Committed to empowering merchants with innovative tools for the modern digital landscape, BetterCommerce says its solutions deliver “efficiency, adaptability and exceptional customer experiences tailored to your needs.”
CEO Vikram Saxena speaks with PBM to discuss how merchants can adapt to the changing digital landscape, whether you’re scaling your business or simply keeping pace with industry trends and the evolving demands of B2B buyers.
Q: Please provide us with an overview of BetterCommerce, its history and the services it offers the merchant sector?
A: The founding team, coming from a distribution and wholesale background, designed the platform to simplify the complex business processes of the B2B commerce world and developed a solution to empower mid-market and enterprise grade distributors and wholesalers. Founded to address ‘clunkiness and gaps’ in traditional commerce scenarios, it offers an end-to-end solution with seamless integration to various ERPs.
The platform provides modules for all sizes and stages of a digital journey including Product Information Management (PIM), Order Management System (OMS), Digital Service Layer (DSL), Trade Portal, CMS (Content Management System), Analytics and B2B Sales Automations. What’s more, it provides the flexibility to chose one of the modules or the whole suite as per the business needs to address the specific challenges.
These solutions enable merchant firms to scale efficiently by improving automations, delivering omnichannel experiences, streamlined operations and ultimately a higher degree of customer satisfaction by providing more ‘self-service’ to customers.
“Businesses demand flexible platforms to meet ever-evolving customer expectations, particularly in B2B commerce where buyers increasingly expect the same seamless experience as in B2C.”
Q: In terms of market trends, what are the main drivers you see as important for the industry at present?
A: Businesses demand flexible platforms to meet ever-evolving customer expectations, particularly in B2B commerce where buyers increasingly expect the same seamless experience as in B2C. Key market trends therefore include a shift towards Gen AI, B2B Automation, Digital Service Layer and omnichannel capabilities.
Another trend is WhatsApp Commerce, with Email Ordering Automation enabling instant communication and transactions. Composable commerce has gained traction as companies seek to tailor solutions without full-stack overhauls, ensuring faster time-to-market and reduced costs.
Q: How can your service offering be tailored to the requirements of the builders’ merchant sector in particular?
A: We feel BetterCommerce is uniquely positioned to address the specific needs of builders’ merchants by combining its modular and composable architecture with tools designed for trade-heavy operations. Here’s how:
Hybrid Sales Channels
Builders’ merchants cater to both professional tradespeople and retail customers, requiring seamless engagement across multiple sales touchpoints. BetterCommerce hybrid sales channels allow merchants to serve customers through traditional trade counters, a Digital Trade Portal and hybrid sales channels like WhatsApp, Teams plus EDI and automated email-based ordering.
Large & Complex Catalogue Management
Builders’ merchants often deal with extensive product catalogues, including bulk items, configurable products and trade-only items. BetterCommerce simplifies catalogue management, enabling merchants to create segmented catalogues with trade-only visibility, custom pricing and volume discounts including the ability to configure MOQ and incremental buying quantities.
Real-Time Inventory and Stock Checks
Builders’ merchants must manage inventory across multiple warehouses and locations, ensuring stock availability for trade orders. BetterCommerce provides real-time inventory visibility and alerts for stock levels, ensuring customers are never disappointed.
Integration with ERP & CRM
Many builders’ merchants operate legacy ERP, CRM and POS systems. Upgrading without disrupting operations is a critical need. BetterCommerce integrates seamlessly with existing systems like Business Central, NetSuite or Sage to provide a modern interface without a full-scale overhaul.
Project-specific pricing, quotes, orders and addresses
The platform also provides the ability to ringfence quotes and orders to offer specific pricing at the project level, enabling higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty in the long run. This allows them to manage all this through a simple interface, and expose the same to the customer via the web portal or any other sales channels.
Q: BetterCommerce is a global business that operates across a number of sectors, but do you have any UK merchant clients already?
A: In the UK, The Fragrance Shop is our marquee B2B customer and uses our solution both offline and online whilst wholesale customers include Alvin Key Clamp. BetterCommerce is now expanding into the merchant sector, with services suited for medium and large enterprises where our solutions can help streamline product data management, enable bulk ordering and improve the commerce experience.
Our scalable architecture ensures that merchants of any size can leverage modular tools for their specific needs.
Q: How long does the set-up and onboarding process take, from initial consultations to deploying your services?
A: Our onboarding process is tailored to the client’s complexity but typically takes 6–12 weeks. It starts with consultation, solution design and implementation. For example, merchants transitioning from legacy systems can benefit from our Digital Service Layer, enabling quick integration without disrupting ongoing operations.
Q: And what support do you offer to new clients, from training to use the system to ongoing assistance?
A: BetterCommerce offers comprehensive training programmes, including live demos, documentation, and dedicated account managers. Ongoing support includes 24/7 assistance, system health checks, and software updates, ensuring clients maximize platform potential and scalability.
Q: Finally, what would you say to merchant firms who feel that a ‘shop window’ website and a traditional trade counter are still sufficient?
A: For merchants relying on a traditional trade counter, an eCommerce platform is a non-negotiable asset today. Customers demand online catalogues, real-time pricing and order tracking, making a digital service layer essential for staying competitive and future-proofing the business.
In a competitive market, what sets BetterCommerce apart is our composable and all-in-one B2B platform, enabling merchants to use only the modules the way the business requires. Unlike platforms requiring multiple integrations, BetterCommerce delivers a unified solution with lower time-to-market, flexible pricing and features like WhatsApp Commerce, Email Ordering Automation for instant customer interaction.
For more information on BetterCommerce, use the shortcode www.rdr.link/mbm003
