If you want to remain competitive in the modern world, you need an online store. This applies to both small and medium-sized B2B businesses. However, before reaching out to the development team, you need to choose the right platform that will suit the requirements of your business. It is important to understand that all companies have different processes and target audience.
In this article, we will look at the best B2B eCommerce platforms so you could get a complete picture of the available platforms for online trading.
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Magento
Most online store owners consider the Magento b2b e-commerce platform to be the best open source platform for businesses. Why? Because about 26% of all online stores are designed specifically for Magento, which is why it is the market leader. At the same time, this platform does not suit every company. For example, Magento Enterprise Edition, used by large companies, costs 16,000 dollars a year. Fortunately, Magento has an option that suits small companies as well. Using Community Edition, online shop owners can create an online store for free. The most popular features are the support of different currencies and languages, the management of several online stores through one administrator panel and custom modules.
Another advantage of Magento is the large selection of plug-ins and add-ons. Thanks to those, the platform gives you unlimited possibilities when it comes to adding new features or expanding your online store.
At the same time, the platform has some drawbacks. Although you do not need to pay for using Magneto, you will have to buy add-ons, plug-ins, and templates separately if you want to add functionality to your B2B online store or design a unique template.
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osCommerce
If you are looking for quality b2b e-commerce solutions, then osCommerce will be an ideal choice. This good old platform has long been popular with B2B business owners. To make your store unique and add new features, you can take advantage of ready-made extensions, of which there are about 7000.
The community of osCommerce developers consists of roughly 26,000 people. If you have any difficulties, you can always count on getting some technical support from community members.
If you think that osCommerce is ideal for your business goals, then pay attention to its shortcomings. The platform itself is quite old. Therefore, do not expect to see the same functions as you would from similar modern B2B platforms. In addition, there may be difficulties with expanding your osCommerce online store.
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OpenCart
This is the best b2b e-commerce platform for small business owners since it requires having minimal programming knowledge. In general, it is very easy to open an OpenCart store, and you can also use the basic online store functions. However, the platform may be inappropriate if you plan to conduct marketing campaigns. Speaking of which, if you are a marketing student or just simply don’t know where to start your marketing paper research from, you should go to one of the experts that can write dissertation for anyone. Such practice is absolutely safe and secure. We’ve all been through hard times during our university years, and it’s always a good idea to ask a professional to take care of your assignments than to burn out in the middle of the term. You can order even more thorough research from them if you want to know more about the b2b e-commerce.
But we’ve got carried away. At the earliest stages, you still need the help of the development team for basic store configuration. To add new features and make the online store more flexible, you can use additional plug-ins.
The drawback of OpenCart is that there may occur a conflict when using different plug-ins. Plus, some updates may not be available. If you are willing to entrust your B2B business to plug-in developers, then this platform will be quite suitable for you.
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Spree Commerce
This is one of the best open source platforms developed using Ruby on Rails. The online store owners’ community on this platform is growing rapidly. Why is Spree Commerce so popular? Users note that the admin panel is easy to use and it has some great features too.
Also, you can choose an extension from a large number of existing ones, so you do not need third-party help.
The main advantages of Spree Commerce are its flexibility and unlimited expansion capabilities. Online store owners can add an unlimited number of custom functions to the online store. These advantages make Spree Commerce one of the best platforms for B2B businesses.
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PrestaShop
This is yet another popular platform for businesses. The PrestaShop platform has a simple admin panel. Users can set up an online store on their own. The platform gives the user a choice of several levels of technical control.
However, the PrestaShop platform has its weaknesses. Namely, limited opportunities for personalizing your online store. If you are looking for a platform that will allow you to create a unique design and leverage a lot of graphic elements, you need to look for something else.
In order to personalize the design of your PrestaShop site, you will need to buy additional themes.
Store all set up? Ready to ship?
Once your store is up and running, you will need someone to handle order fulfillment for you. Doing it yourself is possible, yet time-consuming and shipping across the world without knowing what you are doing is the perfect recipe for running into complications and paying way too much for shipping.
Floship is an eCommerce Order Fulfillment provider based in Hong Kong. We help small to medium enterprises ship eCommerce goods to end consumers across the globe through cross-border shipping solutions. Our warehouses are located in Hong Kong and Shenzhen where we store and pick & pack your orders before shipping them to consumers by partner couriers and competitive rates.
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