According to Forrester, B2B eCommerce in the United States will reach $1.8 trillion by 2023. It will account for 17% of all B2B sales in the US and it will be growing by 10% annually over the next 5 years. Actually, it’s not a surprise. Modern young entrepreneurs want to purchase products for their companies hassle-free like they shop for themselves—online. They don’t want to connect with dozens of suppliers, spend hours talking to them on the phone with tons of accounting papers. B2B eCommerce software solutions can save entrepreneurs from this purchasing routine. That’s why B2B online shop software has become so popular. As a matter of fact, this article will list out top B2B eCommerce solutions for manufacturers.
CS-Cart B2B & B2C
Apart from B2B eCommerce marketplace solutions, CS-Cart has something to offer. There is a CS-Cart B2B&B2C. It is one of the best B2B eCommerce solutions, a self-hosted B2B eCommerce software for wholesalers and manufacturers of any size. The platform was released to the public in 2005 and now it powers over 35,000 B2C and B2B eCommerce websites worldwide. CS-Cart focuses on feature-richness and ease of use.
Since the CS-Cart wholesale eCommerce platform focuses on rich functionality, it has all the above-mentioned functions, plus more features to offer B2B buyers a true B2C shopping experience. CS-Cart’s powerful API allows integrating with many modern third-party CRM, ERP, accounting, and analytics systems so that you could build a perfectly working B2B ecosystem.
Also, CS-Cart B2B&B2C ships with an unlimited number of additional storefronts that can be configured independently. It means you can open B2B and B2C storefronts that will work and look differently, and manage them via a single admin panel.
CS-Cart is a self-hosted B2B eCommerce script, which means it could require some minor technical knowledge to be installed on a server. To make the onboarding easier, CS-Cart offers detailed documentation with installation instructions and server requirements. Thanks to its self-hosted nature, CS-Cart gives you full control over your B2B eCommerce store. You own it, not rent like you rent a SaaS solution.
CS-Cart users appreciate the ease of use and a great price/functionality ratio. They love its clean architecture and open-source code.
Magento B2B eCommerce solution
Magento is an open-source B2B online shop software that was released in 2007. It has become one of the most popular eCommerce systems in the world, yet one of the most complex. The company started with B2C software and later for the B2B segment.
Magento is a very robust platform, which means you can customize it the way you want. This is a pro and a con at the same time. You can make your Magento-based B2B store extremely flexible and feature-rich but you will need a tech-savvy team of programmers to customize and support your store. And this means more spending.
If you are a beginner and looking for a tool that involves some of these elements at the same time then check out Grit Global. A Magento b2b website that offers you multiple channels, flexibility in creating customizing catalogs, prices as well as Comprehensive Inventory Management Features. You will not have to worry and do tasks on your own with this genius invention.
BigCommerce B2B Ecommerce
BigCommerce was founded in 2009 as a SaaS B2B online solution. Its main advantages are hassle-free deployment (due to its cloud-based technology), powerful API, and the ability to run a hybrid business: to sell both to companies and individuals through a single website.
There are some restrictions though. For example, its cloud-based model doesn’t give users much freedom in customization. Plus, you will never get full control over your store and if something bad happens to BigCommerce, then this happens to your business, too.
It’s great that BigCommerce offers the ability to run a hybrid B2B and B2C business. You can create customer groups with different privileges dividing them into companies and individuals. But unlike CS-Cart, BigCommerce only lets you sell to both groups through the same storefront. CS-Cart B2B&B2C supports multiple storefronts. And you can create separate storefronts for B2B and B2C and make them work and look absolutely different.
BigCommerce is easier than Magento but it still requires some time to be mastered because of the feature complexity. Rich documentation greatly helps beginners to learn the platform.
TradeGecko
TradeGecko is a B2B eCommerce script that focuses on the simplicity and automation of business-to-business sales. It is intended for high-growth wholesalers, distributors, eCommerce brands, and manufacturers. It is a cloud-based solution, which means fewer technical concerns but less control, too.
TradeGecko supports almost all must-have B2B features from our list: individual prices, custom price lists, the ability to hide products; and prices from unauthorized users, easy ordering and reordering, warehouses, promotions, and more.
This solution has built-in reporting and analytics tools that allow you to better understand your processes and adjust them when necessary. The only thing that seems to be not included is a fully-functional multi-store feature for hybrid business models.
Most of the users are satisfied with TradeGecko and appreciate its simplicity and good customer support.
Conclusion
We had a look at the best B2B eCommerce platforms in 2022, their pros and cons, and examined essential B2B eCommerce platform features in detail.
Choosing eCommerce software for your business-to-business webshop is a very crucial step towards establishing a convenient and effective B2B eCommerce ecosystem. You should choose wisely.
Keep in mind: there’s no perfect platform for your business. You will need to customize it more or less so that it suits your business processes and goals. So, before you decide, contact each vendor from this list, request a demo; and make sure you will be able to customize and scale the platform.
