Your Journey to B2B Commerce

Doing business successfully when it comes to your B2B eCommerce platform depends on many factors that vary tremendously between B2B vs. B2C eCommerce, including the customer decision-making and purchasing process, pricing features, and forms of payments. Nevertheless, change within the B2B industry and demand for B2C-like experiences defines the need for B2B commerce specific solutions. So where to start. Setting the baseline is a crucial starting point to add value and enhance your B2B eCommerce opportunities. In some cases, B2B systems' evolution can be a significant undertaking that includes many complex topics. Still, even a small-scale project on top of a well-established baseline can add enormous value to your eCommerce site.

It is vital to start simple and focus on the core value-add to overcome the most difficult challenges concerning your customers' B2B eCommerce experience. From our experience, there are always expectations you need to know and especially know how to handle them. Not all exceptions require a technical solution, but being well prepared with a business rule or process will help with adoption. The internal awareness of who you are as a company and how willing you are to take risks is beneficial. Still, the real value comes when the internal assessment is paired with external knowledge, such as how your customers react to new and innovative features. It is essential for a successful B2B eCommerce project not to be afraid to be innovative. Well-implemented A/B testing, UX testing, or other tools can help remove the risk that might be causing hesitation internally.

There are always special considerations to be made when designing features for the B2B application. It's essential to keep in mind the overall goals of your key customers and users when prioritizing and designing new requirements.

1. Give the highest priority to requirements that add the most value to the most amount of personas.
2. Listen to your customers! If they are asking for a change or addition, it deserves your attention.
3. Age matters – do not let requirements get stale by planning regular backlog reviews.
4. Involve the right stakeholders – it is better to gather insight early than try to address topics after a solution is designed.
5. Empower the key-decision maker – prioritization always includes many voices and opinions. By identifying and empowering a decision-maker, you can save a lot of time and effort by avoiding never-ending discussions.