How to Build a Modern B2B Ecommerce Experience That Drives Results

B2B buyer expectations have changed rapidly over the past few years. What once felt innovative is now considered table stakes. Buyers expect their DTC and B2B purchases to have the same intuitive, seamless, self-service experience.

A study from TrustRadius found that 100% of B2B buyers want the option to self-serve some or all of the purchase process. And according to Gartner, 61% of B2B buyers prefer a completely rep-free sales experience. This shift has redefined what “exceptional” looks like in B2B: buyers want consumer-grade speed, personalization, and accuracy.

B2B ecommerce is growing eight times faster than overall B2B sales. Businesses that elevate their B2B ecommerce experience can see higher operational efficiency and revenue—while laggards risk churn, with 67% of B2B buyers switching suppliers for a better buying experience.

This article explores what today’s B2B buyers expect from a modern ecommerce experience and how leading brands deliver it using unified, self-service B2B ecommerce solutions.

What makes an exceptional B2B ecommerce experience in modern procurement?

An exceptional B2B ecommerce experience gives buyers complete autonomy—discovering, configuring, purchasing, and reordering without friction or rep dependency.

Gartner reports that buyers who complete self-directed purchases are more likely to report high-quality outcomes. This reinforces that self-service ordering is now fundamental to a positive B2B customer experience. 

But exceptional B2B ecommerce requires more than offering a way to order and pay online. Buyers expect advanced capabilities like account-based pricing, complete order histories, real-time inventory visibility, dynamic pricing, and streamlined invoicing, all powered by automated workflows.

Reliability is also critical. In a recent industry survey, more than half of B2B buyers said they place orders daily, and nearly a third make multiple purchases per day. That means B2B customers will encounter any friction point, such as slow load times, pricing errors, or clunky login processes, over and over again. No matter how complex the product line, businesses must provide a smooth, fast, and seamless experience for every part of the buying process.

With a unified commerce platform, brands can deliver this level of consumer-grade experience—even with complex catalogs, contracts, or buying workflows.

The shift to self-service B2B buying

Not long ago, most B2B transactions still relied on manual processes, with buyers placing large orders by phone, email, or even fax. Sales reps then entered those orders into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like Oracle or SAP, and sent out quotes for approval and payment. 

While this may sound outdated, representative-led ordering is still common. Today, as many as one-third of B2B transactions are still handled manually, despite growing buyer demand for self-service.

But every year, more B2B businesses are embracing ecommerce to save costs, drive revenue, and improve operations. Streamlined self-service has become the foundation of the modern B2B experience. According to McKinsey, 71% of B2B companies now offer some form of ecommerce, and online channels account for 34% of revenue. For the fourth year in a row, B2B sellers ranked ecommerce as their most effective sales channel.

Self-service not only reduces costs—it drives loyalty and repeat revenue by giving buyers speed and autonomy. And with Shopify’s B2B capabilities, brands can offer a modern, portal-driven purchasing experience without relying on manual workflows.

Key elements of modern B2B digital experiences

Today’s buyers know what they want when it comes to digital experiences. A survey by Sana found that84% of B2B buyers prioritize easy and accurate online web stores when looking for a supplier. In that same report, procurement professionals were asked what matters to them in a B2B ecommerce experience. They pointed to a few essentials:

• Transparency: Accurate information on stock, pricing, and delivery dates
• Control: Access to order status, order history, and outstanding invoices
• Speed: Fast search, intuitive navigation, and frictionless reordering 

These expectations point to one thing: reliable, feature-rich, self-service. Modern, exceptional ecommerce experiences require several key capabilities:

• An intuitive customer portal
• Streamlined, self-service ordering
• Real-time shipping and delivery estimates
• Accurate pricing and inventory visibility
• Complete order history with hassle-free reordering
• Status updates and notifications throughout the process

Together, these capabilities form the baseline for a DTC-like B2B experience.

Shopify’s B2B suite and app ecosystem helps brands build on this foundation with personalization, reordering tools, and unified commerce features that scale as buyer needs evolve.

B2B vs. B2C experience expectations

B2B ecommerce transactions are more complex than B2C. Deals often involve negotiated contracts, custom pricing, unique product catalogs, and multiple decision-makers across departments or locations.

Regardless, B2B buyers increasingly behave like consumers, and want the same personalized experience they get from their consumer purchases. And the quality of the purchasing experience directly impacts brand perception and trust. 

And the stakes are high: 74% of B2B buyers globally, and 91% in the US, say they would switch suppliers for a better online experience. That means a modern, optimized ecommerce experience is now critical for retaining accounts and protecting bottom lines.

