The B2B Website Checklist: Quote Requests, Customer-Specific Pricing, Reorders and Customer Portals

A B2B buyer isn't browsing for fun. They're a purchasing manager, an office administrator or a business owner who needs to get the right items, at the agreed price, with the right paperwork, and move on with their day. A website that works like a retail store, with one price for everyone and a credit-card-only checkout, forces them back to email and phone.

This checklist covers the features that make a B2B website genuinely useful to repeat business customers. Not every business needs every item. Use it to decide what matters for your buyers and what can wait.

1. Accounts that match how businesses buy

In B2B, the customer is usually a company with several people ordering, not a single person. Platforms built for B2B, like Shopify B2B and Adobe Commerce B2B, model this with company accounts.

• ☐ Company accounts with multiple users under one business
• ☐ Multiple locations (ship-to and bill-to addresses) per company
• ☐ Roles and permissions: who can view prices, who can place orders, who can only browse
• ☐ Application and approval for new trade accounts before they see wholesale prices
• ☐ Tax-exempt status stored on the account, with certificates on file

2. Quote requests that don't get lost

Many B2B sales start with a quote: large quantities, custom configurations, freight shipping, or simply a buyer who needs a formal document for approval. A quote button that just sends an email is a start, but quotes get lost in inboxes.

• ☐ Request a quote from the product page or from a cart full of items
• ☐ Fields for what you actually need to price it: quantity, delivery location, deadline, notes, file uploads
• ☐ Quotes saved in the customer's account, with status (requested, sent, accepted, expired)
• ☐ Negotiation: your team can adjust prices or quantities and send it back
• ☐ Convert an accepted quote into an order in one click, at the quoted prices
• ☐ An expiry date on every quote, so old prices don't get honored by accident

Adobe Commerce, for example, calls this “negotiable quotes”: buyer and seller go back and forth on price and items until they agree. Shopify supports a similar flow through draft orders, and WooCommerce through quote extensions.

3. Customer-specific pricing

Negotiated pricing is the norm in B2B. Your website has to show each customer their price, not the list price with a promise to fix it on the invoice.

• ☐ Price lists or catalogs per customer or customer group (for example, dealer, distributor, contract)
• ☐ Volume (tiered) pricing: lower unit price at higher quantities, shown on the product page
• ☐ Minimums, maximums and order multiples (sold by the case of 12, minimum 5 cases)
• ☐ Customer-specific product visibility: some customers see only the products they're approved to buy
• ☐ Prices hidden from anonymous visitors, if your pricing is confidential
• ☐ One source of truth: prices synced from your ERP or accounting system, not typed in twice

That last point matters most. If prices live in your ERP and are re-entered by hand on the website, they will eventually disagree, and the customer will notice before you do.

4. Fast ordering and reorders

Repeat buyers often know exactly what they want. The faster they can order it, the less likely they are to shop around.

• ☐ Quick order form: type or paste SKUs and quantities
• ☐ CSV upload for large orders
• ☐ Reorder from order history in one click
• ☐ Saved lists (Adobe calls them requisition lists) for items bought every month
• ☐ Search that understands SKUs, part numbers and the customer's own item codes
• ☐ Real stock levels and lead times on the product page, so buyers can plan

5. Checkout built for business payments

• ☐ Payment on account / net terms (net 30, net 60) for approved customers, with credit limits
• ☐ Purchase order (PO) number field, printed on the invoice
• ☐ Other payment methods your customers use: ACH, check, card on file
• ☐ Order approvals: orders over a set amount go to a manager before they're placed
• ☐ Shipping options that fit B2B: freight, scheduled delivery, the customer's own carrier account, will-call pickup
• ☐ Correct sales tax, including exemptions

6. A customer portal for self-service

A portal is where all of the above comes together. It's also where you save your staff the most time, because customers stop calling to ask “where is my order?” or “can you resend that invoice?”

• ☐ Order history and status, with tracking numbers
• ☐ Invoices and statements to view and download; open balance and payment due dates
• ☐ Pay invoices online
• ☐ Quotes and saved lists in one place
• ☐ Account details: addresses, users, permissions, tax certificates
• ☐ Documents buyers need: spec sheets, safety data sheets, certificates, manuals
• ☐ Returns (RMA) requests online

7. Integrations behind the scenes

Most of these features depend on data that already lives somewhere else. Plan the integrations early; they usually take more time than the website itself.

Data	Usually lives in	What the website needs
Customers, credit limits, terms	ERP or accounting system	Account setup, payment options, credit checks
Prices and price lists	ERP or pricing spreadsheet	Correct price per customer
Inventory and lead times	ERP or warehouse system	Accurate availability
Orders	Website, then ERP	Orders flowing in automatically, status flowing back
Invoices and payments	Accounting system	Invoices and balances in the portal

8. The basics still count

Business buyers are still people using a website, often in a hurry and sometimes on a phone in a warehouse or job site. The everyday details make the difference between a portal they rely on and one they avoid.

• ☐ Fast pages and a site that works on a phone and a tablet on the warehouse floor
• ☐ Detailed product information: specifications, dimensions, compatibility, downloads
• ☐ Security: HTTPS everywhere, strong passwords or multi-factor sign-in for accounts, regular updates and backups
• ☐ A clear way to reach a real person: phone, email and the name of the account rep
• ☐ Analytics that track quotes, orders and reorders, not just visits

How to prioritize

1. Talk to five of your best customers. Ask how they order today and what slows them down.
2. Start with pricing and accounts. If customers can't see their own prices, nothing else helps.
3. Add quick ordering and reorders next. This is where repeat customers save the most time.
4. Then the portal and integrations, beginning with order status and invoices, the two things customers ask about most.

Building it

Right On Tech designs and builds B2B websites and customer portals for small and mid-size businesses, including the ERP and accounting integrations that keep prices and orders in sync. If you're planning a new B2B site or want to make your current one more useful to buyers, get in touch and we'll walk through the checklist with you.