B2B eCommerce Platform: How to Choose the Best One  

Are you looking for the best B2B eCommerce platform to help you increase your share of the massive global B2B eCommerce market which has already reached an incredible value of $20.4 trillion in 2022? This is over 5 times the value of the B2C market. Which is why it’s no surprise experts consider B2B eCommerce a key area in the expansion of online commerce.

Whether you want to convert your B2C store into a B2B/B2C hybrid or scale your existing eCommerce B2B business, you’ll need a dependable B2B eCommerce platform to get started. This begs the question of how to pick the right solution for your business? But first, let’s start with the basics. 

What are B2B eCommerce platforms?

A B2B eCommerce platform is an eCommerce platform that allows wholesale eCommerce between business customers, rather than between a business and a private customer (B2C).

B2B eCommerce systems provide numerous different benefits to sellers, including the opportunity to access a completely new subset of clients (companies), improve sales processes to make businesses more successful, and use big data analytics to power decision-making in areas ranging from customer loyalty to outreach.

Curious to discover the biggest benefits from a B2B approach in eCommerce? 

eCommerce integrations that are essential for B2B

If your company uses a variety of critical business tools, such as ERP, PIM, CRM, and more, selecting an eCommerce platform that can interface with them is critical.

No firm wants to end up in a scenario where it has invested money and time in an eCommerce platform only to discover that it can’t operate with the software being currently used. That is more than a waste of time and effort; it also represents a loss of prospective money. 

The most highly ranked commerce platforms offer a solution that combines all the B2B ecommerce software in one simple bundle without posing any limits on B2B companies looking to expand their online sales.

Choosing between open source and all-in-one eCommerce platforms

Open-source B2B eCommerce platforms are online commerce platforms that allow users to freely examine and modify their functionalities since their source code is publicly available. This type of technology is transparent and adaptive in the context of eCommerce.

Open-source platform providers allow merchants to customise features, design elements, and capabilities to match their specific needs. Well-known open-source eCommerce platforms provide you with complete control over your online presence, including back-end operations and the user experience.

This transparency fosters a collaborative developer community that improves and innovates the platform, making it a versatile and dynamic alternative for businesses seeking a high level of flexibility.

A SaaS (Software as a Service) B2B eCommerce platform is a cloud-based platform that offer businesses a complete, hosted software solution for managing their online storefronts. They come at the cost of a monthly or annual subscription, but merchants get the benefit of full hosting and access to technical support services.

 Your SaaS supplier oversees all areas such as product updates, security, hosting, and PCI compliance. And this is exactly why SaaS eCommerce systems are so popular.

 However, while using SaaS eCommerce systems, your customisation possibilities are restricted. The reason is obvious: you don’t have control over the platform’s source code; instead, a team of professional engineers from the firm that provides SaaS services does.

Which is the Most Used B2B eCommerce platform? 

Below are 8 of the most used B2B eCommerce platforms today:

1. Magento

Key features of Magento

• Robust eCommerce functionality – Magento, for many, is the number one B2B eCommerce platform. Magento offers a wide range of tools for creating fully functional online stores, including product catalogs, shopping carts, checkout systems, payment integration, and shipping choices.
• Scalability and flexibility – Magento is extremely scalable and able to handle small to large businesses. It also provides flexibility to meet a variety of company demands and adaptations.
• Open-source – The core software is freely available for usage. This reduces the initial cost required to launch an online store and allows firms to focus their efforts elsewhere.
• Large extension marketplace – The Magento marketplace provides a wide range of extensions and plugins that can be simply incorporated into the platform to increase functionality and add new features.
• Mobile responsiveness – Magento offers responsive design choices, which ensure that your online store appears and performs properly on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets.

What are the Benefits of Magento?

• Open architecture – Magento 2 includes an adjustable foundation that allows for easy interaction with third-party solutions, making it easier to scale business operations.
• Enhanced productivity – The intuitive Magento admin panel design empowers merchants, saving time and increasing efficiency in daily tasks.
• Quick load time – It can manage large traffic and enables full-page caching, resulting in quicker page load times and better performance.
• Secure payment gateways – Magento 2 has several secure and widely accepted payment gateways, ensuring that transactions are safe and simple for users.
• High speed – Magento’s speed has been improved with upgraded indexers, Varnish cache integration, and a performance toolbox for testing and tuning.

What are the Cons of Magento?

• High development costs – One of the most significant disadvantages of Magento is its high cost. Even though Magento 2 Open Source is free to use, you will need to spend on Magento custom development, support and maintenance, integrations, and extensions (unless you want to code yourself).
• Time-consuming Projects – On the one hand, Magento’s API-driven design enables you to connect third-party products and fully personalise your store. However, due to the system’s complexity, this modification procedure might be time-consuming.
• The need for powerful hosting – If you want to run a Magento store, you should avoid shared hosting. This approach will only result in downtime and performance concerns, particularly if your website traffic increases.

Our hosting platform, created with over 10+ years of Magento hosting experience, boosts your online store’s performance. Check it out!

