The digital commerce spectrum for B2B manufacturers

The portal-versus-ecommerce distinction has always been a useful starting point for B2B manufacturers. It helps simplify a crowded market and gives teams a clearer way to sort through very different types of products.

The challenge is that it works best as a starting point, not the full picture.

In practice, digital commerce for manufacturers sits on a spectrum. On one end is straightforward customer self-service: pricing, availability, reorders, invoices, shipment tracking, and basic online ordering for existing customers. On the other is a more persuasion-driven ecommerce experience built to attract, influence, and convert, with capabilities like product discovery, merchandising, content, personalization, and promotions.

Most manufacturers are not really choosing between two separate worlds. They are choosing where they want to land on that spectrum.

The self-service end: efficiency over persuasion

A helpful way to picture this is the customer service desk at Walmart.

A shopper walks up and asks a simple question: “Is this available, and what’s my price?”

That interaction isn’t about persuading someone to buy. It’s about getting a quick, reliable answer.

For many manufacturers, digital interactions look exactly like that. Customers already know what they need. They’ve negotiated pricing and have a repeat buying pattern. They aren’t looking to be marketed to. They’re looking to get a job done.

That’s what the self-service side of the spectrum supports best: making operational information and transactions instantly accessible online.

Common features include:

• Customer-specific pricing and availability
• Order and invoice lookups
• Shipment tracking and payment history
• Simplified reorder workflows and account support tools

The goal here isn’t to create a high-conversion storefront for anonymous traffic. It’s to make life easier for existing customers, dealers, and internal teams who need answers fast.

Moving toward ecommerce: selling and persuasion

As you move across the spectrum, the digital experience becomes less about service and more about persuasion.

This side focuses on helping users browse, compare, and buy. It prioritizes rich product catalogs, personalized content, merchandising, promotions, recommendations, and branded storefront design.

It’s built to attract and convert, not just transact.

Platforms at this end of the spectrum think SAP Commerce Cloud, Adobe Commerce, or Shopify’s B2B capabilities are optimized for digital storefronts and more complex buying journeys across new and existing customers.

But those extra layers of sophistication come with trade-offs: added cost, complexity, and long-term maintenance.

The middle ground: where many manufacturers live

Many manufacturers don’t live at either extreme. They live in the messy middle.

They want customers to place orders online, but they don’t need a consumer-style shopping journey.

They want a clean catalog and intuitive UX, but not a massive merchandising operation.

They want to reduce manual work and phone calls, but without taking on a platform that requires a full-time digital commerce team.

In this middle space, the right solution looks less like portal only or ecommerce only, and more like a hybrid: self-service access to real ERP data, reliable ordering, and enough catalog and UX polish that customers are comfortable transacting on their own.

That’s where platforms like Corevist tend to sit closer to the self-service side, but with ordering and light catalog experiences that support real digital buying behavior without over-rotating into a heavy marketing stack.

The point isn’t that one specific product is the middle. The point is that there is a middle, and for many manufacturers, that’s the most realistic place to design toward.

Ask the right question: how much persuasion?

For manufacturers evaluating options, the decision framework is simple, but powerful: how much persuasion does your business actually need?

If the answer is not much because most buyers already know what they want and value speed and accuracy, then self-service tools should take priority. The job is to help them move quickly, not to sell them on a decision they’ve effectively already made.

If the goal is to attract new buyers, influence product discovery, and create a branded, digitally driven buying experience, then moving further toward ecommerce makes sense. That’s where richer storefronts, content, and merchandising start to earn their keep.

Every inch you move along that spectrum changes what the platform must deliver and what your team has to manage in return. More persuasion usually means more content, more configuration, and more ongoing decisions about how the experience should work.

That’s why manufacturers should start not with a category label, but with the customer motion they’re trying to support. Are customers coming online to browse and be influenced, or to get answers and get work done?

For most manufacturers, the honest answer lives somewhere in the middle. And that middle is often where digital transformation has the best chance of actually sticking.

2026 Top B2B Self-Service Portals for Mid-Market Manufacturers

Every year, the Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce Platforms highlights leaders in digital commerce. The research is thorough and stands on its own.

It is also built for the category Gartner defines as “digital commerce,” meaning interactive self service or assisted buying journeys that include storefronts, catalogs, search, carts, checkout, and fully priced orders. In other words, the workflow of discovery to persuasion to conversion.

But across sales conversations, implementation projects, and support tickets, we consistently see a different pattern. Many mid-market manufacturers are not trying to perfect digital persuasion. They are trying to solve post order visibility and transactional servicing: order status, invoice access, pricing accuracy, dealer enablement, and CSR workload reduction.

That is a different problem.

To Gartner’s credit, the report itself calls this out. It notes the rise of comprehensive customer portals designed to support postsales interactions such as service requests, claims management, order tracking, and personalized support across the customer life cycle.

So we decided to have some fun and put a simple question to the test: which vendors most clearly position themselves for ERP centered operational self service, not just digital selling.

Instead of debating internally, we structured the question and asked two large language models to score vendors based strictly on what each vendor chooses to emphasize on its public website.

We added one constraint that often gets glossed over: the ERP.

For manufacturers, the ERP is the system of record. Pricing, inventory, order status, invoices, and customer hierarchies live there. Whether a portal succeeds often comes down to how it treats that system.

When a portal is built around the ERP as the source of truth, pricing reflects contract reality, inventory reflects actual availability, and order history reflects what truly shipped. When it is layered on top as a commerce front end, data must be replicated, synchronized, or translated. That can work, but it introduces latency and reconciliation. Over time, small mismatches become service tickets. Service tickets become manual work. Manual work erodes the ROI the portal was meant to deliver.

So the architectural question becomes critical: is the portal built around the ERP as the source of truth, or layered on top as a commerce front end?

That distinction shaped the scoring.

What follows is a positioning analysis, not a technical architecture audit. It evaluates how clearly vendors speak to ERP centered operational self service use cases in their public positioning.

