The world of B2B ecommerce has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, with B2B buyers increasingly expecting a modern, user-friendly experience akin to that of consumer-focused ecommerce platforms. Recognizing this paradigm shift, BigCommerce, a leading e-commerce platform, has made significant strides by announcing a range of powerful new features for its B2B Edition. By blending speed and simplicity with the complexity and uniqueness of the B2B buying journey, BigCommerce is empowering businesses to meet the evolving demands of their B2B customers and drive online sales to new heights.
BigCommerce launched its B2B Edition in 2021, recognizing the evolving market demand. This edition aimed to empower B2B sellers with the tools and functionalities necessary to meet the changing expectations of their customers. To further enhance its B2B capabilities, BigCommerce made two strategic acquisitions in 2022. BundleB2B, the technology behind the B2B Edition's functionality, and B2B Ninja, a provider of best-in-class quoting capabilities, were incorporated into the BigCommerce ecosystem. This consolidation allowed BigCommerce to offer native functionality for a comprehensive range of B2B sellers, all within its platform.
Continuing its commitment to delivering exceptional B2B solutions, BigCommerce has expanded its B2B Edition with new features and functionalities designed to improve customer experience and help merchants achieve greater success in online sales.
In this blog, we will delve into the details of the newly added features of BigCommerce's B2B Edition, including the Multi-Storefront capability, the modernized buyer portal, and the headless functionality (Beta).
Multi-Storefront
A significant addition to BigCommerce's B2B Edition is the Multi-Storefront capability, which empowers merchants to leverage all the functionalities of the B2B Edition across multiple storefronts. This feature allows merchants to sell their products and services across different regions or brands while benefiting from streamlined operations and reduced costs.
By consolidating multiple sites into a single platform, merchants can simplify their operations and efficiently manage various aspects of their business. They can effectively handle customer management, product catalogs, and order fulfillment and gain valuable insights from storefront analytics. This consolidation saves a considerable amount of development time and reduces operational and maintenance costs.
The Multi-Storefront capability allows merchants to cater to different market segments and regions while ensuring a consistent and seamless B2B buying experience. With centralized management and shared functionalities such as company account management, shared shopping lists, quoting, and invoice portals, merchants can optimize their operations, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive business growth.
Modernized Buyer Portal
The modernized Buyer Portal is another notable enhancement in BigCommerce's B2B Edition. The B2B Edition's buyer portal provides a personalized buying experience for merchants and buyers, streamlining administrative processes and reducing workload. These benefits increase customer satisfaction, foster customer loyalty, and drive repeat business—a critical factor for any B2B merchant.
The expanded B2B buyer portal is compatible with any BigCommerce theme and can be set up quickly and effortlessly. It introduces a complete reimagining of how buyers manage their orders, quotes, invoices, shopping lists, and other administrative processes related to their relationship with the merchant.
The portal offers several advantages to merchants, including:
1. Enhanced Flexibility
Merchants can remove barriers by granting specific access, either by company or user, to streamline operations. This feature provides a comprehensive view of past company orders, enabling easy reordering based on previously ordered items, quotes, lists, and past company orders.
2. Streamlined Order Entry
The buyer portal eliminates tedious manual order entry processes, enabling merchants to find efficiencies with the Quick Order Pad. This feature allows users to swiftly enter SKU numbers or upload orders in bulk, saving time and reducing errors.
3. Improved List and Quote Management
The portal reduces friction and increases conversion rates through preset prices and shopping lists that can be seamlessly converted into quotes. This streamlines the buying process, improves efficiency, and saves time for both merchants and buyers.
4. Mobile Optimization
With a deep understanding of the significance of mobile commerce, the buyer portal has been meticulously designed to ensure an optimized buying experience for users on mobile devices. With a mobile-friendly interface, the portal caters to digitally native buyers who demand seamless, self-serve transactions through handheld devices.
Headless Functionality (Beta)
Furthermore, BigCommerce has introduced Headless functionality (Beta) to its B2B Edition. This update allows the B2B Edition to be deployed onto any framework, granting merchants the advantage of Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless (MACH) architecture. With this flexibility, merchants can create and build agile storefronts using compostable elements that can be continuously improved as their business grows.
Easy Customization
The B2B Edition of BigCommerce is characterized by being "headless agnostic," which signifies its ability to seamlessly integrate into existing BigCommerce HTML themes or CMS platforms using the buyer portal API, without being tied to any specific platform or framework. This flexibility allows merchants to leverage the power of the B2B Edition while maintaining their preferred technology stack and infrastructure and empowers them to customize the buyer experience effortlessly through a user-friendly configurator, enabling them to react quickly to market changes. Additionally, robust APIs facilitate advanced customizations of the buyer portal, allowing merchants to create new, personalized buyer interactions specific to their business needs.
Seamless Integration
Developers can also take advantage of the buyer portal's Storefront, Server-to-Server, and JavaScript APIs to build robust integrations with any headless framework and back-office systems. This seamless integration ensures merchants can incorporate the B2B Edition's functionalities into their existing technology ecosystem without disrupting their established workflows.
Key Takeaways
As customer expectations continue to evolve, B2B businesses are compelled to embark on digital transformations to remain competitive. While B2Bs have traditionally approached digital transformation more cautiously, the changing landscape necessitates a significant shift in their online business practices. BigCommerce recognizes this shift and is committed to supporting B2B businesses as they navigate this digital transformation journey.
BigCommerce's expanded B2B Edition offers a multitude of opportunities for businesses to grow. Whether expanding into new regions, selling new products, or providing unparalleled customer experiences, BigCommerce equips merchants with the capabilities to elevate their current operations and prepare for future endeavors.
As eCommerce continues to evolve rapidly, BigCommerce remains at the forefront, enabling B2B businesses to keep pace with changing customer expectations. By leveraging the comprehensive functionalities of the B2B Edition, merchants can thrive in the dynamic landscape of B2B eCommerce.