Digital B2B commerce has gained importance across all industries in recent years. Our partner agency intoCommerce is a specialist in this field and offers you valuable tips and insights for building your digital B2B business in our 3-part blog series. After we shared how to start a B2B ecommerce site, in this article, intoCommerce explains how to use an open source B2B ecommerce platform, namely Shopware's B2B Suite, to ensure that your B2B store will be truly successful and that your customers will be perfectly bound to you.
One of the first open-source store systems was launched in 2000. Known as The Exchange Project, it developed into the OsCommerce store system: The precursor to all the store systems we know today. At the time, it was the first affordable, or rather, open-source, solution for start-ups and medium-sized companies. In the macedonia telegram screening early days, companies often copied their B2C store and switched the prices to show the net figures. This new “B2B store” was then hidden behind a password-protected wall, making it near-invisible to the public. Customers were given the ability to view the B2B version by submitting proof of their entry in the commercial register by fax, or even better, by post. In this respect, the internet really was uncharted territory for many B2B merchants.
Fast-forward 20 years, and many B2B ecommerce systems have come on leaps and bounds, with lots of crucial features even available in the standard versions. Store systems such as Shopware offer sophisticated B2B functionality via their B2B suite – making merchants’ lives much easier. Current trends are moving away from a simple B2B store and towards a B2B portal with lots of links to different B2B marketplaces, in-house marketplace features/drop shipping, or a proprietary affiliate system.
But what features does the latest B2B suite in Shopware 6 offer?