What is the BigCommerce B2B Edition? Essentially, it’s a Business to Business (B2B) eCommerce platform version of the popular BigCommerce Stencil framework that features future-proofed technology stacks that can be easily integrated into your current wholesale-first and B2B workflow.
BigCommerce’s customization capabilities have long allowed you to take your shopping experience to the next level, but with hybrid business models operating a variety of business units, having specific B2B functionalities has been something that brand managers are always looking for to enhance their day to day operation of complex business models.
Combining the benefits of the B2C and functions specific to net-terms, purchase orders, and customer grouping is now something fully integrated and unlocked within the B2B Edition.
The BigCommerce B2B Edition allows your team to create detailed pricing segmentation that goes right down to the SKU level, create specific terms for customers that order in bulk or use their own carriers, and provide specific SKU-logic for businesses that operate in regions or have multiple wholesale sales rep with their own accounts.
Who is BigCommerce meant for?
As you would expect, this edition of the BigCommerce platform is designed specifically for B2B-focused industries. Online retailers who run a complex setup with purchase orders, wholesale orders, and everything else stand to benefit the most, as it’s packed with a range of tools specific to wholesale and B2B operations.
B2B Edition unlocks the following popular features that brand managers are always looking for within their integrated software platforms:
- Integration With ERP, PIM, and CRM systems
- Versatile and fast API calls; without throttling
- Price Lists and Customer Groups
- Corporate Account Management
- Restricted Log-Ins for Dealer Pricing
- Invoice Portals for ACH and PO Terms
- Sales Rep Quoting and Discount Pricing Terms
- Shared Shopping Lists and Previous Order Histories
What Features Does BigCommerce Now Offer?
BigCommerce B2B Edition comes with a myriad of features that help to help you grow your sales by meeting the needs of modern B2B customers that need a different approach from D2C brands that run more on content, loyalty programs, SMS, and other mainstream marketing. With B2B customers, the relationship is different.
Let’s take a look at some of the feature benefits:
- Integrates simply into whatever technologies or tools you’re currently using, whether that’s a CRM, OMS, or ERP platform. Thanks to 1-click integrations that make API automation customization simple.
- Third-party data sync automation with over 400 API calls each second and API exposure of 90% of BigCommerce data.
- Customized shipping rates built for B2B customers, reducing costs with leading shipping providers, and the ability for B2B customers to enter their own shipping preferences on term sheets.
- Prebuilt, 1-click tools for a range of tasks, such as reordering, user permission, and instant generation of quotes
Beside these incredible B2B-specific features, the platform is also just as flexible to create experiences that use the latest marketing software already being used for D2C channels.
Also available as an App that you can add to your BigCommerce Store, the B2B Edition gives you a ton of flexibility, and some of their features are truly game-changing for managing complex PO's and B2B sales scenarios. Here are a few of these really solid feature sets:
Sales Rep Masquerade and Quoting
This is a feature where sales reps can access lists created by buyers in the company, add products to carts, and finish making an order all by delegating in. Also, they can create quotes for customers they are assigned to, and provide pre-tiered benefits and discounts.
Shared Shopping Lists
In this function, buyers can manage and save multiple shopping lists, and with deeper controls, a Junior Buyer permission will allow for creation of lists, but pre-approval needed to submit. A really strong feature for sales organizations where managers are training and overseeing multiple teams.
Corporate Account Management
This allows you to set up multiple tiers of buyers with specific roles, including different pricing tiers and groups, and different behaviors for each of the user designations. There are also levels, such as Company Administrators, Senior Buyers, and Junior Buyers.
Invoice Portal
Probably the most requested feature, is the various ways in which B2B businesses take orders. This can include POs, Credit, ACH, and Mail Order Forms, etc. The complexity of the B2B wholesale ordering process is what the Invoice Portal helps you consolidate into a simple interface for customers to view, track, and pay for their B2B invoices online. You can even make partial payments on deposit-based POs, making the process a breeze for both operators and B2B customers.
For additional information on the most popular BigCommerce marketing apps, check out this resource on the must-have BigCommerce marketing tools for your eCommerce store.
Offer a Consumer-like Experience For B2B Customers
The fact of the matter is, the same rules apply now to the B2B eCommerce world as have long been the case for direct-to-consumer selling experiences.
B2B customers expect a similar experience, meaning that you have to stand out to get noticed in what can be a packed marketplace. Websites need to be easy to use, but also the processes scalable and built for a different approach to ordering that traditionally takes place with phone orders or PO's, slowing down the process and leaving many things to the mechanics of e-mail, spreadsheets, or customer sales teams having to do manual data-entry. That all is left behind with the new release of the BigCommerce B2B Edition.
ERP and Inventory Management Integrations
It’s all about exceeding expectations and BigCommerce can help you do just that with a range of powerful features. For instance, Faceted search (backed by Elasticsearch) offers custom field support for super-targeted searching. The platform’s partnership with Nextopia also allows for punch-out tools like PunchOut2Go for syncing data natively from platforms such as NetSuite.
Quoting customers is also much easier thanks to native CSR-generated quote management functionality, with bulk pricing available right down to SKU level for both customer groups and individuals.
Other important processes like credit authorization and approved customer payments allow eCommerce store owners to offer a wide array of flexible payment options.
Secure & Reliable Uptime - Back by an SLA
Online protection against hackers, malicious attacks, and other unauthorized access are vital to any eCommerce operator out there, for obvious reasons.
BigCommerce offers highly secure, enterprise-level security - something that’s also backed by Denial of Service (DOS) protection and uptime you can rely on.
The uptimes offered by BigCommerce Enterprise are industry-leading with a rate of more than 99.9% and this is complemented by an optional service level agreement (SLA) if and when extra assurance is required. Furthermore, PCI compliance and site-wide HTTPS options with advanced SSLs are available, for complete confidence.
Get the Most Out of BigCommerce B2B Edition
The BigCommerce B2B edition offers a wide range of benefits and features that allow you to elevate your B2B eCommerce experience; for both customers and for brand managers and sales reps using the platform daily.
With purpose-built tools for the complete range of B2B eCommerce services, you get everything you need to offer buying experiences that set you apart from the crowd and lower your day-to-day labor required to manage your customer base.
Of course, you need the time and expertise to make full use of all these innovative features, but if you are short on either, don’t worry. With years working on BigCommerce, and with a strong reputation of implementations, migrations, and platform buildouts, we can help you determine the best approach to getting setup on BigCommerce B2B Edition. For more information, view our BigCommerce Partner Listing.
You can also reach out to our BigCommerce experts for a strategy session directly, and we can go through the scoping, planning, and implementation options if you are interested in learning more about the B2B Edition and the features it can provide to your growing business.
