Automation, personalization, and efficiency have become essential for growth in today’s market. Yet, many manufacturers struggle with finding an e-commerce platform that meets their needs while remaining cost-effective.

Fortunately, three platforms stand out as reliable options for any B2B manufacturer looking to successfully transition into digital commerce.

The Shopify hype

Before we go into full detail, let’s address the elephant in the room—Shopify. While Shopify can be great for starting your business, it’s only functional if you have a limited number of SKUs to manage. If you have complex product configurations or rich content on your products, Shopify won’t be sufficient. The platform is also not the best choice for manufacturers looking to manage large orders or those that require omnichannel management through a product information management system (PIM).

B2B manufacturers with extensive on-page content, global product changes, and productized taxonomy do not benefit from Shopify. Sure, the platform is flexible in the creation phase, but when it comes to making changes over time or creating complex products and rules for product display, Shopify’s rigid system makes it costly to make mistakes.

Ultimately, Shopify is a good fit for retail-focused companies looking for a quick e-commerce setup. There are better platform options available for manufacturers that need data integration capabilities.

Top 3 best e-commerce platforms for manufacturers

This leads us to the best e-commerce platforms for manufacturers and B2B businesses. These three platforms are better than Shopify in many respects, from personalization and customization to product management and order fulfillment.

Alternative 1: SAP Commerce Cloud

Unlike Shopify, SAP Commerce Cloud is an enterprise-level platform specializing in B2B e-commerce with manufacturing in mind. It allows you to build a website, manage vast amounts of product data, automate processes, and create custom rules for product display quickly and easily.

Alternative 2: Magento

Magento isn’t B2B-centric, but it offers plenty of product management capabilities that fit manufacturing e-commerce requirements if you have the money to pay for them.

Alternative 3: KYKLO

KYKLO is an all-in-one B2B e-commerce platform specifically designed for the needs of manufacturers. It offers a variety of features, including product management, order automation, customer segmentation and personalization, inventory management, brand experience, price and inventory syndication, and more.

Plus, KYKLO has benefits like out-of-the-box integration with ERP systems which makes it ideal for manufacturers who need a highly tailored solution.

Discover how you can stand out from the crowd.

The hesitation to digitize is holding back many manufacturers’ potential for providing a great customer experience (CX) online. Whether your top goal is a shopping or a transaction site, the essence of a good customer experience requires content to be on point or you risk losing your customers to competition.

How to Choose your eCommerce Platform

Given these three options, which one is the best for you? Here are two things to keep in mind.

Specifically designed for B2B and manufacturing e-commerce

Your chosen platform’s overall design and function should gear toward B2B and manufacturing e-commerce. This means it has features such as product management, automated order fulfillment, data integration with ERP systems, and more.

As we said, B2B manufacturing companies can’t maximize Shopify. You need to look at platforms that are purpose-built with your business in mind. While Magento and SAP Commerce Cloud are significant, we recommend KYKLO for its all-in-one B2B e-commerce capabilities.

Built-in PIM system

PIM is an often-underrated feature of e-commerce platforms, but it’s essential for B2B manufacturers. A PIM system allows you to manage product information across multiple channels in one place and make global changes quickly and easily.

KYKLO is a PIM product at its core, with a cart and checkout system (or an RFQ system if you prefer to send leads to your channel partners) built on top of it. This means you manage your products from one place and create a beautiful storefront with their cart and checkout functionality.

When should you switch from Shopify?

Often, manufacturers start with an accessible e-commerce platform like Shopify and then switch to a more comprehensive system as their business grows. So, how do you know if Shopify is too limiting for your use case?

Updating your store is a challenge

From weekly changes to micro variation and changing product attributes, if it’s hard to make changes or add new products as your business grows, you are better off with a more robust platform. For example, if you have different versions of circuit breakers and need to update the product information every week, it might be time to switch.

Clunky customer journey management

You want your buyers to investigate and even find transitional products while browsing your store, such as legacy replacements or alternative solutions. These features are hard to implement on Shopify because the platform lacks custom widget support and search engine capabilities.

Low lead generation

Shopify has poor SEO optimization, making it hard to attract new customers and generate leads.

You have to manage your Shopify pages constantly to get leads. However, B2B-centric platforms like KYKLO automatically optimize pages, making it easier to drive traffic and generate leads. Shopify isn’t out-of-the-box optimized for B2B buyers, requiring extra work for the same results.

Too much PPC spend

When SEO is poor—which is often the case with Shopify stores—you have to rely heavily on PPC campaigns to generate leads. This gets expensive quickly—often without the desired results. B2B e-commerce platforms like KYKLO specialize in managing your taxonomy and product information, which helps reduce PPC costs significantly.

Three Best E-commerce Platforms for Manufacturers Compared

Try KYKLO’s eSOM today

Getting caught up in the surplus of e-commerce options can be overwhelming. Choosing an e-commerce platform tailored explicitly to B2B manufacturing makes a huge difference in your business’ efficiency, sales, and customer satisfaction.

For manufacturers looking for a comprehensive solution that integrates with their ERP, PIM, and CRM systems, KYKLO is the perfect solution.

Discover how you can stand out from the crowd.

The hesitation to digitize is holding back many manufacturers’ potential for providing a great customer experience (CX) online. Whether your top goal is a shopping or a transaction site, the essence of a good customer experience requires content to be on point or you risk losing your customers to competition.