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B2B eCommerce

Game World Solves B2B eCommerce Pricing Challenges

January 16, 2019 | Brandon Kim

Managing your B2B eCommerce pricing strategy can seem like a daunting task. Unlike B2C, where pricing is fixed for all consumers, B2B eCommerce pricing varies per customer, contract agreement, or quantity purchased.

And the variables can get even more complex if you have a product that is priced according to packaging, weight, or even cost of materials. Game World, a game and toy distributor in the Netherlands, ran into the same issue when their previous platform reached its capacity and could no longer handle the amount of orders and data entering its system.

Game World experienced explosive growth in just 2 years by growing their catalog from 30,000 products to over 300,000- with the expectation to reach over 1 million products.A large assortment, plus a global distribution business for thousands of B2B customers resulted in a jaw-dropping 2.7 million price points! They needed help managing their complex eCommerce pricing and looked to Oro to provide a flexible B2B eCommerce platform that could handle their current volume and grow with their ever-increasing assortment.

The Complex Challenges in B2B eCommerce Pricing

If you take some time to untangle the web of B2B eCommerce pricing, you’ll notice 3 key elements that are unique to B2B eCommerce. Your platform solution should be able to address these elements in order to create a strong foundation for your eCommerce business.

Unique Pricing

Every customer is unique and their cost is reflective of their unique shopping habits. How large are their orders? How often will they be placing their orders? Who pays for shipping? All of these questions play a role in their negotiated contract price. A business that places smaller orders once a month may see a higher cost than a weekly buyer who orders in bulk. No matter what their contract looks like, the customer is expecting to see the price that was promised to them.

Accurate Pricing

If your eCommerce is connected to an ERP, then it’s imperative that the pricing that is updated in the ERP is also synced into your platform and displayed on your webstore. Any delays in the system will cause confusion for your customers and potential profit loss for your business. Pricing needs to be displayed and updated in real-time.

Variables in Pricing

For those with varying product configurations, your pricing will vary based on size, packaging, and weight. Think back to any of your most recent Amazon purchases and you’ve most likely selected a different color, size, or even frustration-free packaging. You are able to click through these options while staying on the same product page, but each click most likely results in a different final cost. The checkout process still needs to run smoothly as the customer clicks through their different options. For B2B customers, another factor to this will be their unique contract pricing or tier pricing. Pricing needs to be calculated instantly and it will always be unique to that customer.

Complex Pricing Simplified

How do you create a customized experience for hundreds, or even thousands of your customers in the most efficient and automated way possible? OroCommerce’s Price List feature can be configured on the backend to create a unique shopping experience without having to manually make changes for every single customer. You can group your customers into a set price list, like Tier 1 customer receive 25% off MSRP, and then assign your customers according to their designated Tier. The system is flexible enough to give you the freedom to group your customers in a way that makes sense for your unique business.

For Game World, OroCommerce established a business logic that displays the prices of products as soon as the customer logs onto the webshop. Here is what their business logic looks like:

  1. See if there is a specific contract agreement with the customer. If yes, then these prices are shown.

If not:

  1. See if there is a specific pricing for a customer group (for example, toy stores). If yes, then the customer sees the prices that are linked to this group.

If not:

  1. See if there is a specific price for a customer on a specific category (for example, toy stores get a special discount for the category “Toys”. If yes, the customer sees this price while seeing default pricing for all other categories.

If not:

  1. See if there are any other pricing agreements. If there are no other conditions, then default prices are shown.

With this automated B2B eCommerce pricing logic, customers are able to experience a customized webshop that offers personalized B2B pricing. OroCommerce’s native B2B pricing features enabled Game World to import their various product assortment and pricing variations. Not only do they have a strong foundation for the current business needs, but they also have a platform that can flexibly address any pricing rules.

You can find more information on the Game World customer success story here and be sure to check out our customer showcase page.

We’re proud to announce that this project was delivered by Madia, one of our first solution partners. Founded in 2007 and based in the Netherlands, Madia helps e-Businesses find success through a mix of marketing, creativity, and technology. A few of the implementations they deliver to their customers include cross-channel solutions, ERP, custom platform development, and B2C+B2B consulting.

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