The difference between B2B and B2C transactions arise from the fundamental differences in motivations behind individual customers and businesses.B2B commerce transactions are driven not by emotions but hard calculations and the ultimate goal of enhancing profits.They focus on long-term relationships and a keen understanding of the customer’s needs to be able to cater to them in time.
Since accounts often usually have multiple operators, there are more factors at play than B2C transactions.Because of this, B2B and B2C transactions need to be handled separately, ie, on completely different platforms that work on the principles of the respective type of business.Not only that but the functionalities and tools of the platform must also be optimized according to the four basic types of B2B transactions and activities.Thus, depending on whether you require sell-side e-commerce, buy-side e-commerce, exchange and marketplace-based e-commerce, or supply chain improvements and collaborative e-commerce, you should be provided with tailored B2B e-commerce solutions.With such vast distinctions and diversity, most e-commerce service providers will find it difficult to assure the level of flexibility and productivity required in a B2B transaction, meaning most businesses will likely have to depend on a variety of e-commerce products from different sources.They may require different software solutions for CRM, marketing, e-commerce, and so on.
This problem is solved by Salesforce.With the B2B division of its Commerce Cloud combined with its Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, and other CRM sources, it provides all kinds of data and tools that an online B2B transaction uses from initiation to completion.What is Salesforce B2B Commerce?
Salesforce B2B Commerce, earlier known as Salesforce Cloudcraze, is a B2B e-commerce software that allows the setup of online storefronts by suppliers that cater to large businesses.Setting up your B2B e-commerce website can take a lot of time, effort, and resources.
But Salesforce has streamlined the process, allowing you to launch your business online within weeks.Important Salesforce B2B Commerce FeaturesAny B2B e-commerce platform should be able to handle B2B wholesale transactions, long-term, frequent, and repeated purchases, and flexible pricing and payment options.Its features should reflect its capability to do the same with maximum reliability and robustness.Performance is a huge factor in any B2B transaction due to the fact that errors or downtime can result in huge losses.To that end, Salesforce B2B Commerce has the following features:Authenticated sites with visitor-specific loginsShopping carts with holding powers of hundreds to thousands of units in a single order for wholesale e-commerceStreamlining of big, repeated orders by enabling the same in two clicksCustomizable themes for your storefront to provide a distinct look to suit each accountCustom catalogs with exclusive products or subset of products, specific to accountsPricing functionality allowing negotiated or contract cost display segmented by account or customer typeHigh level of granularity and control over shipping functions allowing multiple delivery destinations and datesMultiple options for payments that include all the major ways how B2B’s large transactions are paid for, ie, purchase orders, ACH, credit cards, etc.Saved order history for every user that has been verifiedSearch options allowing application of filtersTools and templates to design the storefront as well as the order pageHigh level of control over the platform based on add-ons, data access, member access, testing, catalog, migrations, etcWith the help of these features, Salesforce makes all types of B2B transactions easier and simpler.
We will elaborate on how to boost B2B transactions by taking full advantage of these features in the next section.How Salesforce B2B Commerce Implements Productivity and FlexibilityA B2B transaction has way more thought and calculation put behind it than a B2C one.