BigCommerce B2B Edition: The Complete Guide for B2B and Retail Brands

I’ve only encountered a handful of platforms that can successfully support B2B companies, including Shopify Plus, and BigCommerce.

I think this is one of the best B2B-focused solutions I’ve seen so far, and clearly existing BigCommerce clients agree, based on the reviews I’ve read.

Today, I’m going to share everything you need to know about “BigCommerce B2B Edition”, the enterprise plan specifically designed for B2B sellers.

Running a B2B (Business-to-Business) ecommerce business can be more challenging than it seems.

Most standard ecommerce platforms give you the tools you need to manage a “consumer-facing” (B2C) business, but they’re not designed to handle the unique challenges of B2B selling.

If you’re going to be selling products to other companies, you need a platform that can handle more complex operations, allowing you to set custom prices for companies, manage bulk orders, and track data with integrations to your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning tools).

BigCommerce B2B edtion Pros and Cons

Like any solution, BigCommerce B2B does have its pros and cons to consider.

Here are the biggest benefits and disadvantages I’ve noticed:

What is BigCommerce B2B Edition?

BigCommerce B2B Edition is a version of BigCommerce’s “Enterprise” grade plan, tailored to the needs of B2B sellers.

It gives you access to all of the features you’d get from BigCommerce’s enterprise plan, such as headless commerce, multi-storefront capabilities, and omnichannel selling.

However, it also provides access to a range of specific solutions and features crucial to B2B companies, such as the ability to design buyer portals, generate quotes and invoices, set buyer roles and permissions, and customize shipping options.

Like BigCommerce’s other enterprise solutions, the B2B version of the platform doesn’t have a set monthly price.

You’ll need to contact the team to request a demo of the technology, explain your specific needs, and get a quote tailored to your requirements.

However, you can expect this solution to cost a decent amount more than your standard BigCommerce plan, thanks to the advanced feature set.

The Core Features of BigCommerce B2B Edition

As mentioned above, BigCommerce B2B Edition is essentially just a specialized version of BigCommerce Enterprise.

You can find my complete review of the standard BigCommerce Enterprise plan here if you want to learn more about the features.

Like most BigCommerce solutions, the B2B edition of the platform comes with a convenient website builder, access to responsive templates, and even built-in SEO tools (such as solutions to help you optimize your site structure and meta tags).

Where the solution excels, is in giving companies tools that help them optimize experiences for business buyers. Here are some of the key features you’ll get with BigCommerce B2B Edition:

Unique Buyer Portals, Accounts and Permissions

One of the most interesting features of BigCommerce B2B Edition, is the ability to create unique buyer portals, and empower customers to create their own company-level accounts. The buyer portal solution allows you to design a personalized experience for every customer.

Each company that buys from your business can apply for a “company account”, where they can place and track orders, share shopping lists with their team members, and even set up automated “reordering” options.

Plus, your corporate customers can set their own “account permissions” for each employee that accesses that company account.

For instance, they can define who in their team members should be allowed to place orders, alter credit card details, and update shopping lists.

This gives your customers a fantastic, highly customizable way to shop seamlessly with your online store.

Bespoke Purchasing and Order Options

Most BigCommerce plans support omnichannel selling options, to help you boost conversion rates and revenue.

However, BigCommerce B2B Edition allows you to tap into different types of sales strategies, with a range of unique features.

For instance, you can implement “CPQ” tools, that automatically configure purchase orders for customers, and issue customized quotes.

The quote generation tools even allow you to create custom quote templates where you can clearly specify the products, quantities, and prices you want to offer your customers. You can also add shipping and tax charges to each quote.

BigCommerce B2B Edition also has its own invoice portal, where you can enable diverse payment methods for faster, more efficient transactions, and track important order information.

Plus, you can create personalized price lists and offers for different companies in your ecosystem, which is a great way to reward loyal customers, and boost retention rates.

There’s also a “sales rep masquerade” feature, which allows you to log into a customer’s account on their behalf and place orders for them.

Custom Shipping Solutions

One thing I really like about BigCommerce is how many ecommerce logistics features it offers companies. Similar to Shopify, BigCommerce allows you to set shipping locations, and adjust rates based on order value and weight.

When you upgrade to the BigCommerce B2B plan, you can take your shipping strategy to the next level, with a highly customizable shipping rules engine.

You’ll be able to design custom shipping solutions for each company, through BigCommerce’s native integration with ShipperHQ, and even provide customers with real-time shipping rate insights.

There’s even the option to offer companies “purchase online and pick-up in-store” options if you’re operating local warehouses.

Plus, you can allow all of your customers to track the progress of their order within their custom company accounts.

This means you can automatically keep customers up-to-date on shipping delivery times and dates, shared by your provider.

