12 Essential Features of A Successful B2B Website
In the digital age, a successful website is crucial for enterprise commerce. Your website serves as the face of your business online. And for B2B brands making the jump to digital commerce, a well-designed B2B site can drive sales, make your sales process more efficient, and help build (or create) lasting relationships with your customers. But what makes a B2B website truly effective?
Learn
Learn the difference between the different types of eCommerce websites
B2B ECommerce Websites
B2B websites are designed to serve B2B businesses and their customers, which requires unique approaches and feature sets that are less commonly found on D2C (Direct to Consumer) websites. B2B sites focus on handling large, complex transactions, with varying payment terms that aren’t as straightforward as entering a credit card number and clicking the ‘buy it now’ button. B2B commerce websites support bulk orders, negotiated and tiered pricing, and offer personalized experiences based on customer relationships. And because B2B transactions often have multiple stakeholders—from local and regional managers, to procurement specialists, to C-level players like CEOs and CFOs—the buying process on B2B websites can be more complex, requiring detailed product information, account information, and support, as well as shared approval from multiple stakeholders.
D2C eCommerce Websites
D2C (Direct to Consumer) eCommerce sites focus on attracting a wide audience and driving quick sales and emotional purchases, emphasizing a fast and frictionless purchasing journey. Think of these as “retail” websites, designed to appeal to the average consumer. But while some D2C features may seem incompatible with the B2B purchasing journey, there are many D2C website features that can be leveraged to enhance the B2B buying experience. D2C sites are optimized for easy browsing, leveraging social proof like UGC, videos and product reviews, FOMO-inducing promotions, and easy, quick checkouts. Elements of these features can be leveraged in B2B commerce sites to enhance the buying experience. After all, B2B buyers are still human beings, making them susceptible to the same triggers as D2C shoppers.
Unified Commerce Websites
One of the newest trends in eCommerce are websites that provide both B2B and D2C experiences in the same site. This concept is what’s known as “Unified Commerce,” and it’s rapidly becoming one of the most-requested features in the world of eCommerce, with Shopify Plus as the leading platform for unified commerce. Unified Commerce sites generally have a “portal” type login, where retail customers can enter one area of the site to buy individual items, while B2B customers—such as vendors who carry your products in their own retail stores—can enter a separate portal to manage their B2B purchases. One of the biggest benefits of Unified Commerce is having a central location for inventory management, customer and accounts management, and content creation. Unified Commerce is perfect for rapidly scaling brands who are expanding from traditional retail into the wholesale market.
Bespoke Websites
Imagine a website that helps your brand do business, without changing the way you do business.
So Which Platform is Best for my Business?
There’s no one type of website—whether B2B or D2C, or Unified Commerce—that’s “better” than the other, it’s just that the audiences for each site have different needs, different drivers, and different must-have features.
The important thing is to decide what kind of website your business needs, then build a website around those needs. Of course, if your business is growing and scaling rapidly, with continually evolving needs, then it’s important to choose an eCommerce platform that can grow with your business, and evolve alongside your business needs.
Here at B2 and our parent agency, BlueSwitch, we’ve been helping businesses of all kinds conquer the eCommmerce landscape for over 25 years. Since 1999, we’ve worked with every online sales platform, every custom database, every tool, and every magic bullet that’s crossed our path. A couple decades ago, we even tried to create our own eCommerce platform, but then Shopify came on the scene and changed everything.
Shopify
Allowed small brands to create standout websites without an experienced development team
Shopify Plus And BlueSwitch: A Match Made in Heaven
In the early days, Shopify was the perfect platform for small (but growing) businesses, but there were some platform limitations that made Shopify difficult to use for large brands with extensive needs. But then came Shopify Plus, and that’s when we went all-in. We love “regular” Shopify, but to tell the truth, classic Shopify is designed for small businesses and DIY-ers who are doing most of their web work in-house, and don’t need a highly technical development agency like BlueSwitch. Not to mention that classic Shopify lacks the deep backend access needed to perform highly technical development tasks. For highly technical challenges (and solutions), it’s all about Shopify Plus.
Shopify Plus
A better way to sell, a better way to shop.
