In this article
Talk to our experts- B2B ecommerce
- B2B ecommerce (business-to-business ecommerce) is selling goods or services online from one business to another, such as a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler or a wholesaler selling to a retailer. The buyer places the order, or the price and terms are negotiated, over the internet, electronic data interchange (EDI) or another online system.
Also called: business-to-business ecommerce, B2B e-commerce
How it works
The US Census Bureau uses B2B for commerce transactions between businesses. It counts a sale as ecommerce when the buyer places the order, or the price and terms are negotiated, over EDI, the internet or another online system such as an extranet or email. Payment may or may not be made online.
The Census Bureau measures goods and services sold online over two kinds of networks:
- Open networks such as the internet: for example, a buyer logs in to a supplier's online store and places the order there.
- Proprietary networks running systems such as EDI: structured data moves from one trading partner's computer system to the other's, without human intervention.
B2B vs. B2C ecommerce
The difference is who buys. B2C (business-to-consumer) ecommerce sells to individual consumers. In B2B ecommerce, the person at checkout buys on behalf of a business, which Shopify models with three records:
- Company: the parent organization for one or more company locations.
- Company location: the business you sell to. Each location can have its own tax ID, tax exemptions, ship-to address, billing address, pricing, payment terms, checkout settings and contacts.
- Customer: the individual who purchases on behalf of that business.
Shopify lets you personalize the buying experience for each B2B customer, such as pricing, currency, products, payment and shipping methods, and store content.
What a B2B ecommerce store handles
Shopify's B2B features show the jobs a B2B ecommerce store takes on:
- Account pricing: catalogs set custom pricing and control which products B2B customers can buy.
- Quantity rules and volume pricing: minimums, maximums and increments per variant, plus price breaks when a buyer orders a certain quantity in the same order.
- Payment terms: Net 7, Net 15, Net 30, Net 45, Net 60, Net 90 or due on fulfillment.
- Purchase order numbers: buyers can add a purchase order (PO) number to an order.
- Self-serve reordering: buyers log in with customer accounts and reorder by duplicating a past order.
- ERP integration: Shopify B2B can integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other business systems to sync customer data, orders, inventory, product catalogs and pricing.
Example
An electrical distributor sells breakers online to contractors. One contractor is a company with two company locations, a main office and a branch.
- Login: the contractor's buyer logs in and sees the catalog assigned to the distributor's contractor market, at $18 a breaker.
- Quantity rules and volume pricing: breakers sell in increments of 10, with a price break to $16 at 50 or more.
- Order: the buyer orders 60 breakers for the branch: 60 x $16 = $960. They add their PO number and check out on the branch's Net 30 terms: the $960 is due within 30 days.
- Next month: the buyer, who has the location admin role for the branch, duplicates the order from their customer account to reorder.
On Shopify
Shopify B2B runs on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans. It is not available on the Starter or Retail plans. Companies, catalogs, net payment terms, self-serve ordering and Shopify Flow automations are on all four B2B plans. Basic, Grow and Advanced can assign up to 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets. Plus adds unlimited B2B market catalogs, catalogs assigned directly to companies and company locations, deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment.
B2B can share a store with your direct-to-consumer business or run in a separate B2B-only store. For ERP integration, Shopify describes three methods: direct integrations from the Shopify App Store for select ERP, accounting and product information management (PIM) systems, integrations from integration platform as a service (iPaaS) providers, and custom integrations built on its B2B APIs.
Our Shopify B2B guide covers features, plans, costs and setup in detail.
How Uncap helps
Uncap is a B2B ecommerce agency and Shopify Platinum Partner. It builds Shopify B2B ecommerce for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers with complex operations: customer-specific and contract pricing, deep catalogs, net terms, real-time ERP sync, quoting, and self-serve reordering. Uncap Connect syncs Shopify and the ERP in real time, two ways, and Uncap Portal is a private ordering portal for commerce, services, and rentals.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What does B2B stand for?
B2B stands for business-to-business. The US Census Bureau uses it to describe commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer.
What is a B2B business model?
A B2B business sells to other businesses rather than to consumers, as a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler or a wholesaler selling to a retailer does. B2B ecommerce runs those sales online.
What is the B2B platform?
A B2B ecommerce platform is the software a seller uses to take business orders online. Shopify B2B, for example, is a suite of native features that lets you sell business-to-business through the Shopify admin and online store, on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans.
