The Best eCommerce Platform for Wholesale: What B2B Buyers Really Need in 2025

Tired of Forcing a B2C Platform to Play B2B? Let’s get one thing straight: if you’re still duct-taping plugins onto a DTC platform and calling it “B2B-ready,” your buyers probably know. And they’re not impressed.

In the world of wholesale eCommerce, complexity isn’t the exception—it’s the whole game. You’ve got custom pricing rules, sprawling product catalogs, customer-specific terms, punchout catalogs, and procurement teams that still send orders via email (yes, still). And yet, most platforms are still stuck thinking B2B just means “add a login button.”

If your current setup can’t handle the realities of how B2B buyers buy—slowly, in bulk, and through 17 approval loops—you don’t need a redesign. You need a rethink.

“B2B buyers now expect the same seamless digital experiences as consumers—but with the complexity of corporate procurement.”

— Forrester, B2B Commerce Benchmark Report 2024

This article unpacks what actually matters when choosing a wholesale eCommerce platform in 2025—and spoiler alert—it’s not just about pretty templates or saying “we support B2B” on the homepage.

We’ll look at:

• The core features that separate real wholesale platforms from the imposters
• Who the major players are (and what they’re good at)    
• Where most platforms fall flat on their overpriced faces
• And how to figure out what works for your business, not just someone else’s comparison table

Did you know? 52% of B2B companies say their eCommerce platform is holding back growth, and only 13% feel their current tech stack fully supports digital self-service.
(McKinsey, “State of B2B Digital Transformation 2024”)
Strap in. We’re about to demystify wholesale eCommerce platforms—and yes, we’ll name names.

What Makes a Great Wholesale eCommerce Platform?

If you're running a wholesale business, you’re not selling the same t-shirt in three colors. You're dealing with bulk orders, multiple catalogs, custom pricing, and a buyer who expects Amazon-level convenience—with the complexity of SAP.

So, let’s cut through the noise and get real about the features that matter in day-to-day wholesale operations. Here’s what your eCommerce platform should do—not ideally, but reliably—every single day.

1. Multi-Level Pricing & Customer-Specific Discounts

Your pricing isn't static. Your platform needs to accommodate layered, contract-driven pricing that changes based on buyer type or order volume.

• Tiered pricing models for different customer groups like distributors, dealers, and enterprise accounts.
• Customer-specific pricing pulled directly from ERP or contract terms.
• Volume-based discounts triggered by quantity thresholds or recurring orders.
• Dynamic pricing updates across catalogs without breaking your front-end.
  “61% of B2B buyers say inconsistent pricing across channels is a deal-breaker.”
  — Accenture, B2B Commerce Trends Report 2023
   

2. Advanced Catalog Management

You probably manage multiple catalogs across buyers, industries, or markets—and they’re not identical.

• Custom catalogs that display only the relevant products to each buyer or segment.
• Catalog permissions based on user roles, company type, or region.
• Real-time updates for price, availability, or product changes without IT bottlenecks.
• Scalable catalog setup that handles thousands of SKUs without manual duplication.
   

3. Bulk-Friendly Ordering Experience

Ordering in wholesale is about speed and accuracy—not browsing. Make it frictionless.

• Quick order forms that allow buyers to enter SKU + quantity fast.
• CSV or XLS uploads for bulk orders placed directly from procurement systems.
• Reorder functionality that lets customers repeat previous orders in one click.
• Saved lists and carts so buyers don’t start from scratch every time.

4. Order Automation: Email, Punchout & EDI

If your buyers are still emailing purchase orders, you need a platform that can handle that—automatically.

• Email-to-order automation to parse purchase orders directly from inbox to ERP.
• EDI integrations for customers using structured electronic transactions.
• Punchout catalog support to connect seamlessly with procurement platforms like Coupa or Ariba.
• Custom approval workflows that reflect real B2B buying behavior.
  “40% of B2B orders still arrive via email—and they’re often manually processed.”
  — McKinsey, The B2B Future is Omnichannel, 2024
   

5. Account-Based Access & Permissions

Your customers aren’t individual shoppers—they’re buying teams. Treat them like it.

• Multi-user accounts with different access levels for purchasing, approvals, and finance.
• Custom permissions that control what each user sees or does.
• Company-level dashboards to manage team activity, budgets, and quotes.