Buyers also expect error-free transactions. But a recent survey found that one in three online B2B orders today contains errors. Every time a B2B order contains an error, it becomes a barrier to ecommerce adoption. The same survey reported that 68% of B2B buyers say that mistakes made them stop purchasing online.

When moving to ecommerce, it’s important for B2B brands to make sure the entire process is frictionless, accurate, and robust. The better the ecommerce experience is the first time, the more likely your buyers are to return with repeated, high-value orders and long-term contracts.

How Allied Medical transformed their B2B ecommerce experience for wholesale buyers

Allied Medical, a supplier of assistive technology for healthcare providers, had a growing business. But their legacy ecommerce solution held them back from scaling. B2B buyers struggled to place orders, find previous purchases, or even log in reliably. The catalog was difficult to navigate, and self-service was nearly impossible.

After migrating to Shopify, Allied Medical modernized their wholesale experience from the ground up. They now offer:

• Customer-specific catalogs and volume-based pricing
• Invoice history and easy reordering
• Role-based access for healthcare professionals, procurement managers, and admins

Their investment to improve their B2B ecommerce experience paid off. After migration, it wasn’t long before they saw:

• 14% increase in transactions across B2B and DTC channels
• 40% reduction in time spent on back-end operational tasks
• 18% drop in cart abandonment rates

“Shopify has allowed us to introduce features that greatly improved the experience of our wholesale customers, such as better search functionality, access to unique offers, and the ability to access history from different user accounts within the same company. This consolidated view allows for a faster repurchasing process,” said Katie Noble, managing director at Allied Medical.

The core of an optimized experience: Personalized B2B customer portals

The portal is the center of the B2B ecommerce experience—where autonomy, personalization, and operational efficiency converge.

B2B buyers increasingly want control over the purchase process. According to Gartner, 61% of B2B buyers now prefer a completely rep-free buying experience—making modern self-service portals essential. 

A robust B2B customer portal gives buyers the ability to place orders when they want, on the device they choose, all without having to contact a rep. Customers get a personalized hub where buyers can browse products, place orders, track shipments, manage invoices, update account details, and access tailored pricing and discounts.

Unlike standard ecommerce checkouts, B2B portals are purpose-built to support the complexity of wholesale transactions. Let’s look at a few of the key features every B2B customer portal should include.

Account-based experiences and custom catalogs

In B2B, no two customer relationships are exactly alike. That’s why your ecommerce portal needs to deliver tailored experiences. Custom pricing structures, personalized product catalogs, and account-specific content lets customers know exactly how much something costs, find the items they need faster, and learn about what’s most relevant to them. These tailored experiences increase conversion and accelerate reorders.

If a business needs to support multiple buyers from the same organization, the ability to enable account hierarchies becomes essential. Features like parent-child account structures allow you to reflect how real organizations buy, assign permissions by role, and streamline procurement tasks across locations or departments.

These capabilities were critical when Filtrous transformed their B2B experience. Initially running on BigCommerce, Filtrous struggled with platform instability. Simple changes often broke the site. The poor customer experience led many buyers to stop ordering online and return to placing orders through customer service.

After replatforming to Shopify in just two months, Filtrous quickly launched customer-specific catalogs, custom discount structures, flexible payment options, and automated invoicing and account management. All of it was built using Shopify’s native B2B features. 

Offering a more advanced, reliable order management experience paid off, and Filtrous quickly saw a 27% increase in online conversion rates. This lift was driven by the shift to account-based personalization that made ordering faster, easier, and more scalable to serve wholesale buyers.

Dynamic pricing and contract management

B2B buyers expect access to products and pricing that reflect their contracts, terms, and negotiated relationships. To meet those expectations at scale, it’s important to enable custom catalogs and pricing rules by customer group, contract terms, or purchase volume.

Dynamic pricing helps reduce manual quoting and speeds up the buying process. Built-in quote-to-order flows, approval workflows, and role-based permissions make it easier for procurement teams to manage complex purchases. 

To support wholesale buyers, a robust portal should also include:

• Bulk and recurring order options
• Spreadsheet or CSV uploads
• Real-time pricing updates synced with ERP systems

Shopify’s B2B pricing and catalog tools streamline ecommerce, making it easier for B2B businesses to maintain contract terms without slowing down the buying experience.

Self-service reordering and automation

Manual B2B ordering through phone calls or emails is slow and error-prone. This can be extra frustrating for a buyer who simply wants to place the same order as last month. That’s why enabling streamlined, self-service reordering makes things much easier for both the business and the customer.

