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The B2B eCommerce Agency
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The B2B eCommerce Maturity Model

How easy is it for your customers to buy from you online?

Our B2B eCommerce Maturity Model answers that in six stages, from phone orders to customers ordering on their own. No stage is wrong, but every stage has a ceiling.

Find Your Stage in 15 Questions →

From Closing the Digital Revenue Gap, built on nearly 20 years of work with manufacturers and distributors.

What it is

A map of how far your online channel has come

The maturity model shows how your customers can buy from you online today, from every order taken by hand to a portal where each account orders on its own, at its own price. It measures your own channel, not your company, and not marketplaces like Amazon.

  1. STAGE 0 Offline Every order by phone, email or fax
  2. STAGE 1 Digital Brochure Browse online, but can’t order
  3. STAGE 2 Basic Transactional Order online at list price 1Ordering
  4. STAGE 3 Basic Wholesale Order online at group pricing 2Pricing 3Some integration
  5. STAGE 4 Buyer Portal Each account’s own pricing, in real time with your ERP 2Pricing3Real-time ERP
  6. STAGE 5 Intelligent Portal Everything above, plus AI
1Ordering2Pricing
3Integrationreal-time at Stage 4

How you move up

Three things move you from one stage to the next

You don’t have to climb every stage. Most of our clients go straight from Stage 1 to Stage 4 in a single project.

1

Ordering

Moves you to Stage 2

Can customers order online?

The first step is a real cart: buyers can find what they need and check out without calling or emailing. A catalog without a cart is still a brochure, however good it looks.

2

Pricing

Moves you to Stages 3 and 4

Do they see their own price?

This is the biggest tell of your stage. B2B buyers rarely pay list price, so the more your site reflects what each customer actually pays, the more they’ll use it.

  1. Stage 1Call for pricingPrices aren’t online. Buyers have to ask.
  2. Stage 2List price for everyoneOne public price list. Every buyer sees the same price.
  3. Stage 3Pricing groupsCustomers are assigned to a set of price levels, whether that’s 3 tiers or 15 price lists.
  4. Stage 4Each account’s own price bookAny account can have its own negotiated prices, down to the individual product.
3

Integration

Real-time ERP integration defines Stage 4

Is it connected to your ERP, in real time?

Most companies have some integration in earlier stages, like order exports or product feeds that run on a schedule. What makes Stage 4 is real-time integration with your ERP across catalog, inventory, pricing and customers, so every buyer sees accurate products, stock and prices, and nobody re-keys orders.

Common questions about the model

Do we have to go through every stage?

No. Most of our clients jump from Stage 1 to Stage 4 in a single project. The stages describe what your channel can do, not a sequence you have to follow.

Does Stage 4 require an ERP?

In most cases, yes. Earlier stages often have some integration, but Stage 4 is defined by real-time integration with your ERP across catalog, inventory, pricing and customers. If an ERP change is on the horizon, we’ll sequence the two so they don’t collide.

We assign each account its own price list. Is that Stage 3 or Stage 4?

Usually Stage 3. If accounts are assigned to one of a set of price lists, that works like pricing groups, even when every account has one. Stage 4 is when any account can have its own negotiated prices, down to the individual product.

Can we be between stages?

Yes, and most companies are. Different parts of a business mature at different rates. The model is a map, not a box.

How long does it take to move up?

It depends on where you start and where you’re going. One project can take you from Stage 1 to Stage 4, typically live within the first year, and then keep improving from there.

Find your stage in 15 questions.

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