Are you considering BigCommerce for your B2B ecommerce business? BigCommerce is sneaky-good at Business to Consumer (B2C) ecommerce. There are many native features that will set you up for B2C success using it as your ecommerce platform. In this article, you will get a breakdown of the most important features that make BigCommerce a great solution for B2C ecommerce.
Difference between B2B and B2C
All ecommerce sites are similar in a couple of ways. They all need website hosting, a storefront theme, product pages, and order processing. These are some of the fundamental facets of ecommerce. Ecommerce sites need added features that best serve their customers and market. Choosing the right features depends on which category of ecommerce your business fits into. Generally, ecommerce stores fall into one of two categories: B2B or B2C.
B2B
B2B ecommerce (short for Business to Business) is when a merchant sells goods or services to another business, not end consumers. Some common B2B businesses are manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, and promotional products. B2B ecommerce businesses generally have similar needs. For example, typically, B2B merchants need functionality to track invoices, build estimates or orders, manage customer lists, and offer different pricing levels. BigCommerce B2B Edition handles these things and more!
B2C
B2C ecommerce (short for Business to Consumer) is when a merchant sells goods or services to an end consumer. Common B2C businesses are apparel, home furnishings, automotive parts, and sporting goods.
General characteristic of B2C ecommerce consumers
- Buy products to fit a personal want or need
- Products are simple, easy to use
- Consumers more likely to make a quick decision
- Price and shipping are leading factors in purchase decision
B2C ecommerce stores should be set up to address these customer needs.
The Value of BigCommerce for B2C Merchants
The BigCommerce tech stack is set up to help you address your B2C customer needs.
Open SaaS platform
BigCommerce is an open SaaS platform, which means there are many great pre-built (also called “native”) features that you get when you sign up for a BigCommerce Account. Most of these native features are B2C focused and are there to help you succeed! BigCommerce is constantly improving its features and truly values your success as a merchant. They take merchant feedback seriously and have a great customer support team available to help you as needed. Additionally, most of their native features are customizable, so you can modify native features to better fit your business needs.
Tech Stack
Ecommerce sites are made up of many functions, apps, and integrations that make up the website. The grouping of these tech features is called the “tech stack”. BigCommerce is known for having a robust and powerful pre-built tech stack. This means you have access to meaningful features when you sign up for a BigCommerce account. Additionally, the BigCommerce app store has high-quality apps and integration, so you can continue to add functionality to your website as needed.
Some Native BigCommerce Features
- One-Page Checkout (Customizable)
- Image Manager
- Customer Groups and Segmentation
- SEO Optimization
Popular Apps available in the BigCommerce App Store
- Feedonomics
- ShipperHQ
- FlxPoint
- Avalara AvaTax
Pricing
BigCommerce pricing is very comparable to other SaaS platform ecommerce providers. There are four different pricing models you choose from. Each plan offers great native functionality, but each plan has some clear differences that you need to be mindful of prior to signing up. If you’re unsure about what pricing model is right for you, give us a call! We’re happy to help you make an informed decision based on your business case.
BigCommerce and B2C ecommerce
The world of ecommerce is competitive! Consumers have many merchants to choose from when buying products online. Fortunately, BigCommerce gives you the ability to maximize your store in three critical areas for B2C ecommerce.
Great Customer Experience
Giving your customer a great experience in B2C ecommerce is key. It’s all about making every step, from browsing to buying, as smooth and clear as possible. Ultimately, establishing a great customer journey increases conversion and the likelihood of repeat customers. BigCommerce has native functionality to help you establish a great customer experience on your entire website.
Theme
In ecommerce, your website’s theme is the most fundamental element of establishing a great customer experience. Everything on your website is built off your theme, so it’s crucial that you get it right. BigCommerce has a theme store that’s accessible from your BigCommerce account. The theme store has free themes and paid themes. You can also work with a BigCommerce Agency Partner to get a custom BigCommerce theme. However, if you’re looking to get up and running quickly, there is a good chance BigCommerce has a pre-built theme that will work well for your business model. Regardless of which option you go with, nailing the theme is important since everything else in your storefront is built off it.
