Essential e‑commerce features for B2B companies

B2B e-commerce features can look slightly different to their more popular B2C counterpart.

When you deploy the right strategy in B2B e-commerce, you stand to benefit by capturing demand more efficiently, improving customer satisfaction, and reducing your cost-to-serve while driving revenue.

So what are B2B-specific e-commerce features worth looking out for, and how can you ensure you’re optimizing your web store for your company goals?

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39 e-commerce features to captivate your clients

 

These are the e-commerce features that make the difference, specifically for B2B companies. From powerful search capabilities to immediate insight into complete account history, here’s an overview of the power and versatility you need to exceed customer expectations.

That’s where Sana Commerce Cloud (SCC) comes in. A SaaS solution that integrates directly with your ERP, you can harness the full potential an e-commerce channel can offer to a B2B organization.

There’s a lot to take in, so we’ve broken the long list down into six categories.

Easy-to-navigate product catalogs

A web store can be much more than just an online product catalog — but you have to get the foundation right for your web store to succeed.

Customer experience
Convenient online configuration and ordering
Export products to marketplaces

To truly capture demand, you’ll need to sell beyond your own web store. SCC allow you to export detailed product information to marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and Google.

Faster sales
Execute regional webstores efficiently

Your web store’s engagement is tied closely to content relevance. With an ERP-integrated solution like SCC, you only need to define product assignments once and in one place: your ERP system.

order
Enable seamless search

Conquer large catalogs with faceted search. With SCC, your customers should be able to filter results using product attributes as defined in your ERP to quickly find their ideal product.

related products
Group complex orders for purchase ease

Make purchasing complex products simple for your clients. SCC makes it easy to combine individual items into a single sellable unit.

Filter Further With Faceted Search
Keep data management simple

Integrated e-commerce leverages your ERP’s master database in your web store and ensures all newly created online records (such as orders) are instantly available in your ERP.

Rich, real-time product information

What’s better than easy-to-find product information? The answer: easy-to-find product information that’s always up to date, without your web store overwhelming your ERP system.

Access to real-time product information
Better flexibility and visibility of operations
Highlight pertinent product information

B2B buyers require detailed information to complete a purchase – often, product information can make or break whether someone makes it to checkout. SCC makes it easy to use custom fields in your ERP to perfect your product information.

Price Calculations
Provide accurate price calculations with units of measure

Our seamless ERP integration means units of measure are automatically incorporated and used in your web store. The result? Optimal pricing accuracy.

Real Time
Display inventory availability in real-time

Accurate information is an essential component of superior customer experiences. Leverage a single database in your web store to ensure all newly created online records (such as orders) are instantly available to you.

Exalto

“With Sana Commerce’s software, the intelligence of the ERP system is automatically implemented in the web store. This allows us to prevent modifications in our ERP system from showing up in our web store too late, or perhaps not showing up at all. This means the customer always has reliable, real-time information.”

Marcel de Groot | General Manager at Exalto Read more
Exalto
Ideal Protein

Sana Commerce stood out because of how it’s layered on top of our Microsoft Dynamics ERP, to the point that it’s almost part of Dynamics AX. [Getting the right data to our web store] doesn’t require a push; it’s calling directly into our ERP. That, and the pricing made sense, so Sana Commerce was the right fit for us.

Bryan Belanger | VP of Technology at Ideal Protein

Integrated

with Microsoft Dynamics AX

UX

optimized

3,000+

businesses serviced
Read more
Ideal Protein

Complex pricing rules made simple

From order line discounts to customer-specific pricing: integrated e-commerce software uses pricing logic as defined in your ERP, so your web store can offer your clients the best deal.

Pricing and product information
Price Calculations
Always display accurate pricing

SCC uses pricing data directly from your ERP. Whether they visit your web store or speak with your sales reps, your clients will always get the right price.

Long-term cost efficiency
Offer special pricing online

With an integrated e-commerce solution, customer-specific pricing calculations take place in your ERP and are therefore always accurate.

Faster sales
Show the better deal with tier pricing

Our integrated web stores let you use tier pricing as a default pricing option. Clients can immediately see if they’re better off buying in bulk.

Price changes
Automatically charge for fees and associated costs

There’s nothing worse than unpleasant surprises in the form of additional fees. Service charges, fuel charges, deposits, packaging costs, insurance, environmental taxes, disposal fees — SCC web stores can account for everything.

Long-term cost efficiency
Display real-time sales tax calculations

Seamless integration means Sana Commerce web stores display the complex sales tax calculation carried out by your ERP in real time.

Discover the features

Time to see what these e-commerce features look like in action.

Learn more about integrated e-commerce for Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP and SAP Business One.

E-commerce for Microsoft Dynamics

Sana Commerce uses the existing data and logic stored in your Microsoft Dynamics or Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP, making your ERP and e-commerce work as one. The results? Your customers benefit from a convenient, reliable and constantly evolving online experience.

