B2B buyers rarely pay list price. They have negotiated price levels, contract prices on key items, and volume discounts. If your online portal doesn't reflect those prices accurately, customers may continue relying on phone calls and emails instead of placing orders online, limiting the benefits of your ecommerce investment. This guide explains how NetSuite pricing works, how it should appear online, and what to consider when choosing a B2B ecommerce platform.
How pricing works in NetSuite
NetSuite gives you several pricing tools, often used together:
| NetSuite pricing tool | What it does | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Price levels | Define multiple selling prices for each item | Retail, online, wholesale, distributor, or manufacturer pricing |
| Customer price level | Assign a default price level to a customer | Customer-specific pricing agreements or pricing tiers |
| Customer-specific item pricing | Set a custom price or assign a specific price level for an individual customer and item | Negotiated contracts and special pricing |
| Pricing groups | Apply a price level to a group of related items for a particular customer | Product-category pricing |
| Quantity pricing | Set different prices based on the quantity purchased | Volume discounts and quantity breaks |
| Multiple currencies | Maintain item prices in different currencies | International B2B sales |
| Promotions and discounts | Apply additional discounts or promotional offers | Special offers and campaigns |
For B2B ecommerce, the goal is to ensure customers see the correct prices based on the pricing rules configured in NetSuite, without maintaining separate pricing structures in the webstore.
What buyers expect online
B2B customers expect a purchasing experience that reflects their agreements with your business. Depending on your pricing strategy, that may include:
- Customer-specific pricing, displayed throughout the shopping experience, including product listings, search results, product pages, and the cart
- Quantity-based pricing with clear volume breaks and prices that update based on the quantity ordered
- Consistent pricing from product selection through checkout
- Request for Quote (RFQ) capabilities for purchases that require negotiation or special approval
- Restricted price visibility when pricing should only be available to signed-in customers
Common approaches and their challenges
Maintaining separate prices in the ecommerce platform
Some ecommerce platforms require businesses to replicate their NetSuite pricing in a separate system.
While this can work, it introduces additional synchronization and maintenance requirements, particularly when managing customer-specific agreements, multiple price levels, and quantity-based pricing.
Using customer groups and discounts
Many ecommerce platforms support customer groups with different prices or discounts.
This approach can work well for simple pricing structures, but may require additional configuration or customization to reproduce NetSuite's more complex pricing rules, including customer-specific item pricing and quantity breaks.
Requesting prices directly from NetSuite
Retrieving prices from NetSuite can help ensure the ecommerce platform uses current ERP pricing information.
However, how these requests are implemented matters. Excessive individual API calls can affect performance, particularly for large catalogs or high-traffic stores.
The goal is to balance pricing accuracy, performance, and consistency across the shopping experience.
What to check before choosing a B2B ecommerce platform
- NetSuite price levels:* Can the platform use your existing price levels and customer assignments?
- Customer-specific pricing: Does it support negotiated prices for individual customers and items?
- Quantity pricing: Can buyers see applicable quantity breaks, with the correct price calculated in the cart?
- Pricing rules: Does the platform respect NetSuite's pricing hierarchy and applicable pricing rules?
- Checkout validation: Are prices validated on the server before an order is submitted to NetSuite?
- Price visibility: Can you restrict pricing to authenticated customers?
- Quotes: Can customers request quotes and convert approved quotes into orders?
- Multiple currencies and subsidiaries: Can the platform support your OneWorld configuration and international selling requirements?
How AwaCommerce Next handles B2B pricing
AwaCommerce Next connects directly to NetSuite, allowing businesses to manage their pricing in the ERP while providing a customer-specific shopping experience online.
With Advanced B2B or Advanced B2C, the platform supports:
- NetSuite price levels and customer pricing assignments
- Customer-specific item pricing and negotiated prices
- Quantity pricing tiers displayed on product pages and applied in the cart
- Multiple currencies for websites associated with OneWorld subsidiaries
NetSuite remains the source of truth for pricing, eliminating the need to maintain a separate ecommerce price list.
During checkout, AwaCommerce Next revalidates prices, inventory, taxes, and shipping against NetSuite before creating the sales order.
Additional capabilities are available depending on the selected package:
- Store Professional: Restrict price visibility to signed-in customers
- Advanced B2B: Request for Quote (RFQ) and quote-to-order workflows
- Advanced B2B or Advanced B2C: Customer-specific pricing and quantity tiers
Explore customer-specific pricing, B2B quotes, or the complete NetSuite B2B portal.
Tips for a successful rollout
- Review your pricing configuration. Make sure price levels, customer assignments, and negotiated prices are correctly maintained in NetSuite.
- Test different customer scenarios. Validate pricing for customers with different price levels, contract prices, currencies, and quantity tiers.
- Validate the full buying journey. Check that the correct prices appear on product pages, in the cart, and at checkout.
- Communicate with your customers. Let buyers know they can access their negotiated pricing directly through the portal.
- Monitor pricing questions and quote requests. Recurring questions may highlight opportunities to improve pricing configuration or customer self-service.
Frequently asked questions
Can a NetSuite B2B portal display customer-specific prices?
Yes. A B2B ecommerce platform can use NetSuite price levels, customer-specific item pricing, and quantity-based pricing to display the appropriate prices for each signed-in buyer. AwaCommerce Next supports these capabilities through Advanced B2B and Advanced B2C.
Can buyers see quantity pricing tiers?
Yes. With AwaCommerce Next, applicable NetSuite quantity pricing tiers can be displayed on the product page, and prices are adjusted in the cart based on the quantity selected.
How are prices protected during checkout?
A secure ecommerce platform should calculate and validate prices server-side rather than relying on values supplied by the shopper's browser. AwaCommerce Next revalidates prices against NetSuite during checkout before creating the sales order.
Do I need to maintain pricing in both NetSuite and the ecommerce platform?
No. With AwaCommerce Next, NetSuite remains the source of truth for pricing. Price levels, customer-specific prices, and quantity pricing are maintained in NetSuite rather than managed through a separate ecommerce price list.
This article was written with AI assistance and reviewed by our team. Details can change or contain errors, as described in our terms of use. If you spot one, let us know.