Oliver Jackson, a Year 10 work experience student, spent the week with learning about what we do, and how we specialise in B2B websites, and particularly B2B ecommerce websites. We asked him to write an article for our blog about what the key differences might be between a B2B ecommerce website and a B2C ecommerce website.

Written by Work Experience Student Oliver Jackson

Firstly, let’s grasp the concept of what a B2B website really is. When you are doing your online shopping or buying some new trainers on the Sports Direct website you are using a B2C (Business to consumer) website that is selling its product directly to the consumer. Whereas, if a business like a building company buys their materials off a building suppliers’ website, that would be classed as B2B (Business to Business) – where a company is selling their product to another company and not to a consumer.

Distinguishing between B2C and B2B

Let’s start by outlining the significant differences between a B2B ecommerce website and one that is B2C. For example ASOS.com is a prim example of a B2C ecommerce website that sells directly to the consumer, they have: short descriptions, reviews, images of the product being worn or used, as well as a simple uncluttered screen not bombarding you with information, yet just enough to know what you’re buying, which is exactly what the customers’ expect and nothing more.

But on B2B ecommerce websites, as well as the above, they also tend to have technical specifications of products with extensive data about them to give the most information possible as well as other statistics that a B2C consumer may not think about like lead times or stock availability.

In more specific areas like the checkout it can be completely different, on B2C websites we often have guest checkouts while on B2B sites there is often VAT information, purchase order information that are often required before making larger purchases, these details are what a B2B buyer expects to see when purchasing so that they are 100% confident in their decision.

B2B websites have many unique features that help improve the functionality of your business. Some notable features would be the advanced filtering and instant search functionality.

These features allow you to search for descriptive terms but also part numbers, manufacturer codes and SKUs, or through a wide range of other product attributes.

A B2B website can also bring other improvements in places like your ‘account’ features. It gives you the capability to view your favourite products or saved basket so you can come back to it any time you would like and pick up where you left off saving that extra hassle of redoing it.

You can create customer-specific pricing as well as general trade and volume discounts, eliminating the need to apply discount codes each time.  All these incredible features improve operational functionality and boost the way your company works.

The Science Behind Shopping

Let’s talk about the behaviour of B2B buyers and what they value most. The contrast between consumer B2C shopping and B2B purchasing is huge.

On one side we have people who often buy products for convenience, personal use and emotional impulse, whilst on the other side we have B2B buyers whose purchases are driven by logic, demand and strategy for their company.

We see trends in the buying behaviour of B2B purchasers such as large order volumes that are constantly repeated on standing orders, these behaviours we see with buyers can be massively lifted by the use of an eCommerce website that enhances the customer experience by using greater efficiency in the website such as bulk ordering, fast repeat ordering and quick quote requests.

These all help gain the support of the buyers as they greatly value efficiency over design and having a swift simplistic website can be a tipping point for whether current or new customers want to come and buy from you, now or in the future.

User experience plays a vital role in a successful ecommerce website which all comes down to the website UX design. Each year we see more and more people using their phones for tasks. In 2020 there were 3.6 billion phone users world-wide but now in 2026 there are over 4.88 billion, that’s more than half the population! Therefore, mobile phones for B2B and B2C are becoming very important which is why if you have a poor mobile web design it could be detrimental to your business in terms of potential customers.

B2C mobile users focus emotion and quick impulse purchases that don’t make the consumer feel overwhelmed; also appealing to them in the design and way the website is built.

B2B customers on the other hand like mobile usage to be driven by utility and task efficiency to allow them to make complex decisions and purchases.

If you don’t use professional companies such as Vizulate for your web designs you will start to see common mistakes that lots of B2B ecommerce websites fall down on. For example, a complex and overly difficult ordering system, a weak search paired with low quality navigation can deter customers from using your websites as it doesn’t give them the ease, efficiency or confidence they look for in companies.

The future is getting closer everyday and with it, it brings change as well as new ways to develop, especially in the form of web design and ecommerce websites.

We are able to bring new ideas from the world into the workspace, like AI which is growing exponentially around the globe meaning we can integrate it into several aspects such as AI-powered search or automation; allowing it to carry out tasks we normally do, or improve existing features.

Self-service portals are becoming possible for customers which creates a hub of information where people can access it all in one place creating that extra simplicity for them as they use your website.

No two Vizulate B2B ecommerce websites are the same. Each is tailored to the specific needs of the business and its customers, and this shows the depth of the UX design for each company. This considerably helps your website as it tells the customer what your business is like from the moment they land on your site, outlining the themes or ideas that you want to show to the customer almost as a first impression of what your business is.

There are numerous parts that come into making an outstanding B2B ecommerce website, but using a specialist B2B ecommerce agencies such as Vizulate isa step in the right direction.