A quick note on scope

Gartner tracks more than 160 vendors in this market and evaluated 19 vendors in the Magic Quadrant. The report also states that exclusion does not imply a lack of viability. In many cases, it reflects inclusion criteria tied to revenue scale, customer counts, geography, and growth thresholds.

This scorecard is not trying to replicate Gartner. It is a different lens on a different decision: operational self service portals for manufacturers, anchored in the ERP. Readers who want the full Magic Quadrant analysis can download the official report directly from SAP’s website here.

The prompt we gave the LLMs

We selected capabilities that directly affect post order visibility, transactional accuracy, and ERP centered servicing because those are the constraints manufacturers raise most often.

“You are a B2B portal expert advising mid market manufacturers.

Assume the ERP system is the system of record.

Score the following vendors on whether they clearly offer the following capabilities based on their public websites and product positioning.

Scoring rules
1 = Vendor explicitly claims the capability in portal or operational self service terms on its public site
0 = Not clearly marketed or only implied

If a capability is only implied, score it 0. Only assign 1 when the vendor’s own site clearly describes it in portal or operational self service language.

Capabilities
Real time ERP integration (system of record positioning, not generic “integration”)
Contract pricing
Account based pricing
Customer hierarchies and multi role access
Order history and reorder
Invoice and document retrieval
Shipment tracking
RFQ or quoting
Dealer or distributor enablement
Explicit “B2B portal” positioning
Fast launch or low complexity positioning
Operational self service focus for known customers rather than merchandising narrative

Vendors offerings evaluated:

Corevist
SAP B2B Self-Service Portal
Virto Portal
Salesforce B2B Commerce + Experience Cloud
Adobe Commerce
commercetools
Shopify Plus

This framework evaluates clarity of positioning, not total feature breadth, scalability, or what could be built with customization.” 

For readers who want to see the prompt executed live, the full walkthrough is available here: https://youtu.be/IpjwYjTwORY

2026 B2B Self-Service Portal Scorecard

Vendors receive a score of 0 where ERP system of record positioning or operational self service emphasis is not explicit in public messaging, even if the capability could be built through integration. Vendors receive a score of 1 where ERP system-of-record positioning or operational self-service emphasis is explicitly reflected in public messaging. Treat this as a lens on positioning, not as the final word on architecture.

What the LLMs revealed

1. Portal messaging matters
   Only a subset of vendors explicitly lead with “B2B portal” language. SAP and Virto clearly market portal solutions by name. Others emphasize B2B commerce, digital commerce, or customer experience. When the primary problem is post order servicing for known customers, that distinction matters.
2. ERP depth is the divider
   ERP integration is not optional for manufacturers. Commerce platforms can integrate with ERP, but portal centric solutions tend to frame ERP as the system of record and build the experience around it. That stance affects pricing integrity, order accuracy, shipment visibility, and customer trust, which directly impact cost to serve.
3. Operational self service is a distinct category
   Platforms like Salesforce, Adobe, commercetools, and Shopify are strong digital commerce engines. For organizations prioritizing acquisition, merchandising, and digital experience breadth, those platforms may be the right fit. Operational self service for existing customers is simply not the dominant story in their positioning.

Vendor breakdown

Corevist — 12/12
Public positioning emphasizes ERP centered self service and post order workflows, including pricing, invoices, order history, and dealer enablement. Under this scoring method, the messaging maps cleanly to the criteria.

SAP B2B Self-Service Portal — 11/12
Explicitly marketed as a B2B self service portal, with clear ERP system of record narrative and strong coverage of account, orders, and invoice oriented servicing. Portal capabilities may be evaluated in the context of SAP’s broader commerce and experience stack depending on deployment approach.

Virto Portal — 9/12
Clearly markets a B2B portal solution with account structures and RFQ workflows. ERP integration is supported, though ERP as system of record is less emphasized in the public narrative than portal language itself.

Salesforce B2B Commerce + Experience Cloud — 5/12
Strong B2B commerce capabilities and portal infrastructure, with messaging centered on commerce, experience, and CRM driven workflows. ERP anchored operational servicing can be delivered, but it is not the core public story.

Adobe Commerce — 5/12
Robust commerce and experience orientation with B2B features like quoting and account based pricing. Operational self service is possible, but public positioning is more strongly tied to experience and merchandising.

commercetools — 4/12
Composable commerce infrastructure that can support complex B2B use cases with the right orchestration. Its public story reads more like platform building blocks than a packaged operational portal.

Shopify Plus B2B — 5/12
B2B capability layered onto a commerce foundation with strengths in speed and usability. Public positioning remains more storefront and merchandising oriented than ERP centered servicing.

Why this matters

Most leading digital commerce platforms can support elements of B2B self service. Far fewer position themselves as ERP centered operational portals for known customers.

That difference is not about capability. It is about orientation.

Manufacturers evaluating vendors should ask:

Are we optimizing for discovery, persuasion, and conversion?
Or are we optimizing for post order visibility and transactional servicing?

Both are valid strategies. They are not the same category.

The real question for 2026

The Magic Quadrant evaluates digital commerce platforms.

This exercise evaluates operational self service portals built around the ERP as the system of record.

If your primary constraint is CSR workload, order accuracy, and ERP visibility, that distinction will drive ROI more than merchandising capability alone.

How to use this scorecard

This scorecard reflects vendor positioning, not a complete technical audit. Use it as a starting point for deeper evaluation.

If ERP integration is critical in your environment, consider asking:

• Are prices and inventory read directly from ERP in real time, or synchronized to the platform
• What is the latency between order submission and ERP confirmation
• Is the integration prebuilt and certified, or custom

If post order servicing is central to your goals, consider asking:

• Is there a prebuilt workspace for CSRs, dealers, or account managers
• Can customers reorder entire past transactions easily
• How are contract pricing and customer hierarchies enforced at runtime

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is a vital economic indicator for manufacturing decision-makers, reflecting the financial health and business confidence in the sector. A PMI above 50 signals expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction. When the PMI dips, it can signal challenging times ahead—leading to tighter budgets and postponed investments in new solutions. However, strategic approaches can help manufacturers navigate these periods and secure approvals for essential projects that support sustained business growth.

