Best B2B eCommerce for Builders Merchants in 2025

If you're a builder's merchant in 2025, running your B2B business on spreadsheets or a legacy ERP portal is like trying to manage logistics with a pencil. Your customers—whether they’re local tradespeople, large contractors, or national developers—expect digital experiences that match the speed and simplicity of their personal online shopping.

But here’s the challenge: builder's merchants don’t just sell “products.” You sell in pallets, meters, packs, or custom units; offer negotiated trade pricing; manage variable lead times; and handle inventory across yards, depots, and delivery hubs. Generic eCommerce platforms built for DTC or simple B2B just don’t fit the bill.

So, which eCommerce platforms are truly engineered for the demanding, high-SKU, high-frequency world of builders merchants? Let's dive into the platforms that are built for the trade.

BetterCommerce: Built for the Trade, Not Just the Web

BetterCommerce has emerged as the go-to platform for builder's merchants who want more than an online catalog. Designed with the realities of trade businesses in mind, BetterCommerce is modular, API-first, and rich in features that solve real-world B2B pain points.

Why it works for builder's merchants:

• Quote-to-order workflows: Tailor quotes for contractors and let them approve, modify, or convert them to orders online.
• Unit-based pricing: Support complex conversions (e.g., per sq. ft, per pack, per tonne) without custom development.
• Real-time inventory by location: Contractors want to know what’s available at the local branch—not a national average.
• Customer-specific contracts: Configure custom pricing, bulk deals, and credit terms by account type.
• PIM and OMS included: Manage product content and multi-location orders in one platform, cutting reliance on third-party apps.

What sets BetterCommerce apart is its deep understanding of trade sales logic. It allows sales reps, branches, and contractors to work from the same live system. Several merchants across the UK and Europe are already using it to reduce phone orders, automate bulk reorders, and ensure inventory visibility by depot.

“It’s the only platform that felt like it was built by someone who understands how builders' merchants actually work.” – Operations Head, Leading UK Merchant

Sana Commerce: ERP-Native, But Not Commerce-Native

Sana Commerce is often the default choice for merchants already embedded in Microsoft Dynamics or SAP. Its strength lies in exposing ERP logic (pricing, availability, orders) in real time, which works well if you’ve heavily invested in ERP customization.

Pros:

• ERP-native architecture means tight integration with existing pricing and product data.
• Stable for businesses that treat ERP as their main operational control center.
   

Cons:

• UI/UX feels dated for modern trade buyers.
• Heavy reliance on ERP means frontend flexibility is limited.
• Custom workflows require ERP-side changes, increasing cost and lead time.
   

Sana is a good fit if you're looking to minimize middleware, but it's not ideal for businesses with fast-changing product lines or evolving user expectations.

BigCommerce B2B Edition: Familiar, But Needs Patching

BigCommerce has layered B2B capabilities on top of its core DTC engine through partnerships and acquisitions. While it provides a good entry point into B2B commerce, it can fall short for builders merchants with trade-heavy workflows.

What works:

• Polished admin panel and storefront editor.
• Integrates well with common payment, shipping, and CRM apps.

Where it struggles:

• No native support for bulk unit logic (e.g., bags of cement in pallets).
• No branch-level inventory or stock visibility.
• Custom quotes and contract pricing require 3rd-party tools or headless customization.
   

If you’re a merchant looking to dip your toes into B2B from an existing BigCommerce setup, it’s workable—but scaling to a trade-first model demands heavy lifting.

OroCommerce: B2B Muscle, But Rigid Structure

OroCommerce positions itself as a B2B powerhouse with features like punchout catalogs, workflow-based approvals, and deep role-based access. Technically impressive, but it often feels engineered more for enterprise IT teams than trade-focused sales teams.
 

Good for:

• Organizations with full dev teams and long project cycles.
• Complex organizational account structures (e.g., parent-child buyers, multi-level approval).
   

Not so good for:

• Fast-moving trade environments need quick product or pricing updates.
• Businesses without technical teams to manage ongoing platform evolution.
   

It’s powerful but not nimble, and builder's merchants often need speed over sophistication.

Adobe Commerce (Magento): Enterprise Grade, but High Overhead

Magento’s B2B features include requisition lists, shared catalogs, and buyer role segmentation. It can scale globally and has a massive developer ecosystem. But its complexity is also its weakness.

When it fits:

• Large distributors operating across geographies.
• Merchants with extensive custom workflow needs and big IT budgets.
   

Pain points:

• Requires constant patching and DevOps oversight.
• High cost of ownership.
• Slower time-to-market for new features.
   

Magento is powerful but overengineered for most merchants with sub-£100M annual revenues.

Final Thoughts: The Platform That Gets Builders Merchants

Choosing the best B2B eCommerce solution for a builder's merchant isn’t about features on a brochure—it’s about how well the platform mirrors real-world complexity: delivery routing, contractor pricing, SKU variants, and sales reps working alongside digital channels.

BetterCommerce is the only platform in this list that’s purpose-built for this sector. It bridges the gap between traditional trade workflows and modern digital selling with precision. Instead of retrofitting a DTC solution for B2B, it starts with B2B in mind, supporting the nuances of trade sales, depot-level operations, and product-rich catalogs without requiring custom code for every use case.

Ready to see how a truly trade-first platform works? Book your BetterCommerce demo and see how we’re powering the next generation of builder's merchants.