Why imple­ment­ing B2B Ecom­merce is a good idea

Because every­one else is doing it.

OK, not every­one. But quite many. In 2021, 53% of B2B com­pa­nies offered e‑commerce capa­bil­i­ties. It went up to 65 % in 2022. *

Cur­rent­ly, B2B mer­chants are more like­ly to offer e‑commerce chan­nels than in-per­son sell­ing. It was a neces­si­ty dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, but turned into a pref­er­ence afterwards.

*McK­in­sey & Com­pa­ny Glob­al B2B Pulse Jan 2019-Nov 2021

Because they say time is mon­ey, and it’s true. 

Imple­ment­ing ecom­merce solu­tions stream­lines oper­a­tions and boosts effi­cien­cy. It auto­mates many of the cum­ber­some man­u­al process­es that tra­di­tion­al­ly bog down sales cycles. From instant order pro­cess­ing to real-time inven­to­ry man­age­ment, ecom­merce plat­forms can dra­mat­i­cal­ly reduce the time it takes to move from inquiry to fulfillment.

It also reduces man­u­al errors, improves cus­tomer expe­ri­ence and frees up valu­able resources, allow­ing teams to focus on strate­gic tasks rather than oper­a­tional chores. How many wins is that?

Because it allows com­pa­nies to grow in space and time

OK, time first. One of the stand­out advan­tages of B2B ecom­merce is its abil­i­ty to scale oper­a­tions effec­tive­ly. As busi­ness­es grow, ecom­merce plat­forms can accom­mo­date an increas­ing vol­ume of trans­ac­tions and cus­tomer accounts, ensur­ing that scal­ing up does­n’t mean scal­ing out of the cur­rent sys­tems. This scal­a­bil­i­ty is vital for busi­ness­es aim­ing to expand their reach and capa­bil­i­ties with­out com­pro­mis­ing on effi­cien­cy or cus­tomer experience.

Now space. B2B ecom­merce allows busi­ness­es to enter new mar­kets eas­i­ly with­out the need for a phys­i­cal pres­ence. A man­u­fac­tur­er in one ter­ri­to­ry can effort­less­ly sup­ply a retail­er in anoth­er one. This glob­al reach is essen­tial for com­pa­nies look­ing to cap­i­tal­ize on emerg­ing mar­kets and glob­al trends min­i­miz­ing efforts and risks.

Because it helps busi­ness­es give their B2B cus­tomers the expe­ri­ence they need

Today’s B2B buy­ers expect a con­sumer-like shop­ping expe­ri­ence — easy, intu­itive, and acces­si­ble — not 9 to 5 but ²⁴⁄₇. Ecom­merce plat­forms deliv­er on these expec­ta­tions by offer­ing detailed prod­uct infor­ma­tion, cus­tomer reviews, and per­son­al­ized shop­ping expe­ri­ences. This not only improves cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion but also fos­ters loy­al­ty and repeat business.

Hav­ing longer cycles means a rela­tion­ship that is more long-term. In such a sce­nario, per­son­al­iza­tion can make a sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence. Ecom­merce plat­forms enable busi­ness­es to offer per­son­al­ized expe­ri­ences at scale, from cus­tomized prod­uct rec­om­men­da­tions to tai­lored pric­ing mod­els. B2B This lev­el of per­son­al atten­tion not only fos­ters stronger rela­tion­ships but also increas­es the like­li­hood of repeat busi­ness, as cus­tomers feel under­stood and valued.

Because the cus­tomer is always right

Ecom­merce is what B2B buy­ers pre­fer. BigCommerce’s Glob­al B2B Buy­er Behav­ior Report high­lights that, just like every­one else, B2B buy­ers are increas­ing­ly rely­ing on online chan­nels to con­duct research, com­pare prod­ucts, and make pur­chas­es. Ecom­merce has sur­passed in-per­son as the one most effec­tive sales chan­nel. Over 60% of B2B buy­ers pre­fer to engage remote­ly or dig­i­tal­ly at every stage of the pur­chas­ing journey*. 

*McK­in­sey & Com­pa­ny Glob­al B2B Pulse Jan 2019-Nov 2021Because your sales team wants to stop answer­ing the same three questions

The most com­mon objec­tion we hear: ​“We have reps. They’re doing fine. Why do we need this?”

Here’s the thing. eCom­merce isn’t a replace­ment for sales reps. It’s the tool that frees them from the part of the job nobody went to sales school for — reorder requests, stock-check emails, PDF quotes for a prod­uct the cus­tomer buys every month, sta­tus updates on pur­chase orders placed yesterday.

Offload that to the plat­form and reps get their cal­en­dar back. They spend time on deals that actu­al­ly need human judg­ment: new account acqui­si­tion, com­plex nego­ti­a­tions, strate­gic part­ner­ships. The reps who push back hard­est against B2B eCom­merce are usu­al­ly the ones who’ve nev­er worked with a good one. The reps who’ve lived with it can’t imag­ine the old way.

The ques­tion isn’t ​“do we need this if we have reps?” The ques­tion is ​“what could our reps do if they weren’t also our human reorder form?”

Because not doing it isn’t free

The cost of inac­tion is invis­i­ble until it isn’t.

A com­peti­tor launch­es a por­tal. Your mutu­al cus­tomer uses it once. It’s faster than call­ing you. The next reorder goes through the por­tal with­out any­one ask­ing. Six months in, your cus­tomer has formed a new habit. Your quar­ter­ly num­bers show the drift before your CRM does.

We call this the Hid­den Costs of Inac­tion — the slow tax you pay when your com­peti­tors move and you don’t. It isn’t only lost rev­enue. It’s lost lever­age. The buy­er who’s learned to expect a por­tal will bring that expec­ta­tion to the nego­ti­a­tion table next year. You’ll be meet­ing a new ​“nor­mal” you had no hand in setting.

Doing noth­ing is doing some­thing. It’s choos­ing to be last.

Because hybrid is the new normal

The line between B2B and B2C buy­ing has been dis­solv­ing for a while. The same per­son who nego­ti­ates a five-fig­ure whole­sale order on Tues­day is order­ing a phone case on Ama­zon on Tues­day night. The brain does­n’t switch modes for work hours.

That’s why hybrid capa­bil­i­ty — a plat­form that can han­dle B2B com­plex­i­ty and B2C sim­plic­i­ty with­out chok­ing — is mov­ing from ​“nice to have” to ​“table stakes.” If your plat­form can’t serve a direct cus­tomer in the same oper­a­tion as a dis­trib­u­tor, you’re boxed into a strat­e­gy that the mar­ket isn’t com­mit­ted to.

We’ve writ­ten more about this in Blur­ring the Lines of B2B& B2C Ecom­merce. The short ver­sion: ulti­mate­ly, all eCom­merce is B2Human.

What makes B2B eCom­merce grow? The peo­ple who use it.

B2B buy­ers want the best of every pos­si­ble world. What do we mean?

Old school stuff still works. A B2B buy­er will appre­ci­ate a call from a sales rep just like the next guy. They also val­ue an online expe­ri­ence like the one they have in their non-busi­ness-relat­ed shopping.

Big­Com­merce’s report states the top pain points expe­ri­enced by B2B buy­ers when shop­ping online include inac­cu­rate pric­ing and ship­ping infor­ma­tion, slow web­site load­ing times, and poor cus­tomer sup­port. Oh, and of course, the check­out. Always the checkout.

What comes next

Once you’ve decid­ed to move, the ques­tion becomes which plat­form — and choos­ing is its own dis­ci­pline. Here’s what to look for when shop­ping for a B2B eCom­merce plat­form.