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If you’re a UK wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer looking to sell online, there’s a good chance you’ve considered Shopify. As one of the world’s leading ecommerce platforms, Shopify powers millions of online stores worldwide and has continued to expand its B2B offering.

For businesses with straightforward wholesale requirements, Shopify may provide everything they need. However, if you’re a UK wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer with more complex trade requirements, a specialist B2B ecommerce platform like GOb2b may be a better choice because it has been designed specifically for trade and integrates directly with Sage and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Shopify has evolved for B2B

Over the past few years, Shopify has invested heavily in its B2B capabilities. Businesses can now create company accounts, offer customer specific pricing, assign product catalogues, provide payment terms and allow customers to manage their own accounts through a self-service portal. Customers can also view their order history and easily reorder previous purchases.

For many businesses, these features provide an excellent foundation for selling to trade customers online. If your wholesale requirements are relatively simple, Shopify could be the right solution.

When a specialist B2B ecommerce platform is a better fit

Wholesale businesses often operate very differently from retail businesses.

Many already have established processes built around systems such as Sage or Pegasus Opera, with customer specific pricing, stock control, sales order processing and account management forming part of their day-to-day operations.

In these situations, B2B ecommerce isn’t just about creating a website. It’s about creating an online ordering system that works seamlessly alongside the software your business already relies on.

That’s where a specialist B2B ecommerce platform can make all the difference.

GOb2b has been developed specifically for wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers, helping businesses reduce manual administration while improving the ordering experience for trade customers.

Shopify vs specialist B2B ecommerce

Both Shopify and our GOb2b B2B ecommerce platform help businesses sell online, but they’re designed with different types of businesses in mind, and we have outlined the differences below.

Designed for wholesale

Shopify

Shopify is a flexible ecommerce platform with B2B functionality, making it suitable for businesses selling to both consumers and trade customers.

GOb2b

GOb2b has been purpose built for wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers, with functionality designed around the needs of trade businesses.

Customer specific pricing

Shopify

Shopify B2B allows businesses to create customer specific catalogues and pricing for company accounts.

GOb2b

Customer specific pricing is synchronised directly from Sage, helping ensure customers always see their agreed pricing when ordering online.

Quick ordering and repeat ordering

Shopify

Trade customers can reorder previous purchases through their customer accounts, helping speed up repeat purchases.

GOb2b

GOb2b has been designed specifically around trade ordering, with quick ordering features that help customers place repeat and bulk orders efficiently. CSV ordering is also available for larger orders.

Account management

Shopify

Customers can access company accounts, view previous orders and manage account information through Shopify’s customer account functionality.

GOb2b

Customers can access account information, customer specific pricing and order history through a platform that’s integrated directly with your existing business systems.

Live stock visibility

Shopify

Inventory can be managed through Shopify, while synchronising stock information with existing business systems depends on the integrations a business chooses to implement.

GOb2b

Live stock information is synchronised directly with supported back-office systems, helping customers place orders with confidence using accurate stock information.

Sage and Pegasus Opera and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central integration

Shopify

Shopify can be integrated with accounting and business management software using third party connectors and integration partners.

GOb2b

GOb2b provides integration with Sage, Pegasus Opera and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, allowing information such as customer pricing, stock levels and sales orders to flow between systems automatically.

Integration is often the biggest difference

For many wholesalers and distributors, launching an ecommerce website is only one part of the journey. The real value comes from connecting ecommerce with your existing business systems.

Without integration, businesses can find themselves manually updating pricing, entering orders into accounting software or managing stock information across multiple platforms. This creates unnecessary administration and increases the risk of errors.

An integrated B2B ecommerce platform helps eliminate much of this duplication by synchronising customer pricing, stock information and sales orders automatically, allowing your team to spend less time processing orders and more time supporting customers.

Which platform is right for your business?

Every wholesale business is different, and there isn’t a one size fits all solution.

If you’re looking for a flexible ecommerce platform that supports both retail and wholesale sales, Shopify offers an impressive range of features and continues to strengthen its B2B capabilities.

However, if your business is primarily wholesale and already relies on Sage or Pegasus Opera to manage stock, pricing and customer accounts, choosing a specialist B2B ecommerce platform can provide a more streamlined solution.

Rather than adapting your processes to fit your B2B ecommerce platform, a specialist solution will allow it to fit around the way your business already operates.

Why choose GOb2b?

Unlike many ecommerce platforms that have expanded into B2B, we have over 20 years experience and our GOb2b B2B ecommerce platform has been developed specifically for wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers.

With seamless integration with Sage and Pegasus Opera, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, customer specific pricing, live stock visibility, integrated sales order processing, quick ordering and online account management, GOb2b helps businesses reduce manual administration while delivering a better experience for trade customers.

While GOb2b has been developed specifically for B2B workflows, including repeat ordering, quick ordering and customer-specific pricing, our platform is also fully capable of serving B2C operations.

If you’re looking for an ecommerce solution that’s built around the way your trade business operates, we’d love to help. Get in touch with our team to arrange a demonstration and discover how an integrated B2B ecommerce platform can help your business grow.