7 Top B2B E-Commerce Platforms For Small Businesses [2024]

B2B E-Commerce Introduction

E-commerce has made available to businesses of all brands and sizes, a whole new dimension to market expand their reach to more consumers. Yet, the struggle behind establishing a web-based store can be daunting, particularly to small enterprises with meager technical infrastructure. B2B e-commerce platforms help to cut down the middle men by integrating ready tools and features which are best suited for online transactions between companies.

B2B e-commerce solutions should be assessed by the small businesses focusing on factors including

• cost
• scalability
• integration
• self-service options

Correct channels enable the development of small enterprises web sites rapidly, generate B2B sales, and build an empire for more ambitious expansion into new markets. These are some of the best e-commerce options for B2B businesses that are flexible for small businesses.

Key Takeaways

• B2B e-commerce platforms are now a vital part of the digital economy because they allow businesses to trade goods and services with businesses online
• Currently, there are notable SAP Ariba, Oracle NetSuite, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Magento Commerce, InsiteCommerce, BigCommerce among the leading B2B e-commerce platforms
• The primary focus of B2B platforms is to provide methods for role-based access control, quote creation, complex product information, negotiated pricing, punch-out catalogs, requisition (purchase) orders, and approval
• From the side of business to business e-commerce platforms you can benefit from the wide range of customers regionally or even worldwide, shorter buying process, fewer OP expenses, analysis and reporting
• While scrutinizing B2B e-commerce ventures, the specific industries served is strategic plus its readiness to integrate with other systems, scalability, onboarding/implementation lead times and the overall cost to benefit analysis comes in handy.
• Successful launch means getting departments with common objectives and common objectives on board; filling in the product catalogues, transferring customer and order data, integration with payment systems and ERP software, training users and post-go-live support.

While we are still looking into other details to be discussed about the advanced B2B ecommerce platform for small businesses, let us first assess the main function which is vital to the search for the said platform.

Also Read:- SaaS Analytics To Improve Business Economics – Horizohub

List of Top B2B E-Commerce Platforms For Small Businesses

Here are the top b2b e-commerce platforms for small businesses:

1. Salesforce Commerce Cloud
2. Oracle NetSuite
3. SAP Commerce Cloud
4. Magento Commerce
5. BigCommerce
6. Handshake
7. Contalog

In that reality, you are handling the number of people from one single customer account. Your ecommerce platform must have the ability to allow multiple users with one centralized log in that can be assigned their own permission level.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based ecommerce platform that provides enterprises with the technical solutions of creating online stores, handling orders and inventory, personalizing customer experiences, and other that such solution can provide.

Key Capabilities

• Omnichannel commerce
• Provides features to achieve ecommerce for websites, mobile shopping and in-store pickup among many others to provide common shopping experience.
• Order management and fulfillment will also be at the heart of our operations.
• The plan to automate the order workflow, the inventory, and fulfillment across all channels.
• Personalized merchandising
• AI and data applies to develop personalized products recommendations as well as promotions.
• Integrations
• Integrating on-the-fly with Salesforce Sales, Service Cloud and third party apps.
• Over 150 million shoppers have touched the devices based on Salesforce Commerce Cloud services.
• Supports both B2B and B2C business models with multi-size infrastructures that are secure and reliable.
• This solution is PCI compliant and it also stress this solution meets the global regulatory and compliance needs.

The platform offers the businesses a robust E-commerce capability that is doing business from small to large enterprises globally. The emergence of AI, cloud, and other creative solutions is one of the principal features of Salesforce Commerce Cloud solutions where they strive to provide the next-gen digital commerce experiences.

Oracle NetSuite

Oracle NetSuite is a cloud-based software platform comprising a single system with capabilities for Enterprise Resource Planning, Finance Management, Customer Relationship Management, E-commerce and other business activities.

