Running an online business that deals with B2B wholesaling requires online store owners to identify ecommerce platforms that cater to their unique requirements.
This is because not all ecommerce platforms are built to provide services that accommodate wholesaling.
Consequently, we decided to provide you with information on the best ecommerce platforms for wholesaling businesses and then let you know how tools like Upscribe can help you get the best out of them. So, without further ado…
What is a Wholesale ecommerce Platform?
A wholesale ecommerce platform is an online marketplace where wholesale buyers and procurement teams can locate and purchase items in bulk.
Wholesale ecommerce sites typically focus on features and functionality tailored to the unique requirements of wholesaling.
- They provide necessary features for wholesale sellers, such as bulk ordering, tiered pricing, inventory management, and order tracking.
- They offer specific wholesale features for buyers, enabling them to search for products based on criteria such as product category, brand, and price.
E-commerce platforms specializing in wholesale trading will act as independent marketplaces, such as Amazon Business, or be built into existing platforms, like Shopify.
Why Wholesale Ecommerce Platforms are Important?
They Increase Sales While Lowering the Spend
The transition to digital commerce impacts wholesaling companies as much as any other business.
Where previously, most wholesale sellers’ sales activities were delivered through a team of sales reps, wholesale purchasers increasingly demand the ability to conduct their business through self-service, as a recent Gartner report demonstrates.
This presents genuine opportunities for online wholesalers. Selling through an ecommerce platform increases sales opportunities and reduces the length of the sales cycle. It also reduces costs by removing salaries of sales reps that no longer present the value they once did.
They Simplify the Buying Process
Increasing demand for self-service purchasing has been driven mainly by ecommerce wholesaling, making the purchasing process much simpler and more convenient.
Buyers and procurement teams can access all the products they need in one place whenever needed. They no longer have to deal with a human intermediary who may (intentionally or not) delay them getting their orders placed and fulfilled. Locating items is significantly accelerated when buying online.
By streamlining the customers’ buying processes, customer satisfaction is enhanced, which leads to a higher chance of repeat business and more excellent customer advocacy.
Ecommerce Wholesaling Makes Your Business Location-Independent
Moving your wholesaling business to an ecommerce platform opens your business to more customers. It’s really that simple.
By becoming location-independent, you are no longer restricted by location, time, or marketing budget.
A good wholesaling e-commerce platform will augment your marketing activities and allow you to drive more customers to your business through coordinated, omnichannel online marketing campaigns.
Potential customers can discover you through the platform or be driven there through your presence in other online arenas, such as your website or social media channels.
Criteria to Consider When Choosing Wholesale Ecommerce Platforms
Design
Always remember to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid). Nothing turns off prospective customers more than sites that are too busy or difficult to navigate.
Price
There’s no point in finding a great platform if you can’t afford it.
Most ecommerce platforms have tiered pricing structures to be viable for various businesses, regardless of budget. If you find one you like, take the time to study each of their pricing plans to ensure that, should you commit, it will deliver what you need and not take you over budget.
Integrations
Most significant platforms enable integrations into all the major systems you may use (CRM, ERP, etc.), but don’t take this as a given.
Always check the platform you are considering will integrate with your existing technology stack.
Best Wholesale Ecommerce Platforms
Key Takeaways:
- Shopify – Best for wholesale startups and smaller wholesalers
- WooCommerce – Best for freelancers and small B2C businesses
- Adobe Commerce – Best for large enterprises
#1: Shopify
Shopify is one of the world’s biggest ecommerce platforms and is renowned for its ease of use and effectiveness.
For wholesalers, Shopify’s B2B ecommerce offers the opportunity to trade on one of the world’s biggest marketplaces while furnishing them with all the tools they need to scale their operation and deliver a complete, end-to-end customer experience. When selecting a B2B wholesale platform, it’s crucial to consider these unique requirements. Here are B2B features to look for when choosing your ecommerce platform.
Key Features:
Broad Customizations – deliver a complete end-to-end customer journey with fully customizable products, pricing publishing, quantity rules, and payment terms.
Global Scalability- reach customers you never could before with localized storefronts and automated local currencies and tax exemptions.
