B2B E-Commerce best practices and recommendations

1. B2B E-COMMERCE BEST PRACTICES
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Jiří Šoman, UX Designer#

2. B2B BASIC FACTS
2
• B2B = selling to other businesses rather then directly
to customers#
• ! B2B customers copy B2C in their behavior#
• The biggest difference in B2B is that people that are
visiting your site are doing so because it is their job#
• ! 70% site activity is focused on the process of finding
information#
• ! 50% of customers using search box to find what they
are looking for#
• Mostly the finding process start at search engine like
Google, not at your site.#
• B2B buyers many times know exactly what they want#
• Second most important page is product detail page#

3. B2B CUSTOMERS COPY B2C IN THEIR BEHAVIOR
3
B2B customers copy B2C in their behavior#
#
• ! B2B customers are also B2C consumers#
• Customers expectations followed B2C shopper
practices#
• Two windows phenomenon#
• Intuitive and user friendly interface#
• Personalization and customization#
• Mobile shopping + multi-channel support#

4. B2B CUSTOMERS COPY B2C IN THEIR BEHAVIOR
4
Two windows phenomenon#

5. B2B CUSTOMERS COPY B2C IN THEIR BEHAVIOR
5
Mobile shopping#
Responsive site#

6. B2B CUSTOMERS COPY B2C IN THEIR BEHAVIOR
6
Mobile shopping#
Mobile app#

7. B2B CUSTOMERS COPY B2C IN THEIR BEHAVIOR
WITH MORE USERS ONLINE
THAN EVER BEFORE, BE
SURE THAT E-COMMERCE
PROCESSES ARE SIMPLIFIED#
7

8. B2B ARE VISITING YOUR SITE BECAUSE IT IS THEIR JOB
8
The biggest difference in B2B is that people that are visiting
your site are doing so because it is their job#
#
• Make their job easier#
• Provide them with the right tools and great user experience#
• Streamline and enclose your checkout process#
• Checkout without registration or automatic account
registration#
• Possibility to connect credit card and reuse it time by time#
• Integration to ERPs#
• Punch out shopping#
• Customer specific catalogue and pricing#
• Customer self-service and administration#
• Split shipping#

9. B2B ARE VISITING YOUR SITE BECAUSE IT IS THEIR JOB
9
Customer self-service and administration#

10. B2B ARE VISITING YOUR SITE BECAUSE IT IS THEIR JOB
10
Enclosed checkout process#

11. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
11
70% site activity is focused on the process of finding information#
#
• Finding information = using navigation, product categories, tags,
filters and search#
• Create an intuitive navigational structure#
• F shape design pattern for usability#
• Categories overview#
• Suggested products#
• Add breadcrumbs navigation#
• Product selectors / wizards#
• Multiple ways to filter and sort#
• Sales statistic for each one product#
• Display ratings#
• Highlight call to actions#
• Avoid 404 pages#
• Product comparison shopping#

12. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
12
F Shape pattern#

13. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
13
Categories overview#

14. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
14
Navigation#

15. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
15
Navigation#

16. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
16
Suggested product#

17. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
17
Breadcrumbs#

18. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
18
Filtering and sorting#

19. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
19
Product compare#

20. 70% OF ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ON FINDING INFORMATION
IF SOMEONE IS BROWSING
FOR CHEESE, PERHAPS
THEY WOULD LIKE CHUTNEY
TO GO WITH IT#
20

21. 50% OF CUSTOMERS ARE USING SEARCH BOX
21
50% of customers using search box to find what they are
looking for#
#
• It’s really important element#
• Easy to use and really quick search option#
• Available on every page#
• Auto complete feature#
• Possibility to buy goods right from here#
• Unit of measure searching#
• Search results, Filtering options and Facet search#

22. 50% OF CUSTOMERS ARE USING SEARCH BOX
22
Search box#

23. 50% OF CUSTOMERS ARE USING SEARCH BOX
23
Search suggestions#

24. 50% OF CUSTOMERS ARE USING SEARCH BOX
24
Example – add to cart button in search box#

25. FINDING PROCESS START AT SEARCH ENGINE
25
Mostly the finding process start at search engine
(Google), not at your site#
#
• Search engine optimization (on-page, off-page)#
• Pay per click advertising#
• Should consider putting product catalogue in front of
login screens to allow indexing#
• ! Google comparison shopping site#
• XML sitemap / XML product feed#

26. B2B BUYERS KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT
26
B2B buyers many times know exactly what they want#
#
• The ability to directly enter/search via the code (part
no, SKU code) and quantity#
• Allow B2B buyers to upload excel, xml or csv file with
the codes and quantity#
• Routine/repeat order support#
• Bulk ordering capabilities#
• Competitor cross reference#

27. B2B BUYERS KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT
27
Bulk ordering, order repeating#

28. PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
28
Second most important page is product detail page#
#
• Most traffic comes to this page#
• Quotes#
• Rich description#
• Part no.#
• Images with zoom#
• Technical specs#
• Alternate products#
• Related products#
• Accessories#
• In stock vs. out of stock#
• Sharing of product detail page#

29. PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
29
Quotes#

30. PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
30
Images with zoom#

31. PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
31
Alternate, related products and accessories#

32. PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
32
Description and technical spec#

33. PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
33
Product page sharing#

34. And many more suggestions, recommendatios you
already have:#
#
• Summary Webshop UX Analysis and Surveys.ppt#
• recommendation-makro-final.docx#
34

35. ALL WEB PAGES, ALL
WEBSHOPS, USERS, GROUP
OF USERS ARE DIFFERENT
SO WE NEED TO DO TESTING#
35

36. INSPIRATION
36
Cdwg.com#
Amazon.com#
Homedepot.com#
Grainger.com#
Diytrade.com#
Globalsources.com#
Wallmart.com#
Ioffer.com#
Ebay.com#
Alibaba.com#
Dhgate.com#
#
Made-in-china.com#
Quill.com#
Megapixel.cz#
Euronics.cz#
Zappos.com#

37. Jiří Šoman#
UX Designer / Actum#
#
@jirisoman#
jiri.soman@actum.cz#
37

38. RESOURCES
38
AdaptivePath.com#
AlistApart.com#
Baymard.com#
Humanfactors.com#
Lukew.com#
SmashingMagazine.com#
SomethingDigital.com#
Uie.com#
Usabilitypost.com#
Useit.com#
UXdesign.com#
UXmatters.com#
UXmovement.com#
Webdesignerdepot.com#
#
#
ITbusinessedge.com#
NNgroup.com#
Econsultancy.com#
Webdesign.tutsplus.com#
Toprankblog.com#
Browsediet.com#
Bradfrostweb.com#
Kissmetrics.com#
#