How B2B buying differs from consumer shopping
A consumer store sells to strangers. It must attract, persuade and take payment on the spot. A B2B store mostly serves customers you already have. They know what they want, often by product code. They have negotiated prices, order the same things regularly, buy on account and need an invoice their finance department will accept. The person ordering may not be the person who approves or pays.
| Aspect | Consumer store | B2B store |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | An individual | A company with several users and roles |
| Price | One public price | Prices agreed per customer or group |
| Catalogue | Everything, to everyone | Often a selection per customer |
| Order | A few items, chosen by browsing | Many lines, often repeated, entered by code |
| Payment | Card at checkout | On account, with credit terms and purchase order numbers |
| Relationship | Self-service | Self-service alongside a sales representative |
Platforms built for consumer selling can be stretched to cover some of this, and often not all. Our comparison of a B2B ecommerce portal and a standard online store helps with that judgement. The requirements below are what to test any option against.
Company accounts, users and approvals
- 01
How does a company get an account?
Why it mattersBy application and approval, by invitation from your sales team, or automatically for existing customers in the ERP. Open registration is rarely right where prices are confidential.
- 02
Can one company have several users?
Why it mattersBuyers, approvers, finance contacts and administrators, each seeing and doing different things.
- 03
Who manages those users?
Why it mattersIdeally an administrator at the customer, so that your staff are not asked to add and remove people.
- 04
Do orders need approval?
Why it mattersRules such as orders above an amount go to a manager, with notifications and a clear waiting state.
- 05
Do customers have branches or cost centres?
Why it mattersSeparate delivery addresses, budgets and order histories under one parent account.
- 06
What does a visitor see before signing in?
Why it mattersProducts without prices, list prices, or nothing at all. Decide deliberately, because it affects both search visibility and confidentiality.
Pricing and catalogue per customer
Customer-specific pricing is the requirement that most often decides the platform. List every way a price is determined today: price lists by customer group, contract prices for individual customers, quantity breaks, discounts by product category, promotions and currencies. Then state which rule wins when several apply, and where the price is calculated, since the ERP is usually the authority.
Catalogue rules follow the same pattern. Some customers may buy only an agreed range. Some products are restricted by region, licence or contract. Pack sizes, minimum quantities and units of measure differ by product and sometimes by customer. Our guide to planning account based B2B pricing and catalogs covers these decisions in detail.
Ordering tools for people who order often
- Search by code. Buyers type product codes, their own part numbers or a fragment of either. Search must find them instantly and tolerate spaces and dashes.
- Quick order. A form for entering codes and quantities line by line, and upload of a spreadsheet for large orders.
- Reorder. Repeat a past order, or part of it, in two clicks. Saved lists for regular purchases.
- Stock and lead time. Availability shown per line, with expected dates for items out of stock, and the choice to backorder or split.
- Quotes. Request a quote for quantities or items outside the standard price, convert an accepted quote into an order.
- Order rules. Minimum order values, pack multiples and delivery cut-off times enforced with clear messages.
- Documents. Specification sheets, safety data and certificates available on each product page without a request.
Watch a customer place a real order, on the phone or by email, before finalizing this section. The way they describe what they want is the way the store must accept it.
Credit, payment and invoicing
| Requirement | What to specify | Usually depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Buying on account | Which customers may, with what terms | Credit status from the ERP or accounting system |
| Credit limit | What happens when an order would exceed it: block, warn or send for review | Live balance from the ERP |
| Purchase order number | Required or optional, per customer, and where it appears | Order and invoice templates |
| Other payment methods | Card, bank transfer, payment links, for customers without terms | A payment provider that suits business payments |
| Invoices and statements | Viewable and downloadable in the account, with payment status | Accounting system as the source |
| Tax | Exemptions, tax registration numbers, prices shown excluding tax | Rules confirmed with your accountant for each market |
Tax and invoicing rules vary by country and change. Have your accountant confirm what an invoice must contain and how exemptions are evidenced, and treat those as fixed requirements.
