The Enterprise Guide to Construction Ecommerce Success

For decades, the construction industry ran on handshakes and blueprints spread across the hood of a truck. 

But today’s B2B buyers expect an Amazon-like digital experience when making large purchases. McKinsey reported in 2024 that 73% of buyers are willing to pay more than $500,000 in one online purchase, up from 59% in 2022.

For manufacturers and distributors still relying on traditional sales methods, the question is no longer if you should move online, but how quickly you can do it to avoid getting left behind.

Ahead, you’ll learn the basics of construction ecommerce and how to get started with the best commerce platform. 

The digital shift: Why construction ecommerce is no longer optional

Complex sales cycles, highly customized product specifications, and the need for direct supplier interaction have kept the construction industry operating mostly offline.

However, things are changing. Business buyers now expect the same easy online experience they get as consumers. Currently, only 7% of the industry's sales are conducted online. That leaves an overwhelming 93% of business still running on phone calls, faxes, and paper invoices.

The opportunity for online growth is huge, and the numbers prove it:

• Globally: The market is valued at $5 trillion and is growing at 2.7% annually.
• In North America: The market is valued at $2.5 trillion and projected to grow at 3% annually. 

And your competitors are not waiting. The digital shift is already underway, with 21% of manufacturers prioritizing ecommerce in their digital transformation strategies for the next 12–24 months. Technologically advanced competitors are already gaining market share, putting slower adopters on the defensive.

Key challenges construction companies face without ecommerce

• Traditional channels still dominate B2B revenue: Buyers are hesitant. They need to talk through complex specs for a custom HVAC system or negotiate pricing on a bulk order of rebar—things a simple “Add to cart” button can't always solve.
• Rising costs and supply chain volatility: The Producer Price Index for construction inputs has increased approximately 42% over the last five years. This volatility is felt on the ground, with the cost of raw materials like copper, connectors, and neodymium magnets from China rising sharply. Manufacturers must constantly update pricing and pass increases to customers. 
• Complex B2B buying processes: Selling complex products online is challenging because they require highly specific configurations that can't be sold off the shelf.
• Increasing regulatory complexity: Manufacturers face a growing number of regulations. This includes trade policies, such as the increased US tariffs on strategic goods from China, new cybersecurity standards like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, and emerging sustainability reporting rules, such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
• Internal IT constraints: Many IT organizations struggle with significant tech debt and a shortage of skilled developers, leading them to seek out-of-the-box solutions. For manufacturers, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is the nucleus where all critical data is stored. The single most crucial piece of advice for a digital commerce transformation is to integrate the ecommerce platform with the ERP system as seamlessly as possible.

Navigating this reality requires a platform built for both industrial complexity and modern agility. Shopify B2B addresses these challenges head-on by providing a unified B2B commerce solution that reduces reliance on strained IT resources. 

To manage volatile costs and custom orders, our platform enables customer-specific price lists and integrates seamlessly with advanced product configurators, allowing even the most complex products to be sold online.

Construction materials ecommerce opportunities by category

Simple materials

For sellers of basic materials like lumber and concrete, a stable price sheet is a fantasy. The price of softwood can swing wildly in a single quarter, while ready-mix concrete costs continue to climb. A quote given on Monday could be obsolete by Friday. This highlights a need for improved demand forecasting and digital contract pricing controls.

Many companies now provide non-firm quotes with plus-minus 30% margins, and have moved from annual to monthly price updates to handle ongoing swings in commodity costs.

The pressure to nearshore is also reshaping trade. In 2024, Mexico surpassed China as the largest US goods exporter, with imports from China falling 20% from pre-pandemic levels. Sellers are now incentivized to put digital systems in place that can adapt easily to new sourcing and logistics partners.

Intermediate materials 

For maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) and material products like steel, glass, and paints, in-store and online sales are quickly merging. Because they are sold through huge retail chains, there's a significant opportunity to create one unified commerce experience that can manage a high volume of products and global sales.

The challenge now is how to sell one SKU across thousands of touchpoints. The sheer volume of products is immense. Grainger, for example, manages approximately two million high-touch SKUs in their main business and over 35 million more through their online channels. Managing a catalog of this size requires a centralized system. 

Your ERP is the brain of your operation. If your website can't talk to it in real time, you’re flying blind—selling inventory you don’t have or quoting prices that are out of date. That’s why a direct, middleware-free integration is essential.

Advanced materials

Advanced materials really show the innovation possible in the construction industry. Products like engineered wood and 3D-printed materials are becoming more popular, but they require online tools for deep customization and managing data related to regulatory standards. 

The 2024 International Building Code now allows mass-timber buildings to stand as tall as 18 stories, and adoption is spreading across the US. The majority of these new projects fall within the 6–12 story range, indicating a growing mainstream demand for configurable products well-suited for ecommerce and configure, price, quote (CPQ) tools.

Environmental transparency is becoming a prerequisite to win business. The US General Services Administration now sets carbon thresholds for materials like concrete, steel, and glass on federal projects, which requires sellers to provide Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) data online.

