Everything you need to know about B2B fashion ecommerce

Thanks to our insatiable appetite for clothes, B2B fashion ecommerce has become one of the biggest global industries.

Here’s our ultimate guide to walk you through the basics of B2B fashion ecommerce, including how the B2B model works, its advantages and the essential features that brands need in a B2B ecommerce platform.

How B2B fashion ecommerce works

B2B fashion ecommerce involves transactions between a wholesaler and a retailer through an online sales platform.

Innovative technologies like B2B ecommerce platforms have encouraged many fashion brands to shift towards B2B sales. Fashion brands traditionally sold wholesale via face-to-face interactions at trade shows or showrooms. The introduction of digital commerce and B2B platforms helps brands reduce costs and improve efficiency through ecommerce automation.

Since B2B transactions are often unique to each customer, prices can be negotiable, and the sales cycle often takes longer than a typical B2C transaction, since there is more money, more products and more decision-makers involved. As a result, purchasing decisions must go through several people before being approved.

However, these days many B2B buyers now desire a B2C-like shopping journey, including omnichannel, automated and personalised experiences.

In terms of payments, B2B payments have recently shifted toward smart payment options such as contactless and remote payments. This simplifies the B2B transaction process and makes buying and selling both faster and more efficient for businesses and customers.

Key advantages of B2B ecommerce

Some of the main benefits of the B2B ecommerce business model for fashion brands are:

• Ability to reach a global audience of retailers
• Minimal marketing costs, as it is done on your behalf by your B2B customers
• Higher order value and volume than B2C sales
• Automated sales processes between businesses, suppliers, and distributors
• Reduced operational and overhead costs
• No more international distribution headaches 

What to look for in an ecommerce platform

Let’s look at some of the essential features to look for in B2B ecommerce marketplaces and platforms:

– Ability to sell internationally and multi-language support – The global marketplace is easily accessible these days. The ability to sell globally is therefore critical to your brand’s long-term growth. You also need to be able to communicate with international buyers with multi-language support.

-Strong focus on user and customer experience – Online B2B customers expect a satisfying and user-friendly shopping experience. You need a platform that is customisable, easy-to-use, intuitive and responsive on various devices.

-Ability to create multiple price lists – Pricing in B2B ecommerce can be complicated, with price variation depending on purchasing volume and other factors. Your chosen ecommerce platform therefore needs to allow you to adapt your pricing strategy to the needs of individuals, customer groups or business accounts.

-Customer segmentation – Your ecommerce platform should provide insights into your buyers’ data. It should help you understand your customers’ purchasing patterns and behaviour.

Ready to learn more about how a B2B ecommerce platform can help grow your B2B business? Get in touch with the BLANC team today for a demo.