What Is Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud

and How Can It Drive Value For Companies?

Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud is a top-quality e-commerce solution in the B2B (business to business) space. Many high-profile companies, such as Adidas and Ecolab, have used this solution to optimise their daily e-commerce operations and so can you. 

B2B Commerce is a great option for businesses looking to boost their e-commerce websites. Keep reading to find out more about Commerce Cloud and B2B Commerce. 

 

What Is Commerce Cloud?

Commerce Cloud provides valuable e-commerce solutions to every type of organisation. 

An optimised e-commerce platform offers the best online experience to customers - regardless of whether they are casual online shoppers or businesses making large-scale purchases. 

Commerce Cloud aims to empower all businesses in the e-commerce sphere. As this space is growing rapidly, plenty of companies can benefit from the various capabilities on offer. These capabilities make Commerce Cloud an ideal solution for businesses spanning the B2B and B2C (business to consumer) spheres.

Commerce Cloud covers three main capabilities: B2B Commerce, B2C Commerce, and B2B2C Commerce. All of these capabilities combined provide a holistic solution for the e-commerce industry. 

 

Salesforce B2B Commerce vs Salesforce B2C Commerce

B2B Commerce and B2C Commerce differ in the way they are designed to meet the needs of businesses with different audiences. Manufacturers looking to make large-scale purchases, and customers browsing through fashion options, will use e-commerce sites in very different ways. 

B2B Commerce is used by companies that cater to other businesses that make large, recurring purchases. This solution helps clients with functionalities such as tracking complex shipping requirements and offering multiple payment platforms. 

On the other hand, B2C Commerce is designed for companies selling products directly to customers. It enables businesses to optimise the shopping experience for their customers so that they can make more sales. The emphasis is on making the purchase and checkout process as efficient and attractive as possible for customers. 

 

 

Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud For Companies

If you’re in the business of selling products or services to other businesses, B2B Commerce is the solution for you. Designed specifically for B2B purposes, it can help streamline your e-commerce operations and add value to your business. 

 

The Needs And Challenges Of B2B Businesses

In the B2B industry, trust between buyers and sellers is imperative. B2B e-commerce buyers often experience issues stemming from a lack of customer support, unreliable services, financial drain, the need to work with multiple vendors, and inefficient operations. 

B2B sellers require websites that allow for large-scale purchases. Sometimes, this can be up to thousands of items. Moreover, E-commerce sites may need branded storefronts, visitor authentication and logins, the option to efficiently order large and recurring purchases, and the offer of multiple payment options. 

B2B e-commerce sites also need to offer shipping options that accommodate multiple delivery dates or locations, as well as contract pricing by customer or account.

Because of all these pain points, there can be a lot of friction along the buyer’s journey. B2B Commerce addresses all of these pain points and more. It helps to ensure a better, more seamless experience for both you and your customers. 

 

Use Cases For B2B Commerce Cloud

B2B Commerce can simplify and reduce friction in the buying process and enables your customers to enjoy a convenient and easy shopping experience. Features such as fast reordering, contract pricing, custom catalogues, and more help simplify complex B2B tasks.  

Another use case of B2B Commerce is optimising your daily B2B operations. With it, you can better manage your distribution, stock, and orders. You can also empower your sales team by eliminating time-consuming manual tasks. This frees up their time to focus more on making sales and drawing valuable insights from real-time customer data.

In addition to boosting revenue with a better online buying process, you can use B2B Commerce to connect and engage with your customers. This helps you to develop strong customer relationships and loyalty.  

 

 

How Salesforce B2B Commerce Adds Value To B2B Businesses

Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud can add value to businesses in several ways. 

 

Analytics​

Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud provides detailed analytics on your customers. Through a web portal, you can easily access complete customer account data. Your team can use these analytics to develop high-quality sales strategies. Better strategies will lead to more sales and conversions. 

 

Brand Awareness

B2B Commerce can bolster your brand awareness by helping your business hit the market faster. As your business grows, this solution can make the implementation of custom and branded storefronts simple. Throughout the customer experience, your brand can maintain a solid presence. 

 

Increased Sales

B2B Commerce offers features that have been specially designed to increase B2B buyer comfort and satisfaction. In addition, an optimised e-commerce site reduces the costs of transactions for you and your customers alike. 

 

Omnichannel Communication

B2B Commerce allows for omnichannel communication. Customers can interact with your business in the way that suits them best. As a seller, you will be able to interact with customers across multiple channels while providing a consistent experience. 

 

 

So, Why Should B2B Businesses Implement Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud?

B2B Commerce Cloud empowers B2B buyers through self-service and provides a more seamless and convenient shopping experience. In doing so, customers will have a positive experience with your business and will keep coming back for more. 

By providing self-service functionality, your team also saves time. You can then reallocate this time to focus more on growth opportunities. It also optimises your daily business functions to make complex processes easier and eliminate tedious manual tasks. 

It helps you to scale your business as you can hit the market faster and innovate quickly to adapt to changing customer needs. The insights provided by Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud can help your team to develop more informed strategies for online sales. 

So, it is clear that B2B Commerce is a valuable tool for e-commerce businesses. If you’re looking for a way to scale your business and boost your sales, then this is the perfect solution for you.

 

 

Commerce Cloud Implementation 

We've asked our experts and are sharing these important notes for the implementation process. 

  • Consider your pricing strategy. Do you have multi-buy savings, product bundles or discount codes that can be applied? Breaking down the pricing process can help design the right model and ensure the pricing engine is responsive.
  • Consider how your users buy from you, do they need to browse pages with in-depth specs and information or are they more likely to know the particular SKUs they're looking to order. Quick carts can be made available to ensure regular purchasers can have a quick and painless experience.
  • Consider the design of the portal, B2B purchases are often a matter of function, ideally, the user experience should be quick and efficient, if the page is too heavily customised and branded this can affect the performance of the page and lead to slowing down. A simple clean shopping experience for B2B can be very helpful, particularly for large/bulk orders. 
  • Consider who your customers are, do they order on behalf of several child accounts or just the one company. Do you have contracted pricing for each company or category of company you work with? Do you have different brands that service different niches? Multiple storefronts or product/price ranges can be offered to ensure the customer gets access to what they need, when they need it.