5 Mistakes to Avoid in B2B Commerce

B2B buying trends have changed dramatically over the past few years. When the pandemic forced physical retailers to close their doors, B2B companies — like everyone else — moved quickly to sell online. The unpredictable economy B2B businesses are facing makes it even more important to build and manage a high-performing e-commerce platform.‍

Keeping Legacy ERP Processes in Place

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a core part of most large organizations, designed to unify people, processes, and technology across the business. Yet it’s time-consuming and complex. That’s because ERP was originally built for internal processes, not modern multichannel sales.  

When companies consider replatforming or launching a new B2B eCommerce platform, the most common mistake is to carry their existing ERP processes over to the new platform. Traditional e-commerce ERP solutions rely on multiple layers of modules to connect and pass data between different systems. But these integrations are still part of a monolithic system. That means if one part fails, the whole system can go down, and fixing it takes significant time and resources.

Solution:

Traditional e-commerce ERP solutions rely on multiple layers of modules to connect and pass data between different systems. But these integrations are still part of a monolithic system. That means if one part fails, the whole system can go down, and fixing it takes significant time and resources.

Replacing e-commerce ERP systems with APIs means moving away from this monolithic structure and adopting a headless architecture powered by microservices. This allows businesses to scale as they grow, without overloading a system with extra layers, because all data is structured and centralized in a single platform, with no additional workload for employees.

Migrating your legacy ERP system to a headless microservices platform will help improve accuracy, efficiency, and the customer experience for both your customers and your internal teams.

Failing to Modernize Your Platform Architecture  

A surprising number of B2B companies still run e-commerce platforms built on outdated monolithic architecture. And while these self-contained systems have their advantages, they usually offer a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach that makes them hard to adapt. B2B companies operating in today’s volatile, fast-changing market need more than that. Open, cloud-based architecture is a fast, flexible solution that makes customization easy and maximizes agility and scalability.  

Solution:

Moving from monolithic enterprise software suites to MACH is a safe bet for growing B2B companies. As you probably know, MACH is a handy acronym for technologies that are microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native, and headless. Together, the different elements of MACH architecture help you stay responsive to the market, so you can update or replace site components quickly and efficiently without touching the back end. That means more freedom for web designers, better compliance, and shorter time to market.

Choosing a Static E-commerce Platform

Whether you’re a digital-first believer or not, your e-commerce platform needs to sit at the very heart of your B2B business if you want it to last. There are countless platforms out there, and some only offer the bare minimum in terms of features, with no room for upgrades or improvements. By locking yourself into a static e-commerce platform that can’t grow with your business, you risk holding back performance over time and creating major headaches when you try — and fail — to implement customizations.

Solution:

When you subscribe to an e-commerce platform, resist the urge to focus only on your B2B business as it stands today. Instead, choose technology that can be easily scaled up or down based on your needs — a platform that lets you adapt quickly to industry trends or new regulatory requirements. In short, think about your company’s future and choose an e-commerce platform that can help secure it.

Overengineering Without a Deep Understanding of Buyers

You may already have an established base of B2B customers, but the beauty of digital commerce is that everyone can find and access your products or services once they’re online. A surprising number of B2B business owners don’t fully understand SEO, or the qualities Google rewards by giving you a prime spot on page 1. If your e-commerce platform doesn’t use the right language and structure, or if you miss the chance to plant key signals for Google, you’ll struggle to demonstrate your expertise, authority, and trust (E.A.T.) in the industry. But even worse, poorly optimized content can directly hurt your platform’s performance, both in traffic and conversion.

Solution:

While technical SEO issues (or off-page issues) should be handled by an expert or web developer, there are plenty of quick wins you can apply to keep up with these constantly evolving ranking factors:

• Identify your main keywords and use them strategically throughout the process.
• Check that your metadata stays within Google’s character limits.
• Make sure each page has only one H1 tag, and that it clearly describes the content.
• Simplify overly technical language to make it easier to digest — you can even check your content’s readability score.
• Add FAQ sections to answer the most common questions and target featured snippets.
• Add internal links to other pages on your e-commerce platform, where relevant.
• Make sure images are optimized with descriptive file names and alt text.
• Avoid duplicate content wherever possible, as it can negatively affect your rankings.
  

Insufficient B2B Services

When you order something on a B2C site, the payment methods you see usually boil down to a standard HTML form and a “buy now, pay later” option. But it’s not that simple for B2B buyers, who expect the same range of options they’d have when paying by phone or in your store. Your customers may pay with a simple card transaction, but they may also need to issue purchase orders on credit, pay by e-check, or use a digital wallet to pay by smartphone.

Solution:
Choose a B2B eCommerce platform that can offer buyers multiple payment methods, as well as variable pricing functionality. For example, you’ll need to account for discounted bulk purchasing, price negotiation, and regional pricing based on local taxes and sales territories.  

Above all, make it simple and convenient to place orders on your site, with clear instructions at every step of the checkout process and an easy way to get in touch if there’s a problem.

Transformation projects around a new B2B eCommerce site can seem like a huge challenge and a major shift for companies that have never gone digital, but these challenges can be much easier to overcome with agile technology and an agile approach.

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