B2B commerce (business-to-business commerce) refers to electronic trade between companies – for example via online shops, customer portals, punchout catalogues or EDI connections. In contrast to B2C, requirements are shaped by customer-specific conditions, approval workflows and deep ERP integration.
B2B commerce means companies buying from companies online – as conveniently as consumers do, but with business logic. Instead of one price for everyone there are negotiated conditions, and instead of spontaneous one-off purchases there are recurring orders with budget and approval rules.
Why do I need B2B commerce?
Business customers now expect an ordering experience similar to private online shopping: real-time availability, individual prices at a glance, order history and self-service around the clock. A B2B shop or a self-service portal also relieves the sales team: recurring standard orders run digitally, while the team focuses on consulting and acquiring new customers. Typical features include customer-specific price lists and assortments, quick ordering via article number or CSV upload, budgets, roles and permissions, and multi-level approval workflows. The error rate also drops noticeably, because orders no longer have to be taken by phone, fax or e-mail and transferred manually into the ERP system.
Practical relevance for shop owners
The success of a B2B shop depends heavily on integration with existing systems: prices, conditions, stock and customer data usually come from the ERP and must be synchronised reliably – via integrations with systems such as SAP Business One or Microsoft Dynamics. Electronic procurement formats such as EDI or e-invoices in the ZUGFeRD format are also standard in many industries. Shop systems such as Shopware 6 offer B2B feature packages that cover many of these requirements without custom development.
There is also a legal dimension: pure B2B shops in Germany may display net prices and are subject to different information duties than consumer shops – provided access is clearly restricted to business customers and verified accordingly. Shops serving consumers and business customers together must comply with the stricter consumer rules instead.
Common mistakes
- Simply copying a B2C shop: Without customer-specific prices, approvals and multi-user accounts, the actual B2B value is lost.
- Underestimating ERP integration: Manually maintained prices and stock levels are practically unmanageable with thousands of conditions.
- Not involving the sales team: If the shop is positioned internally as competition instead of a tool, team acceptance is missing.
- Wanting everything at once: Digitising every special process immediately delays the launch; a core assortment with standard processes is often enough to start.
What to look out for
Key questions before the project: Which customer groups and pricing models exist? Which processes – quotes, approvals, partial deliveries, framework agreements – need to be mapped digitally? Which system leads for prices and stock? It is also worth looking at customers' procurement scenarios, such as punchout connections to e-procurement systems. A step-by-step introduction with measurable goals (share of digital orders, sales time freed up) has proven more sustainable than a big-bang project. A realistic view of data quality is also important: incomplete article data and outdated conditions become visible immediately in self-service. Our B2B e-commerce page provides an overview of features and approach.
Many manufacturers and wholesalers serve both worlds from one platform: separate sales channels, customer group logic and different price display (net/gross) enable hybrid models without having to run two shops.