2. WooCommerce

Key features of WooCommerce

• Wide range of functionality – You can select from a wide range of extensions to fulfil the individual needs of your online business. Whether you’re searching for a readymade or custom-built plugin, WooCommerce provides a good solution.
• Easy to get started – Installing WooCommerce in WordPress is straightforward, allowing you to start selling your products or services right away, even if you don’t yet have a fully built website.
• SEO-Friendly – If you run WooCommerce on the WordPress platform, you can benefit from the built-in search engine optimisation features. While SEO is vital, WordPress/WooCommerce makes it easier than any other eCommerce platform.

What are the Benefits of WooCommerce?

• Simple to use for non-technical people – Even business owners with no technical expertise will find it easy to navigate its back end, which is like WordPress’s admin interface.
• Support from the community – The WordPress community has many developers who can help you with WooCommerce.
• The source code is publicly accessible – WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that was expertly developed on top of the popular content management system WordPress.
• Full customisation – WooCommerce features allow you to completely customise the style, functionality, and other aspects of your business. It’s adaptable enough to match each company’s unique needs, and it won’t cost you anything more.

What are the Cons of WooCommerce?

• You need to be a WordPress user – WooCommerce may not be appropriate for those who want to use a platform other than WordPress. The plugin was created particularly for WordPress and is incompatible with non-WordPress sites.
• Hidden costs – WooCommerce is free, but it may require additional plugins, inventory management systems, and other business utilities may dramatically increase the efficiency of your workflow but also come at a cost.
• Using plugins may prove challenging – WooCommerce interacts easily with over 1,000 plugins; but, because they are independent software modules, they demand more memory, processing power, and internet access.

Did you know Hypernode implemented 200+ eCommerce optimisations and specially configured its hosting infrastructure for WooCommerce?

3. Shopware

Key features of Shopware

• Flexibility – The B2B eCommerce platform, Shopware, is a versatile platform that allows you to create e-commerce sites of any size and for any industry.
• User experience – Shopware focuses on the consumer, constantly prioritising user experience to increase exposure for e-commerce sites built using this platform.
• SEO-friendliness – This solution offers integrated SEO elements that will drive natural and organic traffic to your e-commerce website.
• Integration across all sales channels – Shopware makes it easier for an e-commerce site to integrate with other sales channels, such as a physical store, email marketing, or social network sales.

What are the Benefits of Shopware?

• Extendible – You can expand Shopware’s capabilities using applications and plugins designed to integrate smoothly with the core software, allowing you to personalise your online store to your exact requirements.
• Customisable – Customising your Shopware platform also helps to streamline a variety of company activities, including inventory management, order fulfilment, and customer service. This improves your operations, minimises manual activities, and saves time and resources.
• Scalable – The platform’s modular architecture and the availability of Shopware plugins make it simple to add and remove features as needed.

What are the Cons of Shopware?

• Learning curve – Shopware presents a learning curve for people who are new to e-commerce or have minimal technical skills.
• Costs – Although the fundamental Shopware software is free, premium features, plugins, applications, and hosting come at an extra fee.
• Compatibility issues – as with every e-commerce platform that relies on plugins and applications, you may encounter compatibility difficulties between various extensions or when upgrades are published.

Learn more about hosting your Shopware B2B eCommerce store with Hypernode. 

4. Adobe Commerce

Key features of Adobe Commerce

• Segmentation and customisation with discounts and special rates based on user gender, geography, order history, wish list goods, and so on.
• The Page Builder tool allows you to build and modify material in a professional and straightforward manner without the need to engage a graphic designer or developer.
• Visual commercialisation enables you to organise your items in a clear and logical manner to achieve the greatest outcomes.

What are the Benefits of Adobe Commerce?

• Scalability – Because it is an open-source solution, you can keep using it as the company expands.
• Customisation – You will be able to completely design your online shop. However, you must evaluate the costs associated with such a commitment.
• Omnichannel – It provides capabilities for connecting your online business, physical shop, and additional sales channels, such as a marketplace.
• Free version – The software offers a free alternative; however, it comes with fewer features.

What are the Cons of Adobe Commerce?

• Hosting – Providing a server for Adobe Commerce to run might be difficult, especially in the beginning, when you don’t know how much internet traffic you will receive.
• Complexity – Adobe Commerce is a challenging platform to navigate. This is a frequent drawback for self-hosted systems. The interface designed by the developers may not be the most intuitive for online store employees.
• Cost – If you pick this platform, you will be responsible for paying for the server, domain, and other tools like extensions, as well as the cost of developers, software upgrades, and security measures for yourself and your customers.

Did you know Hypernode consistently provides demonstrably faster support and is considerably more flexible than Adobe?

5. BigCommerce 

Key features of BigCommerce

• Template library – BigCommerce includes a large template library or marketplace with hundreds of well-designed e-commerce themes across several categories.
• Drag-and-drop website editor – BigCommerce uses a drag-and-drop site editor, but it comes with limited design modification options.
• Sales channels – The platform links your online business to other online markets, like Amazon and Amazon Prime, Facebook, Walmart, and eBay.
• Product reviews – BigCommerce includes standard product ratings and reviews, allowing buyers to express their comments openly for others to see.

