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B2B eCommerce
for Distributors

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The emergence and popularity of online purchasing has given B2B distributors favorable conditions to tap into a growing pool of online B2B buyers.

Google reports that nearly half of all B2B researchers are millennials and today’s modern buyers expect to view and easily make purchases – not only during working hours, but at any time and from any location.

As a leading B2B eCommerce solution for distributors, OroCommerce supports both on-premise and SaaS deployments with a platform that enables strong, personalized online experiences for B2B buyers.

Whether you want to boost sales, reach new markets, win over new customers, or improve internal productivity with powerful eCommerce automation tools, you need a flexible and robust B2B eCommerce platform.

Key Benefits of B2B eCommerce for Distributors

  1. Grow Revenue and Protect Margins

    Expand online, win more business, and drive profitable growth.

    • Multi-site & Marketplace Capabilities: Launch new online stores, branches, or marketplaces from a single backend. Support multi-channel selling and scale your eCommerce business easily.
    • Dynamic Pricing Engine: Run complex contract pricing, tiered discounts, and real-time price updates by customer group or product.
    • Actionable Reporting & Dashboards: Get actionable insights on sales, margins, inventory turns, and customer adoption, giving you a competitive advantage with a comprehensive feature set for distributors.
    • Sales & Field App: Empower your sales reps to create and manage orders both online and offline, so your team supports customers wherever business happens.
    • Customer Retention Tools: Use promotions, loyalty programs, and product recommendations, boosting customer lifetime value and responding to real customer behavior with built-in marketing tools.
    See full features list
  2. Deliver a Standout Customer Experience

    Empower your customers and buyers with a comprehensive digital experience platform designed specifically for ecommerce for distributors.

     

    • Digitize Your Catalog: Show each buyer their own contract terms, custom pricing, and tailored catalogs, even across multiple locations, branches, or regions. This supports different customer groups and complex pricing models that many wholesale distributors require.
    • Self-Service Portals: Give buyers 24/7 access to order history, invoices, and quotes through intuitive self-service portals, so they can place orders, check status, and reorder when it suits them, not just during business hours.
    • Automate Workflows: Enable approval chains, budget controls, and multi-user permissions, so you deliver truly personalized customer experiences for every segment, streamlining the B2B sales process.
    • Mobile Ordering & PWA App: Equip customers and sales reps to order, track, and manage from any device, giving them flexibility whether they’re in the office or on the go, right from your eCommerce website.
    • Real-time Inventory & Shipping: how buyers live product availability and shipping ETAs, so they always know what’s in stock, improving trust and reliability with powerful inventory management.
    • Integrated CRM: Give your sales and service teams a unified view of all customer data and touchpoints, so they build stronger customer relationships and resolve issues faster.
    See full features list
  3. Streamline Operations and Boost Productivity

    Cut manual work, eliminate silos, and scale without chaos.

    • High-SKU Catalog Management: Handle complex product catalogs with millions of SKUs and price lists, so you can expand product lines and update your online store quickly, without performance issues.
    • Automated Order Routing & Approvals: Route orders by warehouse, customer, or value and automate notifications and approvals, reducing errors and speeding up your purchasing process across all business operations.
    • Native Punchout & eProcurement: Seamlessly integrate with platforms like Ariba, Coupa, and Oracle, streamlining large B2B transactions and making your supply chain stronger.
    • ERP, PIM & EDI Integrations: Open API-first architecture means less integration pain – Oro works with leading ERP systems like SAP, Epicor, Infor, NetSuite, Acumatica, and homegrown systems.
    • Advanced Search & Matrix Ordering: Help buyers find and configure the exact products they need, fast, even across huge catalogs.
    • Automated Invoicing & Self-Service: Automate invoices, recurring orders, and communications, cutting admin time and making your team more efficient, with robust eCommerce software.
    See full features list
  4. Scale and Adapt On Your Terms

    For distributors ready to expand across branches, markets, or selling models, the right eCommerce platform removes limits, not adds them.

