The B2B commerce is defined by very special challenges. On the one hand, there is the matter of standardizing business purchases. Cross-departmental teams of buyers, higher-level budgeting, complex operational processes, recurring price negotiations, individual prices and catalog views, to name but a few, demand lean processes to ensure efficiency. On the other hand, purchasers also want to be addressed individually in their professional context according to their needs and internal processes.
In a comparative (German) study by Dominik Grollmann on behalf of iBusiness, the magazine for "Future Research in Interactive Business", some of the leading commerce solution vendors have been examined recently. The study focused on their strengths and weaknesses to determine the extent to which they can meet these requirements. Particular attention was paid to the proportion of individualization options compared to the standard B2B functionalities. Further assessment factors were flexibility and the possibility of technical (re-)training.
The following vendors were compared:
- Commercetools
- IntelliShop B2B Commerce Platform
- Intershop Commerce Suite
- Magento
- Novomind iShop
- Oxide eShop
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud
- SAP Customer Experience
- Shopware 6
Grollmann emphasizes the possibilities that Intershop provides with regard to both the operating model and the modularization of the solution. Whether in the cloud or on premises, via the modular applications (Commerce Management, Experience Management, PIM, Order Management) - Intershop's Commerce Suite is available as an "all-in-one" solution, but also for the use of only selected functionalities - whether as a platform or rental model Commerce-as-a-Service (CaaS).
iBusiness points out that the extensive standard functionalities are available in a user-friendly blueprint shop, which in the most basic case only needs to be personalized with products and design.
According to Grollmann, "the technological platform [...] is ideally suited to providing individual solutions thanks to its API focus and headless architecture".
And individualization will also become increasingly important in B2B. This has been confirmed once again: Intershop is helping to shape the future of B2B. In this way, you can offer your customers what they expect and how they expect it from you. What is it they say? "The future is now..."
