B2B Ordercloud is a leading B2B e-commerce platform that enables companies to sell products and services to other businesses. It is built on Sitecore, a powerful content management system, that allows for the seamless integration of content and commerce. OrderCloud provides a robust set of features specifically tailored for B2B buying scenarios. In this article, we will explore the top 5 B2B capabilities of OrderCloud.
Advanced Account Management
Managing accounts is critical in B2B e-commerce. OrderCloud provides powerful account management capabilities that support complex B2B account structures. Companies can create parent accounts with multiple child accounts and set specific roles and permissions at each account level. For example, a parent account may represent a large retailer while child accounts represent individual store locations.
OrderCloud also enables shared accounts and pooled accounts. With shared accounts, multiple child accounts can access the same payment methods, addresses, and users. Pooled accounts allow multiple accounts to access the same contract pricing and billing rules. These features enable businesses to model account hierarchies that reflect their real-world organizational structures.
In addition, OrderCloud provides account-specific pricing and catalog management. Businesses can set custom prices, apply discounts, and control catalog visibility for specific accounts based on volume, segment, or any other criteria. This level of account control is essential for B2B selling.
Advanced User Permissions
OrderCloud has fine-grained user permissions that enable businesses to replicate their organizational user roles. It supports an unlimited number of user groups with customized access levels. For example, organizations can configure:
- Buyer user roles like purchasing agent, approver, finance team, etc.
- Seller user roles like a sales rep, account manager, admin, etc.
Each role can be restricted to specific accounts, catalogs, price schedules, and operations like placing orders, making payments, accessing reports, etc. This allows businesses to closely model their real-world user roles and approval workflows.
Enterprise Contract Management
Contract management is a critical part of B2B sales. OrderCloud provides robust capabilities to configure contracts that control pricing, billing, and other parameters for accounts.
Key contract management features include:
- Custom contract templates
- Volume discounts and tiered pricing
- Promotions and personalized catalog pricing
- Custom billing and payment terms
- Spending limits and budget enforcement
- Contract expiration and renewal workflows
The contract management features minimize the need for manual approvals and exceptions during the purchasing process. Buyers have access to catalogs and pricing that automatically comply with pre-negotiated contracts.
Advanced Reporting and Insights
OrderCloud provides powerful reporting capabilities tailored for B2B sellers. Key features include:
- Hierarchical account reporting to track purchase activity across parent and child accounts
- Purchase order analysis like pending, fulfilled, back ordered, etc.
- User activity audit trails to identify buyers and approvers associated with transactions
- Real-time budget vs spending visibility at an account level
- Sales performance reporting by rep, product, account, etc.
- Customizable dashboards and scheduled reports
The extensive reporting enables in-depth order analysis and visibility into buyer accounts. Sales and finance teams can closely monitor budgets, identify upsell opportunities, and gain insights to improve account management.
B2B Checkout Workflow
OrderCloud provides fine-grained control over the B2B buying experience. Companies can customize account-specific catalogs to highlight key products and marketing messages.
The checkout process can be tailored to match complex B2B approval workflows. Key capabilities include:
- Requiring approvals before checkout or order submission
- Configuring multi-role approvals at organizational hierarchy level
- Enabling order line item approval instead of entire order approval
- Setting up specific screens for approvers with itemized details
- Creating approval rule templates by purchase amount, products, etc.
This level of checkout flexibility enables companies to replicate their existing procurement processes within OrderCloud. Buyers can check confidently knowing the workflows comply with internal requirements.
Conclusion
OrderCloud provides one of the most mature B2B e-commerce platforms on the market. Its robust account management, user permissions, contracting, reporting, and customized checkout capabilities enable businesses to meet the complex needs of B2B sales. Organizations can conduct B2B e-commerce with the same flexibility and control as their traditional sales channels. With its deep Sitecore integration, OrderCloud delivers a complete commerce solution to engage both B2B buyers and consumers.
