Understanding Salesforce B2B Commerce

At BPX, we spend much of our time helping clients cut through software promises to understand what will actually work for their business. Salesforce B2B Commerce is one of those tools. 

Unlike B2C customers, B2B customers are not buying for themselves, they are buying for their companies. Salesforce B2B Commerce is particularly helpful in moving analog processes into the cloud. It allows businesses to do things like automate ordering and check inventory, while adhering to specific terms of contracts with clients. 

What Is Salesforce Commerce Cloud?

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based suite of products that enable e-commerce businesses to set up e-commerce experiences. The platform enables users to launch and promote their products with no developer support with a visual editor, collaborative workflow, and reusable content storage. Salesforce touts it as “The only B2B Commerce platform that comes connected right out of the box”. As part of the integrated Salesforce Customer Success Platform, Commerce Cloud also powers all Salesforce-connected apps.

Salesforce B2B Commerce vs Salesforce B2C Commerce

B2B buyers don’t purchase for personal use, they’re purchasing for an organization. When purchasing for a company, there may be rounds of approvals, revisions, and accounting processes that must take place before the actual sale may be made. Salesforce B2B Commerce focuses on high-volume ordering and efficiency, while B2B focuses on engaging consumer experiences.

A B2C customer is much more prone to impulse buying than a B2B customer. While a buy now button may make sense on a single t-shirt you’re trying to sell, it doesn’t make sense for a client looking to order 10,000 shirts. This is why Salesforce B2B allows account-based purchasing rather than individual transactions. It can complete repeat ordering based on contract pricing for repeating or bulk orders. Salesforce separates B2B and B2C because of the vastly different behaviors in purchasing between the clienteles. 

 Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud for B2B Companies

Although B2C and B2B sales experiences are very different to the marketers, B2B buyers do still expect an experience as intuitive as they get in the retail world.

Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud is purpose-built for selling to other businesses. By marrying data, analytics, and commerce tools. It comes equipped with one click reorders, smart search, and recommendations, all things the average consumer has come to expect when ordering. 

Analytics and Insights

One of the most valuable features of Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud is visibility. Sales reps can see what customers left in their cart, which often says more about intent than completed orders. Service agents can also view a customer’s full order history from a single dashboard, giving sales, service, and commerce teams a shared view of the customer and faster ways to respond.

The platform also supports longer-term performance tracking, helping teams make better sales and merchandising decisions. ROI can be measured across individual business accounts, not just in aggregate.

ROI of Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud

The ROI of Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud comes from customer satisfaction, reduced labor, and revenue lift. According to Salesforce, one case study showed a 5–6% margin increase and more than 18,000 hours saved over three years through process automation.

Personalized Storefronts 

Personalized storefronts and pricing features can provide a consistent experience across channels. 

Trust for your clients’ storefronts depends on a good sense of security. Authentications, permissions. 

Behind the scenes, there is a layered system to protect storefront B2B data, which covers buyer, catalog, and payment information.

Conclusion: Making the B2B Buying Process Less Complex 

Salesforce B2B Commerce cloud can speed up the buying process that modern buyers are now accustomed to, if you implement it correctly. The B2C for B2B customers buying experience really does make it the Gold Standard in today’s CRM platforms for a reason, it has a repeatedly proven increased sales record across businesses worldwide. 

Moving into Salesforce B2B Commerce calls for a clear strategy, not a feature checklist. A few core considerations shape whether the platform becomes a growth engine or a glossy catalog.

Key points to consider:

• Pricing models, discounts, and contract structures.  

• Buyer behavior, browsing vs SKU-driven ordering

• Performance-focused storefront design

• • Account hierarchies and permissions
• Multi-brand and multi-storefront requirements

For companies looking to scale, I think it’s the smartest investment a company can make in building future sales strategies and I often recommend it to businesses I work with when they are trying to increase their customer retention levels.