Optimising B2B Ecommerce Checkout: What Modern Buyers Expect and How to Deliver

The B2B buying experience is more digital, and more demanding, than ever. With 93% of B2B buyers now turning to digital channels like websites, marketplaces, and mobile apps for procurement, the online checkout experience has become a critical touchpoint in the buyer journey.

But here’s the challenge: as expectations rise, so does the risk of losing customers to friction. In fact, 74% of buyers say they’d switch to a competitor if that brand offered a better B2B ecommerce experience. And what’s driving that decision? A checkout that’s too slow or too hard to navigate. Buyers are calling for faster, simpler flows, more transparency around fees, and better support if things go sideways.

As B2B brands look to win and retain today’s digitally savvy buyers, optimising the ecommerce checkout experience isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential. Let’s explore what that means, and how you can turn checkout into your competitive edge.

Why the B2B ecommerce checkout experience matters

Checkout isn’t just the final step in the buyer journey. It’s the point where interest becomes action. For B2B businesses, every completed transaction can represent large order values, repeat business, and long-term partnerships. But if the checkout process is confusing, slow, or missing key features like flexible payment options, buyers are likely to walk away before completing their purchase.

A streamlined checkout experience builds trust and removes the friction that causes abandoned carts. The simpler it is to buy, the more likely buyers are to convert — and to return. Improving the checkout experience doesn’t just enhance the user experience. It directly drives conversions, which means more sales and more growth for your business.

Important B2B checkout functionality

B2B buyers have complex needs, and your checkout experience should reflect that. A well-optimised checkout isn’t just about speed — it’s about supporting the unique requirements of business purchasing. Here are a few essential features that help reduce friction, increase conversions, and keep buyers coming back.

Personalised pricing and discounts.

B2B buyers often expect pricing tailored to their contract terms, purchase volume, or negotiated deals. Personalised pricing ensures the right buyer sees the right price at checkout, creating a seamless and consistent experience that builds trust.

Multi-user account management.

In B2B buying, multiple stakeholders are often involved. Enabling different users under one account to manage orders, view purchase history, and access saved preferences helps businesses streamline internal workflows while making repeat purchases faster and easier.

Robust order approval workflows.

Many B2B companies require purchases to be reviewed or approved by a manager or finance team. Built-in order approval workflows allow businesses to set rules and permissions directly in the checkout process, keeping procurement compliant and efficient.

Multiple shipping and delivery options.

B2B buyers may need to ship to different locations, schedule deliveries, or coordinate with freight providers. Offering flexible shipping options — including partial shipments and real-time freight quotes — adds the convenience and control business buyers expect.

Integrated tax and compliance management.

Accurate tax calculation and regulatory compliance are critical for B2B transactions. Integrating tools that automatically manage sales tax, VAT, and exemption certificates helps ensure a smooth and compliant checkout every time.

Flexible payment options.

Many B2B purchases require more than standard credit card payments. Buyers expect to see options like purchase orders, net payment terms, ACH transfers, and even digital wallets. 

Offering flexible payment methods directly at checkout supports different procurement workflows and B2B payment requirements, as well as helps reduce abandoned carts. Flexible payment terms also give buyers more control over their purchasing schedules and help improve cash flow management across departments.

Reordering and subscription features.

B2B buyers often place recurring orders. Features like quick reorders, saved payment and shipping preferences, and subscription-based purchasing can simplify that process, saving time and encouraging repeat purchases.

Seamless mobile and omnichannel experience.

Business buyers don’t just order from their desks anymore — they’re browsing on phones, checking order statuses in the field, and switching between devices across every digital channel. A responsive, mobile-optimised checkout and consistent experience across every sales channel can make a big difference in buyer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Customise your B2B checkout

No two B2B businesses are exactly alike, and neither are their checkout requirements. Whether you're selling to small businesses, large enterprises, or government agencies, customisation is key to delivering an experience that fits your buyers' specific needs.

Customising your checkout allows you to tailor everything from field inputs and payment options to approval workflows and user roles. You can create logic that adapts based on customer groups, product types, or order value, ensuring that the checkout flow supports your business model and integrates seamlessly with your preferred payment processor.