A worked example
Requirements for an electrical wholesaler
This example is invented to show requirements specific enough to test a platform against. An electrical wholesaler wants contractors to order online instead of by phone and messaging.
- AccountsExisting customers are invited from the ERP. Each contractor has an administrator who adds site supervisors as buyers. Orders above a set value need the administrator's approval.
- PricingFour trade price lists, contract prices for about 60 large customers and quantity breaks on cable. The ERP calculates the price. Visitors who are not signed in see products without prices.
- OrderingSearch by the wholesaler's code and by manufacturer part number. Quick order with spreadsheet upload. Saved lists per site. Cable can be ordered by the metre with a cutting charge.
- CreditCustomers with terms order on account up to their limit, read live. Over the limit, the order is held for the credit controller. Others pay by card.
- Sales teamBranch staff can sign in as a customer to place an order for them by phone, and the order records who entered it.
Two of the three platforms considered could not calculate contract prices from the ERP at the moment of ordering. Having the requirement in writing ended that discussion in a day.
Fulfilment, ERP integration and sales tools
- 01
Delivery options
Several delivery addresses per account, requested delivery dates, collection from a branch, own-fleet and carrier deliveries, and partial shipments.
- 02
Order status
Each line's status visible in the account, with tracking and proof of delivery, so that customers stop phoning to ask.
- 03
ERP integration
Customers, prices, stock, credit and order status come from the ERP. Orders go to it. For each, state direction, freshness and what happens when the ERP is unavailable.
- 04
Sales representative tools
Order on behalf of a customer, see what a customer sees, create quotes, and view account activity before a visit.
- 05
Returns and claims
How a customer requests a return or reports a shortage or damage, and how it reaches your process.
- 06
Reporting
For you: adoption by customer, order sources, search terms with no results. For customers: their spend and order history.
The ERP link is usually the largest part of the build. Our guide on connecting ecommerce to ERP and inventory describes how to plan it.
The requirements checklist
B2B ecommerce requirements checklist
0 of 11 checkedWhat to do next
Sit beside whoever takes orders for a morning and note how customers ask for things, which questions staff answer from the ERP and where they apply a rule from memory. Then list your pricing rules. Those two documents are the heart of the requirements.
Our B2B ecommerce development page explains how we build these stores, and the wholesale ordering portal page shows one worked through. Send us your pricing rules and we will say which platforms can handle them.
Common questions
Can a standard ecommerce platform be used for B2B?
For simple cases, yes: a few price lists, payment by card or basic terms, one user per customer. Several platforms offer B2B features on certain plans. The limits usually appear with contract pricing per customer, live credit checks, approval workflows and deep ERP integration. Test your hardest requirement on a trial before committing.
Should B2B prices be visible without signing in?
It depends on your market. Hiding prices protects negotiated terms and discourages comparison, but it also hides information from prospects and search engines. A common middle course shows products and specifications publicly, with list prices or a prompt to register, and reveals each customer's own prices after sign-in.
Will customers actually order online instead of calling?
Many will when online is faster than the phone for their routine orders: correct prices, real stock, quick entry by code and easy reordering. Adoption is helped by sales staff who introduce the store and place the first order together with the customer. Some customers will always prefer to call, and staff can use the same store on their behalf.
Do we need to integrate with the ERP from day one?
For most B2B stores, yes, at least for prices, stock and orders. Without it, staff retype every order and customers see prices or stock that are wrong, which destroys trust quickly. The first release can limit the depth of integration, for example scheduled stock updates, as long as what is shown is reliable.
How is B2B ecommerce success measured?
By share of orders and order lines placed online, by customers active each month, by the time your staff spend on order entry and status questions, and by errors in orders. Revenue alone tells little, since most of it would have arrived by phone. Search terms that return nothing are a useful guide to what to fix next.