How to Build a B2B Marketplace That Reaches And Engages Modern Buyers

Creating a B2B online marketplace that connects with today’s buyers isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential for staying competitive.     

In a competitive world, a successful marketplace needs more than just a great selection of products—it needs to connect with modern buyers in meaningful ways. 

But how do you build a marketplace that stands out and engages your audience effectively? 

Modern B2B buyers look for more than just products; they want a seamless, personalized experience that makes their purchasing journey easy and efficient.

That’s where a powerful B2B ecommerce platform comes in. 

With the right features and strategies, you can create a marketplace that doesn’t just attract buyers but keeps them coming back. 

Curious about what it takes to engage today’s buyers and turn your B2B marketplace into a thriving B2B hub? 

B2B Ecommerce: Trends To Engage Modern Buyers

Before we look into ways to engage buyers, let us understand how the B2B ecommerce market is behaving:

• 70% of B2B customers prefer remote business
• 97% of B2B ecommerce buyers are comfortable with self-serviced digital purchases 
• $31.19 billion is the estimated GMV of global B2B online marketplaces 
• 4X increase in the number of B2B marketplaces in past 3 years
• 10+ channels are used by B2B customers to connect with suppliers
• 70% of B2B buyers started using m-commerce channels more in the past 2-3 years

Source: Statista, McKinsey & Company, DHL Express 

The tremendous growth in the B2B commerce sector signifies the importance of keeping the modern buyers engaged. With the immense pool of buyers gravitating towards online means of buying, you need to create a B2B online marketplace that truly resonates with the modern buyer.

How to Build a B2B Marketplace That Reaches and Engages Modern Buyers

Building a B2B marketplace that reaches and engages modern buyers is essential for businesses aiming to stay competitive in today’s digital-first landscape. All you need is a robust B2B ecommerce platform that aligns with the unique demands of B2B business models. 

Infographic: 10 Ways To Build a B2B Marketplace That Engages Modern Buyers

Here are 10 strategies to help you create a marketplace that not only attracts but also retains modern buyers:

1. Understand Your Target Audience

Identifying and understanding your audience is the foundation of any successful B2B online marketplace. Modern B2B buyers are more informed and research-driven than ever before. They prioritize efficiency and expect seamless digital experiences similar to B2C platforms. When you conduct market research and build detailed buyer personas, you can tailor your B2B online marketplace to meet your buyers’ specific needs. Your B2B online marketplace can succeed better by catering to diverse B2B buyers through deep insights into buyer behavior, making it a perfect example of an audience-focused marketplace.

StoreHippo’s multi-store ecommerce solutions help you create multiple location-based, product-based, audience-based B2B stores catering to specific target audiences. You can create stores based on different audience groups and set different product catalogs. You can also promote best-selling products by enabling the price override feature or design each store differently as per the location demands.             

2. Focus on a User-Friendly Interface

B2B buying is no longer traditional, the buyers expect a fancy marketplace that offers a streamlined, intuitive interface mirroring their experience with B2C platforms. A user-friendly design ensures easy navigation through the marketplace and keeps your buyers engaged. You can keep your buyers engaged with easy and quick navigation, organized categories, and a mobile-responsive design on your marketplace. Investing in a B2B sales app can also help you enhance user experience by offering convenient, on-the-go access for buyers.  

The inherently scalable infrastructure from StoreHippo ecommerce solutions helps you offer high-performance speed on your B2B marketplace even during high traffic volumes or when your products, sellers, stores, etc. grow exponentially. StoreHippo comes with advanced features like easy navigation from one page to another, and seamless checkout options to create a user-friendly interface on your marketplace. StoreHippo's scalable B2B ecommerce platform also helps you create conversion-oriented designs for your marketplace with its 100+ device-optimized design themes library. The easy drag-and-drop tool helps even novice users to play around with the designs without having to indulge in coding. 