Key Features

• An integrated system spanning major functional areas of the business.
• Financial management
• Order management and fulfillment both.
• Auditing the inventory and supply chain is one of the key operations matter.
• manufacturing
• Customer relationship management
• The Cloud-based structure, which can be accessed from everywhere.
• Scalable – system should be designed considering growth from small startup to large corporations.
• With suitecloud platform platform at our fingertips, presenting the UT logo in a blue background holds no hurdles at all.

Benefits

• The need to be visible throughout all the business of the company as well.
• Increased ability to get the job done in an effective and productive manner.
• Live coverage and the analytics.
• Reduced IT expenses via the discontinuance of physical local infrastructure

As for today, more than 18,000 customers are using the Oracle NetSuite in about 160 countries. The platform performs multiple processes that would usually be done internally in the cloud. Oracle NetSuite’s abilities feature data integration and adjustment to the evolvement of customer’s enterprise settings.

SAP Commerce Cloud

This hub, formerly called Hybris, concentrates on the B2B selling through such functions as the custom catalogs, advanced personalization, and the flexible pricing solutions. It is Nevertheless, notes strong integration in SAP application suite. SAP Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based e-commerce solution that offers business customers with all the necessary tools to develop and administer online shops.

Key Capabilities

• Omnichannel commerce which facilitates e-commerce, departmental store and call centre sales and customer service. Omni-channel features are available (for example: buy online, pick up in store).
• Product Catalog Admin – Reliable tools for operating complicated product catalogs, and supplying suitable technical solutions for maintaining the product data accuracy across all sales channels.
• Order Management – Simple order placement, processing, and prompt delivery across different channels.
• Personalization – Utilize AI and machine learning to deliver personalized advices and discounts to your customer.

Benefits

• Troubled customers may contact the company through different channels, and if the experience is not consistent across channels, it may raise their level of dissatisfaction and affect their loyalty.
• Faster timeframe for the delivery of the new features.
• An increase in numbers of converted buyers and revenue growth accordingly.
• The reduced in IT costs by an on-demand delivery through Cloud model.

SAP Commerce Cloud is the partner of choice for more than 900 brands globally. It drives the growth of revenue, and on the other hand, it fast-tracks innovations by providing exemplary purchasing experiences.

Magento Commerce

Open-source Magento provides what is known as unlimited customization which is suitable for both large ( B2B) and small enterprises. Contrarily, it has a great deal of technical expertise but has fewer skills needed to operate than turnkey platforms.

Magento is a modern eCommerce platform with over 250,000 businesses in 120 countries. It is the top eCommerce platform.

Key Features

• Modular and MVC architecture framework meant to ensure usage flexibility.
• Ample of admin interface for product, order administration and so on.
• Design your URLs to be SEO friendly and your meta tags properly.
• Content management system (CMS) that integrates common tools for content management.
• Powerful marketing, and high promo power tools.

Usage Stats

• With this, approximately $155 billion worth of goods are managed by Magento on a yearly basis in gross merchandise volume.
• And Magento, who is the mother of 250,000 stores all over the world, is another example of this.
• Top Magento brands are being used by the likes of Ford, Save The Children, Lenovo, Olympus, and Bulgari, among many others.
• Magento is still a popular player with 24% of the top 1 million ecommerce stores.

Benefits

• Mobile-ready and responsive design templates are already available for easy website creation.
• PCI compliance for security is one of the significant services that we provide to our customers.
• The support from the international institutions for the multiple currencies, languages and other relevant mechanisms provides the required momentum for their success.
• Building the framework that could load hundreds of users at once was the toughest part of the development process.
• Extensive third party integration options in terms of software as well as hardware platforms which enables the system to adapt to diverse applications.
• Large developer network for 1000+ extensions across clouds.

Its enterprise-level traits and continually supportive community, makes XYZ Commerce an appealing alternative for medium and big-scale ecommerce firms looking for a customizable and highly-featured ecommerce platform.

BigCommerce

When it comes to SaaS platforms, BigCommerce has a knack for making it hassle-free for SMBs to build branded online stores with all essential features embedded and ready to use. It offers convenience and the flexibility associated with web-based learning while retaining affordability.

