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E-Commerce Apr 11, 2022

What Is the Best E-commerce Platform for Wholesale

Jane Vyshnova

Jane Vyshnova

CEO

Author

What Is the Best E-commerce Platform for Wholesale

Time to read: 20 minutes

Content

  1. Top Five Features of the Wholesale Website Platform
  2. What the Best E-commerce Platform for Wholesale Should Look Like
  3. The 8 Best Wholesale E-commerce Platforms
  4. Choosing a Wholesale Website Builder: Final Thought
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If you have decided to start a B2B e-commerce website, you will probably be faced with such dilemmas as choosing the online wholesale e-commerce platform. There are many options to use but, first, you should know about the advantages and disadvantages of each.

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This article is aimed at those who are tired of searching for the best e-commerce platform for wholesale. Below, you will find a short B2B industry analysis and a comprehensive description of modern B2B e-commerce solutions. You’ll learn about the types of B2B e-commerce customers who are waiting to use your website. In addition, our B2B e-commerce platform comparison will save you time and provide a clear understanding of what a wholesale e-commerce platform can be.

B2B is a very promising market. The global B2B e-commerce market valuing $14.9 trillion in 2020 is over five times that of the B2C market. 

Based on this figure, we can say that B2B e-commerce evolves. Now most B2B customers expect the B2B wholesale website platform to be as comfortable as B2C online shops. 

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Top Five Features of the Wholesale Website Platform

A customer journey directly depends on e-commerce platform features, so you should be very careful when choosing an e-commerce platform for your B2B business. 

When creating your e-commerce wholesale website, you should be aware of the most popular B2B e-commerce website features. Below, you can find our list of the top five B2B e-commerce features to pay attention to when searching for an appropriate platform.

#1 Synchronization of data from multiple channels

Today, the customer journey includes multiple devices and channels. Many shoppers research services or products before contacting sales representatives, and this is true with both B2C and B2B. Selling your goods on multiple platforms usually results in 190% more sales, compared to single-channel retail.

Multi-channel retail sounds like it can bring in huge profits easily, but there is a downside. Selling via channels, marketplaces, and platforms becomes very complicated because all customer data, payment information, and delivery details are on different websites. If you aren’t careful, this can lead to missing orders or sending incorrect orders to your customers.

You might also like: What Is the Best Multi-Channel E-commerce Platform?

The saving grace is to use an e-commerce platform that allows multi-channel synchronization. With this, you’ll be able to check all orders from all channels directly from your admin panel.

Use Syncee to improve inventory management in B2B website

The additional option is to use an app, like Syncee, that will help you switch between channels and improve inventory management. It also helps to increase data accuracy by eliminating missing information and duplicate products.

#2 Integration of a website back-end with third parties

Your B2B e-commerce website is not the only way to engage your customers. There are many pre-sale points like ads, content, and research. Most B2B e-commerce websites also provide customers with post-sale experience, including cross-selling, fulfillment, upselling, and onboarding.

To manage all customer touchpoints, your e-commerce B2B website should have features such as integration with other tools and platforms.

Integration might be extremely helpful to analyze customer behavior. Why does your business need this? Let’s explain. 86% of consumers find that personalization informs their purchases. Moreover, 52% of customers will switch to another brand if there is an absence of the option to personalize communication.

Personalizing shoppers’ experience is the result of e-commerce website integration with other tools. This is why you will gain more loyal customers using a third-party platform integration.

If you want to focus on e-mail marketing, consider Klaviyo

If you want to focus on e-mail marketing, consider Klaviyo. This service allows customers to create deep segments and personalize e-mails in an authentic way.

#3 Opportunities for content marketing

There is nothing new when it comes to content marketing. Still, this powerful tool increases recognition and awareness, engaging customers in the sales funnel.

Content marketing not only helps your customers find out more about your brand, goods, or services but also works well for SEO and search engines. Remember that keywords help your potential customers find you among other retailers.