Shopify Plus has all the features that rapidly scaling enterprise needs to succeed. Shopify Plus has Infinite customization possibilities, customizable APIs, robust accounts and customer-centric features, incredible design capabilities, prebuilt and custom themes, unlimited customers, unlimited transactions, unlimited products… unlimited possibilities. We were so impressed with Shopify Plus that we became one of the very first Shopify Plus agencies on the planet. Today, BlueSwitch is a Shopify Platinum Partner, an honor that’s bestowed on just 1.7% of all Shopify Agencies.
Enter Shopify B2B: The Ultimate Enterprise Solution
One of the things that we love about Shopify Plus is that they continue to innovate and grow the platform. So in 2022 when Shopify announced Shopify B2B, we knew right away that we were all-in, and that’s how B2 by BlueSwitch was born. BlueSwitch is the #1 agency for Shopify B2B design, development, integration, and marketing. When global B2B enterprises like Sunnen, True Manufacturing, L&R Distributors, or European Wax Center need high performance B2B websites, they call BlueSwitch, the best agency for B2B commerce web design.
B2 by BlueSwitch
BlueSwitch goes all-in with Shopify B2B: the future of Enterprise Commerce
Understanding the B2B Website Landscape
The B2B website landscape is vast and diverse. It includes a range of industries, each with unique needs. The only unifying factor is that B2B sites cater to other businesses rather than individual consumers. But, while the needs of businesses can be quite different from the needs of individual consumers, at the end of the day, we’re all still people.
So while the individual features of a B2B website may differ from those of a D2C site, they both should be designed to meet the needs of their customers. For instance, B2B websites frequently include robust product catalogs and detailed product specifications, because providing accurate, comprehensive information supports effective decision-making, especially when it’s a decision about a particularly large order.
Understanding the distinct goals of B2B commerce is crucial. Unlike D2C sites, B2B platforms often focus on long-term relationships. They're not just about immediate sales but ongoing partnerships, repeat business, and recurring transactions, with feature sets built around those specific needs.
B2B Commerce
The future of your B2B business isn’t here. It’s everywhere.
12 Essential features for the Best B2B Website Experiences
1. User experience is at the heart of great B2B websites.
A great B2B commerce experience is about more than just user-friendly menus and coordinated color schemes. A truly great B2B buying experience is the one that meets your clients where they are, allowing them to use your site in the way that’s best for their needs. Intuitive navigation and responsive design are non-negotiable. Our B2B design and development services deliver helpful UX features like live chat, extensive product descriptions, large and detailed product images, and mobile usability features are also crucial to a positive experience. Great UX design doesn’t just make buying easy—it makes it fun.
2. Personalization plays a significant role in engaging visitors
Personalized product catalogs, tiered pricing structures, and purpose-built customer portals transform the B2B buying experience—reducing friction, increasing order velocity, and strengthening account relationships. By focusing on B2B personalization, we deliver fully integrated B2B commerce sites with curated product assortments, negotiated pricing, exclusive one‑time offers, and tailored promotions. These bespoke portals can also surface strategic content—case studies, specification sheets, sales materials—and consolidate transactional intelligence such as order history, shipping and logistics status, and contract-specific ordering terms.
3. Integrated logistics, shipping, 3PL, and fulfillment data
Just like you’d expect from a modern D2C buying experience, your customers’ purchase, shipping and receiving data should be available at the touch of a button. Giving multiple stakeholders the ability to track their orders from cart, to approval, payment, fulfillment, and delivery gives stakeholders valuable information at every link in the chain. B2B shipping and 3PL integrations give your customers peace of mind, creates positive associations with your brand, encourages more frequent ordering, and increases AOV (Average Order Values) along the way.
4. Multiple shipping addresses
Giving customers the ability to break large orders into multiple shipping addresses is a must, especially for customers with large, multi-regional businesses. Allowing a single procurement manager to build orders for entire sales regions, and then specify which items go to which destinations streamlines the fulfillment process, and prevents headaches caused by complex approval process.
5. Self-service sales portals and quick re-ordering
Self-service ordering and quick re-ordering are a game-changer for B2B customers and sales teams alike. The goal is not to cut your sales team out of the sales process, but to include time-saving ordering features that make life easier for your customers, and free up your sales team so they can spend more time working on big, complex orders, supporting top-tier customers, and closing new contracts with fewer distractions.
