B2B checkout isn’t just about taking a credit card payment. Well it can be, but it’s also where every one of your business rules, individual customer agreements, and operational processes converge.

• Business rules. Things like quantity minimums, restricted SKUs, split-ship allowances, and required approvals must be enforced before an order is placed.
• Customer agreements. Each customer may have negotiated pricing, custom discount structures, specific shipping carriers, or payment terms that differ from others.
• Operational processes. Bill of material creation, fee and tax calculations, freight notes, and workflows to and from the ERP have to be triggered accurately to get the order fulfilled and shipped without human intervention.

Checkout on your eCommerce site is the one place where all the conditions that govern how you sell, ship, and get paid have to work together. If they don’t, there are problems with the order.

Why B2C eCommerce Platforms Struggle with B2B eCommerce Checkout

In retail eCommerce, checkout is mostly price, pay, ship. But In B2B eCommerce, checkout is more dynamic. Every rule, agreement, and process must be validated against the backend (ERP, CRM) data in real time to ensure the order can move forward without delays or errors. When that validation is not immediate, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers run into problems due to:

• Customer-specific pricing and negotiated discounts. Incorrect pricing erodes trust, sparks disputes, and forces the issuance of credits or re-issuance of invoices.
• Purchase orders, credit terms, and account-based payment options. Missing or incorrect terms can delay payment, stall order processing, and create a large number of accounting headaches.
• Multi-user account permissions and approvals before an order can be placed. Without the right controls, unauthorized orders are placed, leading to returns, write-offs, and strained customer relationships.
• Freight, tax, and shipping logic tied to location, product, or customer type. Mistakes here mean inaccurate shipping estimates, a lot of back-in-forth before an order is placed, and delivery delays.
• Split shipments and multi-warehouse fulfillment rules. If not followed, orders may ship incomplete, late, or from the wrong location at the wrong price, hurting service levels, and eradicating margins.
• Configurator-built orders that must flow directly into the ERP and form the basis for all needed work orders. Disconnects here cause a great deal of inefficiencies, production delays, and a greater risk of delivering the wrong product.

What to Look for in a B2B eCommerce Checkout Solution

If your platform can’t validate your business rules, customer agreements, and operational workflows in real time against your ERP, checkout will always be a bottleneck.

Look for a platform where core B2B capabilities are native—not tacked on through third-party apps or expensive custom development. When these capabilities are native, they work together, sharing the same data and updating in real time without breaking every time there’s a platform update.

Many well-known platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento started as retail solutions. Their checkout workflows were built for simple transactions—price, pay, ship—so adding customer-specific checkout and payment processes often requires heavy customization. That adds points of failure, slows performance, and drives up long-term maintenance costs.

A true B2B eCommerce checkout solution should:

• Replicate ERP logic without manual work. Pricing, terms, and shipping rules should flow directly from your ERP/CRM into your eCommerce checkout.
• Support complex payment and ordering workflows. Handle credit cards, ACH, wire transfers, digital wallets, and purchase orders and account terms for invoicing (to name a few).
• Handle multi-user permissions and approvals. Account hierarchies and permissions should be easy to set up so they can be enforced as checkout.
• Automate accurate freight, tax, and shipping estimates and calculations. Keep costs accurate and avoid time-consuming back-and-forth with customers.
• Process split shipments and multi-warehouse fulfillment. Ship from the right location at the right cost without human intervention.
• Integrate with configurators for complex orders. Orders should generate all necessary sales and work orders instantly, without the need for fingers on keyboards.
• Avoid dependency on third-party plugins. Core B2B checkout capabilities should be part of the platform itself, reducing points of failure.

The good news is that Nomad eCommerce was built for B2B from the start, working in sync with your ERP’s business rules and data so your customers see the right pricing, shipping, and payment options. No high-dollar customizations, and no third-party plugins. The result? Faster payments, fewer errors, and a checkout process that works exactly the way you do business.