When you process a successful Magento B2B ecommerce website, it is necessary to seek information to prepare for your website performance improvement. Even if you are a Magento beginner or a wholesale business with an existing website; there may be some questions you would need to find out the answers. This B2B Starter guide plays a role as the guiding star for your business with adequate knowledge about B2B ecommerce, B2B features, Magento 2 B2B Commerce, and the optimized B2B solution.
Recommendations
For anyone just starting to develop a B2B eCommerce business experience, I would recommend the following, especially at the beginning of the process:
- Take Your Time – Yes, this can be difficult, especially when you have “higher-ups” breathing down your neck. But taking the time in the beginning for robust research and discovery will pay dividends later on.
- Understanding that your Website has “Legs” – Your website touches almost every aspect of your organization including Sales/Marketing, Customer Service, Accounting, and Information Technology. When you start to put your website strategy together, understand how your website can reach each corner of your organization.
- Resource Planning – In conjunction with the development of your website strategy, stakeholder alignment, etc., keep in mind that you need to plan resources. This includes how you leverage internal resources (if you have them), outsourcing, and who will champion and project plan this effort.
- Platform Selection – Last but not least, think about the platform you want to build your website on. Along with the development of your website/digital strategy, there may not be another decision that is as important; the research effort up-front around the platform is mission critical.
Key Considerations
Digging a bit deeper into the approach, there are a few Key Considerations each decision maker should take into account for B2B eCommerce business.
Platform: When you’re thinking about which eCommerce platform is most appropriate, remember the “legs” of the website. In a spreadsheet, list every department and every individual within that department impacted by the site. For each one:
- Determine business and technical requirements
- Ensure the platform aligns with the long-term business goals of your organization
- Engage individuals who need to be included in the Discovery process as soon as you can, and ask them to begin preparing any documentation that may be useful
- For each platform, note the total cost of ownership (TCO), the payback period, and tools and methods for measuring ROI
Technical Requirements:
- How “flexible” should the platform be? For example, do your developers need access to the code to achieve your business requirements? What are some of your unique business processes that may require customization? This will help determine whether you select a SaaS or an on-premise solution
- Outline what hosting provider is most appropriate for your platform
- Determine all the “hooks” into your website: ERP, IMS, OMS
DON’T FORGET—and this should not be minimized—to ensure that your shipping and tax solutions are fully vetted out before platform selection. This can be a MAJOR hurdle to correct while in the middle of a website development project. We see it time and time again…
Pre-Development Checklist
Below are the key areas to be completed before any merchant starts their website development project, whether it’s B2B, B2C, and/or B2C2B.
Strategic Elements:
- Establish both digital and website strategies
- Align digital and website strategies to the holistic business strategy
- Receive all key internal stakeholder alignment
- Establish baseline information to develop strategic information architecture (sitemap)
Resources:
- Clear plan of resource requirements to build and manage this project
Customers:
- Fully understand who your target audience is
- Understand your target audiences’ digital behaviors
- Clear vision of your audience’s’ goals and objectives
Requirements:
- Complete a list of all business requirements
- Select a list of all technical requirements
- Complete a list of all transitional requirements
Conclusion
Hundreds of thousands of online retailers use Magento. It lets you create unique experiences for the customer’s journey. However, Magento is complex for beginners. That is why it is advised to opt for Magento level expert support.
