experiences
Personalised customer experiences have already established themselves in the end customer business. It is therefore hardly surprising that business customers also want personalisation in B2B e-commerce. As a retailer, you have numerous opportunities along the entire B2B customer journey.
Social commerce
According to a study by Gartner, almost half of B2B customers look for products and services on social media at the start of their customer journey. This shows how much potential there is in social commerce if you align your channels with B2B e-commerce.
Special features in B2B
In contrast to the end customer business, there are some special features in B2B e-commerce that you should take into account in order to sell successfully to business customers right from the start.
Group decision on B2B purchases
While a single person usually makes the purchase decision in the B2C sector, your B2B online business often has to convince several people before the purchase is made. It is therefore important to know and fulfil the requirements and needs of all the people involved - and ideally even exceed them.
Security
The security of customer and payment data is of fundamental importance. Increase your webshop security, for example, by using https encryption, strong passwords, virus scanners and firewalls as well as limited login attempts and restricted write permissions on the server.
Payments
B2B e-commerce also follows the B2C business when it comes to payments. Business customers want to have a choice of suitable B2B payment methods. In addition to the classic purchase on account and credit card, many B2B customers now particularly appreciate Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL).
Advantages of B2B e-commerce
B2B online commerce is becoming increasingly popular. A Gartner study predicts that 80 per cent of B2B sales interactions will be handled via digital channels by next year. The demand for B2B e-commerce is therefore there - and at the same time brings a further advantage for you as a provider. While the average cost of lead generation (cost per lead, CPL) for traditional cold calling was around 300 US dollars last year, a lead generated via search engine optimisation (SEO) only costs 35 US dollars.
This means that your B2B customers are already searching for your products and services online and at the same time you can save a lot of money on lead generation. You are doing everything right with a B2B online shop that is customised to the needs of your customers. A PSP like Mollie supports you with payment processing so that you can offer all relevant payment methods in your B2B online shop.
B2B: Finding the right online shop
When looking for a B2B shop system, specific functions for business customers quickly become important. For example, can multiple roles be assigned so that several people can shop simultaneously via the same B2B account? How easy is it to set customer-specific prices? Is it possible to roll out the B2B online shop internationally and offer local payment methods for each market?
Depending on the goals you are pursuing with your B2B e-commerce, different B2B e-commerce platforms may be suitable.
You should therefore first analyse your individual requirements for an e-commerce platform and then familiarise yourself with the features and possibilities of the various B2B online shops. Below, we present four of the most popular shop systems for B2B online retail.
Shopware B2B
The Shopware shop system, which is popular in the B2C sector, also offers a powerful B2B solution that can be seamlessly integrated into the existing system landscape and scores with sophisticated functions for B2B online retail.
WooCommerce B2B
The WooCommerce shop system is ideal for small and medium-sized companies that use WordPress. Valuable B2B features can be implemented via plugins so that you can realise your B2B online shop in just a few steps and get started with your B2B e-commerce.
Magento B2B
Large companies with complex price structures will find a flexible solution in the open source software Magento 2, which can be customised using extensions. However, the extensive system is more complicated to install and configure.
Oxid B2B
Germany's most frequently installed shop solution, Oxid, is also ideal as a B2B shop system. In particular, the connection to existing merchandise management or ERP systems and the high scalability speak in favour of the shop system.
Requirements for B2B payments
Smooth payments and an all-round successful checkout are a booster for the conversion rate. After all, the more intuitive, simple and clear the checkout process is for your customers, the better it is for the success of your B2B e-commerce.
What exactly is important? These five points will help you win over your B2B customers.
Clarity
Make all relevant information visible at a glance.
Various B2B payment methods
Give your buyers a choice by offering various B2B payment methods.
Transparent presentation of costs
Present shipping costs and delivery options transparently.
Simple, clear checkout steps
Guide your buyers quickly and easily through the entire checkout process and send a detailed order confirmation after the purchase.
Clear error information
If errors or problems occur during the order process, inform your customers clearly and concisely.
Set up a B2B shop: First steps
Before you decide on a B2B shop system and technically implement your B2B shop, there are 5 important steps that will significantly influence your future success.
Step 1: Create buyer personas
Ideally, you should carry out a customer journey mapping in which you have already developed buyer personas. However, it is always important to sketch out your customers so that you understand their needs and can optimise your content. The time invested in creating buyer personas will pay off.
Step 2: Develop product content
Based on the buyer personas you have created, prepare the information about your products so that your customers can immediately find what interests them and motivates them to buy. Also develop an information architecture to categorise your products so that your customers can quickly find their way around your B2B online shop. In addition, make sure that you have also assigned and correctly categorised all relevant parameters internally, such as SKUs.
Step 3: Select shop system
As soon as all relevant content for product pages, landing pages and search results for your own search function in the B2B online shop has been determined and aligned with the buyer personas, decide on one of the B2B shop systems.
Step 4: Configure the B2B online shop (or have it configured)
While some B2B shop systems can be installed and set up quickly, easily and without much prior knowledge, it makes sense to outsource the job and commission a specialised agency for shop systems that require more configuration.
Step 5: Continuously measure success
How is your B2B e-commerce performing? Monitor relevant e-commerce KPIs to keep an eye on the performance of your measures and your B2B online trade at all times. The results clearly show you how well your B2B e-commerce is tailored to your customers and provide information on where you can focus to further increase your sales.
Best practices in B2B e-commerce
What does successful B2B e-commerce look like? We show this with the following 3 B2B shop examples.
Clear start page
First impressions count. That's why less is more on the homepage, so that customers feel comfortable and can find their way around intuitively. Qpool24, for example, has a strong homepage. At first glance, it is clear what the B2B online shop offers without appearing overloaded. If you want to browse, you can do so via the menu at the top. Anyone looking for something specific, on the other hand, cannot miss the prominently placed search bar.
Great product detail page
The complexity of products is often seen as a challenge in B2B e-commerce. Joqora's product detail page shows how a lot of product information can be structured in a visually appealing way. A brief description is followed by tabular product data and features. This is followed by a general description of the respective product together with a kind of definition and possible areas of application.
Intelligent search function
The search function is an elementary component of every online shop. It's good if the search doesn't just work with product names, but is intelligent and understands the search intention as often as possible. Berner provides a good B2B shop example of such a search function. Article numbers, EAN codes and search terms can be entered. While the former lead directly to the product being searched for, search terms are interpreted correctly in most cases despite spelling mistakes and suitable products are displayed.
What is B2B e-commerce?
B2B e-commerce is the online trade of products and services between companies. B2B online shops make it easy for business customers to order products and pay for them using B2B payment methods such as Billie.
What are the differences between B2B and B2C e-commerce?
The differences between B2B e-commerce and B2C e-commerce lie in the target group, the purchase decision and the payment methods. While B2B customers often make the purchase decision as a team and use B2B payment methods, impulse purchases by individuals are more common in B2C e-commerce.
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