In times of economic downturn, as indicated by a low Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), manufacturers face critical budgetary decisions. Effective budget planning and strategic investments, particularly in B2B e-commerce, become essential to navigate these challenging periods while preparing for future growth. This blog post explores effective budget management strategies and the pivotal role of B2B e-commerce in ensuring a robust return on investment (ROI) during economic contractions.

The Impact of Low PMI on Manufacturing Budgets

A low PMI often leads manufacturers to reassess their financial strategies, focusing on immediate cost reduction and delaying non-essential expenditures. However, understanding how to strategically manage budgets during these periods can make the difference between merely surviving and positioning for recovery and growth.

Key Budgeting Considerations During Low PMI Periods:

1. Prioritization of High-ROI Projects

Investments that promise quick and tangible returns are crucial. For instance, automation technologies that cut labor costs are more likely to be approved due to their direct impact on reducing operational expenses.

2. Flexible Financing Solutions

Leasing or subscription models can defer the financial impact of new investments, facilitating project approval without large initial outlays.

3. Alignment with Strategic Goals

Budgeting decisions should be tightly aligned with the company’s long-term strategic objectives, such as improving operational efficiency or customer retention, to ensure that every dollar spent contributes to overarching business goals.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

Utilizing advanced analytics to guide budgeting decisions helps allocate resources efficiently, maximizing the impact of each investment.

5. Scalability of Solutions

Starting with smaller, scalable projects allows for adjustments based on economic recovery, reducing initial risk and expenditure.

Amplifying ROI with B2B E-commerce Solutions

During economic downturns, investing in B2B e-commerce platforms can significantly enhance ROI by improving operational efficiencies, expanding market reach, and optimizing customer interactions.

Benefits of B2B E-commerce Investments:

1. Increased Operational Efficiency

B2B e-commerce platforms streamline sales processes, reducing the need for manual interventions and consequently lowering operational costs.

2. Market Expansion

Digital platforms enable manufacturers to reach broader markets without the significant costs associated with establishing physical presences, thus driving revenue growth even during downturns.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience

Providing a seamless, intuitive online purchasing experience can significantly improve customer satisfaction and retention, crucial for maintaining revenue streams during challenging times.

4. Informed Strategic Decisions

Real-time insights gained from e-commerce interactions facilitate more accurate inventory management, tailored marketing strategies, and improved customer service.

5. Cost-Effective Scalability

E-commerce platforms offer the flexibility to adjust operations quickly in response to market changes, allowing for dynamic resource management and cost savings.

The takeaway

Strategic budget planning and investment in B2B e-commerce are key to navigating the challenges posed by low PMI periods. By focusing on scalable, high-ROI projects and leveraging digital platforms, manufacturers can not only weather economic downturns but also lay the groundwork for sustained growth. The flexibility, efficiency, and expanded market reach provided by B2B e-commerce platforms make them an invaluable tool for manufacturers aiming to thrive in both current and future market conditions.

In the dynamic world of business, where every investment is scrutinized for its return, achieving a swift Return on Investment (ROI) is paramount. Shortening the Time to Value (TTV) period is a key factor in realizing a greater and faster ROI. In this blog post, we’ll explore why a shorter TTV is essential for businesses and how you can achieve it. We’ll also delve into how Corevist’s rapid implementation can significantly contribute to reducing your TTV.

Why is a Shorter Time to Value Important?

1. Maximizing ROI: A shorter TTV means you can start realizing the benefits of your investment sooner. This, in turn, accelerates the ROI timeline, allowing your organization to reap the rewards of your investment more quickly. In a competitive business landscape, getting ahead of the curve is crucial.

2. Reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): The longer it takes to implement a solution, the more resources are consumed, leading to a higher Total Cost of Ownership. A shorter TTV reduces TCO by minimizing labor costs, hardware expenses, and ongoing maintenance.

3. Staying Agile: In today’s fast-paced business environment, agility is a strategic advantage. A shorter TTV enables businesses to adapt more swiftly to changing market conditions and customer demands, ensuring they remain competitive and responsive.

4. Enhancing Customer Satisfaction: Faster implementation of solutions can lead to improved customer satisfaction. Whether it’s improving service delivery, speeding up order processing, or enhancing the user experience, customers appreciate when their needs are met promptly.

How to Achieve a Shorter Time to Value?

1. Clear Project Scope and Objectives: Begin with a well-defined project scope and clear objectives. Understand your organization’s specific needs and goals to streamline the implementation process.

2. Select the Right Solution: Choose a solution that aligns with your business requirements and has a proven track record of rapid implementation. Corevist, for instance, is known for its ability to get businesses up and running quickly.

3. Effective Project Management: Employ skilled project managers who can efficiently plan, execute, and monitor the implementation process. They should have a clear understanding of your business goals and deadlines.

4. Collaborative Approach: Collaboration between internal teams and solution providers is crucial. Effective communication ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards the common goal of achieving a shorter TTV.

5. Prioritize Key Features: Focus on implementing core features first, and then expand gradually. This phased approach allows you to start realizing value quickly while continuing to enhance the solution over time.

The Corevist Advantage

One notable solution that excels in achieving a shorter TTV is Corevist’s B2B ecommerce platform. Here’s how Corevist contributes to rapid implementation:

1. Pre-built Integrations: Corevist offers pre-built integrations with major Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems like SAP. This significantly reduces the complexity and time required for integration, allowing you to start using the platform quickly.

2. Configurability: Corevist’s platform is highly configurable, enabling businesses to tailor it to their specific needs without the need for extensive custom development. This flexibility accelerates the implementation process.

3. Expertise: Corevist has a team of experts who specialize in B2B ecommerce and ERP integrations. Their experience and knowledge contribute to efficient and successful implementations.

A shorter Time to Value is pivotal for achieving a greater and faster ROI, and it can bring a multitude of benefits to your organization, including reduced TCO, increased agility, and enhanced customer satisfaction. By carefully planning your project, selecting the right solution, and employing effective project management and collaboration, you can achieve a shorter TTV.

