What is B2B Commerce?

B2B Commerce is when a company works directly with another company to purchase wholesale goods, raw materials or services needed to support their business. B2B (Business to Business) commerce usually requires specialized pricing and payment models versus a traditional consumer sale.

In B2B commerce, businesses typically need specific tools and platforms to cater to the needs of these kinds of transactions. Many ecommerce platforms offer B2B "versions" of their services, however not all of them meet the need. Let's review what features are really needed to support a successful business commerce site.

Taking Care of Business With B2B Services

Business-to-business transactions are crucial for companies to support their day-to-day operations and future growth. A proper B2B site can present some challenges that don't exist in a traditional retail or B2C site. For example, B2B commerce usually comes with the following needs:

• Longer sales cycle

• Custom pricing levels and bulk costs

• Payment terms

• Multiple company reps and sellers

• Business relationships

• Purchase orders

Delivering a quality ecommerce experience to wholesale and retail customers requires a specific set of features that don't often come with a B2C platform. The most economical choice would be one platform that handles both. It makes sense to have your ecommerce store do double-duty, however, the user experience for B2C versus B2B creates unique requirements. These days, B2B buyers are expecting consumer-like ecommerce experiences so it's crucial to provide a modern solution to keep your business running.

BigCommerce Offers B2B Options

BigCommerce is one of the leading providers of B2B commerce tools. The platform comes with a few different options to create a B2B site along with B2C services. Their B2B experience includes automated customer/pricing segmentation, punch out, purchase orders, net payment terms, user roles, ERP, OMS and CRM integrations.

Our ecommerce team previewed the various B2B features and apps provided by BigCommerce. We've compiled some high-level comparisons of the tools:

• The core BigCommerce platform offers Price Lists and Customer Groups for B2B

• B2B Edition adds accounts with tiers, creating quotes, invoice portal for customers, shared shopping lists

• Bundle B2B is the app that comes with B2BEdition and provides all the functionality with a dashboard.

• B2B Ninja is an app for Quoting

• BigCommerce Partners is for more complex and customized solutions

Our ecommerce team created the following video about BigCommerce B2B comparisons. Check it out:

B2B commerce comes with an extra layer of complexity and upkeep. Choosing the right platform is essential for your business. BigCommerce has created some solid offerings top help any business.