    • Multi-Branch & Multi-Site Management: Manage all your multiple locations, brands, and business units from a single platform, centralizing control while giving each branch flexibility.
    • Localize for Any Market: Configure language, currency, tax, and compliance rules for every market, so you stay relevant and compliant, everywhere you operate.
    • Branch-Specific Catalogs & Pricing: Tailor product availability and customer-specific pricing at the branch or business unit level, ensuring you meet local customer needs without custom workarounds.
    • Flexible Selling Models: Sell B2B, B2C, D2C, or run your own marketplace – OroCommerce supports whatever selling models drive your business growth
    • Easy Expansion: Rapidly roll out new sites, brands, or product lines – test new markets without heavy technical expertise or replatforming.
    • Connect Local Systems: Integrate with regional ERP systems, payment providers, and shipping carriers as needed. Keep what works, modernize where you want.
    See full features list
  5. Smarter Selling with Native AI and Modern Tools

    Don’t just digitize. Get smarter, faster, and more resilient with OroCommerce AI.

    • AI-Powered Order Processing (SmartOrder): Accelerate the purchasing process by automatically turning emailed, PDF, or Word POs into draft orders, reducing manual entry and costly mistakes.
    • AI-Driven Customer Support (SmartAgent): Customers (and your sales team) can get pricing, product info, and order status via natural language chat, right in the portal.
    • Advanced Search & Recommendations: Help customers find the right product in massive catalogs, powered by AI-driven search and smart recommendations.
    • Ready for What’s Next: OroCommerce brings innovation to distribution without adding complexity. Connect to OpenAI, Google Vertex AI, and other modern tools, so your eCommerce solution never falls behind and always supports your competitive advantage.
    See full features list
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OroCommerce

Distributors Success Story

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B2B Distribution eCommerce Lays the Foundation for Growth

A flexible B2B eCommerce platform helps TruPar boost revenue, automate pricing, and serve customers globally

TruPar, a leading forklift parts distributor, needed a platform that could handle over 8 million SKUs, support real-time pricing, and run multiple regional webstores from a single backend. After other eCommerce platforms failed to scale, TruPar turned to OroCommerce.

With OroCommerce, TruPar automated complex tiered pricing and complex pricing structures, offered instant shipping ETAs, and localized storefronts for different markets – all while increasing online revenue by 25% and average order value by 70%. Our eCommerce software gives TruPar the control and scalability needed to serve customers fast and increase customer satisfaction while keeping their massive inventory in sync.

Why Leading Distributors Choose OroCommerce

Purpose-built for B2B Distribution

Distributors have a different kind of complexity: huge catalogs, tangled pricing rules, and accounts that might span dozens of branches or buying groups. Our B2B eCommerce platform was built to handle that from day one. You get flexible account structures, contract pricing, and multi-org tools designed to support your business, not fight against it.

Integration-Ready

No distributor runs on a single system. You rely on ERP, PIM, eProcurement, and homegrown tools, often all at once. OroCommerce is an API-first eCommerce solution, so you can connect with what you already use, whether it’s SAP, Infor, Epicor, NetSuite, or something unique to your industry.

All-in-One eCommerce Platform

You shouldn’t have to bolt together five different systems (and five different vendors) to run B2B eCommerce, CRM, and a marketplace. OroCommerce brings it all together, so your teams have one source of truth and you avoid the endless headaches of maintaining duct-taped integrations.
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Designed for Field Sales, Not Just Web Orders

Not every customer is going to order online. Some still want to talk to your reps, and your reps need the right tools on the road or in the warehouse. With OroCommerce’s native field sales app, your team can create orders, check pricing, or answer customer questions, wherever they are, online or offline.

Deployment on Your Terms

IT teams need control: sometimes that means SaaS, sometimes you need it on your own servers, sometimes a mix. OroCommerce, the only B2B-first eCommerce platform, gives you all three options so you’re not boxed in.

