Why Manufacturers and Distributors Need Modern B2B eCommerce Experiences
August 14, 2026
By: Tiffany Hindman
Summary: Why do B2B buyers expect a consumer-like shopping experience? Because they want the same convenience they get when shopping online personally. Modern B2B eCommerce makes it easier to find products, see pricing, place orders, and manage accounts without unnecessary friction.
Why should buying from a business supplier feel harder than buying from Amazon? For many B2B buyers, it shouldn't.
The people making business purchases are the same people ordering groceries, booking hotels, and shopping online in their personal lives. They are used to finding what they need quickly, seeing relevant information, placing an order without making a phone call, and checking their order status without asking someone for an update.
That doesn't mean B2B companies need to turn their website into Amazon. It means today's buyers expect the same level of convenience when they're making a purchase for work.
For manufacturers, distributors, and other B2B businesses, meeting those expectations can create a better customer experience while also reducing the amount of manual work required behind the scenes.
A New Set of Expectations
There was a time when B2B purchasing was almost entirely relationship driven. Traditionally, many B2B purchasing processes relied heavily on phone calls, emails, and manual order entry. Someone checked inventory. An invoice was created. Everyone waited for the next step.
That process can still work, especially for complex purchases. But it doesn't need to be the only option. Today's buyers often want to research products, compare options, check availability, review pricing, and place orders on their own schedule.
They don't necessarily want to call someone at 9 a.m. just to reorder something they've purchased twenty times before. Convenience has become part of the buying experience.
Your B2B Customers Are Consumers Too
This is one of the easiest things to overlook.
A purchasing manager might spend their workday buying products from suppliers and their evening ordering something from their favorite online retailer. They don't suddenly forget how online shopping works when they sit down at their desk. They know what a good digital experience feels like.
If your website requires customers to email a salesperson for information they could easily find online, you're creating unnecessary friction.
- Easy navigation
- Fast product search
- Clear product information
- Convenient checkout
- Order history
- Simple reordering
- Mobile access
- Accurate availability
- Personalized pricing
Self-Service Is Becoming More Important
Self-service doesn't mean removing your sales team from the relationship.
It means giving customers another way to interact with your business. A customer may want to speak with a salesperson when they're considering a new product or negotiating a large order. They may not want to speak with anyone when they need to reorder the same products they've been buying for years.
A strong B2B eCommerce experience gives customers both options, and frees your employees to focus on customers who actually need assistance.
- Direct sales contact when they need expertise
- Self-service for routine, repeat purchases
- Faster handling of both paths
Customers Want Their Information in One Place
Imagine logging into an online account and immediately seeing everything you need. Without a self-service experience, much of this information may require an email or phone call, creating work for your team and adding another step for your customer.
A connected eCommerce experience can put this information where customers expect to find it.
Product Search Matters More Than You Think
B2B catalogs can be complicated.
Manufacturers and distributors may have thousands of products, multiple variations, technical specifications, and product numbers that customers already know by heart. Your customers shouldn't have to hunt through pages of products to find what they need.
The easier it is to find a product, the easier it is to buy it.
- Product names
- SKUs
- Part numbers
- Product categories
- Specifications
- Filters
Customer Specific Pricing Shouldn't Create Extra Work
B2B pricing rarely fits into a single price list.
One customer may have negotiated rates, another may receive volume discounts, and another may have completely different purchasing terms. When your eCommerce store and ERP are connected, customers can sign in and access the pricing associated with their account.
Customers see the prices that apply to them, and your team has fewer pricing questions to chase down.
- Customers see rates specific to their account
- No manual price lookups
- No spreadsheets sent back and forth
- A simpler buying process for everyone
Inventory Information Builds Confidence
Customers want to know whether a product is available before they place an order.
If your website says an item is available but your internal system says otherwise, someone is going to have a bad day.
Accurate inventory information helps customers make better purchasing decisions and reduces the risk of orders that can't be fulfilled as expected. Your website should be working from reliable business information rather than relying on someone to update it manually.
- Customers know what's actually available
- Fewer stockouts and overselling
- Orders that can be fulfilled as expected
- No manual updates required to stay current
Reordering Should Be Easy
Some B2B customers purchase the same products repeatedly.
Making them search for those products every time doesn't make much sense. Features such as order history, saved products, and easy reorder functionality can turn a routine purchase into a much faster process.
If a customer knows what they want, don't make them work harder than necessary to buy it.
- Order history
- Saved products
- One-click reorder functionality
A Better Experience Benefits Your Team Too
Improving B2B eCommerce isn't just about making customers happier. It can also reduce the workload on your internal teams. When customers can find information and complete routine transactions themselves, your employees may spend less time handling:
That gives sales and customer service teams more time to focus on higher value conversations.
Your eCommerce Platform Needs to Connect to the Rest of Your Business
A great customer experience is difficult to maintain when your eCommerce platform is operating on its own. Your website may need information from your ERP about products, inventory, customers, pricing, and orders.
When those systems are connected, you can create a smoother experience for both your customers and your employees. This is especially important for manufacturers and distributors with complex business processes.
The website shouldn't create another place where your team has to maintain information. It should help bring your existing systems together.
Don't Try to Turn B2B Into B2C
B2B buyers don't necessarily want their purchasing experience to become identical to consumer shopping.
The goal isn't to copy consumer commerce. The goal is to take the convenience customers already expect from consumer eCommerce and apply it to the unique requirements of B2B purchasing. That means making complex transactions feel simple.
The Future of B2B Buying Is More Convenient
Customers aren't necessarily asking businesses to eliminate personal relationships. They're asking businesses to make routine interactions easier.
A modern B2B eCommerce experience can give customers the flexibility to research products, check information, place orders, and manage their accounts whenever it's convenient for them. At the same time, connected eCommerce and ERP systems can reduce repetitive work for internal teams and provide a stronger foundation for growth.
At Strabo Partners, we help businesses create eCommerce experiences that connect the customer experience with the systems running the business behind it. By combining eCommerce platforms such as BigCommerce and Shopify with Microsoft Dynamics 365, businesses can give customers more control while simplifying the processes that happen behind the scenes.
B2B buying will always have unique requirements, but customers still expect the speed, transparency, and convenience they've come to rely on in every other digital experience.
Give B2B Buyers the Experience They Already Expect
Strabo Partners connects BigCommerce and Shopify with Microsoft Dynamics 365, giving your customers self-service pricing, inventory, and order history while keeping your team out of the busywork.