Even for these more complex SKUs, buyers want to use digital self-service channels. A flawless digital experience for advanced products is now non-negotiable. Platforms must have integration for technical drawings and automated database updates to notify customers about product changes, ensuring that the correct specifications are communicated every time.

Essential features for construction ecommerce success

In construction, a B2B ecommerce site can bring a company up to speed with modern buyers. Why should a fleet manager get a maintenance alert from an IoT sensor about an excavator but still need to call or email a rep to order the same part? It doesn’t make sense given today’s technological advancements. 

That’s why leading brands are investing in unified commerce platforms with specific features that meet buyers' requirements. 

Custom catalogs and tiered pricing

Business buyers expect the same seamless experience they get as consumers, but with higher stakes. Your online store must perfectly mirror the complex pricing and product assortments you’ve negotiated offline.

With Shopify, you can create B2B catalogs that show each buyer only the products relevant to their industry, region, or contract. You can also display negotiated payment terms for each buyer, which is important given 83% will abandon a purchase if no payment terms are offered.

TileCloud, an Australian tile retailer in a crowded category, launched a dedicated Shopify B2B store with personalised price lists and a streamlined checkout. Within twelve months they saw a 24% surge in wholesale signups and a 34% jump in average order value (AOV). 

👉 Read TileCloud’s story. 

Product configurators and visualization

Not all construction products are simple, off-the-shelf items. When a buyer has unique requirements for dimensions, material grades, and load specifications, they are hesitant to finish an order online. 

That’s where visualization tools come in. Suppliers use product configurators to solve this problem, moving the cumbersome consulting process online to save time. Future Glass, the B2B arm of Glass Warehouse, had a manual sales process where buyers submitted hand-drawn diagrams and written notes for quotes.

The company’s content manager, Parker Vitek, admitted the impact on their business was significant, “All [order accuracy, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction] were below the standard we set for ourselves.”

To address this, Future Glass collaborated with Shopify Partner Teifi to develop a custom railing configurator on Shopify’s Hydrogen framework. The tool was designed to solve the inherent complexity of their products. “There’s different sizes of glass depending on what sort of hardware system you’re using, and a lot of math involved,” said Parker, adding that this can make it “a bit confusing to figure out exactly what you need for any particular job.”

Now, customers can enter their dimensions, see all available options, and add every required component to their cart in a single click. The results have been impactful:

• 340% growth in B2B sales year over year
• 83% increase in conversion rate
• 80% decrease in the time it takes to quote a railing job

The tool has been a massive success with customers and the internal team alike. “Customers react by asking, ‘This is great but how much do I have to pay monthly to use it?’ and are amazed it’s a free service,” Parker shared. Internally, the impact was just as powerful: “The railing quoting speed for our internal team has been transformative.”

👉 Read Future Glass’s story. 

Inventory and ERP integration

Any digital transformation for a construction brand requires a seamless, middleware-free integration between your ecommerce platform and ERP. If your site isn’t perfectly synced in real time, you risk quoting incorrect prices or selling inventory you don’t have. 

Shopify’s unified commerce platform provides this single source of truth, connecting data from in-store POS, B2B wholesale, and digital channels with your ERP to manage complexity at scale. 

👉 Take advantage of Shopify’s Global ERP Program to connect your commerce operations with major providers like NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365. 

Mobile-optimized B2B portals

The jobsite is the office for field operators and managers, and purchasing needs to happen there. Technicians need to find parts, confirm specs, get approvals, and manage budgets on the go. A B2B portal must be designed for a phone screen and optimized for speed and accuracy.

Building your construction ecommerce strategy

Start with customer needs assessment

Talk to your existing customers to identify their biggest pain points, most frequently ordered products, and daily workflows. B2B buyers now expect self-serve options that are fast, convenient, and personalized—so frame your research around those expectations. 

Begin with your most-ordered products to build your initial online catalog. This focused approach allows you to launch quickly and expand later.

The B2B buying cycle in this sector can last from 6 to 18 months and is highly dependent on in-person touchpoints. For complex projects, sales teams may provide non-firm quotes with a 30% margin that get requoted multiple times as product specifications and commodity prices change. 

Your digital platform must be flexible enough to accommodate these iterative processes, such as creating draft orders for internal review or handling purchase orders received by phone or email.

Choose the right platform

Your commerce platform is the foundation of your digital strategy. It needs to be powerful enough for enterprise-level complexity but agile enough to adapt to changing market demands. Shopify is top-of-mind for manufacturers for many reasons:

• Look for a platform that can scale. Shopify has proven its ability to perform under extreme load, with 99.9% platform uptime and a robust global infrastructure that processes billions in commerce.
• Prioritize a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). A single platform for all your sales channels—business-to-business (B2B), direct-to-consumer (DTC), and in-person point of sale (POS)—dramatically reduces technology costs and complexity. With Shopify, the HVAC manufacturer Carrier launched new ecommerce experiences in just 30 days, down from a previous timeline of 9–12 months, and at 10% of the previous cost.
• Demand an experience that respects your buyers' time. B2B buyers need powerful tools to find and configure the right products. This includes advanced search with faceted filters and merchandising rules, AI-powered recommendations, and self-service customer portals for managing orders, payments, and returns.
• Seek streamlined bulk-buying features. Make it easy for your B2B customers to place large, complex orders. Features purpose-built for B2B include quick-order lists, quantity rules, volume-based pricing, and the ability to save a checkout as a draft for internal approval.
• Treat ERP integration as top priority. Smooth, reliable, real-time integration between your commerce platform and your ERP is non-negotiable. Shopify’s open APIs and global ERP program allow you to connect your core business systems without costly middleware.

