System house check: Open B2B shop versus closed portal

Welcome to the exci­ting world of digi­tal busi­ness! As an IT sys­tem house, you have the task of crea­ting a suc­cessful B2B shop that dri­ves the growth and suc­cess of your busi­ness. But which opti­on is best for you: an open shop that expands the com­pany’s reach or a clo­sed shop that gives your own cus­to­mers exclu­si­vi­ty? We are here to help you make the right choice and crea­te a suc­cessful digi­tal sales chan­nel that will delight you and your customers.

An open B2B shop grants access to all cus­to­mers and pro­s­pects wit­hout any rest­ric­tions, simi­lar to the lar­ge plat­forms like Amazon and Conrad. This means that the pro­ducts, pri­ces, and com­pa­ny can be com­pared online, lea­ding to a wider reach. However, not every inte­res­ted par­ty beco­mes a cus­to­mer imme­dia­te­ly as the sale can be rest­ric­ted to com­mer­cial cus­to­mers to com­ply with legal requirements.

On the other hand, a clo­sed B2B shop limits access and requi­res regis­tra­ti­on or invi­ta­ti­on. Prospective cus­to­mers must pro­vi­de their infor­ma­ti­on to recei­ve spe­ci­fic details. The clo­sed envi­ron­ment allows you as the shop owner to offer exclu­si­ve deals, dis­counts, or bund­les from a varie­ty of pro­ducts to your cus­to­mers. Even if no purcha­se is made, poten­ti­al cus­to­mers can still be tar­ge­ted and per­sua­ded. Another advan­ta­ge is that cer­tain con­su­mer pro­tec­tion mea­su­res and requi­re­ments may be wai­ved in a clo­sed shop whe­re only busi­ness cus­to­mers are regis­tered. This allows you to bypass or sim­pli­fy bureau­cra­tic pro­ces­ses, saving time and resources.

Choosing bet­ween an open or clo­sed B2B shop depends on various fac­tors. Key con­side­ra­ti­ons include “How do I want to com­mu­ni­ca­te my pri­ces?” and “What orde­ring opti­ons do I want to offer my cus­to­mers?” In a clo­sed shop, pro­ducts and pri­ces are only visi­ble after log­in, while in an open shop, the enti­re pro­duct ran­ge is visi­ble at all times. The admis­si­on cri­te­ria can be deter­mi­ned based on indus­try, sales orga­niza­ti­on, or invi­ta­ti­on by members.

One dis­ad­van­ta­ge of clo­sed B2B shops is their lack of visi­bi­li­ty online. Just like indi­vi­du­al con­su­mers, B2B cus­to­mers also use search engi­nes to find infor­ma­ti­on and poten­ti­al sup­pli­ers. A com­ple­te­ly clo­sed shop is not acces­si­ble to search engi­nes, resul­ting in lower visi­bi­li­ty and online pre­sence. This can dis­cou­ra­ge poten­ti­al cus­to­mers from con­side­ring the com­pa­ny. To capi­ta­li­ze on the bene­fits of both models, a com­bi­na­ti­on of an open and a clo­sed B2B shop can be crea­ted. This can increase visi­bi­li­ty and reach, while cer­tain infor­ma­ti­on, such as pri­ces, can still be hid­den behind a login.

When deci­ding bet­ween an open or clo­sed B2B shop, it’s cru­cial to con­sider the uni­que requi­re­ments and objec­ti­ves of your sys­tem house. As every com­pa­ny has dif­fe­rent needs and cus­to­mer struc­tures, see­king com­pre­hen­si­ve advice from experts can help you find the right solu­ti­on. Our ITscope pro­fes­sio­nals are available to ans­wer your ques­ti­ons and assist you in deve­lo­ping your e‑commerce strategy.