Credit terms and limits managed per customer account.

6. Back-End Integration Capabilities

Your eCommerce platform doesn’t work in a vacuum—it has to play nice with your entire tech stack.

• Real-time ERP sync to ensure product, pricing, and inventory accuracy.
• Plug-and-play integrations with PIM, CRM, OMS, and payment systems.
• API-first architecture for custom workflows and future-proofing.
• Webhooks or middleware support to push/pull data without delay.
  “Companies with strong eCommerce-ERP integration see 35% faster order processing and fewer fulfillment errors.”
  — Forrester, B2B Digital Performance Report, 2023

7. Buyer Self-Service & Insights

Your platform should empower buyers to manage their accounts, orders, and inventory status without picking up the phone.

• Order tracking and history accessible from buyer dashboards.
• Real-time inventory visibility to manage stock expectations.
• Downloadable invoices and documentation for finance and procurement teams.
• Returns and credit management without manual intervention. 

Bottom Line

If your platform can’t deliver on these seven capabilities, it’s not ready for wholesale. Period. You’ll be left patching holes, duplicating effort, and apologizing to your ops team—and none of that scales.

Perfect—let’s dig into “Where Most Platforms Fall Short” with the same tone: savvy, grounded, and a little bold. This section is key because it positions your article as honest and useful, especially to readers who’ve already been burned by platforms pretending to be B2B-ready.

Where Most Platforms Fall Short (and Why It’s Costing You Sales)

Let’s face it: most platforms claiming to be “wholesale-ready” are really just DTC platforms with a B2B sticker slapped on the front. And while they might work for lightweight use cases, the minute you throw in a complex pricing rule, a punchout request, or a buyer who still sends Excel files—they fall apart.

Here’s where the wheels usually come off:

1. No Native Support for Punchout Catalogs

Enterprise buyers using Coupa, Ariba, or SAP Fieldglass need punchout support. Most platforms? They don’t offer it—or they outsource it to a third-party plugin that breaks every time there’s an update.
Why it matters: If you want to sell to Fortune 500s or government buyers, punchout is non-negotiable. Without it, you’re off the procurement list before you even get a quote request.

2. Email Orders Still Require Manual Entry

Despite the rise of automation, email remains the default ordering method for a massive chunk of B2B transactions. Yet very few platforms have built-in email order parsing or workflow automation.
Why it matters: You’re wasting time (and risking errors) manually re-keying data into your ERP—something a platform with Email Commerce should automate from day one.
“B2B reps spend up to 30% of their day manually processing email orders.”
— Digital Commerce 360, 2024 B2B Efficiency Survey

3. Catalog Permissions Are an Afterthought

Need to show a specific product set to just one client? Most platforms can't do it without expensive custom development—or worse, they force you to clone your entire store just to serve one account.
Why it matters: Personalized catalogs are a cornerstone of enterprise selling. If your buyer sees irrelevant SKUs or incorrect pricing, trust (and conversion) tanks.

4. Custom Pricing = Custom Nightmares

Sure, they say they support “custom pricing.” Until you try to implement multi-tier rules, volume discounts, contract terms, and real-time ERP syncing. Suddenly, your developers are buried under a spaghetti mess of overrides and workarounds.
Why it matters: If your pricing logic lives outside your platform—or worse, in someone’s inbox—you're setting yourself up for scale failure.

5. Workflow Inflexibility

Approval flows, credit limits, custom payment terms—most platforms try to funnel B2B processes into DTC-like checkouts. Spoiler: they break.
Why it matters: B2B buyers don’t swipe cards. They raise POs, route them through finance, and wait five days for an approval email. Your platform should reflect that—not fight it.

6. ERP Integrations That Feel Like Surgery

Yes, technically it integrates with your ERP. But after three dev sprints, two consultants, and a surprise invoice, you start to wonder if building a custom solution would’ve been easier.
Why it matters: Your eCommerce platform should sync with your backend seamlessly—not hold your ops team hostage.

7. UX That Still Thinks It’s Selling T-Shirts

Clean UX matters just as much in B2B as it does in DTC—maybe more. But most “wholesale” front-ends still feel like outdated portals from 2010.
Why it matters: B2B buyers expect the same sleek experience as consumers—but with added complexity under the hood. If your UX screams “ERP front-end,” expect drop-offs.
“80% of B2B buyers will switch suppliers if the digital experience doesn’t meet expectations.”
— Gartner, 2023 B2B Buyer Behavior Report

So… Are We Just Doomed?