From dynamic shipping rules to branded checkout pages, embedded purchase terms, and checkout templates, flexible checkout customisation gives you control over the final, and most critical, step in the buyer journey. The result is a seamless, intuitive experience that feels made for your customer, because it is.

Common B2B checkout mistakes and how to avoid them

Even the most sophisticated ecommerce sites can lose sales at the finish line if the checkout experience doesn’t deliver. For B2B brands, avoiding friction is essential — especially when buyers expect speed, clarity, and flexibility. Here are some of the most common missteps in B2B checkout and how to fix them before they cost you conversions.

Lack of clarity in pricing and fees.

Unexpected shipping costs or unclear fees can quickly erode trust. Always display total costs, including taxes, shipping, and discounts, upfront to give buyers full visibility and confidence before they click "Place Order."

Complex or lengthy checkout processes.

If buyers have to jump through too many hoops to place an order, they’ll likely give up. Minimise the number of steps, remove unnecessary form fields, and enable guest checkout or saved account preferences to streamline the experience through better authentication and user role logic.

Limited payment and shipping options.

B2B buyers expect options. If your checkout only supports credit cards or has rigid shipping rules, you're leaving money on the table. Offer a range of payment methods and delivery choices that align with how your buyers operate.

Poor mobile checkout experience.

Today’s B2B buyers aren’t just shopping from their desks, they’re on the go. A checkout that isn’t mobile-friendly can lead to abandoned carts. Ensure your checkout is responsive, fast, and easy to navigate across all devices.

BigCommerce helps B2B brands improve the checkout experience

BigCommerce gives B2B merchants the tools they need to streamline and drive optimisation across the entire checkout journey. Whether you're selling to distributors, manufacturers, wholesalers, or procurement teams, our platform — with tools like B2B Edition — is built to support complex buying processes with the flexibility, control, and scalability your business demands. Here's how BigCommerce helps you deliver a better checkout experience from start to finish.

Optimised one-page checkout.

Speed matters, especially at checkout. BigCommerce offers a fast, intuitive one-page checkout designed to minimise friction and encourage completion. Buyers can move quickly through the process, increasing conversions with less abandonment​.

Customer-specific pricing and catalogues.

Easily serve personalised experiences at checkout by showing the right products, pricing, and discounts to the right customer groups. With native support for price lists and customer groups, you can tailor pricing based on contracts, location, or buyer tier. 

For businesses selling configurable products, BigCommerce B2B Edition’s Configure Price Quote (CPQ) workflow enables sales teams to create tailored quotes, manage custom pricing and terms, and convert those quotes into orders on behalf of buyers — streamlining the path from interest to purchase.

Buyer portals and corporate account management.

Empower your B2B customers with a self-service portal that supports multi-user accounts, reordering, and access to quotes, invoices, and order history. With role-based permissions and support for multi-company hierarchies, buyers can assign responsibilities across teams — ensuring that the right users can place, approve, and complete purchases quickly and securely.

Because the buyer portal is open source, merchants have full control to customise the experience to fit even the most complex procurement and checkout needs, supporting centralised tracking, authentication, and seamless order management.

Flexible payment options with net terms.

BigCommerce supports payment controls such as net terms, invoicing, and credit limits, so buyers can pay how they need to. With integrations for ACH, PO, credit cards, and BNPL, the platform supports nearly every modern B2B payment solution, so you can meet the expectations of any finance team. It also simplifies payment processing for large, recurring transactions.

Inhaven, a B2B brand serving vacation rental property managers, uses BigCommerce’s B2B Edition to support customer accounts with multiple users and flexible purchasing functionality. “We needed to set up customer accounts at the company level to allow multiple users with different access levels. We also needed the functionality to build tiered pricing by volume quotes. BigCommerce had all of the B2B features that I needed to quickly launch the site,” said Founder and CEO Ashley Ching.

Advanced shipping and fulfillment tools.

Offer multi-recipient shipping, real-time shipping rates, and support for freight and in-store pickup — all configurable in checkout. These features ensure that B2B buyers get what they need, when and where they need it.