Plan your implementation phases

A phased rollout allows you to get to market quickly, learn from customer feedback, and build momentum. You can launch a focused minimum viable product (MVP) in weeks.

Phase 1: Core catalog and pricing (4–8 weeks)

• Establish your initial B2B catalog with customer-specific price lists, quantity rules, and volume-based pricing.
• Configure company profiles with multiple locations and tax IDs, and set up payment terms like net 30 or deposits for custom orders.
• If you sell internationally, enable multi-currency and automate duties and taxes at checkout to simplify cross-border commerce.

Phase 2: Customer portals and self-service (4–6 weeks)

• Activate modern customer accounts that offer passwordless login, saved payment methods, and a “buy again” function to speed up reordering.
• Add a quick-order list to your storefront to facilitate bulk purchasing.
• Enable self-serve returns for B2B customers and give them visibility into their order history and payment terms within their account.
• Use draft order and checkout-to-draft features to mirror internal PO and approval workflows.

Phase 3: Advanced features and automation (iterate continuously)

• Automation: Use tools like Shopify Flow to automate B2B workflows, such as sending reminders for net terms, notifying teams of new company signups, or automatically assigning customers to the correct catalog and price list. Automation is a key driver of efficiency and a core principle of Industry 4.0.
• New selling motions: Test new revenue streams like subscriptions for replenishing consumables or offering preventative maintenance service plans. Shopify’s native capabilities and extensive app ecosystem allow you to test new business ideas quickly and cost-effectively.
• Personalization: Fine-tune your site search and product recommendations to deliver a more relevant buying experience.
• Demand generation: As you scale your catalog and expand into new markets, use integrated marketing and audience tools to find new customers while keeping acquisition costs efficient.

Shopify’s native B2B capabilities—including company profiles, net terms, and customer-specific catalogs—combined with a rich ecosystem of prebuilt ERP and tax integrations, radically shorten the time-to-market for new initiatives. This allows industrial brands to test, learn, and adapt without the high cost and long development cycles of traditional enterprise platforms.

Aftermarket opportunities in construction ecommerce

For heavy equipment manufacturers, the sale of a bulldozer or excavator is just the beginning of a long-term relationship. The value lies in the aftermarket—selling parts, services, and supplies after the initial purchase. 

Aftermarket is typically broken down into three categories:

1. Parts and supplies: Recurring revenue through selling consumables and high-wear replacement parts
2. Service contracts and subscriptions: Predictable income from scheduled maintenance packages, extended warranties, and automated replenishment
3. Maintenance and repair: On-demand services critical to minimizing downtime for customers

Leading construction original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are increasingly turning to ecommerce to capture this lucrative market. Companies like John Deere and Caterpillar are building their own ecommerce channels to allow contractors to buy maintenance and wear parts. 

They are also providing the tools to maintain products. For example, platforms like Caterpillar’s VisionLink and John Deere Connected Support analyze machine health data to predict failures before they happen. Field technicians can proactively order parts online and maximize equipment uptime. 

Direct-to-consumer growth in construction

While B2B sales are still the core of the construction industry, a major shift is happening as manufacturers begin selling directly to their end customers. 

The direct-to-consumer model is growing incredibly fast in the US, becoming a $213 billion market in 2024. Manufacturers are making the move to gain more control over their brand, pricing, customer data, and relationships.

With tight margins in traditional sales channels, building a DTC channel is a powerful strategy. The biggest benefit is margin expansion. By bypassing distributors for certain products, manufacturers can increase their operating margins by 10%–15%. 

Selling direct also gives manufacturers better data on how their parts are being used and when they fail, which helps them build better B2B products and strengthen customer loyalty.

Measuring construction ecommerce success

• Order frequency (repeat purchase rate): Track the average orders per customer and the percentage of buyers who reorder within 12 months. This is crucial because frictionless digital channels encourage reorders, and ecommerce makes up a third of total revenue for B2B companies.
• Average order value: Monitor your total revenue divided by the number of orders, segmenting by customer type and payment method. B2B tools like flexible payment terms and volume pricing directly encourage larger basket sizes and higher AOV.
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Calculate your total marketing and sales spend divided by the number of new customers, breaking it down by channel. A high-converting checkout directly improves CAC efficiency, and Shopify Checkout converts up to 36% better on average than competitors.
• Self-service adoption: Are customers actually using the tools you built? Track the percentage of orders placed online without a sales rep's help. Prioritizing this metric is essential for retention, as 75% of B2B buyers report they will switch suppliers for a better digital experience.
• Lifetime value (LTV): Track the total revenue per active buyer and the lifetime value of customer cohorts at 12 and 24 months.