Running a B2B business online means dealing with challenges that would never come up in consumer retail.
Your B2B customers need custom pricing, bulk ordering, and approval workflows that would make a B2C shopping site crash and burn.
Miss any of these process expectations, and your customers will find a supplier who can meet them. That’s why your processes and your B2B software tools are key to the success of your business.
At Stellar One, our expert team has helped dozens of small to midsized companies streamline their processes, and the outcomes are clear. Businesses flourish and scale by making it easy for their B2B customers to buy from them.
In this article, we’ll give you a quick overview of the challenges we help our members solve. By the end, you’ll have a good idea of how to solve them for your own B2B eCommerce business.
- What Prevents B2B eCommerce Growth?
- Challenge #1: B2B eCommerce Has Complex Buying Processes and Multiple Decision Makers
- Challenge #2: Integration Complexity and System Silos in B2B eCommerce
- Challenge #3: Meeting Complex Procurement Requirements for B2B eCommerce
- Why ERP Integration Matters
- Putting Together B2B eCommerce Software and an ERP Solution That Work Together
What Prevents B2B eCommerce Growth?
The global B2B eCommerce market hit $2 trillion in 2023 and shows no signs of slowing down. By 2027, experts predict total revenue in the US alone will surpass $3 billion for the B2B eCommerce market.
Meanwhile, 82% of B2B companies are selling online, but only about 37% of their customers are actually happy with the experience. That's a big gap between what businesses think they're delivering and what buyers actually want.
Many smaller B2B companies are trying to force-fit B2C solutions onto B2B problems. It's like using a screwdriver to hammer nails: inefficient and pretty frustrating for everyone involved.
Challenge #1: B2B eCommerce Has Complex Buying Processes and Multiple Decision Makers
Multiple Stakeholders Create Buying Chaos
B2C customers might buy a $50 gadget on impulse during lunch. B2B customers? They’ll spend $50,000, but only after two months of meetings, approvals, and "let me run this by procurement."
Research shows that two-thirds of B2B buyers are willing to make purchases of $50,000 or more without contacting a salesperson. Yet 73% of B2B buyers also want an online purchasing experience that is personalized like a B2C shopping interface.
A typical B2B purchase may involve:
- Research staff gathering information
- Technical staff evaluating specifications
- Finance teams approving budgets
- Legal staff reviewing contracts
- Decision-makers who may never even see your website
This creates a buying cycle that can stretch for months, with each stakeholder needing different information at different times.
Solution: Design for the journey, not just the transaction
Stop thinking about individual buyers and start thinking about buying committees. First, make sure your website can serve all potential users. Include the researcher who needs technical specs, the CFO who wants ROI calculations, and the procurement manager who needs compliance documentation.
Create role-based website content paths:
- Technical documentation for engineers
- ROI calculators for finance teams
- Compliance certificates for procurement
- Case studies for decision-makers
Enable collaboration features on your platform:
- Shared quote systems
- Multi-user accounts with different permission levels
- Approval workflows built into the ordering process
- Notes and comments functionality
The key is to make it easy for your customers to get what they need, without forcing them to jump through hoops. If your tech stack is powerful enough, it will automate many of these processes and workflow options for you.
Challenge #2: Integration Complexity and System Silos in B2B eCommerce
Your Data is Everywhere and Nowhere
You've got customer data in your CRM, inventory in your ERP platform, orders in your fulfillment system, and pricing in a spreadsheet someone's been updating since 2019. When a customer places an order, it triggers a game of hunt-the-data across your entire organization.
Customers see the wrong inventory levels, get quoted incorrect prices, and experience shipping delays because nobody's systems are talking to each other.
Solution: Connect Everything with Your ERP System
The temptation is to connect everything to everything else, creating a web of integrations that breaks every time someone sneezes. Instead, think hub-and-spoke with your ERP platform as the hub.
Choose native integrations over custom builds:
- Native integrations are built by the software publishers themselves
- They're tested with every update
- Support issues get resolved faster
- Updates happen automatically
- Total cost of ownership (TCO) stays predictable
Focus on real-time data flow:
- Inventory levels update instantly across all channels
- Pricing changes propagate immediately
- Order status updates in real-time
- Customer data stays synchronized
When your eCommerce software integrates natively with your ERP system, you eliminate the most common source of customer frustration: wrong information.
Challenge #3: Meeting Complex Procurement Requirements for B2B eCommerce
Every Customer Has Different Rules
Your customers don't just buy products: they follow procurement processes. Some need purchase orders. Others require three quotes. Some have approval hierarchies that could outdo the Pentagon.
According to surveys, almost three-quarters of B2B buyers would switch to a new eCommerce system for better purchasing options. The same percentage stated they would purchase more products if they could pay by invoice.
Then there's the payment complexity:
- Net 30 terms instead of credit cards
- Purchase orders that need matching to invoices
- Budget codes and cost center allocations
- Compliance documentation for every transaction
Solution: Flexibility Without Chaos
Build flexibility into your process, but keep it organized. Your system should accommodate different procurement workflows without requiring manual intervention for every order.
Support multiple ordering methods:
- Quick reorder for routine purchases
- Bulk upload for large orders
- Approval workflows for budget management
- Integration with customer procurement systems
Offer flexible payment options:
- Traditional invoicing with net terms
- Integration with customer AP systems
- Support for purchase orders and PCard programs
- Automated credit applications and approvals
Provide procurement-friendly documentation:
- Detailed product specifications
- Compliance certificates and documentation
- Audit trails for all transactions
- Customizable reporting for budget tracking
The goal is to make it easier for your customers to buy from you than from your competitors, regardless of their internal processes.
Why ERP Integration Matters
Many B2B companies treat their eCommerce platform like an island. They get something that looks good and functions well on the surface. But orders are creating chaos in their back office.
Your ERP system is your single source of truth. It knows your real inventory levels, your actual costs, your customer credit limits, and your delivery capabilities. When your eCommerce platform connects directly to your ERP system, your odds of zero errors and high customer satisfaction go way up.
The key words here are “connects directly.” Software systems are going to work best not through middleware but through built-in, native integration.
With a built-in integration, you get immediate results. Customers see accurate information. Orders flow seamlessly into fulfillment. Pricing stays consistent across all channels. Customer service reps can answer questions without playing detective across multiple systems.
The companies that get this right solve their operational challenges. They also create customer experiences that competitors can't match when using disconnected systems.
Native ERP integration isn't just a technical decision. It's a business strategy that determines whether you're competing or constantly playing catch-up.
Putting Together B2B eCommerce Software and an ERP Solution That Work Together
Three main challenges shape the B2B eCommerce battlefield: complex buying processes, system integration, and procurement requirements. Companies that solve these issues pull far ahead of businesses that are stuck wrestling with basic functionality.
One solution addresses all three challenges at once. Connect your eCommerce platform directly to your ERP system. When your online store talks straight to your business backbone, everything automates seamlessly.
You don’t want to spend the next two years limping along with band-aid fixes while your customers switch to suppliers with smoother processes. If you pick an ERP solution that has native integration for your B2B eCommerce software, you will sidestep most operational glitches before they even start.
Stellar One partners with Acumatica Cloud ERP in part because Acumatica has native integrations for leading eCommerce systems. We've watched too many companies struggle with patched-together tools. Our expert approach means your software systems work as teammates, not enemies.
Ready to see what happens when eCommerce works like it should?
Check out our member success story for Custard Stand, a company that expanded from a small dairy bar to supply major national retailers with their chili.
Learn more about Acumatica Cloud ERP and whether it will fit your business needs.