Flexible Payment Options—Accommodate your new global customer base with various payment options, including automated drafts, payment reminders, invoices, and due-on-fulfillment terms.
Pricing:
The Basic Shopify package costs $25 per month and provides everything a new business needs to create its store and start trading. It also includes basic reports and 2 staff accounts.
The mid-tier Shopify package costs $65 monthly and includes professional reports and up to 5 staff accounts.
Shopify Advanced allows customized reporting with lower transaction fees and up to 15 Staff accounts. For this, you will pay $399 per month.
Pros and Cons:
Pros
- No other ecommerce platform makes it as easy to set up your business and start trading as Shopify does
- Unparalleled customer service – they are available 24 hours a day and have a wealth of educational materials available to new users
- Highly conducive to multichannel selling
Cons
- Sometimes requires paid-for, third-party apps
- Checkout is not customizable
- Not free to use
Once you are up and running with your Shopify store, you can increase your revenues by reducing churn and tapping into the potential of your subscriber base with Upscribe.
Try Upscribe to see how their out-of-the-box tools can increase average order size (AOV) and frequency.
#2: WooCommerce
WooCommerce is not an ecommerce platform but an ecommerce plug-in built on WordPress, the world’s most popular website builder.
This allows anyone from freelancing artists to wholesale businesses to build a complete online store using WordPress’s open-source architecture, which many of the world’s top companies use.
Key Features:
Mobile Storefront – Not only can you build a complete online e-commerce store with WooCommerce, but they are also fully optimized for mobile users to accommodate contemporary buying behavior.
Product Management—WooCommerce has a complete set of product management features covering every base, including simple product catalog listings and updates, bulk product uploads, and easily configurable product variations.
WooCommerce Blocks – WooCommerce Blocks allow you to easily manage and display your products on any page of your online store. This will enable wholesalers to easily cross-promote products in other areas of their stores, such as their blog or promotion fields.
Pricing:
Because WooCommerce is built on WordPress’s open-source technology, it is free to download and use. Costs only enter the equation for additional add-ons.
Pros
- It’s free – you can build a fully functioning ecommerce store without spending a single cent.
- Huge range of add-ons to add even greater value to online stores
- Extremely secure
Cons
- Some desirable features for wholesalers require add-ons, and it can take time to find the right ones
- It is Not always easy to calculate shipping fees and rates
- Reports and search are basic – as with other aspects of WooCommerce, you’ll need to find the right add-ons to optimize these to your needs.
#3: Magento/Adobe Commerce
Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) is a powerful ecommerce platform recognized as Gartner’s “Leader in Digital Commerce” for the past 6 years straight.
It’s a cloud-based platform that lets businesses manage the entire order management lifecycle of their ecommerce stores through interconnectivity with other Adobe products.
Key Features:
Intelligent Commerce – Adobe’s AI gets smarter the more it is used. This allows its users to benefit from real-time, data-driven insights that can be used to incentivize user behavior with features like Live Search and machine-learning-driven product recommendations.
Extensibility—For a business to scale, so must its technology. Adobe Commerce is built to scale and integrate with all current and new digital touchpoints.
Limitless Frontend Flexibility – One platform, one front end, and an unlimited number of options for your storefront powered by thousands of extensions
Pricing:
Adobe Commerce is a costly undertaking. This is the absolute top end of ecommerce technology built for large enterprises with deep pockets. All pricing is “available on request,” but you’ll be looking at a minimum of no less than $ 22,000 a year.
Pros
- World-leading AI and machine learning software
- Complete future-proofing of your online stores
- Guidance from legitimate global experts
Cons
- Beyond the budget of anyone with less than $1M in sales revenues
- You have to commit to Adobe and their other products completely
- That’s it really, it’s fantastic if you can afford it. Most can’t.
Conclusion
If you are a wholesaler looking for the right ecommerce platform, the correct answer is likely on the list above.
If you have little to no budget and are happy to build slowly and small, go for WooCommerce. If you are a vast, global corporation with a massive budget available, you should opt for Adobe Commerce.
Your best bet for anyone between these two points is probably Shopify. If you go with Shopify, don’t forget to try Upscribe, whose tools will vastly improve customer retention and reduce churn in your new Shopify store.
