What a B2B buyer looks for on an FMCG brand's website
A B2B buyer looks for the range with specifications, minimum order quantities and logistics data, certificates, a named contact person and a way to become a dealer or importer. They want to judge within a few minutes whether the brand fits and what it takes to order.
A consumer looks at the pack and the story. A buyer looks at the facts. They compare several brands, build a shortlist and want to know whether your product fits their shelf, their customers and their logistics. They are often in another country, read the site in their own language or in English, and sometimes look at it on a phone, at a trade fair or on the road.
What a buyer looks for
- Range with specifications: per product the name, size, packaging, EAN and origin, and not only a photo with a mood text.
- Minimum order and logistics data: units per case, cases per pallet, pallets per container and the minimum order quantity, so they can calculate without sending an email.
- Certificates: which quality marks and standards the product and the producer hold, with proof they can download.
- A named contact: a name, a role and a direct way to respond, not an anonymous general form.
- A request to become a dealer or importer: a clear route for anyone who wants to carry the brand in their country, with the questions you need to judge whether it fits.
Where they expect to find it
| Buyer's question | Where they look for the answer | What should be there |
|---|---|---|
| What kind of range is this? | Catalogue with filters | Category, brand, country of origin, packaging and size per product |
| How is it packed and shipped? | Product page | Units per case, cases per pallet, weight, shelf life, minimum order |
| Is it certified? | Quality page or per product | Certificates as a download, with validity |
| Who do I talk to? | Contact page | Name, role, language, phone and email of a person |
| How do I become a dealer or importer? | Application page | A form for country, type of business and the range they want |
A range you can search
Many brands keep their range somewhere as a PDF, and it can go out of date quickly. A buyer wants to filter by country, category and brand, and wants to save the list they have filtered or download it as a file. It helps if they can compile a selection and send an enquiry with it. Then you do not receive a vague request for a price list, but a selection you can respond to.
Language and market
A buyer in France or Germany trusts a site in their own language sooner than one in English. Multilingual goes further than the menu: product names, descriptions and the enquiry route have to be right in every language. Pay attention to the units and formats that are usual in the market, and do not let one language fall behind another.
Fast, even with a large range
With thousands of products a slow site becomes a reason to leave. Buyers browse at a fair, on the train or between two meetings. The catalogue has to load quickly on a phone and its filters have to respond at once, even with a large range.
An enquiry you can act on
A good enquiry form asks what you need to answer, without tiring the buyer: company name, country, type of customer (wholesaler, retailer, importer), the products concerned and a contact person. The more of that arrives with the enquiry, the less back and forth is needed. Make sure the enquiry also lands with a person and not in a shared mailbox that nobody feels responsible for.
What can wait
A long brand story before the range, a full-screen video or a form with ten required fields keeps the buyer at a distance. Put the facts first and keep the story for the place where they ask for it. Showing prices is not a requirement. If prices differ per customer, show them in a portal after login.
What people ask first.
- What information does a B2B buyer expect on a product page?
- The name, size and packaging, the EAN, the country of origin, the shelf life, units per case and cases per pallet, the minimum order and any certificates. That lets them judge whether the product fits without emailing first.
- Should prices be shown on an FMCG brand's B2B site?
- They do not have to be. Many brands show the range and specifications publicly and give prices only after an enquiry or after login to a portal, especially when prices differ per customer.
- Which languages should a B2B site offer?
- Start with English and add the languages of your main markets, for example Dutch, French and German. More important than the number of languages is that products and the enquiry route are complete in each one.
- What belongs in a dealer or importer enquiry?
- Company name, country, type of business, the products or categories they want and a contact person. With that you can judge whether the enquiry fits and answer it specifically.
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