Continuous Innovation

Gartner and IDC have recognized OroCommerce for its depth in B2B – and our customers keep us honest. We invest where distributors feel the most pain: automation, smarter workflows, and essential features for B2B selling. If you’re tired of outgrowing platforms, you’ll notice the difference here.
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Looking for game-changing eCommerce insights?

Explore these resources for B2B eCommerce for distributors:

OroCommerce Accelerator for Distributors

While our B2B eCommerce platform offers extensive out-of-the-box eCommerce software features, these additional tools make your digital transformation smoother, more efficient, and cost-effective.

Ultimate guide to eCommerce replatforming

This guide covers all the stages of the ecommerce replatforming process: starting from identifying replatforming is necessary to the actual plan of action for your migration and post-migration stages.

Workflow automation engine and its impact on B2B eCommerce digital transformation

In this whitepaper, you’ll learn about automated workflows, how they benefit your business, and why flexible workflows are essential for B2B digital transformation.

Frequently Asked Questions About B2B eCommerce for Distributors

Do distributors need eCommerce?

A distributor is usually the middleman between the manufacturer and the customer. Most distributors sign contracts with manufacturers enabling them to represent the manufacturer in certain territories. Distributors primarily sell to other businesses and not to consumers.

Let’s consider B2B electronic distributors. Many sell to wholesalers, retail partners, retailers, or other businesses simultaneously. However, their B2B customers, like independent consumers, want to compare products, place orders, and get their deliveries fast. Thus, B2B eCommerce can help distributors grow sales, increase average order values, and repeat purchases.

Why should a distributor try eCommerce in 2025?

B2B buyers demand accurate product data, live stock availability, and the freedom to buy on their terms. The right B2B eCommerce platform for distributors delivers a seamless experience, allowing you to showcase customer-specific catalogs and custom pricing, automate order approvals, and provide enhanced customer experiences at scale.

Back-office integration with your ERP systems and inventory management tools keeps your information current, reduces errors, and lowers maintenance costs, while your eCommerce team focuses on growth, not firefighting.

Why are distributors reluctant to try eCommerce?

While there are no reasons why distributors shouldn’t try eCommerce, many distributors are discouraged from investing in eCommerce. Some think that their products and customers are not made for eCommerce, while others doubt that their digital transformation investment will pay off.

The turbulent 2020 has shown us that moving online might be the only way to remain profitable. Advances in technology make it easier to meet customer expectations and boost staff productivity. Furthermore, creating an eCommerce presence does not require huge software development teams, clunky software, or lengthy timelines. With the help of an eCommerce ROI calculator, distributors can estimate the cost of their project before they begin.

How do you build an eCommerce site for a distributor?

To build an ideal eCommerce website for distributors, you’ll need to start by researching your industry and customers. Then, look within your B2B business and identify the features and capabilities you need and the technology you can use.

To do this, you’ll need to assemble or get together your IT team and connect them with marketing, sales, and customer service staff. Getting input from various departments will help you identify real problems and narrow down the B2B eCommerce solutions that could be right for you.

What kind of eCommerce features do distributors need?

Look for a solution that offers:

  • Customer-specific pricing and tiered pricing for every account or region.
  • Self-service features for buyers to manage and track their orders 24/7.
  • Advanced pricing options and easy management of customer-specific catalogs.
  • Seamless integration with your enterprise resource planning systems, inventory management, and other business tools.
  • Strong analytics and marketing tools to help you target the right customer segments and optimize each sales channel.
  • Support for multi-org, multi-language, and multi-currency to match the complexity of distributor operations.
  • An interface that doesn’t require technical expertise to run, but still delivers the power your business needs.

The best eCommerce platform lowers maintenance costs, supports your team, and delivers a true competitive advantage as distributor expectations continue to rise.

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