BigCommerce works well for B2C out of the box. For B2B, it requires more thought. The platform has the capabilities—especially with B2B Edition—but deploying them effectively means understanding what makes B2B fundamentally different from selling to consumers.
Most B2B ecommerce projects that struggle do so because they underestimate these differences. They try to make a B2C checkout work for business buyers, or they over-engineer solutions for problems that BigCommerce already solves natively.
The Key Differences
B2B isn’t just B2C with bigger order values. The buying process, the relationships, and the expectations are structurally different.
Customer-Specific Pricing
B2B rarely has a single price for anything. The same product might have a different price for every customer, based on their negotiated terms, volume commitments, or relationship history.
You need to support price lists tied to customer groups, contract pricing for specific accounts, volume discounts that apply at various break points, and promotional pricing that layers on top of everything else. Often for the same product, at the same time, for different customers.
BigCommerce B2B Edition handles much of this natively through customer groups and price lists. The complexity comes when you need pricing to integrate with external systems—ERPs, CPQ tools, or legacy pricing databases that hold the source of truth for customer-specific rates.
Account Hierarchies
B2B customers aren’t individuals. They’re organizations with multiple buyers, purchasing departments, approval workflows, and budget controls.
A single “customer” might have a procurement manager who sets up orders, buyers who select products, approvers who authorize purchases, and accounts payable who handles invoicing. Each role needs different permissions and different views of the account.
B2B Edition provides company accounts with user roles and permissions. But you’ll need to configure these carefully to match how your customers actually operate. Some organizations have simple hierarchies; others have complex multi-level approval chains that require custom development.
Quoting and Negotiation
Not every B2B transaction is a simple “add to cart, check out” flow. Sometimes the cart is the beginning of a conversation, not the end.
Business buyers often need quotes they can take to their own approval processes. They may want to negotiate terms on large orders. They might need customization or configuration before committing. The linear checkout flow that works for B2C doesn’t always apply.
BigCommerce B2B Edition includes quote management functionality. Buyers can request quotes, sales teams can respond with pricing and terms, and accepted quotes can convert to orders. For more complex scenarios—CPQ integrations, custom product configurators, multi-round negotiations—you’ll likely need to extend beyond native functionality.
Payment Terms and Credit
B2B buyers rarely pay at checkout with a credit card. They expect payment terms—Net 30, Net 60, or custom terms based on their creditworthiness and relationship.
This means purchase orders instead of immediate payment, credit limits that need to be checked and enforced, invoicing workflows that generate proper documentation, and integration with accounts receivable systems that track what’s owed.
B2B Edition supports purchase order payment and basic credit limits. For more sophisticated credit management, integration with your ERP or accounting system is typically required.
Catalog Visibility and Access
Different B2B customers often see different products. A distributor might have access to your full catalog, while a regional retailer only sees products they’re authorized to carry. Some products might be visible but not purchasable until a customer relationship is established.
Customer groups in BigCommerce control catalog visibility and pricing. But managing this at scale—especially when product access is driven by contracts or regional restrictions—requires careful architecture and often integration with systems that track customer entitlements.
Making It Work
The path to successful B2B on BigCommerce depends on where you’re starting and how complex your requirements are.
Start With B2B Edition
If you’re doing meaningful B2B business, B2B Edition is almost always worth the investment. The native company accounts, price lists, quote management, and purchase order functionality provide a foundation that would be expensive to build custom.
Don’t try to replicate B2B Edition functionality with apps or custom code. It’s technically possible, but you’ll spend more, have more maintenance overhead, and end up with a worse result than the native solution.
Map Your Workflows First
Before building anything, document how your B2B customers actually buy. Not how you wish they bought, or how your B2C customers buy—how your business customers actually complete purchases today.
What roles are involved? Who initiates orders, who approves them, who receives shipments, who pays invoices? What information do they need at each step? Where do they get stuck?
This mapping will reveal which native BigCommerce features cover your needs, where you need configuration, and where you need custom development or integration.
Prioritize Integration Points
B2B stores rarely stand alone. They’re part of an ecosystem that includes ERPs, CRMs, inventory systems, and accounting software. The quality of these integrations often determines the success of the B2B implementation.
Identify which systems need to be connected and what data needs to flow between them. Customer data, pricing, inventory, orders, invoices—all of this typically needs to synchronize with backend systems.
Build integrations that are resilient to failure, that handle data conflicts gracefully, and that provide visibility when things go wrong. B2B operations can’t afford orders disappearing or inventory getting out of sync.
Plan for Reordering
B2B buyers often purchase the same products repeatedly. A purchasing workflow that requires browsing the catalog and building a cart from scratch every time creates friction.
Consider reorder functionality that lets buyers quickly repeat previous orders, saved order templates for common purchases, and quick order forms where buyers can enter SKUs directly. The easier you make repeat purchasing, the more business you’ll capture.
Handle Bulk Operations
B2B orders are often larger and more complex than B2C orders. A buyer might need to add hundreds of line items, upload a spreadsheet of SKUs and quantities, or modify quantities across dozens of products.
The standard BigCommerce cart works fine for small orders. For bulk B2B operations, you may need CSV upload functionality, quick order pads, or custom interfaces designed for high-volume ordering.
Common Pitfalls
Having worked with many B2B BigCommerce implementations, we see the same problems repeatedly:
Underestimating ERP integration complexity. The integration between BigCommerce and your ERP is often the hardest part of a B2B project. Don’t treat it as an afterthought. Budget time and resources accordingly.
Over-customizing early. Start with native functionality, see how it works for your customers, then customize based on real feedback. Many custom features we’ve seen could have been handled natively if the team had explored BigCommerce’s capabilities more thoroughly.
Ignoring mobile. B2B buyers increasingly use mobile devices, especially for reorders and order tracking. Don’t assume B2B means desktop-only.
Forgetting the sales team. B2B ecommerce often supplements rather than replaces sales teams. Build workflows that help your salespeople serve customers better, not workflows that route around them.
Treating all B2B customers the same. A small business buying occasionally has different needs than an enterprise customer with a dedicated account manager. Your platform should accommodate both.
The Bigger Picture
B2B ecommerce isn’t just a channel—it’s increasingly a competitive requirement. Buyers expect self-service capabilities, real-time information, and the convenience they experience in B2C shopping.
BigCommerce, especially with B2B Edition, provides a strong foundation for meeting these expectations. The key is understanding your specific requirements, using native functionality where it fits, and building thoughtfully where custom development is genuinely needed.
The best B2B implementations feel simple to buyers, even when the underlying systems are complex. That simplicity is the result of careful planning, not accident.