What works for your current online store may not work when your business customers become more complex.
You may need to offer specific pricing to some customers. Or allow customers to purchase by the pallet. Or you may need to allow multiple users to order from one account. As you can see, a basic ecommerce store will no longer cut it.
Below, take a look at things you need to consider when choosing a B2B ecommerce platform for your business.
Consider How Your B2B Customers Purchase
B2B customers don’t always purchase like they would if they were a normal customer. They may know exactly what they want or need a quote, payment terms, or the ability to have their manager approve an order.
Whatever your customers need, your ecommerce platform should help with that.
Gartner reported in May 2026 that 70% of B2B buyers in its survey preferred a completely digital, self-service buying experience. The survey was conducted in 2025, so the finding reflects those surveyed rather than every B2B market.
That doesn’t mean you should remove your sales team from the picture. You should allow your customers the ability to do these tasks on their own and give them access to your team for larger orders.
Think about all the emails you receive from your customers that need to be fulfilled by your sales team. Do they check if something is in stock? Place reorders from last month or ask for price updates?
Use these to determine what you should look for in your B2B ecommerce platform. Determine what tasks you want your customers to be able to do online and what you may still need to assist with. That will help you when comparing platforms.
Decide How Much Control You Want
If you want someone else to handle most things, you may want to look at a hosted solution.
Hosted services usually include hosting and routine platform updates. That may be a good fit if your business has fairly standard selling rules and wants less technical upkeep.
However, if you sell wholesale and have many custom features, you may want to have more control over your ecommerce store.
This is where open-source ecommerce platform development comes into play. Access to the source code gives developers more freedom to adapt the ecommerce store, although changes still need to be built, tested, and maintained. You will still need someone to develop, keep it secure, and maintain your changes, though.
Magento is one platform you may want to look at. However, know what you’re purchasing. It offers an open-source version that has many of the features you need for an ecommerce store. But it doesn’t include features such as company accounts, shared catalogs, and quote negotiations. Adobe Commerce offers those features. You may need to use extensions or develop these yourself if you decide to go with an open-source solution.
Always make sure you know what features you are purchasing when it comes to your ecommerce platform.
Ensure Your Platform Integrates With Other Systems
Having a nice-looking website is great, but what if it’s showing the wrong inventory levels?
Chances are you already have many pieces of information that are crucial to your business. Whether it’s an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, accounting software, or even your warehouse management system.
You want to ensure your ecommerce platform can integrate with these.
Say you have a customer that places an order on your website. The items they ordered were in stock on your website, but since the warehouse didn’t update your website, your sales team has to contact the customer to amend their order. Not only is this annoying for your customer, but it takes up time from your team as well.
When selecting your ecommerce platform, ask them how your data will be transferred from your systems to your store and vice versa. What will happen if there is a disconnect, and how will your team be notified?
Who will be updating information? If your ERP system and ecommerce store can both update customer pricing, which one is going to take priority?
Make sure you get answers to these questions before making a decision on a B2B ecommerce platform.
Ensure The Platform Has These B2B Features
Depending on your business, you may not need all of these features, but they are ones you should look into when selecting your platform.
- Allow customers to see their specific pricing
- Allow quick reorders by entering a SKU, using saved product lists, or reordering from past purchases.
- Allow multiple users under one company account, with roles and purchasing-manager order approvals where needed.
- Allow certain customers to request quotes or purchase with payment terms
- Offer detailed product information
Before choosing a platform, have each shortlisted provider walk through these steps using a realistic customer account. Ask if the feature is included, if you’ll need an extension, or if it will need to be developed. This will affect your initial cost and how much you’ll be paying for support down the line.
Also check whether your staff can update product details without developer help. If routine catalog changes require technical support, running costs may rise.
Consider The Full Cost Of Ownership
The price you pay per month for your ecommerce platform is only one cost you’ll be paying.
If you choose a hosted solution, you may have different pricing levels, fees, apps, and any development work. If you choose an open-source solution, you may not have to pay for the platform, but you’ll still need hosting, updates, security, and support.
You also need to consider any development work you may need to complete. Once you have that integrated, what will happen when you change your ERP system? Or maybe you’ll be opening a new warehouse; will that cause you any issues?
Get a full picture of what you’ll be spending over the life of your website. Not only when you first build it, but over the next year, two, three, etc.
Also, who will be fixing issues when your website isn’t working? You want to know you can rely on your platform and whoever you choose to develop and maintain your site.
Put The Platform Through Its Paces
As your business grows, you’ll want to know that your platform will be able to grow with you.
You’ll have more products, more customers, possibly more complex pricing structures, and maybe expand to another country or warehouse.
Think about your business a year, two, or five years from now. What changes will you be making?
Once you have narrowed down your choices, give them scenarios to show you their platform can handle these changes. Maybe they create a new company account, place an order, or change your inventory level.
Then throw them some curveballs: what happens when your customer orders more than you have in stock? Can you convert a quote into an order? How does your site perform during high traffic times?
Have all departments involved that will be using your new ecommerce platform. You’ll find issues you never knew you had once you put your platform to the test.
Agree on what a successful launch looks like for your business. Fewer manual order corrections, faster repeat purchases, and reliable stock information may matter more than simply launching the site on schedule.
Final Thoughts
When choosing your ecommerce platform, think about what will best suit your business now and in the future.
Look at your customers, what they want, how they want to buy from you, and ensure your platform can fulfill those needs.