Reorders are typically where businesses experience wins or lose revenue—they drive the majority of long-term account value.

Offering features like saved purchase lists, one-click reordering, and bulk order tools (such as CSV uploads) make it easy to manage high-volume orders with less friction and greater accuracy. It also provides a much better ecommerce experience for your most loyal buyers.

How a wholesale customer portal helped Angelus Brand scale

Angelus Brand, a long-standing leader in shoe customization and care products, knew they needed to modernize their wholesale operations. Even with a strong reputation and loyal customers, manual order entry was slowing them down and introducing constant errors into the ecommerce experience.

After migrating to Shopify, Angelus built a faster, more reliable wholesale experience, including a self-service portal for B2B buyers.By unifying and migrating disparate commerce systems with Shopify, they could offer vendors a streamlined, self-service purchasing process. Angelus Brand created a wholesale experience that saves their team a ton of time and ensures every order is accurate. 

The migration also gave them the foundation for long-term growth: after five years, Angelus Brand saw a 10x growth in their total sales worldwide.

“Order entry used to be this manual process of people writing things down on a scratch pad or writing out orders that came through fax or email, and there were constant errors. Now we channel wholesale partners to our B2B portal on Shopify, so there's no discussion or intermediate area where someone might make a mistake,” said Tyler Angelos, CEO of Angelus Brand.

Improving B2B product discovery and search

Product discovery is the first moment where DTC expectations collide with B2B complexity. Buyers need to find what they’re looking for quickly, even when dealing with large catalogs, multiple product versions, or highly configurable products.

This can become a challenge fast, particularly for businesses managing thousands of SKUs. But with a unified commerce platform like Shopify, brands can build a smooth, intuitive search experience that helps buyers navigate complex product catalogs. Shopify supports this with a unified catalog and an extensible software ecosystem built for B2B search.

Let’s look at a few key capabilities that power an ideal ecommerce experience for B2B buyers.

AI-powered search and recommendations

Fast, accurate product discovery is the best way to start any modern B2B ecommerce experience. When navigating large catalogs, configurable products, and repeat ordering, buyers want intelligent tools that help them find exactly what they need, fast.

AI-powered search bridges the gap between complex catalogs and personalized recommendations. Returning buyers can reorder faster when search anticipates their needs, surfaces contract-specific products, and suggests relevant add-ons. First-time buyers benefit from personalized recommendations based on browsing behavior or account type, helping them discover the right products without needing support.

Orveon Global, a collective of three prestige cosmetics brands, saw the value of this approach when they consolidated ecommerce operations on Shopify. By moving from three separate tech stacks to one unified back end, they created a more streamlined foundation for growth.

As part of that migration, Orveon implemented Nosto, a Shopify app that powers AI-driven search, merchandising, personalization, and product recommendations. These features helped optimize the online experience across all three brands, giving both vendors and DTC buyers a simpler path to product discovery. Combining unified commerce with AI-powered search boosted their average order value (AOV) by 10%, delivering real results for their bottom line.

Enhanced search for complex catalogs

If a product catalog includes thousands of SKUs or configurable items, search alone may not be enough. Faceted navigation gives buyers the ability to filter and sort by multiple attributes such as size, material, compatibility, or availability. This helps them quickly narrow down their options and find exactly what they need.

It’s especially valuable in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, or industrial supply, where buyers often search within strict technical requirements. A well-designed filtering experience reduces friction, speeds up purchasing, and lowers the risk of a B2B buyer ordering the wrong product.

Visual product configuration tools

For B2B brands with configurable products, visual tools can provide a faster, more confident path to purchase. Real-time product configurators allow buyers to customize products with live previews, often using 3D renders or dynamic imagery. This visual feedback reduces errors and shortens the decision-making process—buyers can see exactly what they are ordering before purchase.

Industry West is a great example of how a brand with a complex catalog improved their buying experience. They sell unique, customizable furniture collections to customers with high digital expectations, including trade professionals, business owners, and wholesale buyers.

On their previous platform, maintaining that experience was both time-consuming and costly. Even small changes required developer support, and performance issues made it difficult to scale. Their website wasn’t flexible enough to effectively showcase all the different sizes and shapes of their product lines. 

After migrating to Shopify, Industry West streamlined operations and launched a more modern B2B experience that includes:

• Bulk purchasing with automatic tiered discounts
• Fabric swatch selection with optional shipping fees
• Personalized campaigns based on customer type
• Automated workflows for draft orders, PDF quotes, price catalogs, and custom discounts

By offering a better buying experience for their B2B buyers, Industry West saw a 90% increase in web revenue from trade accounts and a 10% lift in new trade account signups. 

