B2B Ecommerce Best Practices to Accelerate Growth

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Digital transformation has reshaped the contours of commerce, giving rise to an increasingly interconnected global ecommerce. While B2C ecommerce might capture most of the limelight, the B2B landscape has been undergoing its own seismic shifts.

As businesses seek more agile and efficient ways to conduct complex transactions, the importance of bringing the right strategies and tools to B2B ecommerce has never been greater.

Use this guide to better understand the unique dynamics of B2B ecommerce, as well as find crucial best practices that you can put to use.

Understanding B2B Ecommerce

At its core, B2B ecommerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and services between businesses through online platforms. This digital exchange of products and services enables businesses to streamline their operations, enhance efficiency, and reach a wider market base.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, B2B ecommerce has become increasingly popular as it offers numerous advantages. Businesses can now connect with suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers from around the world, expanding their reach and accessing a wider range of products and services. This opens up new opportunities for growth and collaboration.

Moreover, B2B ecommerce platforms provide businesses with the ability to automate their ordering and inventory management processes. This automation reduces the risk of human error and allows for faster and more accurate transactions. It also enables businesses to track their orders in real-time, ensuring timely delivery and customer satisfaction.

Key Differences Between B2B and B2C Ecommerce

Although the B2B ecommerce experience may be coming to resemble B2C shopping more and more, many fundamental differences remain beyond their different target audiences.

Order Size and Relationship

In B2B ecommerce, the purchase volumes are typically larger, and the buyer-seller relationship is often ongoing.

Pricing

B2C pricing is typically fixed and, relatively speaking, straightforward. Meanwhile, B2B transactions typically have significantly more complex pricing structures, with pricing being more frequently negotiable and reliant on volume, credit, and other factors.

Cross-Border Friction

Cross-border B2B ecommerce transactions may take longer to complete than domestic transactions for a range of reasons. One survey found that, among businesses in the US and UK, cross-border transactions take 55% longer than domestic payments as businesses run into regulatory hurdles, more intermediaries, and other potentially costly sources of friction.[1]

Other Complexities

One of the other primary differences between B2B and B2C ecommerce is the decision-making process involved in completing a transaction. Even when payments aren’t made across borders, they tend to take longer.

In B2B transactions, multiple stakeholders are involved, including procurement managers, finance departments, and executives. This means the purchasing process is more complex and requires careful consideration of factors such as budget, quality, and long-term business goals. This complexity, and the additional approvals required to make a transaction happen, typically lead to much longer timelines.

Best Practices for B2B Ecommerce, Done Right

Despite the differences and complexities that distinguish B2B ecommerce from B2C, there’s no escaping the fact that ecommerce-based digital experiences are increasingly desired and increasingly common. In order to avoid falling behind the competition and to deliver winning B2B ecommerce experiences, be sure your own brand incorporates these best practices into its approach.

Deliver Consumer-Like Experiences

In today’s digital age, B2B buyers expect a shopping experience that mirrors the convenience and intuitiveness of consumer platforms. This means fast page load times, an intuitive interface, easy-to-use search and filtering options, and a seamless checkout process. It also means delivering speedy, transparent shipping experiences, even when they’re across borders.

By essentially mirroring the B2C user experience from end-to-end, B2B ecommerce platforms can ensure that users find what they need efficiently, leading to increased customer satisfaction and higher sales conversion rates.

Integrate with ERP Platforms

Utilizing solutions that integrate with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms is crucial for B2B ecommerce businesses. Such integrations allow for real-time inventory management, accurate order processing, and streamlined financial tracking.

By synchronizing the online store with backend systems, businesses can ensure that product availability, order statuses, and customer data are consistently updated, providing a unified view of operations and reducing manual errors.

Personalize—and Localize—Whenever Possible

Just like retail shoppers, B2B buyers appreciate when their shopping experience feels tailored to their needs. Personalization can range from recommending products based on past purchases to greeting returning users by name.

But don’t just personalize based on individual customers’ tendencies—deliver robustly localized shopping and checkout experiences based on geography. Localization goes beyond just translating content; it involves adapting the site to cater to local cultural norms and habits, as well as currencies and payment preferences. By doing so, businesses can cater to a global clientele while making each customer feel valued and understood.

Prioritize Security

B2B transactions often involve significant sums of money, sensitive company data, and long-term contracts. As such, ensuring the security of your ecommerce platform is paramount.

Implementing robust encryption and fraud controls, ensuring compliance with industry security standards, and regularly conducting security audits can protect both the business and its customers from potential breaches and cyber threats.

Meanwhile, be sure that your partners deliver the highest standards of security and privacy compliance, including PCI DSS Level 1.

Use Flexible Pricing

B2B transactions often involve bulk purchases or long-term contracts, making it essential for ecommerce platforms to offer flexible pricing options. This could involve volume-based discounts, loyalty rewards, or special promotions for specific customer segments. By offering varied pricing structures, businesses can cater to a wider customer base and incentivize larger orders.

Offer Flexible Payment Methods to Match

Just as pricing needs to be flexible, so do payment options. Buyers might require various B2B payment methods like bank transfers, purchase orders, or staggered payment terms. By accommodating these varied payment needs, businesses can reduce friction in the checkout process and cater to a broader range of customers.

Calculate Taxes & Duties Up Front

In the realm of B2B transactions, especially those cross-border B2B ecommerce, understanding the intricacies of taxes and duties is essential. When dealing with international customers, not only do taxes come into play but also customs duties, which can vary significantly depending on the destination country and the nature of the product.

Transparently calculating and incorporating both taxes and duties into pricing up front, during the checkout process, delivers much-needed clarity. Providing this upfront information minimizes surprises, reduces the chances of cart abandonment, and fosters trust with buyers to drive retention and repeat purchases.

Optimize Subscriptions

Subscriptions are a crucial part of many B2B ecommerce business models. For these brands, reducing churn rates is essential to maintaining customers and maximizing recurring revenues. Be sure that you work with a partner that offers tools like intelligent routing, an extensive acquirer network, and powerful machine learning to optimize authorization rates and minimize payment declines.

Delivering convenient, streamlined B2B commerce experiences remains complex, but that’s not stopping purchasing organizations from demanding them. To meet this demand, you need best practices—but you also need the best partners. Connect with us today to learn more about how Digital River B2B ecommerce solutions can help you meet rising expectations and optimize your B2B sales, no matter where you’re selling.

[1] https://content.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PYMNTS-Innovating-Cross-Border-Payments-What-US-And-UK-Businesses-Need-To-Know-March-2021.pdf