eCommerce
Solution
Summary: For a successful B2B eCommerce website setup, you must consider the unique needs you have and only your B2B customers might have. This blog will guide you through the major steps starting from conceiving a Shopify plan, opting for the strategy, accomplishing set-ups for shipping and payment options, and various other activities to launch a B2B store on Shopify successfully..
B2B eCommerce refers to two businesses engaged in eCommerce using an online platform. Such eCommerce set-ups encompass all aspects of business transactions, from purchasing raw supplies to selling finished goods and services across the Internet.
Hiring a web developer with appropriate skills can revolutionize businesses aiming at exploring every bit of Shopify because they can customize it according to their needs thus ensuring smooth operations on the internet which are highly effective and profitable. It is recommended to use Shopify store setup services for experience continuity while developing a B2B store on Shopify.
Here’s how to set up a B2B store on Shopify with a step-by-step approach.
How to Build a Successful B2B Shopify Store: The Important Steps
Sign Up for an Account on Shopify
You must have a Shopify account to use Shopify store setup services or if you have an active online store running on Shopify to build a B2B store for your business. You must create one if you don’t haven’t yet. Visit the Shopify website to sign up and then, enter your business email address, and choose the free trial option.
Choose the Ideal Shopify Plan
To enable B2B sales features on your Shopify store such as invoicing, custom pricing, coupons, and discounts you must choose a Shopify plan that is eligible for your business model and needs.
For high-volume businesses that need to create a personal B2B shop, the Shopify Plus Plan is designed with features such as payment flexibility, adding multiple items from the products page into the cart at once, net payment terms, customer-specific price settings, easy repeat purchases again, customer-specific product publishing, and quantity rules, among others. This plan costs $2000 per month.
Otherwise, for those on a tight budget, one could use Shopify wholesale apps that are available on the market. These applications enable one to make changes to their Shopify online store to configure B2B prices, invoicing, and discounts without struggling financially.
Install B2B integrations and apps
There is an app store of Shopify in which Shopify developers have listed third-party applications for Shopify store set-up experts and store owners using the Shopify platform. You can get a complete answer for B2B marketers by app utilization. Furthermore, you may also separate applications for each of those sites if you want to integrate your shop with B2B marketplaces like Faire, Amazon Business, or Alibaba.
Opt for B2B Store Customizations
After creating an account on Shopify and selecting a plan suitable for your company, the next step is to personalize your B2B shop.
This includes:
- Selecting a theme
- Payment options setting
- Making product entries
- Shipping options settings
- Customizing the shop with locks for specific customers.
- Store designing for facilitating bulk purchases like custom order forms, tiered pricing, price breaks per quantity definitely, etc. To accomplish this you can either use built-in features available within Shopify Plus or rely on other wholesale apps from the app store of Shopify.
Add Products to the B2B Store
At this point, you should begin adding items to your B2B Shopify store, that is, adding products either by importing from a CSV file or manually. We suggest starting with one product at a time to familiarize yourself with the Shopify system if you have just started.
Importantly, you have an option of creating collections of various products, thus grouping them or categorizing them differently. If you are not sure how to do it, you can hire Shopify store set-up experts who can make the process seamless for you.
Set Up Payment Methods
Next, include payment methods for your B2B Shopify store. Numerous payment processing methods ranging from physical stores to internet payment processing are supported by Shopify.
A few of the prominent examples include PayPal, credit cards, Apple Pay, Stripe, and Razorpay. You can also let customers purchase items in your store using coupon codes or store points such as discounts and reward systems.
In your B2B store, you can integrate a third-party application that would enable your clients’ loyalty program through gift cards and reward systems. Just type “gift cards” in the search bar for the app store of Shopify.
Set Up Shipping Rates
Now, you have to set your shipping rates for the B2B Shopify store. Based on what products you are selling, you need to select the right shipping carrier as well as shipping method. There is an inbuilt shipping calculator provided by Shopify which helps to determine the best possibilities to ship your products.
After configuring your shipping options, you can set up automated fulfillment to ensure your orders are shipped out instantly after being made.
Discount Codes
To drive sales and advertise your brand even better, offering discount codes is yet another brilliant idea. Examples of discount code offers may include percentage discounts, free shipping, and gifts with purchase.
Creating discounts directly from the Shopify administrator or through many applications found on the Shopify Application Platform are two ways to generate such codes.
Put a Seamless Checkout Process in Place
Having a smooth checkout process will enable your customized Shopify shop to offer more products to customers.
You can achieve this by:
- Providing options for bulk ordering
- Integrating Shop Pay, Amazon Pay, Stripe, or Pay Pal banking systems which enable one-click ordering intending to encourage repeat business
- Dealing with shipping and delivery methods suitable for B2B such as store pick-up delivery or bulk shipping
- Executing a net payment checkout option where companies can pay their invoices on a NET90, NET30, or NET60 basis.
- Developing an exclusive B2B/B2C checkout system using Shopify Scripts
Test and Launch Your B2B Store
Before bringing your B2B store live, ensure that every feature and functionality works perfectly. For instance, test the search functionality, add-to-cart button, payment process, and checkout options; as well as any wholesale pricing app integrations. Additionally, to make sure that it is user-friendly and functional enough you can employ a group of beta testers to give feedback on how they feel in terms of usability or you can utilize an end-to-end testing solution for your ecommerce store.
After all tests are done, successfully launch the store while promoting it to B2B prospects. However, do not forget about constantly observing and adjusting your eCommerce platform’s settings as needed through monitoring it to be able to deliver the most suitable shopping experience possible for B2B shoppers.
Conclusion
Fortunately, Shopify provides an amazing platform that caters to companies of every kind, particularly eCommerce stores. If you want to create a B2B business on Shopify, you can work with experienced Shopify store designers and developers to create a successful wholesale business online. If you want to build a Shopify store for B2B Sales, then a well-conceived plan with perfect execution is a must. It is important to focus on your customers’ needs and by following the right plan, design, pricing strategy, product pages, checkout process, apps, and customer service, you can take your Shopify B2B business to the next level. Contact CartCoders to create a thriving Shopify B2B store. We will help you gain maximum advantage from the features of Shopify and will help you establish a successful B2B eCommerce website. Partner with us to fulfil the unique needs of customers and optimize your online presence.