Optimizing the B2B checkout experience

B2B checkout can be complex, but the experience is critical to get right. Many B2B brands need to deliver a fast, secure, and seamless checkout with features that support tiered pricing, volume discounts, configurable products, and integrations with ERP and other systems.

For B2B buyers, checkout is the moment that determines whether digital channels become their primary ordering path. Modern platforms such as Shopify can support these complex needs with out-of-the-box features built for B2B transactions. Businesses can streamline operations, take advantage of the world’s best-converting checkout, and deliver a personalized B2B ecommerce experience at scale.

Quote management and approval workflows

For some B2B customers, the quote process isn’t optional. Procurement teams often require formal approvals, even when self-service is available. But serving these customers with manual processes isn’t always a great option. Buyers must contact a rep, a PDF quote is created and sent back, and any changes mean more back-and-forth.

An automated quote workflow simplifies everything. Buyers request a quote directly from the portal, pricing is generated based on configured rules, and approvals happen within the system. It’s faster, more accurate, and easier for both sides, providing a much better ecommerce experience. Automated quote flows also shorten deal cycles and reduce rep workload—freeing sales teams to focus on higher-value conversations.

In an optimized ecommerce experience, brands should be able to support this by automatically replacing pricing and “add to cart” buttons with the option to request a quote, depending on which customer is signed in. Shopify enables this with pre-integrated apps like Quote Snaps’ Request a Quote or Extendons Hide Price App.

Multiple payment options and terms

B2B buyers often face strict procurement rules that limit how and when they can pay. Not every buyer is able to use a corporate credit card. Many require payment by ACH transfer, check, wire, or purchase order, especially for larger or recurring transactions.

Offering flexible payment terms is just as important. Some buyers may need net terms like Net 30 or Net 60. Others rely on scheduled payments that align with internal budgeting or project timelines. Features like account-level credit limits, invoicing workflows, and role-based permissions reduce friction and streamline checkout.

International buyers may also require support for region-specific payment methods or local currencies, which adds another layer of complexity. Shopify supports these needs natively and through apps like the Best Currency Converter to support brand expansion to international markets.

Flexibility here removes common procurement blockers—especially for high-value or global accounts. Shopify supports these needs natively.

Bulk ordering and quick-add features

Wholesale buyers have different needs than DTC customers, especially when it comes to order size and speed. An optimized checkout experience should make it easy for B2B buyers to place large, complex orders without friction. This includes pricing that scales dynamically as quantities increase, so buyers see accurate totals and discounts in real time.

Quick-add features also play an important role. These tools let returning customers reorder frequently purchased products without going through the full buying process again. 

When bulk ordering is fast and intuitive, it builds buyer confidence and increases the likelihood of high-value repeat purchases. A recent study found that 79% of B2B buyers prefer to place repeat orders online. And they’re increasingly willing to spend a lot in a single transaction. The same study found that 39% of buyers are now comfortable spending over $500,000 per order through self-serve ecommerce, up from just 28% two years ago.

Reducing friction and error risk during bulk purchases is especially important, as misordered high-value items erode trust and slow sales cycles.

Creating seamless omnichannel B2B experiences

Omnichannel only works when the entire commerce stack shares one real-time data model. Today’s B2B buyers expect a consistent experience across every channel, whether they’re researching online, chatting with a rep, or placing an order. In a recent McKinsey survey, more than half said they want a seamless brand experience across channels.

Delivering a great B2B ecommerce experience means going beyond your website. Every channel where your brand engages customers should be optimized to deliver an ideal brand experience. Shopify’s unified back end gives teams consistent product, pricing, and customer data across all channels—making omnichannel execution far easier to maintain at scale.

Delivering unified commerce across channels

B2B buyers now use an average of 10 channels throughout their purchase journey. That’s double what it was in 2016. More than half say they’re likely to switch suppliers if the experience across those channels isn’t smooth and consistent.

For large B2B businesses, delivering that level of consistency can be challenging. Technical debt, disconnected systems, and brittle integrations often get in the way of enabling a truly cohesive brand experience. 

Shopify simplifies this with a unified back end and thousands of pre-integrated apps, allowing businesses to deliver a personalized, consistent experience across every channel, including email, chat, social media, and more. This consistency strengthens repeat ordering and account retention.

This consistency should also extend to physical locations. With an integrated POS system, retail and showroom staff can access customer profiles, order history, outstanding invoices, and personalized offers. This way, buyers get a cohesive buyer experience across digital and in-person touchpoints.