Advanced Store Customization Options

Similar to the standard version of BigCommerce Enterprise, the B2B Edition gives you a lot more freedom over customizing your online store.

You’ll have complete access to BigCommerce’s headless commerce solutions, with MACH architecture, and the ability to create truly personalized experiences through APIs.

You’ll also be able to integrate your store with other software and solutions through flexible APIs and webhooks.

The BigCommerce platform can use APIs to instantly sync data with any third party tool in your ecosystem, including point of sale apps, so you can manage your online and offline stores in one location, and offer a consistent experience to your customers.

On top of that, you’ll still have access to the extensive library of BigCommerce templates for store design, which you can customize with code, or the BigCommerce drag-and-drop builder.

Plus, you can work with BigCommerce agency partners if you need help building a comprehensive B2B ecommerce website.

There’s a whole selection of well-known partners, such as American Eagle and Intuit Solutions, who can provide step-by-step support to B2B brands.

Exceptional Security, Scalability, and Availability

Since BigCommerce B2B Edition is built on top of the ecommerce company’s scalable Enterprise-level infrastructure, businesses also gain access to fantastic security features, and reliability.

Alongside the standard BigCommerce security features, such as SSL certificates, and PCI-DSS payment processing, you’ll also be able to take advantage of advanced fraud prevention, as well as intrusion detection and prevention tools.

BigCommerce Enterprise is also ISO/IEC 27001:2013 compliant, and promises all enterprise customers a 99.99% uptime, so you can rest assured you’ll never miss out on selling opportunities.

BigCommerce B2B Edition even makes scaling your business easier than ever, with a multi-storefront management experience.

This means you can efficiently manage multiple storefronts in one location, to reach customers across segments, regions, and verticals, without having to create multiple accounts.

You’ll also have access to unlimited bandwidth and storage, automatic upgrades and updates, and a constantly evolving infrastructure, designed to support your unique business needs.

BigCommerce B2B Manufacturing and Wholesale

One thing I find particularly interesting about BigCommerce B2B Edition, is that there are additional features and solutions available for specific types of B2B customers.

For instance, there are dedicated solutions for:

• Manufacturing businesses: The BigCommerce B2B solutions for manufacturing companies include access to flexible catalogs, faceted search, API integrations, and enterprise-grade security, specially chosen to streamline manufacturing operations.
• Wholesale companies: For wholesale companies, BigCommerce B2B makes it simple to consolidate retail and wholesale channels in a single backend, enhance customer relationships with automated customer group management, and customize prices and discounts with granular price list solutions.

BigCommerce B2B Integration Options

The best thing about BigCommerce B2B Edition, is how much freedom it gives you to connect your various apps, tools, software solutions and data systems.

The solution is completely ecosystem friendly, supporting robust one-click integrations for a range of tools, including:

• ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platforms for seamless management of orders, finances, inventory, and more.
• CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools for tracking sales leads, monitoring customer interactions, and pinpointing opportunities to boost loyalty.
• Accounting tools, so you can automatically track expenses, manage invoices, and create reports with minimal effort.
• PIM (Product Information Management) software and DIM (Digital Asset management software) for efficient data management when selling any type of products.
• Fulfillment and shipping tools, for tracking shipments in real-time, and accessing real-time quotes for all of your orders.
• Payment processors and gateways, to ensure you can accept every type of payment method.

Plus, you can create your own automated workflows with BigCommerce’s variety of open APIs. This essentially ensures you can bring every part of your B2B business management ecosystem together into one backend environment, reducing data silos and improving efficiency.

BigCommerce B2B Edition: Customer Support

Most of the enterprise-level plans I’ve reviewed in the past from companies like Wix, Shopify, and Squarespace have had one thing in common: an incredible approach to customer service.

BigCommerce Enterprise, and BigCommerce B2B Edition also follows this trend.

While all BigCommerce plans include access to 24/7 tech support via phone, email, and chat, BigCommerce B2B customers gain access to express routing.

This means you’ll receive support a lot faster than the average BigCommerce customer.

You’ll also have support from a dedicated customer success team, and a specialist API development team, to help you create your automated workflows.

Plus, you’ll be able to take advantage of a range of self-service resources, from guides and videos, to the BigCommerce Academy courses.

On top of all that, you can request direct support from a variety of agency and tech partners in BigCommerce’s ecosystem, if you need help augmenting your existing team.

There’s even a full launch and implementation team available if you’re building your site from scratch.

BigCommerce B2B Edition: Finishing Thoughts

BigCommerce B2B Edition is a unique, enterprise-focused plan, specifically designed to address the unique challenges that B2B sellers face.

It provides access to a comprehensive, powerful, and customizable platform, that seamlessly integrates with essential tools, and scales to suit your changing business requirements.