E-commerce for SAP

Sana Commerce eliminates system silos by making your SAP or SAP Business One ERP and e-commerce work as one. This guarantees a convenient and reliable experience for your customers, and gives you the agility to quickly respond to their evolving needs.

Online order processing

A sleek web store isn’t enough for a great online shopping experience: you also need flawless order processing.

Easier invoice management
Bills of material
Accuracy and fast turnaround with real-time orders

For customers to be incentivized to buy online, they need a seamless process. Integration between SCC and your ERP means orders are processed immediately, not during a scheduled sync.

Invoice Discounts
Keep data clean with real-time data validation

Our integrated e-commerce software’s order validation process only uses rules in line with your ERP, modeled to match your business-specific processes.

Price Calculations
Provide customized payment conditions

Use your ERP logic to determine the payment conditions and options available to your clients online. (Note: this can depend on your ERP functionality.)

No need to DIY e-commerce
Display real-time shopping cart calculations

Give clients a complete overview of their order total. Sana Commerce’s transparent, accurate checkout process boosts conversion and reduces your workload.

ERP
Incorporate standard quote request (RFQ) processes

With a Sana Commerce web store, your clients can request quotes online. Better yet: You can also accept and deliver price quotes via the web store.

e-commerce services
Display custom orders and comments

Our e-commerce software features bi-directional comment functionality: You can add order comments via your ERP, and clients can add them via the web store.

Dynamic Billing
Use dynamic billing and shipping addresses

Multiple shipping or billing addresses are a norm for B2B transactions. SCC web stores ensure shipping and delivery conditions are automatically adjusted.

ERP
Display real-time shipping costs

Sana Commerce’s seamless integration means online order costs are calculated dynamically in your ERP and immediately displayed in your web store.

Convenient online configuration and ordering
Assure customers of order flexibility

Haven’t processed an order in your back office yet? Then clients can still edit their order via the web store. (This e-commerce feature can be disabled.)

Better flexibility and visibility of operations
Provide easy access to order history for reordering

Yes, even orders placed through other channels. With SCC’s advanced B2B e-commerce features, your clients can order with minimal clicks and effort.

Order numbers
Determine order origin with order number ranges

Sana Commerce uses your ERP system to store order information, and it can access order number ranges used by your ERP directly to make order origin clear.

No need to DIY e-commerce
Keep clients informed with order tracking

ERP systems can automatically manage the order tracking process, and an ERP-integrated web store can display these tracking details online in real time.

design
Provide customers with complete account history

An ERP-integrated web store lets you offer clients a fully searchable and printable document lifecycle, from quote to order to invoice.

order
Facilitate streamlined product returns

With a SCC web store, your clients can simply select what they want to return, indicate the reason and add any comments to create a return merchandise authorization (RMA).

Superior customer service

Struggling to follow up on all your clients? It’s a good problem to have, for sure — but a problem all the same.

An efficient e-commerce channel can help empower both clients and sales reps.

E-Commerce Catalog Management
Convenient online configuration and ordering
Provide a perfectly localized web store experience

Your client’s location, as registered in your ERP, determines their web store experience. The right language, tax rates and currency calculations let them shop with ease.

Ambassador
Create client-specific product catalogs

If you use client-specific catalogs in your ERP system, you can also use them in your SCC web store to ensure that your clients only see products relevant to them.

Browse partner
Manage your client’s portfolio

Logged in sales reps can see their client list, select a customer and view the web store as if that client is logged in — including order history and unique client logic.

related products
Efficiently manage client information

Tax liability, address formats — ERP systems have logic that validates this kind of data, and Sana Commerce is powerful enough to leverage it. The result? Fully automated client data maintenance.

Dynamic Billing
Get insightful sales reports

Your ERP generates sales reports for sales orders, shipments, invoices and more. SCC lets customers download printable PDFs of these documents.

Price Calculations
Enable online payments

Merchants using SCC’s powerful B2B e-commerce features can accept payments on open invoices directly from their web store. What could be easier?

Reliability without a compromise
Provide product manuals and documentation online

Manage vital product documents like manuals in your ERP and make them available in your web store — and add URLs to the records.

Personalized e-commerce marketing

From consumer web stores to online sales portals for professional buyers: personalization is the name of the game. And we offer plenty of e-commerce features geared towards delivering just that.

Personalized marketing
Interfaced
Create personalized content based on ERP data

Use the client information you’ve already stored in your ERP system to personalize web store content and target a specific client segment for optimal effectiveness.

Community
Personalize email marketing

You can use web store data to tailor your marketing emails to specific client interests and needs.

Real Time
Offer convenience through predictive ordering

Our AI-driven predictive ordering e-commerce feature generates suggestions based on your client’s online and offline order history.

Dynamic Billing
Leverage web store data

Supercharge your sales strategy. Combine web store behavior data with actual ordering info for better strategic insights with SCI.

Convenient online configuration and ordering
Display related products for cross-selling and upselling

Product out of stock? Client looking for an accessory or upgrade? SCC uses product relationships from your ERP to display related items on product pages.

Watch B2B e-commerce features in action.