Not at all. There are platforms out there that genuinely understand the B2B buying process, support enterprise-grade workflows, and integrate cleanly into your stack. You just have to know what to look for—and what to avoid. And that's what we’re getting into next.

Wholesale eCommerce Platform Showdown: Who Delivers and Who Fakes It?

Alright, time for the main event. We’ve talked about what a wholesale eCommerce platform should do. Now let’s look at what the market is actually offering.
Below is a no-fluff comparison of the top platforms that claim to support wholesale and B2B commerce. Some genuinely do. Others? Let’s just say... they’re better suited for someone selling candles on Instagram.
This isn’t a full-blown feature checklist with 47 rows no one reads. We’re going to compare what actually matters to wholesale businesses—pricing flexibility, catalog control, order automation, and integrations.

Platform Comparison Table

A Few Notes on the Contenders

BetterCommerce

Good for: Mid-to-enterprise B2B brands ready to automate, scale, and stop stitching tools together.

BetterCommerce was built for modern wholesale—and it shows. It goes far beyond “B2B-lite” features with native support for catalog permissions, multi-tier pricing, real-time ERP sync, and email order automation out of the box. BetterCommerce also supports punchout catalogs, making it one of the few platforms that’s genuinely ready for large procurement-driven clients.

Where it really shines is flexibility without chaos—you can serve different buyer groups with segmented experiences, automate order ingestion from inbox to ERP, and manage permissions at the product, user, or account level.

It also plays nice with your existing tech stack via APIs and webhooks. For businesses who’ve outgrown Shopify or hit the ceiling with BigCommerce, BetterCommerce feels like a platform that just gets B2B.

BigCommerce B2B Edition

Good for: Mid-sized B2B brands scaling fast and tired of duct-taping Shopify apps together.

BigCommerce made waves when it launched its B2B Edition (formerly BundleB2B), giving merchants a relatively straightforward way to support wholesale workflows. It’s strong on the essentials: custom pricing, customer groups, quote management, and punchout support via partners like TradeCentric.

The platform leans heavily on its API-first architecture, which makes it appealing for businesses that want control without building everything from scratch. However, advanced catalog permissions and deep email order automation aren’t native. If your workflows involve parsing PDF POs or routing multi-user approvals, you’ll need integrations or custom work.

In short: it’s a solid platform if your complexity is growing, but you’re not ready to dive headfirst into enterprise-grade systems.

Shopify Plus

Good for: DTC-first brands dabbling in wholesale—but not built for full-scale B2B.

Shopify Plus is the undisputed king of DTC eCommerce—but B2B? That’s still its awkward teenage phase. While it now includes some native B2B features (like company profiles, shared catalogs, and payment terms), the functionality is basic at best.

Want different pricing for each customer? Expect to get creative with tags or shell out for apps. Need catalog visibility controls? Not happening without serious workarounds. And forget about email orders or punchout—Shopify wasn’t built for that world.

That said, if your B2B buyers are acting more like DTC customers (think: small wholesale orders, self-service checkout, credit cards), it can work. But once you start talking ERP sync, approvals, or multi-tier pricing, you’ll quickly feel the limitations.

OroCommerce

Good for: Enterprise-grade wholesale businesses with complex workflows and multiple buyer roles.

OroCommerce doesn’t pretend to be anything else—it’s B2B to the core. Built by the original Magento co-founders, it’s arguably the most feature-rich wholesale platform on this list. You’ll find everything from granular catalog segmentation and customer hierarchies to built-in punchout, EDI support, and multi-org account management.

If your business has a matrix of pricing rules, user permissions, and workflow logic, Oro is one of the few platforms that can handle it without breaking a sweat. It also comes with a built-in CRM and strong support for integration-heavy environments.

The trade-off? It’s complex. Setup is time-intensive, and while it's open-source and flexible, you'll need a development team or systems integrator to get the most out of it.

Oro is not for hobbyists. It’s for B2B brands doing real volume, with real operational complexity.

Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Good for: B2B businesses with in-house dev teams and deep customization needs.

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) is a beast: endlessly customizable, highly flexible, and widely adopted. On paper, it ticks all the B2B boxes—tiered pricing, requisition lists, quick order forms, and even some support for approval workflows and shared accounts.