Furthermore, by considering solutions like Corevist that are known for their rapid implementation capabilities, you can expedite the process even further, realizing the value of your investment sooner and gaining a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced business environment.

In the world of business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce, managing costs is paramount to maintaining profitability and competitiveness. B2B ecommerce has revolutionized the way companies conduct transactions, but it has also introduced new cost drivers that require careful attention. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the common causes of cost drivers in B2B ecommerce and discuss strategies to mitigate them.

Complexity of Product Catalogs

One of the primary cost drivers in B2B ecommerce is the complexity of product catalogs. B2B manufacturers often deal with a vast array of products, each with various attributes, pricing tiers, and configurations. Managing these product catalogs and keeping them up-to-date can be a resource-intensive task. Automation and robust product information management (PIM) systems can help streamline this process, reducing labor costs and errors.

Integration Challenges

Many B2B ecommerce platforms need to integrate with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and other internal systems. Integration challenges can drive up costs, as custom development and ongoing maintenance are often required. Investing in a flexible and well-documented integration strategy can help mitigate these costs over time. Corevist offers a robust B2B ecommerce platform that is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing ERP systems, including SAP S/4HANA. By using Corevist’s platform, B2B companies can significantly reduce the complexities and costs associated with integration. The platform provides pre-built connectors and a proven integration framework that streamlines the process, saving both time and money.

Order Complexity

B2B transactions can involve complex order configurations, with various shipping options, pricing tiers, and discounts based on factors like order volume or customer history. Handling these complexities manually can lead to errors and increased labor costs. Implementing a robust and configurable order management system can automate much of this process, reducing costs and improving accuracy.

Moreover, a configurable product feature within an ecommerce platform can enhance the efficiency of order processing. By automating the configuration and pricing aspects, businesses can streamline their order management processes, significantly reducing the need for manual intervention. This not only saves time but also minimizes the potential for errors that can occur when handling complex configurations manually.

In addition to efficiency gains, a configurable product feature provides a user-friendly interface for customers to customize their orders. This enhances the overall shopping experience, fostering customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer Support

B2B customers often require a higher level of customer support due to the complexity of their orders and the need for personalized assistance. While providing excellent customer service is essential, it can be a significant cost driver if not managed efficiently. Investing in self-service tools, knowledge bases, and chatbots can help reduce the workload on your support team, saving costs without compromising service quality.

When customers can independently access and modify their orders through user-friendly interfaces, they are more likely to finalize purchases without the need for direct assistance. This not only streamlines the ordering process but also translates to faster transaction cycles and increased order throughput.

As customers utilize self-service tools to track order statuses, modify configurations, or retrieve information from knowledge bases, the demand on customer service teams decreases. This allows customer service representatives to redirect their focus from routine, time-consuming tasks to revenue-driving activities, such as identifying upsell or cross-sell opportunities, fostering customer relationships, and addressing more complex inquiries.

By empowering customers to manage their orders independently, businesses can create a more efficient and responsive customer service model. This shift towards self-service not only enhances customer satisfaction by providing instant access to information but also frees up valuable resources within the customer service team. This optimized allocation of resources can lead to a more proactive and revenue-focused approach, ultimately contributing to increased sales and business growth.

Security and Compliance

B2B ecommerce involves the exchange of sensitive data, including customer information, payment details, and proprietary product data. Ensuring the security and compliance of your e-commerce platform is critical but can also be expensive.

Implementing and maintaining a comprehensive cybersecurity infrastructure, along with ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory standards, is a considerable challenge for any business. The cost of investing in cutting-edge security protocols, regular audits, and the expertise required to stay ahead of cyber threats can be substantial.

By opting for an ecommerce platform that inherently integrates robust security features, you are essentially transferring a substantial portion of this responsibility to a specialized service provider. These platforms are engineered to adhere to the highest security standards, employing encryption, authentication protocols, and monitoring systems to safeguard sensitive data.

This not only shields your business from the financial fallout of potential data breaches but also mitigates the risk of legal consequences resulting from non-compliance with data protection regulations. With the constantly evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, relying on a dedicated ecommerce platform allows your business to leverage the expertise of professionals whose core focus is to stay ahead of emerging security challenges.

Moreover, a secure ecommerce platform provides peace of mind to both your business and your customers. Clients are more likely to trust a platform that prioritizes their data security, leading to enhanced brand reputation and customer loyalty.

Scalability Challenges

As your B2B ecommerce business grows, so do the associated costs. Scaling up infrastructure, hiring additional staff, and expanding product lines can strain your budget. It’s essential to plan for scalability from the outset and regularly assess your systems and processes to ensure they can support growth without causing undue financial strain. Scalability challenges and the need for technology upkeep can strain a B2B ecommerce business’s budget. Corevist’s platform is designed to be scalable, allowing businesses to grow without incurring disproportionate costs. Additionally, Corevist continually updates and enhances its platform to keep pace with evolving technology. By partnering with Corevist, businesses can ensure they have access to the latest innovations in B2B ecommerce technology without the expense of constant system upgrades and maintenance.

Supplier and Inventory Management

In B2B ecommerce, effective supplier and inventory management are vital for meeting customer demands and minimizing costs. Poorly managed inventory can lead to overstocking, understocking, or costly rush orders. Employing inventory management software and data analytics can optimize inventory levels, reduce carrying costs, and enhance overall efficiency.

Technology Upkeep

Technology evolves rapidly, and B2B e-commerce platforms must stay current to remain competitive. Failing to invest in regular updates and improvements can lead to increased costs in the long run, as outdated systems become more challenging and expensive to maintain. 

As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the maintenance and upkeep of an e-commerce platform become increasingly complex over time. Deploying and managing a fully managed e-commerce platform offers a solution to this challenge, especially for manufacturers whose primary expertise lies outside the realm of technology provision.

