B2B e-commerce has been growing steadily for over 10 years now. According to Statista, the B2B e-commerce market worldwide comprised over 17 trillion US dollars in 2021, making it more than five times larger than the B2C market.¹ The importance of B2B online trading is also increasing in the DACH region. A study by ECC Cologne states that B2B internet trade in Germany grew by 30.7 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year.² Further increases are forecasted for the coming years.

The relevance of B2B e-commerce is also highlighted by the sometimes dramatic change in business dynamics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Personal contact and consulting by the field sales force and the presentation of new developments at industrial fairs were long the focus, while B2B online shops were often only regarded as digital product catalogs. But with contact restrictions, these conventional approaches came to a standstill. Companies with digital consulting and interaction solutions had a clear advantage in maintaining business relationships and acquiring customers.

To be successful in the competitive B2B e-commerce market, companies should no longer waste time carefully planning their entry into B2B e-commerce or optimizing an existing online shop towards a seamless shopping experience. We want to support you and therefore provide you with 10 tips and recommendations for a successful B2B online shop.

First and foremost, analyze your target group and understand their needs. Use this as the foundation for building or optimizing your B2B e-commerce platform. Ask yourself: Who is your target group, what do they need, when, where, why, and how do they use your product or service?
Incorporate these insights into the overall experience you create for your customers. Both B2B and B2C shops aim for a common goal: delivering a positive customer experience. A good B2B shop should not overlook what is important for businesses in the procurement process.

Ensure that you provide your customers with a user-friendly portal. An intuitive design, easy navigation, clear product descriptions, good search functions, mobile optimization, and fast loading times are just some of the features we all expect from B2C platforms and do not want to miss in the B2B sector either.
“Besides the many commonalities with the B2C experience, there are also specific peculiarities to consider in the business environment.”³ A simple path to the right product or configurable products and services are essential for success. Consider specific situations and behavior of B2B customers: It is not uncommon that many B2B users, compared to B2C customers, know exactly what they want and therefore search for precise article numbers or specific attributes. Or the search and ordering take place under special conditions (e.g., construction site). These factors should influence how you structure your shop (simple design, search function, number and size of buttons, etc.).

Implement personalized features tailored to your target audience that allow you to save time and increase efficiency. A pricing system that enables individual price settings and discounts based on customer status, needs, order volume, or individual agreements is just one example of this. Wishlists, recommendation functions, and assigning role-based approvals are some others.
A personalized approach will help you build trust and increase customer retention and loyalty.

Simplify ordering processes and offer various payment options. A fast checkout with clear instructions and minimal effort is just as crucial for B2B customers, if not more so than for B2C customers.
Additionally, there are other features that are particularly interesting in the B2B sector. We list some of these here.

• For example, allow partial payments.
• Allow shipping to different delivery addresses (e.g., different locations of the same company).
• With Split Cart Shipping, the shopping cart can be divided into separate carts with different shipping options/delivery times.
• Quick and bulk orders save time – this supports your customers in the area of efficiency.
• A comprehensive customer account allows for saving time and effort. Important documents, such as invoices and other order-related materials, can be securely stored there and made available to the customer at any time in digital form. This offers an advantage not only to the customer but also to the retailer itself.

Don't forget: The goal is to provide customers with a seamless and uniform brand and shopping experience - regardless of which channel they use. This also means that the online shop should be seamlessly integrated into your company's processes. An example: Sales and personal contact remain important in the B2B sector (competent advice, opportunities for upselling...). Potentially, the B2B shop or the order system could ideally also be used offline to some extent, e.g., for bookings and orders. A web app can provide such offline functions and further improve customer service.

However, the online shop should become not only a tool for the customer/buyer but also for the retailer. Consider how you can use your portal yourself in terms of increasing efficiency. Improving internal processes and saving on other tools by combining functions within the shop can serve as input for these considerations.