OK4WD, a B2B and B2C four-wheel drive parts and accessories supplier, leverages BigCommerce’s user-friendly platform and integrations to simplify fulfillment and improve operational efficiency. The brand uses tools like ShipperHQ and ShipStation to streamline shipping and order management. “There are a lot of very good out-of-the-box features and integrations BigCommerce has. We use tools like Klaviyo for email marketing and ShipperHQ for shipping and fulfillment. These different features have seriously improved business efficiency and made things a lot easier for us internally,” said Tim Earls, Operations Manager at OK4WD.

B2B brands who have optimised their checkout with BigCommerce

TradeTools.

Founded in 1987, TradeTools is one of Australia’s largest independently owned power tool and machinery brands, serving both trade professionals and industrial buyers. To modernise their online experience, TradeTools migrated from Magento to BigCommerce.

Using BigCommerce’s native one-page checkout and integrating ShipperHQ, TradeTools streamlined the checkout process, simplified complex shipping logic, and reduced technical overhead — leading to a smoother buyer journey for their B2B customers.

“The BigCommerce checkout offers a better user experience than our old Magento setup,” remarked Mark Vourlides, Marketing and Ecommerce Manager at TradeTools. “We’ve seen fewer customer support tickets and calls about checkout issues, which is a big deal for our customer demographic. It’s easier to use, and that simplicity has been key.”

Inhaven.

Inhaven provides vacation rental owners, property managers, and short-term stay operators with premium, hospitality-grade products.

To deliver a frictionless B2B checkout, Inhaven built a custom portal experience using BigCommerce’s open APIs. Features include one-click reordering and a purchase request system that simplifies approval workflows for property teams.

We've created a one-click checkout on the purchase request area of the portal, so when those housekeeping teams send purchase requests for specific properties, the purchaser can quickly checkout,” shared Ashley Ching, Founder and CEO of Inhaven.

Sellars Absorbent Materials.

Sellars Absorbent Materials is a leading manufacturer of high-performance wiping, cleaning, and sorbent products for industrial and commercial use. When Sellars moved to BigCommerce, they focused on customising the checkout experience to reduce friction and improve efficiency.

By building custom pricing logic and a dynamic shipping calculator into the checkout, Sellars gave customers more control and freed up valuable time for their internal teams.

“Our online sales have gone up by 12%, and we’ve reduced cart abandonment by 25%. Our team is now free to focus on strategic work, and our customers are happier too,” said Jacob Jones, Head of Ecommerce at Sellars.

AS Colour.

AS Colour is a global wholesaler and retailer of premium blank apparel. To support both DTC and B2B channels, AS Colour built out separate ecommerce experiences on BigCommerce.

Their B2B site includes pricing tiers, custom logins, and streamlined checkout flows designed to accommodate larger order volumes and repeat wholesale purchases.

“We’ve made it where B2B customers get an almost completely different buying experience than DTC customers. Because, generally speaking, B2B customers buy more products than their DTC counterparts,” explained Tony Hou, CEO and Founder of Moustache Republic. “The cart layout is different, the product presentation is different, and then of course, the checkout experience is tailored to their needs, too.”

The final word

Checkout is more than a transaction — it's a moment of truth. It’s where customer experience, operational efficiency, and buyer expectations converge. A streamlined, flexible, and fully customisable checkout can make the difference between a loyal customer and a lost opportunity.

As the demand for digital-first, buyer-friendly ecommerce continues to grow, brands that invest in better B2B checkout experiences will be the ones that boost conversion, win more business, and stand out among competitors — from large retailers to Shopify-based sellers. Whether it's personalised pricing, multi-user workflows, or integrated payment terms, the right features at checkout do more than close a sale — they build trust and fuel long-term growth.

Improving checkout isn’t just about removing friction — it’s about making every transaction feel effortless, reliable, and built for business.

Cheque out our case studies from B2B brands that have streamlined their checkout experience and boosted conversions with BigCommerce.

FAQs about B2B ecommerce checkout