How To Start Your B2B Business With Shopware?

The B2B ecommerce revenue in the US reached $6.7 trillion in 2021. There are a plethora of other stats that portray the ongoing shift from offline commerce to online commerce. Whether B2B or B2C, the landscape is going digital with new technology. 

When we talk about the catalysts taking businesses online, tools like Shopware play the core role. If you are the owner of a B2B business and wish to explore a completely new and digital marketplace, Shopware can be your ace of the card. 

What is Shopware? 

Shopware is a platform that helps develop modern and online stores for different business models. With great ease of use, and innovative yet flexible options, the platform assists in developing the online store to deliver an exceptional user experience to business owners. One of the core competencies of the platform is that the store can be created and managed without in-depth coding knowledge. 

Shopware 6 has powerful tools like Rule Builder and Flow Builder, which enable top-notch shopware development solutions with little development outlay. Similarly, the B2B Suite in Shopware injects exceptional capabilities for managing B2B business. The capabilities like building and allocating the team, managing and displaying the corporate structure, facilitating orders, managing the pricing strategy, obtaining the customer data, etc., ensure seamless business operation. 

Why Choose Shopware for Your B2B Online Shop?

If you explore a little, you will find a bulk of other platforms providing similar services to that of Shopware. For example, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, WooCommerce B2B, Oracle SuiteCommerce, and many other platforms will develop your online store. So, why should Shopware be the choice to create the B2B store? Let’s answer the questions with some characteristics, features, and benefits of Shopware- 

• First of all, Shopware works with an API-oriented approach; thus, all online stores’ processes can be controlled and automated. 
• The powerful B2B Suite helps in right and role management, quota and budget management, fast checkout, sales reps’ price management, and meeting other complex requirements of various business models. 
• Advanced integration capabilities with other software and marketplaces, such as accounting software, ERP systems, and CRM software. 
• The language packs, international ecosystem, multilingual support, country-specific pricing strategy, multi-currency, multi-client capabilities, custom tax calculations, and similar support makes it suitable for internationalization. 
• The platform uses Amazon-powered Elasticsearch, which helps clients quickly find what they need.
• Range of ready integrations with payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Skrill payment systems, Microsoft Web Services, WordPress CMS, etc.  

Stepwise Process to Start Your B2B Online Store with Shopware 

Ecommerce is taking the command, and there is no escape to digitization. One has to shift to an online medium to connect to the stakeholders as long as they plan to arrange bread-butter from their existing business. But how do you set up an online B2B store on Shopware? Let’s understand the whole process with definite stages-

1. Market research 

Before making a bet, gather all the information influencing the decision. So, when you plan to take your business online, you must know everything about the online landscape and the compatibility of your business with that landscape. Dive into the primary and secondary research to collect the necessary insights like-

• Current customer base 
• Future customer base 
• Sales structure of competitors 
• Balance sheets and annual reports of competitors 
• Price list of competitors 
• Industry turnover statistics 
• SWOT analysis 
• Trend research, etc. 

2. Establishing the Internal eCommerce Team 

Allot a team in your business that can oversee the company’s online operations. You must choose capable people from different departments of the business. The new online setup will require input from various departments like sales, purchasing, IT, marketing, etc. 

Delegating the tasks is completely your responsibility and thus, it is crucial to make the right decision. You can treat your online presence as an entire business unit, and similarly, you can hand over the online store to the sales team. Brainstorm and think about which option will suit your business model. 

3. Implement Change Management 

Shifting the offline business to online platforms is a significant change. Your employees and people working with you need to be communicated about the same. The absence of necessary communication might cause misunderstandings in the business. Employees might have several doubts regarding your decision. Similarly, the sales team might have several questions about the sales medium.

So, go for a change management session where you must communicate your overall planning, the impact of the changes on business, the roles and responsibilities you have allocated to the different team members, etc. The session will help ensure stability inside the business to implement the change more efficiently.  

4. Create a Profile of Your Requirement 

Here, you will redefine your store profile by listing the transaction requirements of your business. You will define the overall processes with your employees and map the different touchpoints of different internal departments. Similarly, list the requirements of customers on the basis of their requirements in the purchasing process. You can also focus on any problem that can be solved in the online version. 

The tools like Business Model Canvas can be a productive method to list the requirements and build the profile accordingly. 

5. Connect to The Right Implementation Partner 

Having the experts at work is a good idea, especially when you are making such a big move. An external shopware implementation partner brings perfection to your online store. As these partners have sufficient experience in establishing the online store, getting all the features and core competencies integrated into the platform becomes more feasible. 

However, only some shopware implementation partners are experienced, skilled, and deserving enough. To select the right one for your project, go through the projects they have worked on, clients they have served, etc. Moreover, you can also search for reviews and ratings from past clients to make the right decision. 

Once you have selected the right partner, the customization in the B2B Suite, integrating the plug-in, and integrating the third-party tools and software, everything is taken care of by the team. 

Shopware B2B Suite 

Shopware B2B Suite is the software suite that enables B2B businesses to set up online stores. The featureful suite comes with various innovative features and capabilities that help deliver the core business processes. Whether connecting with the customers or setting custom pricing, Shopware B2B  Suite has room for everything. Let’s have a better understanding by knowing about the core competencies of this Suite-

Cost of Developing a B2B Store on Shopware

The cost of developing a B2B store on Shopware is not constant as it depends on various factors. The core determining factors for the cost of your store development is the features and advancements you want to see in your store. The more advanced and complex the features are, the more cost you can consider for the app. Similarly, the development partner you choose to get the app developed also influences your app development cost. 

However, to get a rough idea of your store development, you can expect a cost of $5000 for a basic capability store development. However, the cost increases or decreases according to your specification for the store. 

There is no doubt that the cost of store development is influenced by the development partner as well. Emizentech has been the Shopware store developing partner for many years and has developed top-notch stores for our several clients. Kudos to our experience in Shopware store development; we know the areas where we can save costs without compromising the features and capabilities of the product.

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Take Away 

The online business shift has become crucial for sustainability in an ever-growing market. Be it a B2B business model or B2C, and the offline marketplace is undergoing a lot of inconsistency, causing the burgeoning need to shift to the online market. In this scenario, Shopware has emerged as one of the famous names that help bring the business online and scale inter-market. With its B2B suite, Shopware is among the best choice to develop a B2B store delivering cutting-edge capabilities to expand the business.