Magento 2 B2B Demo: Getting started with Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source for companies with a B2B focus
A development that was already underway was greatly accelerated by the Corona pandemic: B2B business is increasingly taking place online. According to McKinsey, the web became the most popular sales channel in the B2B sector during the pandemic. So, more than ever, it’s in the interest of B2B-focused companies to provide enterprise customers with a good and frictionless online shopping experience. You are probably one of the business owners who want to realize this objective with the help of a good store system. In the spirit of a Magento 2 B2B demo, we would like to illustrate to you in this article, on the one hand, the possibilities you will be presented with when using Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce for B2B online commerce. On the other hand, we would like to show you which concrete first steps you can take if you are interested in Adobe Commerce.
If you want to expand your sales channels and put your Magento eCommerce on an even broader foundation right away, we recommend our magnalister plugin. It is now also available for Adobe Commerce. The plugin allows you to list and sell products on multiple online marketplaces from your store system backend. It also makes it easy to centralize order and invoice processing management.
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Table of Contents
Magento 2 B2B Store: How to choose between Magento 2 Open Source and Adobe Commerce
Special B2B features in Adobe Commerce / Magento 2
Magento 2 B2B User Guide: See the frontend and backend of Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce in a short demo
The next steps of your journey with Adobe Commerce
Conclusion
Magento 2 B2B Store: How to choose between Magento 2 Open Source and Adobe Commerce
The free version of Magento, also referred to as Magento Open Source has the same basic features and user interface as Adobe Commerce, which costs a license fee. However, in some areas, features are exclusive to the Adobe Commerce version. In the past, for example, this included the Page Builder, which can be used to design the front end via drag & drop without the need for any programming knowledge. The Page Builder has since been made available for the open source version as well.
However, many integrated features are still only available to Adobe Commerce users. These include functionalities in the B2B area. It is possible to map B2B features in Magento Open Source using plugins / Magento 2 B2B extensions. However, since it would go beyond the limits of this article to evaluate the many extensions, the focus here shall be the B2B features of Adobe Commerce.
In any case, especially for businesses with a strong focus on B2B, there are very few arguments in favor of Magento Open Source. Unless you can make up for the missing features with the help of good developers and the right extensions. But here too, you have to weigh up whether this is worth it in purely financial terms.
Extensions, i.e. plugins with which you can expand the store’s functionalities, are also available for Magento Open Source via Adobe’s official extension search. However, it is not easy for beginners to find their way through the vast amount of extensions. Only a few have been evaluated by a sufficient number of users and have hence been found to be good.
In any case, it is important that you meet the higher demands of B2B customers with the right store system. In terms of personalization, Magento Open Source can actually offer a lot. However, there are no integrated self-service features, which we will discuss in more detail later. With Adobe Commerce, you will certainly succeed. In this article we describe the various benefits of Adobe Commerce in B2B.
Special B2B features in Adobe Commerce / Magento 2
As we have seen, there is a lot to be said about Adobe Commerce, especially if you want to sell products directly to businesses. We would like to briefly list and describe the exclusive and integrated B2B features of Adobe Commerce / Magento 2 below.
Company Accounts
With Adobe Commerce / Magento 2, it is possible to create special business accounts for B2B customers. Here, buyers from the business sector have many options that end customers do not have. This includes multiple buyer levels per company with different settings, rights and options. For example, an executive assistant might have different rights and buying options than a marketing manager.
As part of enterprise accounts, individual prices and volume discounts or the like can also be defined. Furthermore, additional employees can be given access to the corporate account with particular ease. Additional payment methods can also be added. This includes the option to create a credit balance so that the payment process for companies becomes particularly fast.
Shared Catalogs
Companies can be shown exclusive product catalogs that are not visible to end customers. For this purpose, Adobe Commerce / Magento 2 introduced the Shared Catalogs feature. The functionality allows users to create different catalogs with customized content, which are only accessible to certain visitors of the store.
B2B Quote
Via the store shopping cart, companies can also initiate a price negotiation with you as the seller. You have the option to set permissions here too. Both in terms of who in the buyer company can start a price negotiation and who in your company can conduct the negotiation. Typically, these price negotiations are conducted via email. The status and progress of price negotiations are documented in the system.
Quick Order & Requisition List
Features that companies greatly appreciate are often those that save them time and effort. These include the quick order and the requisition list. The quick order feature shortens the ordering process when the product and SKU are known. In this case, purchasing companies save themselves many clicks. A requisition list is like a wish list – with the difference that purchased items do not disappear from the list. For many companies, this is especially helpful because many items are needed and ordered over and over again.
Purchase Orders
This feature allows the company to be pre-authorized for certain orders meaning they can pay with the order number. This functionality also saves companies time and effort.
Magento 2 B2B User Guide: See the frontend and backend of Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce in a short demo
Getting Started
In this section we briefly introduce the two versions of the store software (Open Source and Adobe Commerce). Features that are only available for Adobe Commerce are marked with an Adobe icon in the User Guide.
B2B for Adobe Commerce / Magento 2
In the Adobe Commerce / Magento 2 B2B section, the functionality of enterprise accounts with different permissions is explained first. Then the B2B features already described are briefly listed and explained.