Page speed
Another critical factor in B2C ecommerce is page speed. If a customer gets stuck on a page or if navigation takes longer than expected, the customer is more likely to leave your site and look elsewhere. So, having a fast page load speed is important for your B2C e-commerce website. Fortunately, BigCommerce has some of the fastest website page speeds in the industry. Additionally, page speed factors into SEO. Businesses with faster page speed typically outrank other slower-performing websites. Slow websites can be modified for faster page load speeds, but BigCommerce pages are built from the beginning with speed in mind. There is less of a need to optimize for speed immediately once your website goes live.
99% uptime
A website crash is never a good thing. What makes it worse is when it happens on Black Friday... That’s a spot you don’t want to be in! BigCommerce is a great option if you want your website to remain stable, even during the busiest of days. Merchants on BigCommerce have experienced 99% uptime thanks to BigCommerce's proactive approach to security and quality, ensuring reliability for online business. When using BigCommerce, you can rest assured that your website will function when it counts the most!
Clarity!
The best B2C websites serve users the information they’re looking for in the most intuitive way possible. Additionally, there shouldn’t be any hidden surprises as a customer goes through their shopping experience. BigCommerce gives you the tools you need to make sure things are clear for your customers throughout their journey.
Shipping
Studies have shown that transparency around shipping is a critical factor in having customers that convert (make a purchase) on your website. Most ecommerce platforms rely on 3rd party apps and integrations to provide this information as customers checkout. BigCommerce has partnered closely with ShipperHQ, an app that provides customers with clarity and transparency about shipping costs. The ShipperHQ app predicts shipping rates with a high level of certainty based on preselected shipping rules and carrier rates. Including this in your tech stack will likely give your customers the clarity they’re looking for.
Reviews
Product reviews are becoming more and more important to the average consumer. If your company excels in serving customers and has great products, then customer reviews should be something you’re excited to show on your website! Simply put, consumers trust what others say. BigCommerce makes tracking customer reviews simple from the account admin dashboard. From there, you can plug into Google Customer Reviews. After signing up, there will be an automated process you can activate that prompts your customers to rate their experience buying products from your store. You can then choose where you want the rating to appear on your website and on Google.
Checkout
Sales are the lifeblood of your ecommerce business, and having a polished checkout directly contributes to every sale on your website. BigCommerce created a one-page checkout process to make the checkout process quick and easy for customers. Additionally, BigCommerce is an open SaaS platform, which means you can customize the checkout page to fit your brand just the way you want!
Merchant controls the communication through native functions.
Interacting with your customers throughout the whole sales process is important so you can manage your brand, encourage sales, and retarget customers. BigCommerce has native tools to help you do this.
- Transaction Emails – BigCommerce has a list of customizable transaction-related emails that you can manage from your BigCommerce admin account. This gives you the autonomy to control how and when your company interacts with customers. This is a great native feature for BigCommerce. On most other ecommerce platforms, you would need to download 3rd party software to do this. With BigCommerce, it’s all there.
- Abandon Cart Emails - BigCommerce has an abandoned cart email flow that is pre-built and ready for you to use. From the flow, you can manage the messages to your potential customers all within BigCommerce. There is no need to use a third-party app or integration to do this. Abandon cart emails are very important and have been proven to increase sales!
The Best Offer
The B2C ecommerce space can be crowded! Depending on the products you sell and target customers, you could have a lot of competition. If you’re an established merchant, then chances are you’re aware of your completion. Merchants that lead their industry have competitive offers! BigCommerce gives you tools to be competitive.
- Promotions – Managing promotions can be done from your BigCommerce admin account. Promotions are crucial for B2C e-commerce stores because they attract customers and create a sense of urgency among customers.
- Coupon Codes - Coupon codes can be managed through the BigCommerce admin account page. These codes can incentivize purchases, attract new customers, and encourage repeat business.
- Price Lists can be a creative tool for offering some customers unique pricing. Price lists are easily managed through the products section of your BigCommerce admin page. Utilizing the price list feature gives you the opportunity to offer competitive pricing that appeals to specific customer groups.
BigCommerce Certified Partner, Oracle NetSuite Alliance Partner
As both a BigCommerce Certified Partner and an Oracle NetSuite Alliance Partner, Anchor Group is ready to handle BigCommerce and NetSuite projects alike! Whether you already have one platform and are looking to integrate the other, are considering a full-scale implementation of both platforms or simply need support with ongoing customizations, our team is ready to help answer any questions you might have! Get in touch!