You might also like: 7 Key Advantages of CRM for E-commerce

What kind of visual content can you use for your B2B e-commerce website? There are many options, including not only blog posts but also infographics, videos, and landing pages. You won’t lose if you also include social media sharing buttons.

Despite the fact that today, we see most content marketing examples in B2C, it also works for the B2B segment.

#4 Customer support services

A study conducted by Harvard Business Review said that delays in communication between sales representatives and customers have a negative impact on conversion rates.

To be more specific, a five-minute delay in communication with a customer decreases your chances of making a sale by 400%. Please note that most B2B companies do not answer customer requests within five minutes.

a five-minute delay in communication with a customer decreases your chances of making a sale by 400%

For sales in the B2B segment, it is important to follow up within five minutes, by e-mail or phone. To make the communication process seamless, you can include live chat communication to the list of your B2B e-commerce features.

include live chat communication to the list of your B2B eCommerce features

92% of people said that live chat is better for communication with companies because they receive answers as quickly as possible.

Maykke uses their live chat for communication with their clients to improve the communication process

Maykke uses their live chat for communication with their clients to improve the communication process, and they implemented Drift for rapid answers. The solution uses catboats to allocate customer questions to valid departments and persons in the company.

#5 Mobile version of B2B e-commerce site

The development of mobile technologies has opened up many opportunities for modern online retailers. It is no secret that B2B and B2C shoppers use their mobile devices more often than desktops. That is why a mobile-friendly website is a must.

B2B and B2C shoppers use their mobile devices more often than desktops

But some e-commerce layouts do not provide customers with a smooth mobile journey, because the e-commerce website should also be responsible. Such optimization will provide customers with a convenient catalog view and checkout process and, as a result, you will increase your income.

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You can even find potential issues on your own. Using this Mobile-Friendly Test, online retailers can quickly uncover the weaknesses of online shops.

You might also like: How to Integrate a Payment Gateway in Your E-commerce Website

The main idea is that your potential clients should have a simple and convenient purchase experience, even on mobile devices.

integration of B2B online store with Apple Pay, Amazon Pay or PayPal

How can you simplify the checkout process?

Also consider integration with Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, or PayPal to make this stage of the sales funnel even more convenient.

What the Best E-commerce Platform for Wholesale Should Look Like

The options below will give you a clear idea of the main features of an ideal B2B e-commerce platform:

To find an option from the top B2B e-commerce platforms, you should spend some time comparing their features, because not all e-commerce solutions meet wholesale business needs.

In the second part of this article, we are going to tell you about the most popular e-commerce platforms in the B2B sector.

The 8 Best Wholesale E-commerce Platforms

When looking for an e-commerce platform for your B2B business, you should also pay attention to such key requirements as

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at modern e-commerce solutions.

1. Prestashop

What is the best eCommerce platform for wholesale in 2020

This open-source platform is popular for nice customization options. You can even develop an online shop from scratch. PrestaShop comes with professionally developed themes, including the most popular payment gateways, custom service tools, and quick set-up features.

B2B businesses can create their e-commerce website using multiple modules and personalize the platform for business needs. As a result, customers receive a full-scale functioning B2B website for their wholesale business.

You can use one of the 38 B2B modules for PrestaShop. The most popular modules are

2. BigCommerce

BigCommerce contains a wide range of eCommerce tools out-of-the-box

With this powerful online shop builder, you will not only succeed in B2B online retail but also save resources and time. BigCommerce contains a wide range of e-commerce tools out-of-the-box. This platform allows users to make contact with customers using different social media channels. Moreover, it allows integration with the most popular e-commerce applications, making BigCommerce the best e-commerce platform for drop shipping.

Other reasons to use Bigcommerce for your B2B e-commerce website:

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce currently empowers around 42% of all online shops

This plugin for WordPress websites currently empowers around 42% of all online shops. If you have a WordPress website, it would be extremely easy to use this e-commerce solution.

