A B2B Manufacturer or Distributor that is launching their first digital channel has some really difficult questions to answer. One of the most difficult is selecting which core experiences the eCommerce site will deliver.

There are some very tangible differences in the technology challenges that manufacturers must solve vs distributors, but the experiences they should deliver are very similar. Put another way, what is delivered is very similar, but how the experience is achieved is quite different.

Here are 11 must-have experiences that a Company must launch or fast-follow with to provide a relevant B2B customer journey. Quite often, my firm will use these 11 items as the core “Epics,” aka experiences that are groupings of similar functionality, in an Agile implementation of an eCommerce implementation. I’ve provided all 11 epics, and then some examples of must-have features.

Sign-in/register: the ability to create an account and login to that account
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Restrict browsing the site based on whether the customer is logged in (dependent on Company-specific business rules)
  2. Restrict registration based on approval (dependent on Company-specific business rules)
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. 2-factor authorization (sending a PIN to a mobile phone or email)
  2. Login as another user
  3. Register within an account hierarchy
Account/profile management: giving customers the ability to self-service their accounts
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Reset password
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Allow different users to have different roles and different types of authority on the site
  2. Pay outstanding invoices
  3. The ability for a customer to administer the users that can access the site
Browse a catalog: giving customers the ability to effectively browse your catalog
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Logical taxonomy (strong category structure)
  2. Filter on product attributes (sometimes known as facets)
  3. View product images
  4. View pricing based on account (login)
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Add to quote
  2. View related products
  3. View products in a bundle
  4. Compare products
Quote management: the ability for a customer to create a quote and submit for approval
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Add to a quote
  2. Save a quote
  3. Unlimited quote storage
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Share quote
  2. Request for pricing approval
Checkout: the ability for customers to complete a purchase
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Pay by invoice
  2. Pay by credit card
  3. Calculate taxes
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Purchase approval workflow
  2. Calculate shipping
  3. Add promotions
  4. Add notes to an order
Order management
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. View previous orders
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Re-order previous orders
  2. View orders of others in the organization
Pricing: the ability to show the right price to the right customer
1. Some must-have features/stories
  1. Be able to set a different price/item/customer
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Be able to provide pricing for configurable or built-to-order SKUs (usually requires a CPQ platform to be in place)
  2. Be able to set a different price/item/customer/customer tier
  3. Be able to request additional discounts via quotes
Search: the ability to find products
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Type-ahead search (predictive search)
  2. Synonym-based search (very useful for difficult to spell words)
  3. Performant search (results in less than 2 seconds)
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Search results based on bestsellers
Wish lists: the ability to save an item to a list
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Have unlimited wishlists
  2. Name a wishlist
  3. Move wishlist to cart
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Share a wishlist
Site articles: the ability to view product or brand articles and blogs
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Search articles
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. Seamlessly integrate products and articles
Header/footer: the ability to view consistent information across the top and bottom of an online experience
1. Some must-have features/stories:
  1. Logo top left
  2. Mini-cart displaying the number of items in the cart
  3. Cookie opt-in
2. Some fast-follow features/stories:
  1. FAQ
  2. Contact us

This by no means a comprehensive listing of all the functionality that a site must have, but it does provide a comprehensive listing of the experiences that every site must have. Sign up for our newsletter to continue to receive articles like this directly to your inbox.