If you’re a B2B seller and your business is not taking advantage of a B2B eCommerce platform, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. The pandemic has accelerated the growth of B2B eCommerce by years, as companies have had to shift their business online – and this trend is expected to continue even after the pandemic ends.
According to Forrester Research, the US B2B eCommerce market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% between 2019 and 2023 – reaching $1.8 trillion in sales! But with so many different platforms available, how do you find the right B2B eCommerce platform for your business? Don’t worry; we’ve got you. This guide will show you what features the best B2B eCommerce platforms should have and our top picks for 2022.
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The rise of B2B eCommerce is projected to be stronger than ever in 2022, with a 21% growth.
The B2B eCommerce market will be worth $1 trillion by the end of 2022. That’s right—$1 trillion!
It also means that if you don’t have an online store yet, it’s time to get one before the competition catches up.
Platform integration and UI/UX
The best B2B eCommerce platforms can integrate seamlessly with other tools.
You know you’ve got a good one on your hands if it integrates seamlessly with other tools, software, and systems. A perfect example is Magento 2’s native integration with Google Analytics 360, which allows marketers to track the effectiveness of their site through conversion rates, behavioral data, and more.
This also includes seamless integrations between different platforms—for example, when it comes to selling directly on your website using the OroCommerce Enterprise plan (which has a bunch of advanced features that make this possible).
Scalability and omnichannel support
The ability to scale is essential for any business and eCommerce platform, but it’s imperative when dealing with B2B merchants. These businesses typically need a higher level of omnichannel support than their consumer-facing counterparts because they have to handle larger volumes of orders. You want your platform to be able to scale as your sales grow, so make sure you choose one that can keep up with your growing business needs.
The best way to ensure scalability is by choosing an established provider with a proven track record of success in this area. This means looking at platforms that have been around for years rather than those still in beta or just starting.
Security and compliance
Security and compliance are top priorities for any eCommerce platform. Compliance is required for many businesses, and the best platforms have robust security features to meet their needs. Some of the most important features include:
- Security certifications, such as PCI DSS certification or HIPAA compliance
- Good customer support
- A history of being secure and compliant
Personalized customer experience
In a business-to-business (B2B) world, the customer experience is paramount. If your customers don’t have a good time on your site, they’ll be less likely to buy from you again. And if competitors can deliver a better experience than yours, well, you get the idea.
So how do you deliver an incredible experience for customers? You need to personalize it! This means different things for different industries:
- If you’re dealing in high-ticket items that take weeks or months to ship—like cars and electronics—it’s essential not just to remember where those products are in transit but also what kind of options the customer has for financing them; this way, you can let them know about any special offers available at checkout when they’re ready to make their purchase decision.
- When selling services such as consultancy work or legal advice, it’s essential not only that customers find what they need quickly but also that they get outstanding service while they’re there, so make sure all staff members who interact with clients are happy and available whenever needed!
Pricing and support
You may be tempted to choose the cheapest option, but you shouldn’t. Regarding B2B eCommerce platforms, the best price is not always the answer.
That said, your new platform should be affordable enough for your business’s budget and have all of the necessary features to help you thrive online.
The quality of support offered is also vital for building trust with customers; if something goes wrong on their end or yours during transactions, having a reliable 24/7 support resource will make all the difference in providing reassurance and building customer loyalty over time. Most importantly: make sure whoever is responsible for handling any issues speaks English fluently!
Here are our top picks for the best B2B eCommerce platforms
OroCommerce
OroCommerce is a self-hosted e-commerce platform that lets you build your own online store and start selling products in no time. It’s free and open source, so you can use it however you want.
The OroCommerce platform is written in PHP and uses MySQL as its database engine. It has a variety of features that make it easy to manage your online store:
-A robust admin panel that allows you to create new product listings, update existing listings, add images, and set prices.
-The ability to add multiple payment gateways and shipping providers so your customers can pay with their preferred method.
-A mobile-friendly design so customers can browse and buy on their phones or tablets.
-Automated email notifications about order statuses sent directly from the system without requiring any additional software on your end.
Magento (Adobe Commerce)
Magento is the second most popular e-commerce platform in the world, with a market share of over 25%. It was founded by Oro’s co-founders Yoav Kutner and Roy Rubin in 2008.
Magento’s open-source code base allows you to make changes to the system without having to worry about breaking anything—you can just go ahead and do what you want when you want it! But if you’re not a developer, don’t worry: there are plenty of developers who specialize in Magento who aren’t afraid of diving deep into the codebase either.
Either way, having access to these resources means that whatever your project needs—from small tweaks to major overhauls—you’ll be able to get it done quickly and seamlessly.
Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop, a startup based out of Bangalore, India, is an e-commerce site that allows customers to shop for products from all over the world. The company has been around for about three years now, and it offers a wide range of products—from electronics and cosmetics to furniture and clothing—in several different languages.
The company was founded by two brothers who were born in India but grew up in the United States. They wanted to create a website where people could access all types of goods from around the world without having to worry about language barriers or shipping fees.
Optimizely (Episerver)
Optimizely (Episerver) is an e-commerce platform that allows you to optimize your online store for conversion. It helps you get more sales from the same traffic, increase revenue and reduce costs by optimizing your marketing funnel.
With Optimizely (Episerver), you can easily create a landing page for each campaign, test different versions of the same page and compare their performance with easy-to-understand metrics. You can even A/B test two versions of the same product in your store, allowing you to improve its design or features without changing anything else.
Optimizely (Episerver) also provides access to live customer data as well as detailed reports about how customers interact with your website. This allows you to make important business decisions based on data rather than assumptions or guesses.
In conclusion
Ultimately, the best platform for your company will depend on several factors. Our list gives you some initial ideas, but you also want to remember what exactly you need in a platform and how much it will cost. And as we covered earlier, customer experience is the heartbeat of any B2B eCommerce business.
When choosing an eCommerce platform—or anything else for your business—the most important things are doing your research and staying informed. We hope this blog post helps give you a solid foundation for making these important choices!
