Planning a B2B online store: what should you work out first?

If you're planning to have a B2B online store built, you need to account for that reality. A login and a price excluding VAT won't sort out the rest of the ordering process on their own.

So start with how your customers buy today. Which agreements differ between customers, where does your team help, and which steps need to happen in the store? That lets you work out which features are needed and which platform fits.

Who buys on behalf of the business?

A customer account can belong to a person, but also to an organisation with several employees and locations. That difference affects addresses, order history and access.

For example, work out whether a buyer orders only for their own branch or for other locations too. Can every employee complete an order? Who manages the users? And who receives the invoice?

You don't need to build features for every imaginable organisational structure. Look at the customers you actually want to serve. If almost everyone has one regular buyer, an extensive approval process may not be needed at all. If that process happens every day, you don't want to end up handling it through separate emails afterwards.

Which prices and products does each customer see?

Customer agreements can go beyond a discount percentage. Think of a dedicated price list, pack quantities, minimum orders or a product range available only to certain customers.

Decide where those agreements are managed. If prices come from an ERP, you need to know how the store receives changes and what happens if a price is temporarily missing. If your team manages the agreements in the store, make it clear who does that and how you prevent mistakes.

Consider visitors without an account too. Can they see products with prices, product information only, or an option to send an enquiry first? Choose what fits your sales process. Putting everything behind a login can help existing customers, but makes it harder for new customers to explore what you offer.

Make repeat orders easy

Many business purchases involve a familiar range of products. A buyer may get more value from a quick order list than an elaborate route through categories.

Find out whether customers search by product name, product number or their own reference. Do they want to reorder a previous purchase? Enter several quantities at once? Or maintain a regular order list?

Work through the exceptions too. What happens when a product ordered before is no longer available? Can an alternative be offered, and is the new price clear before the customer confirms? A repeat order needs to be checked against current information, so familiar convenience doesn't create new mistakes.

Make payment and delivery match the agreements

Business customers may have different agreements on payment, delivery and order processing. Make it clear which choices someone has while ordering and which ones your team will only confirm afterwards.

For development, the main question is where decisions are made. Does an order go straight into processing, or is it reviewed first? Is the delivery date entered a request or a confirmed arrangement? And where will the customer see any changes?

Use specific wording. A button saying 'place order' creates a different expectation from 'send request'. The screen and what happens afterwards need to tell the same story.

Choose the platform once the process is clear

At BORING, we like working with Shopify for e-commerce. For business sales too, we check whether its capabilities fit the project. Shopify's overview of B2B features sets out its current capabilities; which features are available also depends on your plan.

So check the requirements that really matter to your business. A general tick next to 'B2B' doesn't tell you whether your pricing agreements, roles and integrations are supported in the way you need.

Sometimes the built-in features fit well. Sometimes you need additional tools or a custom solution. We assess that across the whole project. For the different cost categories, you can also read our explanation of how much a Shopify store costs.

Test with different types of customers

Before development, choose a few representative ordering situations. For example, a regular buyer placing a repeat order, a new customer requesting access and an organisation with several delivery locations. For each situation, work through the journey from login to order confirmation.

Ask customers or colleagues who handle these orders every day to review those journeys. Include real exceptions, such as a different price or a missing product number.

That gives you a useful initial scope. You build the store around the tasks customers need to complete, with room to expand it deliberately afterwards. And you discover in time which agreements currently exist only in your account manager's head.