The intricacies of ongoing technology maintenance, including software updates, security patches, and performance optimizations, demand a specialized skill set. For a manufacturer focused on their core competencies, diving into the intricacies of IT management can be a diversion from their primary objectives.

A fully managed ecommerce platform, often provided as a service by dedicated tech providers, takes the responsibility of technology maintenance off the manufacturer’s shoulders. These platforms come with the assurance that they are equipped with the latest updates, security protocols, and performance enhancements. This not only ensures the longevity and scalability of the e-commerce infrastructure but also allows the manufacturer to channel their resources and efforts into areas where their expertise truly lies.

By entrusting the management of the e-commerce platform to experts, manufacturers can mitigate the risks associated with technology obsolescence. This proactive approach not only prevents the platform from becoming a bottleneck in the future but also frees up internal resources that can be redirected towards innovation, product development, and other critical aspects of their business.

How to Address These Cost Drivers While Pushing for Ecommerce

In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B ecommerce, recognizing and mitigating cost drivers is pivotal for sustained success. The insights provided in this blog post shed light on prevalent cost drivers like intricate product catalogs, integration hurdles, and complex order processes. Strategic initiatives to address these challenges empower businesses to streamline their operations and uphold profitability.

By proactively tackling these issues, B2B ecommerce companies can position themselves for success through careful planning, targeted technological investments, and a steadfast commitment to operational efficiency. Addressing challenges like product catalog complexity and integration issues allows businesses to optimize their processes, creating a more seamless and cost-effective ecommerce environment.

Furthermore, investing in a fully managed e-commerce platform emerges as a key strategy in this optimization journey. By entrusting the complexities of technology management to experts, such as a fully managed ecommerce platform, manufacturing companies can redirect their core resources to what they excel in—developing superior products and serving their customers. This strategic shift enables key personnel to concentrate on their strengths while the managed ecommerce platform works in the background to positively impact revenue.

In the world of ecommerce, the traditional view of costs as expenses to be minimized is evolving. A new perspective is emerging—one that sees ecommerce costs not as financial burdens but as strategic investments with the potential for significant returns. In this blog post, we’ll explore this shift in mindset and how redefining ecommerce costs as investments can drive growth, innovation, and long-term success.

Embracing Strategic Investments

In the past, businesses often approached ecommerce costs with a singular focus on cutting expenses. This traditional cost-cutting approach, while crucial for financial health, sometimes hindered long-term growth and customer satisfaction. Recognizing the limitations of this mindset, businesses are now moving towards a more strategic perspective that positions costs as intentional investments.

The Paradigm Shift: Costs as Investments

Today, forward-thinking ecommerce businesses are reframing their perspective. They recognize that expenditures made in key areas of ecommerce operations are not merely expenses but investments that can yield substantial returns. These strategic investments are centered around creating superior customer experiences, improving operational efficiency, and driving revenue growth.

4 Key Areas of Investment in Ecommerce

1. User Experience Enhancement: Investing in a user-friendly website, intuitive navigation, mobile responsiveness, and fast load times can lead to increased customer satisfaction, higher conversion rates, and more significant sales. These improvements enhance the overall customer experience and are investments in future loyalty and repeat business.
2. Data Analytics and Customer Insights: Investment in data analytics tools and expertise allows you to gather actionable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends. By leveraging these insights, you can make informed decisions about product offerings, marketing strategies, and user experience enhancements, ultimately increasing ROI.
3. Marketing Automation and Personalization: Deploying marketing automation tools and personalized marketing strategies can significantly improve customer engagement and drive conversions. Personalized recommendations, tailored messaging, and automated email campaigns are investments in nurturing leads and increasing sales.
4. E-commerce Platform Optimization: Consider investments in the optimization of your ecommerce platform. Implementing features like a streamlined checkout process, robust inventory management, and effective product recommendations can enhance the overall shopping experience and boost conversion rates.

The ROI of Strategic Ecommerce Investments

When businesses make strategic ecommerce investments, they are positioning themselves for long-term success and sustainable growth. These investments may not provide immediate, tangible returns, but they contribute to building a strong and resilient ecommerce foundation. The return on these investments manifests in the form of:

• Increased Revenue: Enhanced user experiences, effective SEO, and personalized marketing can drive more traffic and higher conversion rates, directly impacting your bottom line.
• Customer Loyalty: Investing in customer satisfaction and personalized experiences fosters loyalty, leading to repeat purchases and brand advocacy.
• Operational Efficiency: Investments in automation and analytics improve efficiency, reducing operational costs in the long run.
• Market Competitiveness: Staying at the forefront of technology and innovation ensures your business remains competitive in a rapidly evolving ecommerce landscape.

Conclusion

Redefining ecommerce costs as strategic investments marks a shift from short-term thinking to a more holistic, long-term approach to business success. By making strategic investments in user experience, content, data analytics, marketing automation, and platform optimization, ecommerce businesses position themselves to thrive in a competitive marketplace. Viewing these expenditures as investments acknowledges their potential for significant returns and underscores the value of building a robust and customer-centric ecommerce ecosystem. In today’s e-commerce landscape, it’s not just about cutting costs; it’s about investing wisely to secure a prosperous future.

First published Dec 14, 2021. Refreshed Aug 8, 2023.

B2B portals were important before the pandemic, but they’ve become essential now. In-person sales models have seen significant disruption. Likewise, staffing challenges and supply chain disruption have made it more difficult than ever to interact with customers via phone, fax, and email.

Clearly, manufacturers and distributors need self-service portals for customers to place orders (and track orders and invoices).  

There’s a story behind every successful B2B portal (and every failed one, too). Here are 6 stories of manufacturers who went above and beyond to create a great customer experience.

Click to jump:

1. Giving customers 100% accurate, real-time data

2. B2B portal with great customer adoption rates

3. Customer self-service restored

4. Twelve unified B2B portals in nine countries

5. Salvaging a spare parts business with a B2B portal

6. Replacing a B2B portal and maintaining deep SAP integration

7. Eliminating phone, fax, and email ordering

8. B2B Portal Checklist

LORD considered several market-leading B2B eCommerce platforms, as recommended by Gartner and Forrester—but these options were too big and complex (not to mention expensive). Ultimately, LORD chose Corevist Commerce Cloud for their B2B portal because our solution kept SAP at the core of all business data and processes. (Of course, it was also much simpler to implement, given our SAP integration, and far more affordable.)

