B2C customers shop as individuals. B2B buyers purchase as organisations. That distinction runs through every technical decision. A B2B webshop must handle account hierarchies (purchasers, approvers, finance), customer-specific price lists that vary by contract, credit limits checked in real time against the ERP, and order volumes where a single purchase can contain hundreds of line items.
The buying process is rarely linear. A purchaser places an order, a manager approves it, and it goes to finance for credit limit clearance. Only then is it created in the ERP. The platform must support the entire flow, not just the shopping cart.
Five requirements that determine the platform choice
Define which of these five requirements are critical for your business before comparing vendors:
1. Customer-specific pricing. Do you have negotiated prices per customer group, per account, or per product segment? If so, the platform needs native support for price lists tied to customer accounts.
2. Approval workflows and role-based access. Should purchasers be able to place orders that require manager approval before processing? That requires role management with approval levels, budget controls, and notifications.
3. Repetitive ordering. B2B buyers often order the same products. Quick order forms, saved carts, CSV upload, and reorder from history save enormous amounts of time.
4. Catalogue complexity. Do you have thousands of SKUs with technical attributes, configurable products, or variant matrices? That determines whether you need PIM integration and how deep the platform product model must be.
5. ERP integration. Every B2B business has an ERP. The question is how deep the integration needs to be — just orders and inventory, or also customer-specific pricing, credit limits, invoice status, and delivery tracking? See our ERP integration guide for a deeper walkthrough.
Platforms for B2B ecommerce
There is no universal best platform. The choice depends on your catalogue complexity, B2B depth, and ownership model.
Norce is often the first choice for Nordic B2B companies with complex pricing and large catalogues. The platform has native support for multi-price, account hierarchies, and multi-market. It is an API-first platform that requires a separate frontend — either Frntkey (Nordic Web Team’s headless storefront) or a custom build. The strength is the depth of B2B functionality.
Shopware offers a strong B2B suite with API-first architecture and an open source core. A good choice when B2B commerce and content need to work together — for example product guides, technical specifications, and configurators. Shopware has built-in features for quote management, role-based accounts, and customer-specific catalogues.
Shopify Plus has expanded its B2B features significantly. It works well for simpler B2B setups or hybrid B2B/B2C where business customers and consumers are managed from the same platform. Customer-specific pricing, company accounts, and payment terms are supported natively.
Magento with Hyvä offers maximum flexibility through open source. B2B modules are available for most needs, and with open source you can build exactly what you need. Read more in our Hyvä guide.
ERP integration — the core of B2B ecommerce
In B2B, integration is often more important than the store itself. Here are the data flows that must work:
Customer-specific pricing: The ERP owns price lists, contracts, and discount structures. These must sync to the ecommerce platform so that each buyer sees their negotiated terms upon login.
Credit limits: Before an order is approved, the platform must check the customer’s credit limit in the ERP. If exceeded, the order should be blocked or escalated.
Inventory per warehouse: B2B companies often have multiple warehouses. Buyers may need to see availability per location, delivery times per region, and the ability to split an order across multiple shipments.
Order history and invoices: B2B buyers expect to see their invoices, payment status, and full order history directly in the portal.
Junipeer handles these flows as a standardised integration layer. Standard connectors to Fortnox, Business Central, and Visma.net are live. Custom integrations to other ERP systems (Monitor, Pyramid, Jeeves, SAP Business One) use the same architecture.
B2B checkout
A B2C checkout is optimised for conversion: as few steps as possible, autofill, express payment. A B2B checkout has different requirements:
Payment terms. B2B buyers typically pay on invoice with 30-day terms. The platform must support invoice payment, sometimes with real-time credit checks. Briqpay is purpose-built for B2B checkout with support for invoice, instalment, and credit scoring in the same flow. Svea and Walley also offer B2B invoice solutions.
Quote management. Some orders start as quotes that are negotiated before becoming orders. The platform should support quote-to-order conversion without requiring the buyer to re-enter everything in the cart.
PO numbers and reference fields. B2B buyers need to link orders to internal reference numbers, projects, or cost centres. The checkout flow must include fields for this.
The self-service portal
The most profitable part of B2B ecommerce is existing customers placing orders themselves instead of calling or emailing. A good self-service portal reduces manual order handling by 60–80% and frees the sales team to focus on new business.
The portal should include: quick order forms with article numbers, saved carts, order history with one-click reorder, invoices and payment status, delivery tracking, and account administration (manage users, roles, approval rules).
Frntkey delivers a headless self-service portal for Norce with all of this ready out of the box. The majority of development effort can go toward business logic and integration rather than frontend development.
Common mistakes in B2B ecommerce projects
Starting with technology instead of the buying process. Map how your customers actually buy today. Which steps, roles, and systems are involved? The platform should mirror that process.
Underestimating data quality. B2B integrations require clean data. Price lists in the ERP must be consistent, customer accounts must have the right classification, and inventory data must be real-time. Gaps in these fundamental flows affect the entire experience.
Launching everything at once. Start with core functionality: catalogue, pricing, ordering, and basic ERP integration. Add approval workflows, quote management, and advanced self-service in phase two. A phased launch reduces risk and delivers faster time-to-value.
Forgetting mobile. B2B purchasers work on different devices. Field teams, warehouse staff, and sales reps need a B2B portal that works just as well on mobile as on desktop.
What does a B2B ecommerce project cost?
Cost depends on three factors: platform choice, integration depth, and catalogue complexity. A simpler Shopify Plus setup with Fortnox integration can start around SEK 300,000–500,000. A Norce or Shopware solution with full B2B functionality, multi-ERP, and custom frontend typically lands at SEK 800,000–2,000,000. Contact us for a project discussion tailored to your situation.