3. Optimize for Mobile and B2B Sales Apps

A mobile-optimized B2B marketplace and sales app can significantly enhance the buying experience and engage better with modern B2B buyers. The digital-age B2B buyers expect convenience and accessibility on the go and expect their brands to enable buying on their mobile devices. When you make it easy for customers to browse products, communicate with suppliers, and complete transactions from anywhere, you engage, attract, and convert better. Ensure that your B2B online marketplace is fully mobile-responsive and consider developing a dedicated app to cater to buyers.

StoreHippo ecommerce solutions are built on mobile-first technology. The built-in mobile app builder from StoreHippo helps you create multiple mobile apps right from your admin dashboard, without any coding and at zero additional costs. You can leverage m-commerce to your benefit and create multiple B2B sales apps for Android and iOS. You can also convert your wholesale B2B marketplace website into PWA stores that look, feel, and work like mobile apps even on entry-level devices. With StoreHippo, you can build a B2B marketplace that offers multiple mobile solutions for different users like admin, distributors, delivery boys, etc to help them handle their business on the go. 

4. Utilize Advanced Search and Filtering Options

To keep buyers engaged, your B2B online marketplace must include advanced search features, such as easy navigation, predictive search, filtering by multiple criteria, etc. These features help buyers find the exact products they need without any hassle. You can also use an AI-powered search system, that helps streamline product discovery. When your B2B marketplace provides advanced search capabilities, your buyers can locate products by specific criteria such as certifications, materials, and location, enhancing the overall buyer journey.

StoreHippo ecommerce solution offers easy navigation and fast loading page speed to help you offer a seamless shopping experience on your B2B sales app and marketplace. Your buyers can easily move back and forth the marketplace. StoreHippo also comes with a faceted search feature to help you promote discoverability and enhance the user experience on your marketplace website. You can also narrow down the searches to make the marketplace intuitive and fast for quicker conversions.     

5. Offer Detailed Product Information

B2B buyers require in-depth information before making purchasing decisions. Unlike B2C buyers, B2B buyers often make bulk purchases and invest in long-term supplies. They therefore need comprehensive information to ensure the products meet their specific requirements. When you offer a detailed product description along with the technical specifications, and clear images, you instill confidence and help buyers make informed decisions. You can also consider adding customer reviews and ratings for added credibility. A B2B online marketplace that provides comprehensive product information and high-quality images, makes it easy for buyers to evaluate options thoroughly before purchasing.

You can build comprehensive product pages with StoreHippo’s advanced product management system. When you build a B2B marketplace, you can create an advanced look and feel for your product pages by adding multiple product images and videos to engage better with your customers. StoreHippo helps you showcase various product options that help your customers understand the product and its variations better. When you can add detailed product descriptions on your marketplace with StoreHippo, you can translate them into multiple languages with StoreHippo’s auto-translation tools. It helps your customers engage with your products in their native language. 

6. Personalize the Buyer Experience

Personalization is crucial in engaging modern buyers. Offering a personalized B2B journey helps you engage better with modern buyers. You can tailor product recommendations, create special offers, and develop content based on a buyer’s behavior, preferences, and past purchases. B2B businesses that adopt personalization to enhance their buyer experience experience increased engagement, and higher conversion rates on their marketplace as well as B2B sales app. 

StoreHippo helps you offer personalized solutions to your customers. You can use the price override functionality to offer personalized product prices on your B2B store directly from your admin dashboard. The powerful built-in discount engine helps you offer personalized multi-level discounts and coupons. You can also send out personalized notifications to your customers in real time and engage with them in their native language with StoreHippo’s support for multiple languages. StoreHippo also helps you create multilingual themes and personalize your promotional pages for customers from various locations. You can also recover abandoned carts by sending out personalized notifications to your customers.