The platform has hundreds of designs and add-ons that might help you with performance optimization, maintenance service, and hosting.

Moreover, there are many options to extend B2B online shop functionality. Still, there are also many extensions for B2C online retailers.

The most popular functionality of WooCommerce for B2B online shops:

With WooCommerce, you can think more about the big picture and the long-term. This platform gives you everything you might need if you are thinking of expanding your e-commerce business.

4. Shopify Plus

Shopify is the best eCommerce platform for wholesale

Such companies as L’Oreal, Adidas, Motorola, and Tesla use this platform. These companies are also known for conquering the B2B business. Shopify is the best e-commerce platform for wholesale, now powering over a million online shops.

Why use this top B2B e-commerce platform? There are such advantages as

As a Shopify user, you can install the wholesale e-commerce channel with one click. Interested? Read the full description on How to Launch the B2B e-commerce channel here. The Shopify app market is an amazing place with numerous apps, where you can find any B2B feature and add it to your website.

5. Magento

The Forester Wave named Magento is one of the best b2b eCommerce platforms.

The Forester Wave named Magento one of the best B2B e-commerce platforms. When you read the B2B features this platform offers to its users, you will also agree. What benefits can Magento bring to B2B online merchants?

Magento is a feature-rich platform that will help online retailers achieve challenging business goals.

If you think that Magento Commerce will suit you the best, also take into account that it offers 100 built-in features for wholesale retail, including

Another advantage is that Magento Commerce has a trial period, so you can test the platform before you pay.

The average price of Magento-based website will depend on the website type you need:

Find more information about Magento-based website development in our article: Magento E-commerce Development Guide.

6. Shopware

Shopware e-platform

Shopware is a perfect option for small or medium-sized retailers. The platform is feature-rich, developer-friendly, and incredibly flexible. The modular architecture of Shopware lets the business launch quickly. Shopware becomes popular, so the average number of its users reaches 18,000.

In comparison to its competitors, the platform provides a greater spectrum of facilities in terms of native functionality. The core features of Shopware are

Shopware offers you three editions to choose from, so the prices vary accordingly. Starter Edition is free, Professional Edition costs €199 per month and the price of Enterprise Edition is available upon request.

And if you are determined to build a Shopware-based website, you might be interested in the development cost. It ranges from $2,000 to $15,000. To define it more accurately, we should analyze the capabilities you need.

For more information about starting your website on Shopware, check out the article: How to Quickly Make an E-commerce Website with Shopware

7. Shift4Shop

This all-in-one e-commerce B2B e-commerce & wholesale platform. One of the main reasons to consider Shift4Shop is the ability to run B2C and B2B on the same website with the use of customer groups.
Some of the benefits of using Shift4Shop for your B2B website are

8. Salesforce

Salesforce

Salesforce is a leading e-commerce platform with robust out-of-the-box functionality. It is an intelligent solution for wholesale businesses that allows them to serve the specific needs of every B2B customer and simplify each stage of the buyer’s journey. Salesforce equips B2B vendors with up-to-date tools for driving conversions and building customer loyalty. Salesforce is essential for complex B2B operations, where simple marketing methods are not as effective.

Salesforce B2B Commerce optimizes the stages of the B2B funnel by providing the following benefits:

Have a project in mind?

Lets talk about it

Request a quote

Choosing a Wholesale Website Builder: Final Thought

We hope that our list of top e-commerce platforms for B2B has helped you find the best option for your business. The Dinarys e-commerce team wants to emphasize that the right e-commerce platform will be a real help on the road to the success of your wholesale online shop.

Now, you can base your decision on your current business needs. While WooCommerce is a plug-in with free and paid designs and extensions, Magento is a far more complicated solution for well-developed businesses with large budgets.

If you want to launch your B2B wholesale e-commerce website, and are looking for additional advice, please fill in our contact form to get a consultation and industry analysis from the Dinarys team. We can also help you develop a custom website design and an e-commerce website from scratch. We hope to hear from you soon!

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