To keep pace with digital transformation, business-to-business (B2B) companies have to quickly step into the eCommerce journey. However, B2B enterprises cannot create their own website by themselves without the help of electronic commerce software suppliers like Magento, Shopify, etc. You should carefully choose the best B2B eCommerce platforms that can help you provide the right things to your customers and tailor their buying experience.
However, it is not easy to pick up an appropriate platform for your store. You have to carefully consider your resources and requirements, as well as choose the must-have features you actually need to avoid increasing costs.
In this article, we will give you some advice to find out the best B2B eCommerce platforms. Let’s get started!
The considerations when choosing B2B eCommerce Platforms
The ability of your business
If you own a big enterprise, you can invest more in your eCommerce platform. But if not, you have to carefully consider business’ resources such as money, human resources, and technical abilities. For example, when you have a generous budget and want to select a complex eCommerce platform, you are able to hire a development team to build a site for you.
Each platform has specific features that are suitable for the level of coding knowledge and utilization ability. And, of course, each platform’s costs differ in a variety of ways. Thus, it is essential to define your business’s ability and choose the right platform.
Your purposes and requirements
Before making any decision that has a considerable impact on your business, you should think about your purpose. There is a crucial question you have to answer:
Why do you need an eCommerce site?
Want to attract more buyers? Improve customers’ experience? Or enhance the relationship between you and your customers?
Whatever your goals are, you have to keep them in mind and list your B2B eCommerce platform requirements—after that, find the platform that meets your needs. And of course, you have to consider business’s ability as I mentioned above.
The costs of eCommerce Platforms
It covers not only the monetary cost but also the internal cost of getting the site up and running, maintaining and more. That is why some eCommerce platforms can have similar features but different price ranges. You should research the cost and choose the most affordable one.
Be careful with the “price trap”! Some suppliers offer low prices; however, the quality is not as good as they promise. Merchants need to read reviews, check portfolios, and compare other elements like features and services.
And remember, it is impossible to request a platform with multi-functions at a low cost! Sometimes, you have to decide what you need most and shorten your requirement list. You can improve your platform in the future when the business is scaled up.
Must-have features of an optimal B2B eCommerce Platform
Security
Any B2B eCommerce platform must provide a heightened security and privacy program that protects both seller’s data, and buyer’s one adequately. The best provider must guarantee to give a solution that can deal with the following issues:
- Payment data: When carrying out transactions, customers usually fill in the details of payment information. If buyers’ data is stolen from your website, you not only lose your customer but also have to impose penalties.
- Customer data: Besides payment data, customers will provide you with their personal information such as mobile phone, email, and address when completing checkout. It will be hazardous If these data are leaked and stolen by cybercrimes.
- Fraud protection: Stop people from placing fraudulent orders.
- SSL certificate: This is a fundamental necessity for securing an internet connection and preventing thieves from accessing and altering any information sent between two systems. The two kinds of systems: are server-server and server-client.
- Admin security: It prevents accessors from accessing and taking control of the entire website.
Customization
Customization is modifying a program and its features like design, and extension, as clients require. Some open-source platforms, such as Magento, allow users to adjust their B2B eCommerce sites. Merchants can customize their online store to make it more attractive and unique by adding the brand’s characteristics.
Not only that, it is easy for merchants to scale up their business in the future. Instead of using the new platform, you can integrate new extensions and features. Besides, the customizability of a platform makes sure that websites are entirely under the control of merchants.
User experience
Customers just spend only a few seconds deciding whether to keep visiting your site or not. If your website is attractive and engaging, the audience will continue viewing your online store and seeking out products. As a result, your store can decrease the bounce rate and increase purchase likelihood.
To enhance B2B customers’ experience, merchants need to improve their site’s user experience and interface (UX/UI). A simple design, easy navigation, and user-friendly interface will help you to keep customers staying on your website. Merchants can polish content and add videos and creative gifs, images more visually appealing than text. And the best solution for a website’s interface is choosing a platform that has all the personalization options for now and in the future.
Omni-channel
Omni-channel is a multi-channel sales approach that provides the customer with an integrated customer experience. This term refers to the consolidation of multi-channel selling and collecting customers’ interaction with the company across channels. Whereby the company can determine the customers’ perspectives and interests. They can then use this knowledge to balance the goals and message across each channel to deliver a better customer experience.
For this reason, Omni-channel is becoming a must-have feature for online merchants who want to thrive in their businesses.
Source: https://magenest.com/en/best-b2b-ecommerce-platforms/
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