Integrate local and international payment methods. The right payment mix is part of the success recipe. While credit cards and digital wallets are among the most popular payment methods in the B2C sector in Italy, invoices should not be overlooked in the B2B sector. They are the method of choice for many users, even though the spread of digital payment solutions in B2B is increasing.
Buy Now Pay Later is also not just a trend in the B2C sector but is reflected in the B2B sector, where many buyers, for example, desire greater flexibility in payment terms.*

Whether you are at the beginning of your B2B e-commerce journey or thinking about optimizations and adjustments, choosing the right shop system can simplify many aspects of the process.
Don't overlook the topics of multichannel selling and scalability in your considerations. Choose a shop system that makes it easier for you to sell across different channels, can keep up with increasing future demands, and offers integration possibilities with ERP systems and other interfaces.

From experience, we can, for example, highlight the advantages of Shopware. It is an open source system, facilitates sales via multiple channels with sales channels, offers high flexibility with its API-first approach, and provides various B2B features both in the basic version and with the B2B suite (associated with licenses).

In B2B e-commerce, the business conditions differ significantly from those of classic B2C e-commerce. Different rules and regulations apply. Some examples: The consumer code is not applicable in the same way, so the right of withdrawal, the statutory conformity guarantee, and other consumer protection regulations do not apply in the same way.

A B2B company can also conduct B2C transactions, but slightly different rules apply to the two businesses. Depending on the type of planned online shop, specific legal regulations for electronic commerce must therefore be observed. To ensure that you list the correct terms and conditions and apply legal regulations, it is advisable to consult an expert.

Create well-structured product catalogs with clear and detailed descriptions. B2B customers often have specific requirements and need to understand exactly what they are buying. Also, take the time to adapt generic manufacturer content and thus create unique and engaging content. It’s not just about the texts. Also provide product images, product sheets, and videos (e.g., how-to videos for products that need explanation) – give your target group the content they want.

Furthermore, demonstrate expertise and help your customers with purchase decisions through content such as blog articles, whitepapers, or guides. And take it a step further. Virtual trade fairs and virtual one-on-one conversations, as well as product configurators, are just some of the ideas that various B2B companies have developed for their online platforms over the last few years. Additional inputs can be found in this article from the magazine Internet World.

Use analytics tools to monitor user behavior, sales, and other relevant metrics. What has long been standard in B2C e-commerce should also be applied in the B2B sector. Regularly analyze these data to make continuous improvements, offer customers a more individualized and comprehensive shopping experience, and adjust your B2B e-commerce strategy.

Use these tips and best practices to rethink your B2B e-commerce strategy. Continuous analyses and optimizations are a prerequisite for success in the B2B e-commerce landscape. With a strong digital presence and tailored solutions, you can outperform the competition and position your business for a successful future.
teamblau is happy to support you in developing your digital commerce strategy, crafting an intuitive UX design, or developing your online shop. Contact us for a non-binding initial meeting.

¹ https://de.statista.com/statistik/studie/id/44436/dokument/in-depth-report-b2b-e-commerce/
² https://www.e-commerce-magazin.de/b2b-e-commerce-grosshaendler-und-hersteller-profitieren-vom-starken-wachstum/
³ https://www.internetworld.de/e-commerce-strategien/e-business/user-experience-im-b2b-worauf-marken-haendler-achten-2831929.html
* Internet World Business, 12/22, page 38

Sources:
https://de.statista.com/statistik/studie/id/44436/dokument/in-depth-report-b2b-e-commerce/
https://www.coredna.com/blogs/b2b-ecommerce
https://virtocommerce.com/blog/best-ecommerce-practices
https://www.internetworld.de/e-commerce-strategien/e-business/user-experience-im-b2b-worauf-marken-haendler-achten-2831929.html
https://www.internetworld.de/e-commerce-strategien/e-business/content-im-b2b-how-to-videos-zu-virtuellen-messestaenden-2827021.html
https://t3n.de/news/b2b-shops-5-wichtigsten-features-1403724/
https://www.axerve.com/approfondimenti/insight/pagamenti-online-preferiti-italia-europa
https://ecommercelegale.it/guide-complete/termini-e-condizioni-ecommerce-b2b/
https://legalfordigital.it/e-commerce/e-commerce-normativa/