Mobile-optimized B2B interfaces

Modern B2B buyers expect to place orders on the devices they use every day. An optimal B2B ordering experience should be fully optimized for mobile devices, not just laptops or desktop computers.

Many B2B brands are also enabling purchasing through channels such as social media, field sales, or in-person events. In these settings, mobile access becomes even more important. If a buyer encounters friction while trying to place an order, they may abandon the purchase altogether.

Sales rep enablement tools

While self-service is essential, not every B2B buyer prefers to order online. According to recent research, preferences are evenly split across three channels: in-person, remote rep-assisted, and digital self-service. This “rule of thirds” makes rep enablement a natural extension of a strong self-service strategy.

To meet customers where they are, brands should equip sales teams with tools that support how buyers want to interact. For example, Shopify offers the CSS Sales Team app to give reps a branded portal to manage customer assignments, send invoices, generate affiliate links, apply discounts, and track performance. 

This helps reps provide an optimal commerce experience no matter how the order is placed. Because Shopify’s unified customer profiles connect order history, pricing, and account context, reps can personalize every interaction with the same data buyers see in the portal. Even better, brands can enable all of this seamlessly through Shopify’s unified back end. 

Measuring and improving B2B experience metrics

After investing in a modern B2B ecommerce experience, it’s essential to track the results. Measuring performance before and after implementation helps you identify where it created value, validate your business case, and uncover opportunities for future improvements.

If experience is now the primary B2B growth engine, you have to measure it accordingly. This means focusing on the metrics that show whether your digital experience is strengthening revenue, loyalty, and operational efficiency—not just adding new features.

Key performance indicators for B2B customer experience

To understand the impact of upgrading your B2B ecommerce experience, track key performance indicators (KPIs) across sales, operations, and customer satisfaction. These KPIs reveal whether buyers prefer your digital channels over rep-led ordering—and whether those experiences are driving value.

Examples of useful KPIs include:

• Conversion rate from site visit or quote to completed order
• Average time to complete a transaction
• Error rate reduction in pricing, invoicing, or order fulfillment
• Cart abandonment rate, especially for high-value or bulk orders
• Average order value and size of repeat purchases
• Reorder rate and frequency of self-serve purchases
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS) related to ordering experience

Comparing these metrics before and after implementation helps you see where the impact is being made, so it’s important to capture baseline data before you make any major changes.

Customer feedback loops and optimization

Another way to assess ecommerce buying experiences is with a customer feedback loop. This is a structured, repeatable process for collecting, analyzing, and acting on input from your buyers. Data to inform the loop can be gathered from feedback surveys, behavioral data on the website, and signals from social channels or support interactions.

Use this feedback to identify and remove friction in the buying experience. It might mean improving search, simplifying repeat orders, or even updating product descriptions for clarity.

Close the loop and let customers know what you’ve changed and why. Then measure the results. A consistent feedback loop turns one-off insights into a scalable process for improving your B2B ecommerce experience over time.

ROI of experience improvements

Like any technical investment, upgrading your B2B ecommerce experience should deliver measurable business value. Improvements to self-service, ordering, and account management often drive results like increased revenue, higher conversion rates, and operational efficiency.

Return on investment (ROI) metrics to track include:

• Time saved by sales reps, shifting from order entry to business development
• Percentage of buyers converting to self-service
• Increase in average order value
• Reduction in order errors and support volume
• Higher repeat purchase rates

Tracking these outcomes over time helps justify your investment, as well as identify areas for continued improvement. Each improvement to the experience can produce incremental gains over time.

Partner with Shopify to build an ideal B2B ecommerce experience

B2B buyers expect more from businesses than ever before. They want fast, accurate ordering, personalized pricing, flexible payment terms, and the ability to self-serve when it suits them. At the same time, they also expect seamless support from sales reps and consistency across every interaction, online, in-store, and everywhere in between.

Meeting these expectations requires the right ecommerce solution. It takes a flexible, unified platform that supports complex buyer journeys, all without high operational overhead. From intuitive customer portals and account-specific pricing to mobile-optimized checkout and role-based access, the right tools help you deliver the kind of experience that keeps your customers coming back.

Shopify is the only commerce platform built to give modern B2B buyers the same intuitive, autonomous experience they expect as consumers—at global scale. With a unified back end, built-in B2B features, and thousands of apps, Shopify gives you the speed and flexibility to evolve alongside your customers. Whether you're modernizing legacy systems, consolidating operations, or expanding into new channels, Shopify makes it easier to deliver a personalized, optimal experience at scale.