Balance Rolls Out Digital Checkout System For B2B eCommerce

Balance has rolled out a self-serve online checkout system to reshape the digital payments experience for business-to-business (B2B) firms, according to a Wednesday (Feb. 3) announcement.

All retailers, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firms, and marketplaces that offer products and services through web and offline can provide purchasers with many payment methods and terms while receiving payment immediately via one system, according to the announcement.

Balance’s platform comes with a corporate payment experience that the company says is as accessible as consumer checkout. It also lets purchasers make payments through automated clearing house (ACH), credit card, bank wire or check, while obtaining a combined payout from the Balance system.

The platform also provides application programming interfaces (APIs) and offers support for firms to onboard and payout suppliers without intervention.

Balance CEO and Co-Founder Bar Geron said in the announcement that the lion’s share of digital business purchases in the present day are conducted by credit card while transactions through preferred methods such as ACH, checks and wires stay offline.

“This is because the process is incredibly challenging, often involving offline quotes and invoices, multiple phone calls and emails, and long payment delays. Balance manages all of this complexity behind an elegant checkout experience and makes offering flexible payments methods and terms as easy as using a credit card,” Geron said in the announcement.

As more manufacturers and other sellers move their sales strategies to the web, as previously noted in this space, they are looking to please digital shoppers the same way Amazon has done for individual consumers. However, B2B eCommerce is not the same beast as business-to-consumer (B2C).

“The core difference between B2B and B2C is that in B2B, the individual researching and buying has a job to do,” Justin King, vice president of B2B strategy at Salsify, previously told PYMNTS. “They didn’t want to be there, necessarily — they have to be there. It is their job. On top of that, the buying cycle for B2B is often much more complex and lengthy, and involves many different decision makers, often with their own priorities.”