Read the full case study here.

“Our motto is, ‘If you can do it in SAP, that’s where it should stay’. We wanted our B2B portal to be a reflection of our SAP system, not a recreation of it. And, we wanted a vendor that shared our philosophy.”

—Jane Mascia, Senior Business Systems Analyst

Key functionality: Quick price and availability check

7. PARI Respiratory – Eliminating phone, fax, and email ordering

PARI Respiratory, a global manufacturer of respiratory care products, needed to launch a B2B portal that met the needs of numerous stakeholders (not to mention customers). PARI’s dealers and distributors wanted a B2B portal to make the ordering process more convenient, and the company needed to relieve their customer services reps from manual data entry.

Meanwhile, PARI’s marketing department needed an attractive product catalog, while IT wanted direct, real-time SAP integration that didn’t compromise data security (and didn’t increase their workload).

PARI chose Corevist Commerce Cloud to deliver on the needs of all stakeholders. Customers got the B2B ordering portal they needed, marketing got an beautiful product catalog, and IT got the secure, managed SAP integration they needed.

Read the full case study here.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this project. This could have been a story about competing interests and agendas, but it wasn’t. Our customers got the online ordering system they requested.”

—Dale Anderson, CFO

Key functionality: Error-free order posting to SAP

8. B2B portal checklist

While each of these B2B portal examples is unique, they actually have a lot in common. In a nutshell, they bring the OTC (order-to-cash) cycle online for manufacturers and their dealers and distributors. This creates more transparency with those channel partners and more efficient backend processes.

So how do you achieve what these companies did?

The key is to define what your ideal B2B portal looks like.

While every company has different needs, all successful B2B portals have a few things in common. Here’s the basic functionality you should look for as you put together your portal project.

Cart capabilities

• Personalized catalogs and picklists driven by SAP data
• 100% accurate contract pricing from SAP for every SKU (including bundled pricing rules)
• Automatic product substitution driven by SAP logic (for discontinued products)
• Support for multiple ship-tos, sold-tos, and payers driven by SAP data
• Intelligent error messaging, driven by SAP business rules, to help customers build perfect orders
• Only 100% error-free orders accepted (and posted to SAP in real time)
• Saved carts
• Order upload

Tracking capabilities

• Full order history from all channels (B2B portal, phone, fax, email, EDI), straight from SAP
• Real-time order status, shipment status, and line-item status, straight from SAP
• Full integration with all major carriers for real-time tracking number updates
• Full invoice history and real-time status for each invoice, straight from SAP
• Real-time credit status from SAP (so customers know if their order will go on credit block)

Payment capabilities

• Payment at checkout and/or ability to pay off invoices (depending on your business processes), with real-time account clearing in SAP
• Support for your preferred digital payment methods (like credit card, ACH, or eCheck) through an integrated payment gateway

Some manufacturers don’t want to launch all of this at once. This is understandable. If you’re 100% paper-based today, relying on phone, fax, and email to interact with customers, it’s intimidating to dive into the digital deep end.

If that’s you, look for a platform that allows incremental rollouts. For example, on Corevist Commerce Cloud, you can start with our Order Tracking edition for your first project, which gives your customers self-service tracking for orders and invoices. When you’re ready, you can upgrade to online ordering, add online payments, add a product catalog, and more. 

Don’t forget global scalability. If you need multiple B2B portals for different brands, sales areas, or languages, you’ll want to find a platform that’s architected for easy expansion. While many vendors will promise this, it all comes down to SAP integration. If this crucial component can’t be leveraged for multiple portals, but rather has to be rebuilt, you’ll spend too much on your B2B portal program.

Originally published March 6, 2018. Refreshed July 11, 2023.

Comparing the top B2B ecommerce platforms? You’re not alone. Forrester has predicted that US B2B ecommerce sales will top $2 trillion in 2023 and $3 trillion in 2027. In that year, Forrester predicts that B2B ecommerce will account for 24% of all B2B sales in the US.

Clearly, B2B ecommerce is the name of the game. And whether you’re scoping your first B2B ecommerce project, or you’re considering switching platforms, it’s essential to understand what the market offers as you compare options.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to find real data on the nitty-gritty details of different platforms.

That’s why we put together a FREE chart comparing the top 6 B2B ecommerce platforms. Click to download the full chart:

Top 6 B2B ecommerce platforms 2023

In our B2B platform chart, we compare:

• Corevist Commerce Cloud
• SAP Commerce Cloud
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Adobe/Magento
• Bigcommerce
• Shopify

While there are many other options for B2B ecommerce platforms, these are the ones that SAP companies consider most frequently. 

Ready to compare? Download the chart now

Understanding the chart and comparing platforms

No doubt about it, our chart contains a lot of information. It’s important to understand the nuance behind every item in the chart.

Here’s the in-depth information behind every item in the chart. 

Overview

Built specifically for SAP companies

Organizations that run on SAP ECC or S/4HANA have typically made a huge investment in their ERP system. This is where all business data lives, from customers, to products, to transactions—and everything in between.

The ERP is also the system of record for complex business rules. Every customer’s unique contract pricing lives in the ERP. Likewise, scaled pricing, minimum quantities, real-time inventory or ATP (available to promise)—it all comes from the ERP.

You could say these organizations are “ERP-first.” The ERP is the foundation of their entire business.

When an ERP-first organization looks for a B2B ecommerce solution, the question of ERP integration becomes crucial. How will B2B ecommerce share data with SAP ERP?

In our chart, Corevist Commerce Cloud and SAP Commerce Cloud are the only two platforms that were built specifically for SAP companies. This becomes important when we get to ERP integration (see below).

Platform provider implements & manages each solution

Some B2B ecommerce platform vendors don’t implement the solutions that run on their platform. Others offer the option to use the platform provider as the implementation vendor, or to find another partner. 

