Selling to other businesses online: what a trade shop needs
Business customers buy differently from the public. They reorder the same things, expect their own prices, and often pay on account rather than by card. A trade shop is built around those habits.
Written by Yiangos Vitsaides, founder of NYV Digital · Published
Customer accounts with their own prices
Each business customer logs in and sees the prices agreed with them, not the public price list. Some suppliers also show different products to different customers.
Fast reordering
Trade buyers rarely browse. They want to find what they ordered last time and order it again in a few clicks, or type product codes and quantities straight in.
Paying on account
Many business customers pay by invoice on agreed terms rather than at checkout. The shop needs to allow that for approved customers while still taking card payments from new ones.
Minimum orders and pack sizes
Trade shops often sell in cases or packs, set a minimum order, or offer better prices for larger quantities. These rules need to be built into the shop, so customers see them before they order.
Connected to the back office
Trade orders are usually larger and more frequent, so retyping them costs more. Connecting the shop to stock, invoicing and customer records matters even more here than in an ordinary shop.
NYV Digital builds shops for suppliers and wholesalers taking orders from other businesses, as well as for businesses selling to the public.