Configuration
The configuration of most B2B features (Company Accounts, Shared Catalog, B2B Quote, Quick Order, Requisition List and Purchase Orders) is described here.
Catalog
This section describes the creation of products and categories. In addition, it deals with the management of inventories and orders, as well as shipping. The Catalog is a central part of the back-office.
Here you can find the Magento 2 B2B features, i.e. Shared Catalogs.
In the sense of a Magento 2 B2B demo for the backend, it is described in detail how exactly shared catalogs are created and managed.
Marketing
In this section you will learn, for example, how to link your store system with Amazon. If you use our magnalister plugin for Adobe Commerce (and many other store systems), you can connect a multitude of different online marketplaces with your store system. These include OTTO.de, eBay, Kaufland.de, METRO.de and cDiscount.
In the “Marketing” section you will also find tools and options for improving customer interaction, sales, email automation, creating offers and SEO.
Content
The Content area focuses on content that can be created for customers in the frontend via the store system. Important (sub)sections here are the pages, widgets, preconfigured areas that can usually be inserted at the side, bottom or top of the page, the page builder, that allows the user to create pages via drag & drop, media files, and many different options for customizing the layout.
Customers
Learn how to create and manage customer accounts and customer groups in this section. With Adobe Commerce, you have the exclusive option to set up credits for customers and display content specifically for certain customer segments. In this section you can understand exactly how this works.
Sales
This area focuses on an important aspect of the shopping process: The checkout. In other words, the customer’s journey from the shopping cart to clicking the “Buy now” button. Among other things, the B2B feature Quick Order and Quotes (Price Negotiation) are described in detail here.
Operations and Configuration Reference
In these areas, further settings are explained, for example, the ones concerning the security of the system, catalogs or sales. Marketing, sales and customer reports are also available here in various formats. However, if you are still looking for general information about the system, these areas are not yet relevant for you.
As you can see, you can use the user guide as a Magento 2 B2B demo. If you want to learn more about other aspects of Adobe Commerce or Magento in general, please read our respective articles.
The next steps of your journey with Adobe Commerce
You may be interested in it, but do not know exactly how to approach the Adobe Commerce store system. For this reason, we have summarized the first steps here for you. In the following section, we provide some information on each of the relevant steps. This is taken from an exclusive interview with Adobe Commerce business development.
1. Contact Sales
Whether via chat or phone (+1 (0) 800-585-0774), the first step is to contact Adobe Commerce sales. You can also use the online form (Get demo / Request demo).
2. Individual evaluation with business development
The next step is to schedule a meeting with business development staff. Together with you, they assess whether your business model can be meaningfully mapped with Adobe Commerce. This is referred to as a positive business case. Generally, it is worthwhile to use Adobe Commerce if you have a combined revenue of around 1 million dollars or above. Whatsoever there are exceptions for which it may be worthwhile even below this threshold. Smaller companies can also consider whether Magento Open Source might be a good alternative.
3. Demo store
If you have a suitable business case, Adobe can create a demo store specifically for you that is already roughly tailored to your needs.
4. Decision
Based on this, you decide: For or against Adobe Commerce.
5. Magento agency or in-house
Let’s assume you have decided in favor of Adobe Commerce / Magento 2. Now begins the joint search for a Magento agency that will create the store according to your wishes. Unless you have in-house IT specialists who can implement the store system.
6. Training
If a Magento agency takes over the implementation, you and/or your employees will receive training after completion. This will teach you everything you need to know about how to use the store system and manage the products.
7. Costs
You will have to pay for the development of the store system by the agency. From then on, the license costs for Adobe Commerce are at least 15,000 to 20,000 dollars annually for a turnover of about 1 million dollars. With a higher turnover, the costs also increase.
8. Support
From now on, Adobe will provide you with a personal Customer Success Manager (Mon – Fri 9 am – 5 pm). This will be your first point of contact for questions about the store system. If necessary, your question will be referred to the Adobe IT or strategy department.
Conclusion
If your company focuses on the B2B sector, then Adobe Commerce / Magento 2 is even more worthwhile compared to the open source edition. This is because Adobe continues to expand its B2B features. In the base edition, Commerce, when compared to Magento Open Source, already has a big head start.
A good starting point to get to know the B2B features of Adobe Commerce / Magento 2 is the user guide. If you are interested, first contact sales through a channel of your choice. An evaluation meeting can help you determine if Adobe Commerce is the right choice for your business. In the next step, a demo store can be created specifically for your requirements. In the next meeting, you can decide for or against the store system. If your decision is positive, an agency can be found to develop the store. After completion you will receive training. From then on, everything else runs via your personal Customer Success Manager at Adobe.
With Adobe Commerce – but also with many other store systems – you have the option of expanding your B2B sales channels very easily with our magnalister plugin. It allows you to easily connect many different marketplaces to your store system as well as list and manage products centrally via your backend. The platforms that can be linked via magnalister include Amazon, eBay, Kaufland.de, OTTO.de, METRO.de, Etsy, cDiscount and many more. The established online plugin is accompanied by our excellent support. Just give it a try.
In any case, we wish you a lot of success with your B2B business and hope we were able to help you with this Magento 2 B2B article.