But here’s the catch: very little of it works out of the box. Adobe Commerce shines in scenarios where you need everything tailored to your business—checkout, product logic, user roles, the works. But that level of customization comes with a price: time, money, and developer bandwidth.

It’s also not light on maintenance. You’ll need a strong agency partner or in-house tech team to keep everything humming.

This platform works best for enterprise-grade brands who want full control and have the resources to build exactly what they need, from the ground up.

WooCommerce (with B2B Plugins)

Good for: Small wholesale businesses or early-stage B2B operations with low complexity.

WooCommerce is the Swiss army knife of eCommerce—flexible, open-source, and free to start. But flexibility comes with fragility. When it comes to wholesale, you’ll be relying on third-party plugins for everything: pricing rules, catalogs, order forms, and user permissions.

If you can find the right plugin stack—and keep them updated and conflict-free—it’s doable. Just know that scalability is limited, integrations are rarely plug-and-play, and advanced features like punchout, email order parsing, or deep ERP sync are out of reach.

For small-scale wholesalers just getting online, it’s a great testing ground. But for high-volume, multi-account B2B operations? You’ll outgrow Woo fast.

WizCommerce

Good for: Sales-driven B2B brands who need simple tools for reps and buyers.

WizCommerce is newer on the scene, focused on making B2B ordering faster for both sales reps and wholesale buyers. It’s got a strong user interface and simple admin tools, and it offers essential B2B features like pricing rules, custom catalogs, and order history.

Where it shines is sales enablement—if your team still takes orders manually or you want to digitize your rep workflow, Wiz helps bridge that gap. That said, its capabilities around integrations, punchout, or advanced automation are still growing. It's a great middle-ground platform for businesses transitioning from manual sales to online self-service.
Verdict: Choose Based on Complexity, Not Hype

Which Wholesale Platform Is Right for You?

A Use Case Matrix for Real B2B Businesses (Not Hypotheticals)
By now, your head might be spinning with feature lists, pricing tiers, and acronyms. Punchout, EDI, ERP, API—it's enough to make you want to go back to fax machines.
But here’s the thing: the “best” wholesale eCommerce platform isn’t universal—it’s situational. What works brilliantly for a manufacturer of electrical components will absolutely implode under a fashion distributor with fast-moving inventory and constant product launches.

So instead of throwing darts, let’s map platform fit to actual B2B business models.

Use Case Matrix

How to Read This Matrix

This isn’t about “good vs. bad”—it’s about fit vs. friction.

• If your orders are still arriving in PDFs, don’t choose a platform that expects buyers to use a sleek checkout.
• If you’re quoting multi-million dollar deals, don’t rely on a platform that can't handle custom approval flows.
• And if you’re still managing five different catalogs with spreadsheets—please, let’s fix that.

“The fastest-growing B2B brands in 2025 will be the ones who match tech choices to customer complexity—not hype.”
— Forrester B2B Tech Leadership Forum, 2024

Conclusion: Choose the Platform That Works as Hard as You Do

Wholesale eCommerce isn't about adding a login button to your storefront. It's about powering an entire buying ecosystem—complex catalogs, negotiated pricing, corporate accounts, and procurement systems that run on XML and caffeine.

And let’s be honest: most platforms weren’t built for that. They were built for fast-moving DTC brands, then retrofitted with “B2B features” like customer groups and net terms. That might cut it in year one. It won’t scale in year five.

So if you’re serious about growth—and ready to stop duct-taping workflows together—choose a platform that actually understands wholesale.
One that handles:

• Real-time ERP sync without a dev intervention every time SKUs change
• Email and punchout orders without manual entry or clunky plug-ins
• Catalog permissions that actually work, not just checkbox illusions
• Buyer experiences that are built for teams, not individuals
  “Tech that works with your business model doesn’t just save time—it unlocks new revenue streams.”
  — Gartner, B2B Digital Commerce Blueprint, 2024

Ready to Choose Smarter?

Download our Building a Strong B2B Digital Commerce Foundation whitepaper and explore features that actually matter—from punchout support to catalog automation.

Download now

Or, if you're done researching...

Talk to us at BetterCommerce—because B2B deserves better.
Book a Demo – Let’s show you what modern wholesale really looks like.