Comprehensive Comparison of Best B2B eCommerce Platforms

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B2B eCommerce Platform Comparison Chart

When it comes to eCommerce platforms, you have many options. That abundance is confusing. We know the needs of B2B companies are vastly different from their B2C counterparts. Because B2B needs are different, the decision-making criteria are different too.

We want to help you cut through the clutter and narrow down your choice of B2B eCommerce software and vendors. Download our B2B eCommerce comparison chart and then use it to review the features of major B2B eCommerce products. Then compare the offerings against the must-have features of an eCommerce platform built for B2B transactions.

comparison chart for b2b ecommerce platforms

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Compare Top B2B eCommerce Platform Vendors

The B2B eCommerce platform comparison chart provides key information about nine major players in the industry. These companies are included because they hold a large percentage of the market share and have a proven record of success with enterprise and mid-market clients. Use this information about the pros and cons of each platform to comprehensively review and evaluate your options.

OroCommerce

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Optimizely (Episerver)

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Unilog

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Salesforce

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
SAP Hybris

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Shopware

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Intershop

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.
Oracle

Oro’s founders are the team that founded Magento and later sold it to eBay. Since then they have focused on B2B-specific solutions. OroCommerce is an open-source, modular eCommerce platform developed specifically for the B2B market. It offers a diverse range of B2B capabilities out-of-the-box, including but not limited to personalization, localization, advanced pricing engine, workflow automation, and the integrated OroCRM product.

B2B eCommerce Platform Key Selection Criteria

As you research and compare B2B eCommerce solutions, you’ll naturally want to focus on the feature set of each. Review this detailed list of essential digital commerce features to identify the ones most critical to the success of your use case.

Open-source vs proprietary code

Unlike proprietary software, where the code is closed, open-source software is available for anyone to modify. This means that open-source eCommerce software is typically easier to customize and adapt to different verticals, industries, and countries.

Scale and performance

B2B eCommerce platforms must efficiently handle complex organizational structures with multiple brands, locations, languages, and currencies. Platform scalability provides companies the power to manage millions of SKUs, thousands of price lists, and accommodate complex organizational structures, adapting to the business as it grows.

Flexibility to customize to business needs

Whether you want to customize the online portal theme, products, discounts, checkouts, workflows, or payments, you should have the flexibility. A fully customizable B2B eCommerce solution allows you to easily add custom functionalities and features without significantly increasing development time and costs.

Fully Dynamic Open RESTful API

REST APIs make integrating systems and extracting data related to products, orders, and inventory easier. Businesses that operate an eCommerce platform supporting Open RESTful APIs can quickly and seamlessly connect and transfer data between business-critical systems, such as CRM, ERP, PIM, and BI to eliminate data silos.

Flexible Deployment Options

Every business has different needs, so it’s important to have multiple deployment options for your eCommerce platform. Whether it’s on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid, look for the deployment model that meets your security and maintenance needs. When you select a platform with support for multiple deployment models, you can move from one deployment model to another without sacrificing data control and security.

No Vendor Lock-in

B2B eCommerce companies who value digital agility want to avoid vendor lock-in. These restrictions prevent users from using third-party software. When freed from vendor lock-in, companies can access the developer community and take advantage of a competitive market for customizations and extensions, or build them in-house.

CRM to Optimize Business Operations

Having an integrated CRM provides greater opportunities for automation and customer insights. Plus, it eliminates the time and resources involved in integrating a siloed CRM solution. While all eCommerce vendors provide CRM integration features, only a few offer a built-in CRM out of the box.

24/7 Support

24/7 customer support means B2B companies can get help and find answers to questions as soon as they come up – 24/7 and in real-time. An eCommerce vendor with round-the-clock email and ticketing support ensures that any urgent issues are resolved fast, without disrupting business operations.

Workflow Automation

Automated workflows help B2B companies reduce the complexity of both buyer and seller-related business processes. For example, workflow automation can help streamline order processing (sending data to the ERP, notifying customers via email, etc.), inventory synchronization, dynamic price calculations, approvals management, and much more.

