We’re gathered with 10,000 colleagues – customers, partners, employees – in Chicago this week for Salesforce Connections, where we announced the launch of B2B Commerce! Now Salesforce Commerce Cloud offers solutions for both B2C commerce and B2B commerce.
When people think of Commerce Cloud, they think of our industry-leading B2C solution, which was just named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, that powers over 2,500 consumer ecommerce sites worldwide. But now, thanks to the acquisition of CloudCraze in early April, Commerce Cloud now also offers a leading B2B commerce solution designed specifically for businesses eager to provide exceptional ecommerce experiences for their business customers.
Why do we need separate products for B2B and B2C commerce? B2C shoppers and B2B buyers both want great ecommerce experiences, but business buyers are often making larger, more complex purchases. A wholesaler may place an order of merchandise to stock multiple stores for an entire season, or a factory may purchase replacement parts for a very specific type of machine.
These types of purchases require unique B2B-specific functionality that is markedly different from what consumer shoppers need. B2B Commerce features include:
- Authenticated sites including logins for each visitor
- Shopping carts that can accommodate hundreds or thousands of SKUs per order
- 2-click reorders to make large, frequent orders fast and easy
- Custom storefront themes for a unique look and feel for each account
- Custom product catalogs by account for exclusive items or a selected subset of products
- Negotiated/contract pricing by account and/or by customer segment
- Complex shipping functionality allowing for multiple delivery dates and locations
- Multiple payment types like credit card, purchase order, and ACH
The Salesforce B2B Commerce solution is built natively on the Salesforce CRM platform. This means that our customers, their distributors, and ultimately their buyers seamlessly combine commerce and CRM data for a complete view of the customer or account. For example, a seller’s account manager can manage Commerce + CRM data like: orders, carts, cases and opportunities both for individual customers and in aggregate. Business buyers using the ecommerce sites can access their data directly from their web portals for easy account and order management.
Global leaders in consumer goods and manufacturing like Adidas, Ecolab, Land O’ Lakes, and Univar already rely on Commerce Cloud’s B2B Commerce solution to power their B2B commerce businesses.
The B2B commerce industry is expected to grow from $889 billion today to $1.2 trillion by 2021 according to Forrester Research, and capturing this opportunity has never been more important for businesses. With the addition of B2B Commerce to the Commerce Cloud, Salesforce and its customers can now take advantage of this shift to digital commerce, enabling business buyers to browse and purchase online as easily as consumers shop today, but still use the B2B-specific functionality required for complex business purchases.
Learn more about Salesforce B2B Commerce.
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