Multiple vendors required

This is an extension of the previous item. In a nutshell, this item asks, “Can you launch the B2B ecommerce solution through a single vendor? Or do you need to engage multiple vendors?” Reducing vendor count is a great way to speed up a project and reduce the complexity that your organization has to handle. As you compare B2B ecommerce platforms, it’s worth considering how many vendors you’ll need to implement a given platform.

Project duration, including SAP integration

How long will it take to implement your B2B ecommerce solution? How does SAP ERP integration impact that timeline? This is an essential consideration. Note that Corevist Commerce Cloud launches in 30-90 days, depending on your chosen package—with SAP integration included. This is significantly faster than every alternative. Download the chart now to get all the details.

Scale easily with spinoff sites that reuse SAP integration

Some organizations need more than one B2B ecommerce storefront, with every storefront integrated to the same ERP system (or to an ERP system that’s configured similarly). The question here is whether each B2B ecommerce platform provides this easy scalability without requiring a duplicate investment in ERP integration infrastructure. The answer may surprise you.

IT Architecture

This is an essential consideration as you compare B2B ecommerce platforms. Who hosts the software? Who’s responsible for upgrading and maintaining it? What responsibility for infrastructure will your organization take on if you use a certain platform? 

Here are all the factors that the chart provides for comparing platforms in terms of architecture.

Cloud-hosted

Is the solution hosted in the cloud, or will you need your own servers to run it? Modern solutions are cloud-native, and we’re glad to report that every platform in the chart is cloud-hosted. Comparing them on this point is easy!

Platform stores data in its own database

When it comes to ERP integration, it’s worth considering the risks of duplicating and synchronizing data. Any time you copy essential business data or logic, rather than reading and writing it directly, you risk creating data governance problems. You’ll want to look closely at how each B2B ecommerce platform handles your data.

Separate SAP ERP integration solution required

Will your chosen B2B ecommerce platform require a third-party integration to your ERP? If so, this will drive up the cost, complexity, and risk of your project. Use the chart to see how the leading platforms compare in terms of ERP integration capabilities.

Built on real-time SAP ERP integration

For SAP companies, the question of ERP integration is essential. Our chart shows which platforms include real-time SAP ERP integration—and which don’t.  

If you’re on ECC or S/4HANA, you’ll also want to consider whether your preferred B2B ecommerce platform includes an SAP-certified integration for that specific ERP. 

(Hint: Corevist Commerce Cloud includes an SAP-certified integration for ECC or S/4HANA.)

Cost

Cost forecasting for B2B ecommerce is a complex undertaking. It’s not enough to consider licensing and hosting costs. Implementation costs, FTEs required, transaction fees—there are many components. 

Use our free chart to compare the top 6 platforms in terms of cost. Here’s what we cover in the chart.

FTEs required during implementation

How many FTEs will your organization need to supply during the implementation? This is a critical, and often overlooked, cost factor.

Implementation cost

What will your implementation partner charge to build, refine, and launch the solution? You may be surprised at how the different platforms stack up.

FTEs required to support

After GoLive, how many FTEs will your organization need to provide to support B2B ecommerce? This information is hard to find for different platforms. Use our chart to get a sense of how different platforms will impact your ongoing IT staffing needs.

Annual cost of ownership (excluding FTEs)

Aside from staffing costs, how much will you spend per year to run a given B2B ecommerce platform? Our chart compares the top 6 platforms in terms of annual cost of ownership.

Transaction fees

Not every B2B ecommerce platform in our chart charges transaction fees—but two of them do. Make sure you understand the potential impact if you choose one of these platforms. Download the chart now to get the details.

Out-of-the-box features integrated to SAP ERP

Here’s an essential point of comparison. Does the B2B ecommerce platform include SAP-integrated features, right out of the box? This is a critical question for SAP companies—particularly those with complex business rules defined in the ERP. Our chart covers tons of features by platform and answers the crucial question of whether each feature is integrated to SAP. Here’s what we cover in the chart.

B2B ecommerce capabilities

• Real-time, customer-specific price & inventory from SAP
• SKU-based order entry with conversion to SAP material number
• Product catalog with rich content (PIM ready)
• SAP-integrated configurable products (SKU in SAP)
• Related products
• Order simulated against SAP business rules in real time
• Selection of shipping options
• Credit card checkout
• Drop shipping
• Error-free orders post to SAP instantly
• Saved carts
• Upload cart from CSV file
• Quote creation integrated to SAP
• Convert quote to order, integrated to SAP
• Change quotes and orders

Tracking capabilities

• Full order history from SAP, all channels included (EDI, phone, email…)
• Order details & status for every order in SAP
• Full quote history & status from SAP
• Real-time shipment tracking with major carrier integration
• Order, delivery, and billing outputs from SAP
• Display of custom ABAP reports from SAP
• Full inventory history from SAP
• Invoice status and detail from SAP
• Payment history from SAP

As you can see, there’s a huge range of features that may (or may not) be integrated to SAP ERP out of the box. Download the chart now to compare all 6 platforms in terms of SAP-integrated features.

Add-ons available, integrated to SAP ERP

Some B2B ecommerce platforms may not include every possible feature in the out-of-the-box package. Specialized functionality may require an add-on. The question here is whether those add-ons are automatically integrated to SAP ERP. 

Here are the B2B ecommerce add-ons that we compare in the chart. 

Sales order automation

Not every customer will use the B2B ecommerce platform to place orders. Some customers may still send orders via email. Sales order automation solves this problem. It uses AI to analyze incoming email orders, posts them to the ERP if they are error-free, and routes them to customer service if the orders contain errors.

Digital invoice payments

Can your B2B ecommerce customers pay off invoices online—in the B2B ecommerce portal? Do their payments and account updates post to SAP instantly? Our chart compares the top 6 platforms from this perspective.

Separate D2C storefront support

B2B organizations often face complex challenges in terms of sales channels. For those that want to launch a D2C (direct to consumer) channel alongside B2B ecommerce, it’s important to ask how a given platform can support that initiative.