6. Integration with ERP, CRM, OMS, and other internal systems
Shopify B2B Integrations are essential for B2B eCommerce success. Leveraging Shopify’s API, we can integrate any critical business system: ERP integration, CRM integration, PIM integration, OMS integration, Shopify Amazon Integration, and much more—making your storefront a seamless extension of your business without disrupting core operations. ERP integration automates resource planning and reduces manual work, cutting costs and improving utilization. CRM integration centralizes customer data to personalize experiences and strengthen sales relationships. And strategic third‑party tools (email, analytics, etc.) extend functionality so your platform adapts and scales with the business.
7. Unified commerce is the future of online sales
Unified Commerce allows a single site to serve both B2B and D2C customers—and it’s rapidly becoming a must-have feature for enterprise brands. Unifying inventory, sales, and customer experience delivers a superior experience for both wholesale and retail customers, and gives stakeholders a top-down, holistic view of your business, and not just the B2B silo.
8. Flexible payments, terms orders, and a Checkout system works for Your Business
Flexible B2B payments are critical to B2B commerce. Offering multiple payment methods—credit card, ACH, invoicing, and net terms—plus tailored pricing for volume, frequency, or longtime customers. Configure payment flows and checkout to match your financial processes, reduce friction, and accelerate buying decisions. We build bespoke payment systems customized to how YOUR business does business. Flexible payment methods, including “bill my account” and custom credit arrangements, streamline checkout for high‑volume purchasers and ensure compliance with enterprise purchasing workflows. The result is a scalable, secure platform that improves conversion, supports complex commercial agreements, and builds greater confidence for stakeholders and decision-makers.
8. Faster load times for a better buying experience
A speedy, nimble website with lightning fast load times isn’t just convenient for customers—it’s a must for building confidence, trust, and encouraging larger, more frequent ordering. Choosing a B2B platform like Shopify, which has the Cloudflare Content Delivery Network built into the core system allows your site to serve large files, data packets, product images and massive payloads at blazing fast speeds.
9. Leveraging mobile devices as sales tools
With B2B commerce, mobile optimization means a lot more than just having your site look great on mobile devices. Mobile devices can be leveraged to improve user experience in a variety of ways to improve user experience. Allowing customers to share prebuilt carts between devices, use smartphones as barcode scanners, and mobile-driven visual search have become popular features in the rapidly expanding landscape of B2B commerce.
10. Easily accessible product lists, pricing, purchase history, and contracts.
Making essential business documents easily accessible to the right stakeholders streamlines workflows and removes friction for administrators, accounting teams, and customer support. Empowering customers, sales teams, and managers with on-demand access to critical data—transaction histories, price lists, logistics and shipping details, and contracts—simplifies decision-making and accelerates operations. Being able to quickly access historical data builds confidence, shortens sales cycles, drives larger orders and stronger contracts.
11. Comprehensive Product Catalogs and Content
A detailed product catalog is essential for any B2B website. It allows users to make informed decisions. A comprehensive catalog enhances user confidence. Each product listing should include thorough descriptions. Specifications, images, and videos provide clear insights. An informed user is more likely to convert. High-quality content sets a company apart. Case studies, whitepapers, and blogs can establish authority. Such content also educates visitors and builds trust.
12. Internationalization: Multi-Language and Currency Support
Expanding your B2B website to global markets requires thoughtful internationalization. Offering multi-language support helps cater to diverse audiences. Tailored content in native languages can significantly boost user engagement. Multi-currency options simplify the buying process for international clients. Displaying prices in local currencies enhances transparency and trust. It eliminates the confusion of conversion rates during checkout.
It’s time to Build the Website of Your Dreams
All BlueSwitch B2B website builds begin with an extensive discovery process that gives us an insider’s view of your business systems, so we can see how your enterprise operates, so that we can build a website that works FOR your business, and not the other way around. Our in-depth discovery process is one of the things that sets our services apart from other agencies who are often more interested in getting through the project fast, instead of taking the time to do it right.
We do the research, we learn the systems, and then we design and develop B2B ecommerce websites that function as an extension of your teams, your systems, and your business. Crafting a successful B2B website involves a deep understanding of your business, and once we have that understanding, the possibilities are endless.