Robust Pricing Engine

It’s critical for B2B companies to set, manage, and execute B2B pricing strategies efficiently to meet profit objectives. A built-in pricing engine that supports complex B2B price management gives you the tools necessary to set up pricing lists and tiers for different customer groups and customer levels and handle elaborate pricing strategies. Combine with automated workflows to digitize the RFQ process for even more efficiency.

Multi-organization Capability

If you manage multinational brands or plan to expand globally, multi-organization capability will help you do so effectively. Manage operations across various countries, currencies, and tax authorities and control multiple businesses, sub-brands, and divisions all from one backend.

Customer Hierarchy Management

Most B2B transactions involve multiple buyers and decision-makers. With this feature, B2B sellers give their customers the ability to create accounts that incorporate their own internal hierarchies for an improved customer experience. Customer corporate hierarchy management allows you to configure account management structures, add authorized users, and create customized purchasing rules for each customer.

Robust Search

Site search helps users find information and also offers detailed insight into your customer behavior that can be used for optimization, marketing campaigns, and procurement activities. Enhanced search, indexing capabilities, and filtering segmentation also make your online store more responsive and user-friendly.

Multi-warehouse Management

B2B companies frequently operate multiple warehouses to control delivery time and cost. Even companies starting with one warehouse may add additional warehouses to ship orders faster and serve a wider area. A multi-warehouse management feature enables B2B sellers to add an unlimited number of warehouses and manage their operations more efficiently by providing centralized, real-time data on inventory.

Access Control, Roles, Permissions, and Management

Managing access to the eCommerce website and backend operations is an essential security and accountability requirement for any company. Configuring roles and permissions for employees and buyers helps create unique experiences while ensuring that each user has access only to the information they need.

5 B2B eCommerce Site Examples

Every B2B eCommerce project is different. What works well for one company may not always be applicable for another. But there are always insights to be gleaned from successful B2B eCommerce sites. Explore these five examples of real B2B websites to better understand how to approach essential features like navigation, product pages, checkout, shopping lists, and personalization.

Wastequip

Wastequip is a leading manufacturer of waste handling equipment with over 2,000 employees and 38 facilities. The company decided to enter the eCommerce market, starting with one brand, Mountain Tarp.

Wastequip’s strategic goal was to simplify the ordering process for customers and grow its online presence in response to increasing customer demand.

After the eCommerce site went live, it saw an 8x increase in web traffic – convincing proof of its rapid adoption.

What makes Wastequip’s B2B eCommerce site successful:

Easy navigation with convenient search to quickly find and order products
Detailed product descriptions and the ability to download product documentation
Shipping date estimation
Easy-to-use support options
Multi-item ordering functionality

See live website

Dunlop

Dunlop Protective Footwear designs, develops, and manufactures footwear for industrial environments. To scale its business, Dunlop made the natural decision to expand online. With a robust B2B eCommerce solution as a foundation, Dunlop digitized its sales channel, increasing its conversion rate by 40% and average order value by 10%.

What makes Dunlop’s eCommerce site successful:

A responsive website with an easy-to-navigate structure
The ability to quickly place orders from any device and track order history
Complete stock and pricing transparency
Country-specific eCommerce websites ensure customers get localized products and promotions

See live website (under credentials)

Azelis

Azelis is a global service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry. To better meet the needs of its customers, Azelis invests in digital technologies. One of the key digitization enablers is its customer portal.

The goal of the portal is to educate and inspire customers to help them make more informed purchasing decisions. Azelis self-service portal centralizes high-quality technical information, products, prices, formulations, and samples.

What makes Azelis eCommerce portal successful:

Searchable, up-to-date product catalogs
Catalogs are localized for different customer groups based on a language and region
The ability to easily order online, view recent purchases and payments
Shipment tracking
Live support

See live website

Saltworks

Saltworks is the largest salt manufacturer in the US, supplying wholesale customers like distributors, restaurants, gourmet retailers, as well as individual consumers. Saltworks invested in a flexible B2B eCommerce solution to provide personalized experiences for B2B customers while also managing its B2C sales.

Saltworks’ new storefront creates a unified shopping experience for their B2B and B2C customers. B2B customers are redirected to a separate portal designed for B2B ordering, billing, and checkout. Splitting the B2C and B2B workflows helps better handle both business models providing all buyers with a functional, smooth purchasing experience.

