9 Criteria to Consider when Selecting a B2B Ecommerce Platform
Whether you are a reseller or manufacturer, it is important to automate your purchasing process. You simply cannot depend on manual operations to run your business. You need to provide your B2B and B2C customers the convenience of online shopping.
Time has come to use a sophisticated B2B eCommerce platform to create online stores for your large customers. Choosing an appropriate eCommerce solution will enable you to increase your business reach, sell 24/7, and grow your business.
1. User-Friendly
The eCommerce platform is easy to use and operate. This is the key criteria for selecting an eCommerce solution. Coding knowledge shouldn’t be required to build a store. The admin interface has to be clean so that it is easy to navigate.
2. eCommerce Admin Panel
A robust admin panel will enable you to process and fulfill orders easily.
The eCommerce admin panel should have a range of features so that you can easily manage your eCommerce store. From managing orders to shipping and payments, an admin panel should make it easy to run your business.
3. Powerful Catalog Management System
The online eCommerce software should have a robust catalog management solution that allows you to add an unlimited number of products. It should have the ability to accommodate and manage the complex diversity of your products. Be it importing thousands of products or creating unlimited categories, an effective catalog management system will handle everything with ease.
4. Pricing
Stay away from an open-source or on-premise application as it requires a lot of effort to start an eCommerce business.
Pick a cloud-based eCommerce platform as it eliminates the need to buy expensive IT infrastructure to launch your online business. You have to only rent IT infrastructure such as servers, routers, etc., to run your business. Your eCommerce store runs on someone else’s server, which means no handling server management.
A cloud-based eCommerce solution is affordable as it is offered on a monthly subscription basis. Just pay a reasonable monthly fee and you get all the infrastructure and tools you need to start and manage your eCommerce store.
5. No Access to Unauthorized Users
The business management software you choose to run your B2B eCommerce store should not allow unauthorized access to view your product catalog.
The ability to hide prices and close storefronts from unauthorized users is the hallmark of a B2B eCommerce platform. Only registered users can make purchases. The B2B buyer has to login first to place orders online.
6. Ability to Set Prices for different B2B Buyers
A sales management platform will empower you to set different prices depending upon who the buyer is. For instance, small and large wholesale buyers will be offered products at different prices. Product prices will vary depending upon their purchasing power.
7. Ability to Configure Storefronts
Multiple eCommerce back offices for different stores can make things difficult to handle. So the eCommerce solution you choose should allow you to create and manage multiple storefronts from a single administration panel.
You should be able to design the look and feel of the storefronts, define payment and shipping options, etc., for the customers. If you cannot configure your storefronts independently, it doesn’t make sense to choose the eCommerce platform.
8. Ability to Define User Privileges
This feature is critical for the smooth functioning of your business. Multiple users in your business organization will be handling the eCommerce back office.
Being the owner of your eCommerce store, you should have the flexibility to define and change user privileges and access rights. For instance, only admin should have access to a mail server; few users can modify payment and credit information of customers; only admin can view reports.
9. Create Orders without Touching your Mouse
B2B customers who have developed a good relationship with your business organization over the years will prefer to place orders via phone. In such circumstances, you expect that your eCommerce platform enables you to create a purchase order directly from the admin panel.