ERP integration continuity

This question is specifically for SAP companies. For those that are on SAP ECC and are migrating to S/4HANA, how will this massive shift affect B2B ecommerce?

The good news is that one platform follows you easily from ECC to S/4HANA. You can literally launch the integrated solution today on ECC and transfer that investment to S/4HANA with minimal heavy lifting. Download the chart to get all the details.

The takeaway: Look at SAP integration when you compare platforms

For SAP companies, the ERP integration can make or break B2B ecommerce. If customers can’t get accurate contract pricing, personalized inventory, and full account history in the portal, then the solution isn’t really working.

That’s why Corevist Commerce Cloud includes prebuilt, real-time integration for ECC or S/4HANA. Your B2B ecommerce solution always reflects the right data and logic, for every customer—automatically.

Because Corevist is a managed, cloud-hosted solution, you get it all without taking on any new responsibility for the technology. Your IT team simply maintains SAP ERP as they always have, and Corevist automatically displays the right information to every customer.

Today’s B2B buyers want to conduct business online. Whether they can cover the entire customer journey online, or just part of it, they want speed, convenience, and transparency. 

This is why a customer portal can revolutionize customer relationships for manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors—or any other organization that sells to other large businesses. 

But do you really need a customer portal? Aren’t the old processes working just fine? 

Here are some questions you can ask to determine where you fall.

1. How big is my customer base?

The larger the customer base, the more likely it is that they’ll follow a bell curve distribution as far as their size. In other words, a larger customer base is likely to have a few large customers, many medium-sized customers, and a few smaller customers.

The more differentiated your customers are, the more challenging it is to meet all of their needs at all times.

And the more large customers you have, the more personalized attention you have to dedicate to them.

Here’s where a B2B customer portal comes in. When you give customers self-service capabilities, you free up resources to offer more personalized service to your largest customers.

In other words, a customer portal is a great way to streamline your operations and focus your human touch where it matters most.

2. What is the profile of my buyers today?

Research has uncovered that 85% of B2B buyers will abandon a supplier with a bad digital experience.

Granted, every company is different, and customers of manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors may be accustomed to ordering via phone, email, or EDI.

Yet the fact that buyers accept older ordering methods doesn’t mean they like them. In fact, they may find your organization “hard to do business with.”

If it’s been a while since your organization reviewed your customer profile, it’s worth doing it again—with a particular focus on how they want to conduct business with suppliers.

What are they looking for in terms of customer experience? Do they expect to have a digital option because they prefer to transact through that channel? Or do they prefer to work with another human, whether their sales rep or customer service rep?

You might be surprised at the answers that your customers provide. Chances are, they’re looking for seamless self-service. And a B2B customer portal is the cornerstone of that type of customer experience.

3. Do I have customers in other time zones?

If your customer support staff are centrally located, and if you do business in other time zones, then self-service is a no-brainer. Customers can log on to the portal at any time, on any device, whether your reps are working or not. Depending on what functionality you include in your B2B portal, you can empower customers to browse catalogs, place orders, track orders and invoices, and make payments—all without picking up the phone or sending an email.

For businesses that sell into multiple time zones—or who sell internationally—a B2B portal is one of the best decisions the organization can make.

4. Does my sales staff need a better way to assist customers?

In some industries, person-to-person sales will never go away. Customers may need the deep expertise that a seasoned rep provides—or the product may be such a significant investment, it will never work as a one-click purchase.

Whatever the reason, many manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors continue to rely on expert sales reps to provide value to customers.

In these cases, it’s worth asking how your reps place orders and look up customer information.

If they have to call customer service—or worse, type an order into SAP when they get back to the office—then there’s a better way for them to do business.

The answer is a B2B sales portal. Believe it or not, it’s the same functionality you can offer in a customer portal, with added features like customer account selection for looking up information, providing quotes, and placing orders.

5. How much time is customer service spending on boring, low-value work?

If you don’t have a self-service option, then your customer service staff is on the hook for every minor question that customers may have. This includes looking up available inventory, checking prices, placing orders, tracking orders, tracking shipments… the list goes on!

If we’re honest, customer service isn’t really providing any value here that isn’t found in SAP ERP. That’s where the data lives, and they’re simply reading it off to customers (or typing it into an email).

It’s not a great use of your CSRs, who know your products from top to bottom. (It’s also boring work. You could argue it leads to churn.)

A B2B customer portal solves these problems. It relieves the burden of mundane inquiries, allowing your reps to focus on strategic, value-added activities as customer advisors. This type of work is more interesting, which engages employees more deeply and helps fight churn. It’s just one of the many benefits of a B2B portal.

6. Could I win new customers—or grow sales from existing customers?

A B2B portal offers incredible growth opportunities that you can’t get any other way. Consider all the aspects of a portal that help drive revenue:

• Product catalogs show off your products in the best light. They also help new customers find you online through search engines.
• Product images, videos, reviews, specifications, and documentation help buyers educate themselves about your offerings. An educated customer is empowered to buy exactly what they need.
• Related products help increase basket size by introducing products that the customer didn’t know you had. This is especially useful for consumables that go with a major product.
• 100% reliable inventory and pricing information gives customers a reason to come back. They know you offer transparency, and they know what they’re getting.
• When you offer self-service that covers every step of the customer journey, you become “easier to do business with” than the competition. This is a huge factor in building deeper customer relationships and getting the sale every time.

The takeaway: A customer portal increases your value to the customer

At the end of the day, a customer portal is simply easier to use than phone, fax, email, or EDI. Buyers can access the portal on any device, 24×7, and it always shows them accurate information that’s fully personalized.

The key here is a comprehensive, real-time integration to SAP ERP. This is the only way to show reliable data for inventory availability, personalized pricing, order history, invoice history, credit status, and more. That’s why Corevist Commerce Cloud is built on a deep integration for ECC or S/4HANA. It’s how we deliver flawless self-service and process $2B+ in order value for our clients every year.