Bigcommerce is a hosted eCommerce platform designed to serve the needs of B2B buyers with its wide range of tools and features.

• User could choose between role-based and permission level for user account to easily set up large teams and complex organizational structure.
• Not only the sophisticated pricing and quoting systems through volume discounts and prices lists for different customers but also the ability to distribute the produced goods to various markets worldwide allows companies to meet the increasing demand for their products.
• Integration of B2B purchasing portals for smooth currency movements and uninterrupted transactions.
• Being a superb solution for large collections, the powerful product filtering and faceted search can be adjusted easily.
• System designing for acts on order complexity like quotations, bargaining, and approvals.
• According to BigCommerce’s report, the majority (over 60%) of its clients do business with other businesses which then makes them a B2B company.
• The lead sectors within the sector are manufacturing, food & beverage, consumer packaged goods, healthcare and automotive.
• 75% of the ones, which belong to the fastest-growing BigCommerce stores, sell B2B.

This is done using the platform’s robust features which are tailored for B2B use cases. Consequently, businesses can easily build a more efficient online store, streamline business processes to manage inventory efficiently, and ultimately, drive more sales.

Handshake

[Handshake](https://wholesale.handshake.com/ is a fully B2B e-commerce solution that 100% constricts wholesale transactions for manufacturers, brands, distributors and resellers. The platform is transitioning over $200 billion in B2B order volume annually, these being more than 400,000 global business customers served.

Smaller companies can also find support through specific grants aimed at their industry or location, allowing them to boost their resources and expand their reach.

• “Free ammonia basic plan” is designed to support core B2B commerce needs for early growth stages.
• Self onboarding is an easy process that fetches to build digital B2B catalogs in minutes.
• Mobile apps transform the mobile reps’ role to order taking and customer account management from anywhere.
• these that are integrated, namely, payments processing, financing, and shipping.
• Cooperative handling, inventory, and document management

Handshake delivers all robust B2B features plus an easy usability, which is a must have for a small company. You will get the ability to automate purchase orders and to process all the paperwork while ensuring that the business to business ecommerce operation is robustly scaled.

Contalog

[Contalog](https://www.contalog.com/) ecommerce platform provides a one-stop shop solution where you can manage your catalog, automate orders, comply with global trade regulations, and get analytic insights. It is made just for manufacturing and distribution organizations and assists to remove the complexity of B2B sales cycles.

• Pricing that is affordable can cater to large, small, or midsize businesses.
• Automate the labor-intensive sales processes to reduce manual workloads and therefore increase the business efficiency.
• Central dashboard shows better understanding of customer behavior at the same time.
• Catalogs tailored to specific market segments with specially designed tiers of prices.
• The application of role-based permissions provides control over account access.

Small companies can take help of Contalog to present customized B2B catalogs to their purchasers who might be based on various regions and other buying attributes like contract, order history and so forth. This highest level personalization works to increase sales for the business but at a relatively higher margin.

The main criteria for a small business which is going to be engaged in B2B ecommerce for the first time are: finding an affordable platform that coincides with your money plans and growth expectations with the “ready to use” functionality that will minimize the need in external developers or a technically trained stuff.

Whereas Handshake and Contalog are at par in some issues such as free basic plans, user end self service, and tools to automate business practices and management issues, they are not the same in many aspects like the initial capital requirement and rather than the automated process, the human touch is a crucial ingredient in customer satisfaction in the two companies. Such a shift in your B2B business process to a virtual network from time to time, the network effect or the compound effect – more customers, more data means more sales – will be developed faster. Investing, even at a small scale, in it early on it is really an awesome decision.

Final Words

When it comes to sorting out the business needs relating to the contalog management, order processing, account permissions, and integrations, you can find the right platform from the list. Yet for B2B ecommerce companies the majority of the time, they can commence by the Handshake or Contalog systems. Within a short time frame, you can start your online B2B existence and get rid of manual paperwork, so the resulting increase in productivity and efficiency will obviously be much quicker.