What are the Benefits of BigCommerce?

• Single-page checkout.
• Multiple inventory locations.
• No extra transaction costs.
• Unlimited staff accounts with all plans.
• Real-time shipping quotes.
• All options include 24/7 assistance via live chat, phone, and tickets.

What are the Cons of BigCommerce?

• Annual revenue restrictions for plans
• A limited range of free templates.
• Not suitable for beginners.
• Custom product filtering is only possible for upper-tier plans.

6. Shopify (Plus)

Key features of Shopify Plus

• Customisation – Shopify Plus is an expansion of the basic product, serving as a scalable, configurable corporate solution that provides greater options and control over their websites and businesses.
• Ease of use – The platform’s straightforward, ‘timesaving’ nature is a big plus.
• Inflexible, simple design and uneditable core – This reduces maintenance and risk for both the platform and merchants.
• Shopify Flow – This feature of the platform helps to minimise the amount of time spent on manual operations.

What are the Benefits of Shopify Plus?

• Low management and operating costs – One of the primary reasons for Shopify Plus’s popularity is that it was the first major SaaS platform choice for SMB and mid-market shops, removing overheads associated with platform maintenance, updates, security patching, and so on.
• Relatively low overall cost of ownership – Licensing is relatively inexpensive, and merchants are not required to pay for maintenance retainers, upgrades, or other fees.
• Rich in functionality – Shopify Plus is the most agile mainstream eCommerce platform, making it easier to add new functionality, make front-end changes, and manage back-end tasks compared to other platforms.
• Technology partner and app ecosystem – Shopify Plus has a flourishing app and integration ecosystem that no other platform can match.

What are the Cons of Shopify Plus?

• Lack of multi-store architecture – This prevents merchants from managing multi-brand and foreign setups as efficiently as they can on other platforms.
• Management of the international ecosystem – many app firms aren’t prepared for foreign customers, which results in various challenges.

7. Prestashop 

Key features of Prestashop

• Widely accessible – PrestaShop is currently accessible in 65 foreign languages, with 1.25 lakh online stores worldwide using it.
• Free and open source – The platform has plenty of built-in advantages despite being open-source.
• Unlimited listings – Inventory management capabilities include item monitoring and out-of-stock warnings.
• Advanced SEO features – Including changing meta titles, descriptions, and URLs.
• Large array of payment options – PayPal Standard and Pro, Skrill, Stripe, WorldPay, offline processing, and many more.

What are the Benefits of PrestaShop?

• Easy to install – Prestashop is simple to setup and even customers with sluggish internet connections will find it easy to implement this B2B eCommerce platform.
• Budget-friendly – Merchants looking for a low investment can rely on PrestaShop because no license is necessary to start up an online store with PrestaShop.
• User-friendly – The PrestaShop custom design is easy and straightforward. Running a PrestaShop e-store doesn’t require any technical skills.
• Easy customisation – Prestashop is incredibly adaptable, making it simple to modify certain aspects of the business throughout the PrestaShop website construction.

 What are the Cons of PrestaShop?

• Limited scalability – PrestaShop has considerable limitations in terms of scalability.
• Design issues – For large-scale establishments, Prestashop design options might be insufficient.
• No official support team – Merchants can only count on Prestashop’s developer community.

8. Pepperi

 Key features of Pepperi

• Broad functionality – Pepperi includes capabilities for managing sales operations, catalogue orders, inventory, and customer information.
• E-catalogs, trade promotions, and comprehensive customer data – They make it easy to take orders both online and offline.
• Great UI – Pepperi has a straightforward user interface to manage trade marketing campaigns across all media.
• Central management – It streamlines omnichannel operations across all customer touchpoints.

 What are the Benefits of Pepperi?

• Order management – Pepperi’s real-time interface with ERP systems enables precise order management, decreasing concerns with order correctness, stock availability, and credit control.
• Enhanced sales presentation – Pepperi replaces hefty printed catalogs with high-quality graphics and inventory integration, displaying only goods in stock and boosting overall sales presentation.
• Customisable and flexible – Pepperi can be modified to match individual company needs, with the flexibility to add features beyond the initial setup, encouraging creativity and goal attainment.

 What are the Cons of Pepperi?

• Limited international support – Despite its general usefulness, Pepperi’s worldwide support has been a source of worry for some users.
• High cost for small firms – While Pepperi has a variety of capabilities, adding them can be time-consuming and expensive.

Choosing an eCommerce platform

To remain competitive, B2B companies must meet the increasing and evolving demands of their buyers. This starts with selecting the correct eCommerce platform to help your business provide an excellent client experience. Understanding the critical features and capabilities of B2B eCommerce platforms is the first step toward success. 

If you have any questions about which eCommerce platform is right for you, or you’d like to find out more about Hypernode’s managed solutions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.