7. Leverage Data Analytics to Improve Continuously

Data analytics is key to understanding buyer behavior and identifying areas for improvement. By analyzing B2B buying metrics such as user engagement, search patterns, and purchase frequency, you can optimize your B2B online marketplace to better meet buyer needs. You can use data analytics to track customer interactions and improve product offerings. By leveraging analytics, you can enhance your marketplace, introduce new features based on buyer feedback, and make data-driven decisions that drive engagement and sales.

StoreHippo comes with a gamut of analytical solutions to help you analyze your customer segmentation and make data-centric marketing plans for overall business growth. Built on decoupled headless API, StoreHippo helps create multiple B2B personalized landing pages, and custom forms using the built-in form builder. You can capture rich customer data and use them for continuous business growth. With StoreHippo enterprise ecommerce solutions, you can seamlessly integrate with several data tools like Google Analytics, Zoho, etc. that provide rich customer data. 

8. Offer Self-Service And Automation

Modern buyers prefer taking charge of their buying process. Well, since B2B shopping involves long and multiple negotiation cycles, 75% of the buyers prefer digital self-service and remote human contact to in-person communication. You can offer a self-service feature that hugely cuts down the dependency on sales-reps. When you automate the order processes like shipping, order management, follow-up emails, etc on your B2B online marketplace, you reduce customer grievances and boost productivity. 

StoreHippo comes with a host of B2B features that help you streamline and automate the sales process on your B2B sales app and marketplace. You can introduce self-service and automation with StoreHippo features like RFQ, differential/multi pricing, customizable forms, tiered pricing, credit management, MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity), tax engine, etc. You can offer real-time delivery tracking, easy cancellations, and refunds of orders to help your B2B buyers stay informed about their orders.   

9. Ensure Robust Security and Compliance

Modern B2B buyers prioritize security and expect their information to be protected on the platforms they use. Implementing strong security measures, such as encryption. When you build a B2B marketplace that emphasizes security and compliance, offers verified suppliers, and secure transaction options, you build trust with buyers. Ensuring a secure B2B marketplace can enhance your brand’s credibility and attract more buyers.

StoreHippo ecommerce solutions help build secure enterprise business-to-business marketplaces across industry verticals. The PCI-DSS-compliant platform comes with a host of security features like authentication, authorization, and audit logs to ensure robust security. The 60+ secure, PCI-compliant payment gateways from StoreHippo also help ensure secure payments on your B2B sales app and marketplace. 

10. Provide Efficient Customer Support

Offering quick and reliable customer support is critical for engaging modern B2B buyers. Offering live chat options, chatbots, a comprehensive FAQ section, etc can help your buyers make quick buying decisions. Round-the-clock customer service has become a major deciding factor for the buyers. B2B ecommerce platform that offers real-time customer support through various support channels and can resolve buyer queries instantly and create a seamless purchasing experience. By investing in a robust customer support system, you can address concerns quickly, and increase buyer satisfaction and retention.

StoreHippo ecommerce solutions help you be available for your customers 24x7 and create exceptional customer support. StoreHippo B2B ecommerce platform helps you integrate a variety of customer support tools, live chat, and chatbots, so you can offer multi channel support to your customers. You can also customize your dashboard so that the buyers can raise a ticket to connect with you. You can send unified notifications like SMS, push, and emails to connect with buyers and offer them support wherever needed during or after the buying journey. 

Conclusion

Modern B2B buyers are digitally savvy and value efficiency, convenience, and customization in their purchasing journeys. When you build a B2B marketplace that focuses on modern buyers, you can boost your conversions, help your business stay competitive and drive sustained growth. 

StoreHippo B2B ecommerce platform is a 360-degree solution that helps you build conversion-oriented B2B marketplaces and B2B sales app. StoreHippo offers a host of features and tools to help you keep up with the latest ecommerce trends and engage better. The robust ecommerce platform comes with 300+ enterprise-grade features and 120+ built-in integrations to help you carve a niche in the B2B ecommerce industry. 

Are you ready to create a B2B online marketplace that engages and attracts modern buyers? Start your 14-day free trial now.