What makes Saltworks eCommerce site successful:
A personalized B2B ordering workflow
Extended checkout for B2B customers to accommodate LTL, UPS, freight quoting, and self-arranged shipping methods
Amazon cross-promotion: customers can click the “Available at Amazon” button to purchase B2C products on Amazon
Content-rich product pages with downloadable spec sheets and product certifications

See live website

Petra

Petra is a leading distributor of consumer products working with more than 800 brands and tens of thousands of retail partners. Being a future-oriented company, Petra wanted to transition their B2B customers online and needed a scalable digital commerce platform.

With a robust B2B eCommerce platform, Petra launched a commerce website with expansive B2B functionality. The platform also offers integrations with enterprise-grade tools, like ERP, PIM, and CRM, enabling Petra to automate data transfer across all critical aspects of its business.

What makes Petra eCommerce site successful:

Self-service that supports quick order forms, CSV file uploads, and personalized shopping carts
Site search available by keyword, SKU, and part number
Extensive search filters
Detailed product descriptions with the ability to add brand logos
Functional B2B customer accounts with multiple logins, different levels of permissions, and flexible order approval workflows

See live website

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FAQ: B2B eCommerce Platform Comparison

What is a B2B eCommerce platform?

A business-to-business (B2B), also called B-to-B, eCommerce platform enables companies to create a website where businesses (e.g. manufacturing companies, wholesalers, suppliers) can sell goods and services online.

Which eCommerce platform is best for B2B?

If you want to offer an outstanding customer experience and make it easy for companies to do business with you online, you need an eCommerce platform developed specifically for B2B. This means the B2B sales platform should be able to cover between 70% and 80% of B2B functionality out-of-the-box (e.g. order negotiation, complex pricing lists and rules, ERP integration, etc.).

Additionally, the best eCommerce platform for B2B is modular, flexible, and customizable, which means it can be adapted to any B2B use case, regardless of the industry or vertical.

The only platform on the market today that has been developed to meet complex B2B needs from the ground up is OroCommerce.

What is an open-source B2B eCommerce platform?

When you compare eCommerce solutions, it’s important to understand the difference between open-source and proprietary platforms. An open-source B2B eCommerce platform gives you free access to the source code. This provides the flexibility to adapt the platform to meet your business needs. But it also requires IT resources to customize the code or take advantage of code that others have developed.

The key benefits of open-source B2B eCommerce platforms include:

Greater security as bugs are fixed faster.
Community support.
Open APIs for easier integration.
Generally a lower total cost of ownership.

Learn what makes OroCommerce the best open-source B2B eCommerce platform.

What are the must-have features of a B2B eCommerce platform?

Essential B2B eCommerce features streamline sales and improve the customer experience. Among the must-have features of a B2B eCommerce platform are:

Content Management System – communicate the advantages of your products with product descriptions, videos, certifications, and marketing materials using a wide variety of media types.
Multiple Price Lists – create and customize as many price lists as you need and manage complex pricing strategies.
Digitized Order Negotiation – easily handle requests for quotes and quote to cash transactions.
Integrations – prevent data silos by seamlessly integrating with your ERP, WMS, PIM, CRM, and other business applications.
Access Controls, Roles & Permissions – ensure that users have access to only the data they need to do their job.
Corporate Account Management – address complex, hierarchical corporate account structures.
Support for Multiple Organizations, Websites & Stores – control multiple businesses, sub-brands, and divisions from one place.

You can use this list as a starting point for the B2B eCommerce platform comparison.

What are the benefits of selling on a B2B platform?

There are three major benefits of selling through a B2B eCommerce platform:

Increased revenue: Selling online helps expand your market reach, and make your products more discoverable, thereby attracting more potential customers.
Optimized sales processes: A B2B sales portal lets customers place orders 24/7, giving your sales reps more time to pursue new opportunities. It also eliminates manual, repetitive tasks by enabling your sales team to automatically import orders and invoices, send RFQs, and convert quotes to sales.
Improved customer experience: With a B2B platform you can make purchasing easy and personalized for businesses, encouraging them to buy from you again.