By Artem Korsakov ·
In short: A B2B catalog with a request list suits cases where a manager confirms price, availability and lead times. Ordering on the website is appropriate if the product, terms and availability can be confirmed before the order is passed to an employee. Both options can be combined. In either case, the request should contain the selected items and quantities, and the buyer should understand what will happen after sending it.
B2B catalog development starts with how a procurement specialist works: select items, clarify specifications and request terms from the supplier. A buyer may choose equipment by specifications, put together several items and wait for terms to be agreed. In this situation the website should help prepare an accurate request. Automated checkout is useful where the company is genuinely ready to confirm the price and fulfillment according to clear rules.
Look at how a deal is closed
Review a few typical orders. When does the final price become known, who confirms availability, which documents are needed and at what point are delivery and payment agreed? If the answer depends on the buyer’s contract, a single public price may not be enough.
A hypothetical pump supplier sells equipment for different applications. The visitor knows the required specifications, but the delivery time and the content of the offer are clarified by an engineer. For such a process, a catalog with a request list may be more useful than a formal store in which a manager reworks every order anyway.
What a B2B catalog should do
The catalog helps find a suitable product and keep its context in the inquiry. You need clear categories, specifications, documents and a link to a specific part number. The content of the card is described in the article “An industrial product card”. Some visitors arrive with an exact designation, others choose by purpose and operating conditions. How to support both approaches is covered in the article on search and filters in a B2B catalog.
It is useful to pass the selected items and quantities in the request together with the buyer’s contact details. Then an employee does not have to find out again which card the person was looking at. An additional comment lets them specify the task, the deadline and whether alternatives are acceptable.
A public price can be shown where it helps the choice and matches the process. If the price is calculated, its status and the factors that affect it should be explained. A “price on request” label without a clear next action leaves the visitor with an unfinished task.
When to launch ordering
A store is appropriate if the product, final terms and availability can be confirmed before the inquiry is passed to an employee. This is not necessarily a retail scenario. Repeat B2B purchases of standard consumables can also follow predefined rules.
Check:
- the source of prices and stock levels;
- minimum order rules;
- units of sale;
- documents.
If data is updated manually once a week, an automatic promise of immediate delivery may not match reality. The interface must take real constraints into account.
Think through what happens after submission
Decide who receives the request, which details are required and how an employee clarifies them. It is important to keep the original composition even after a price change or the selection of an alternative. If passing data to the CRM is part of the project, agree on the set of fields and behavior on error. More in the article on passing website leads to a CRM.
For a hypothetical order of ten items, a manager may confirm eight and offer substitutes for two. The website does not have to solve this task on its own in the first stage. It is enough to pass the list correctly and not promise the buyer unconfirmed availability.
Discuss customer accounts and personal prices separately. Adding them expands access rights, contract handling and data requirements. This is a separate scope of work; it cannot be added to a public catalog with a single switch.
Choose the minimal complete path
The content of the first version is determined by the result the buyer can achieve without workarounds. For a catalog, that is a product found and an accurate request. For a store, it is a placed order with a clear status and conditions for further processing.
Before development, prepare:
- sample product cards;
- a price list;
- a typical request;
- a description of the manager’s work.
With these materials it is easier to choose a scenario and define the boundaries of automation. A nice list of products with no continuation of the process solves the task of neither a catalog nor a store.
In the trike_dev catalog you can see a demo of the B2B solution. To discuss your own project, show the real path from choosing a product to agreeing on delivery, including the actions that remain manual for now.
Частые вопросы ### Do you need a cart without online payment?
Yes. It can collect items, quantities and comments for a quote request. It is important to name the action directly so that the person understands that sending the list does not yet mean a confirmed purchase.
Can both options be combined?
Yes. Ordering is available for standard items, and a quote request for complex sets. But the difference needs to be explained in the product card and the cart, otherwise the buyer will have different expectations from identical buttons.