The checkout is where e-commerce either wins the business customer’s trust or loses it. A Swedish B2B checkout differs from the consumer checkout on almost every point: the customer is a company with a company registration number, payment is usually made against invoice on agreed terms, and the person clicking the buy button is not always the one who pays. At the same time, Swedish buyers expect the same smoothness they are used to in their private lives — where Swish and Klarna have set the standard. Here is how to build a Swedish checkout that handles both worlds.
What separates a B2B checkout from a regular one?
In consumer commerce, the checkout is anonymous until payment. In B2B it is the opposite — the checkout starts from who the customer is:
- Company registration number instead of personal identity number. The customer is identified as a company, matched to their customer number and thereby to their agreements.
- Customer-specific prices all the way. The total should be built on the customer’s price lists and negotiated agreements — not list prices corrected on the invoice afterwards.
- Terms from the agreement. Payment period, delivery terms and references (order marking, cost center, PO number) should travel with the order.
- Multiple roles. One user places the order, another approves it, finance receives the invoice. The checkout should support that, not fight it.
This is logic that needs to live in the platform’s core. HDL Commerce is built with B2B and B2C in one core, so the business checkout is not an add-on layered on top of a consumer store — read more about the foundation on the platform page.
Invoice in the checkout — still the first choice for companies
For most Swedish business customers, invoice is the obvious payment method: the purchase has to be booked, approved and paid on agreed terms. A business invoice checkout is therefore less about the moment of payment and more about the credit relationship being managed correctly and automatically.
A credit limit that catches the order in time
Buying on invoice is credit. Every customer has a credit limit, and the checkout should know it: an order that fits goes through immediately, an order that breaks the limit is blocked or flagged for manual handling — before the goods leave the warehouse, not when the finance team discovers it a week later.
The terms follow the customer, not the store
Different customers have different payment periods and different discount structures in their agreements. The checkout should fetch the terms from the customer’s agreement via the ERP, so the invoice that goes out matches what the customer negotiated. Manual exception lists at customer service are a sign that the integration is falling short.
Swish and Klarna — when do they suit business customers?
Invoice is the norm, but not always right for every customer and every purchase. There are good reasons to offer more payment methods in the same checkout:
- New customers without a credit agreement. Direct payment lets a new customer place their first order today, instead of waiting for a credit check.
- Small purchases and sole traders. For smaller amounts and smaller companies, Swish is often the fastest way to close the purchase.
- Hybrid customers. If you sell to both companies and consumers, the B2C side wants card, Swish and Klarna — and then the same checkout should handle both customer types without two parallel solutions.
The payment methods connect through ready-made integrations — HDL Commerce has 200+ to choose from, spanning payments, ERP and shipping. See the full range on the integrations page. The principle is simple: the right payment method for the right customer type, in one and the same checkout.
Think about the order the payment methods are presented in, too. A logged-in contract customer should be met with invoice as the default, their terms visible — not have to hunt for it among the consumer options. A new customer without a credit agreement can instead get direct payment as the first option. Small details, but they determine whether the checkout feels built for business or borrowed from consumer commerce.
One checkout for both B2B and B2C
Many Swedish companies are hybrids in practice: the wholesaler that has opened up consumer sales, the brand that sells both to resellers and direct to end customers. Running two separate checkouts — a business checkout and a consumer checkout in different systems — doubles the maintenance and fragments the order flow.
With one shared core, the login controls the experience: the business customer meets invoice, agreement prices and reference fields, the consumer meets Swish, Klarna and card payment. The orders land in the same flow into the ERP. Examples of how different businesses have put this together are among our solutions.
Checklist: evaluating your next business checkout
If you are procuring or switching platforms — bring this list to the demo and test it against your own customers and agreements:
- Is the customer identified via company registration number and matched to the right customer number and agreements?
- Are customer-specific prices shown consistently on the product page, in the cart and in the checkout?
- Is the credit limit checked before the order goes through — and what happens when it is exceeded?
- Do payment terms and reference fields (order marking, cost center) follow the order into the ERP?
- Can multiple users per customer account order with different permissions?
- Can the same checkout handle invoice for business customers and Swish, Klarna and card for consumers?
If you get hesitant answers on the first three points, you are usually looking at a consumer platform with B2B as an afterthought — and then the exceptions will end up with your customer service team.
Hosting matters for trust
A checkout is only as good as its availability. For business customers ordering on routine — often early in the morning before the workday starts — a checkout that is down is a reason to phone in the order instead, and perhaps not come back. HDL Commerce is hosted and operated in Sweden with 99.3% uptime, which also simplifies questions about data protection and support on Swedish terms.
The cost picture is straightforward: Light from SEK 10,000/month plus SEK 50,000 one-time setup, Enterprise from SEK 65,000/month — the details are on the pricing page. If you are coming from Magento, you can get up to 40% lower total cost of ownership than Magento; see the comparison.
Test the checkout with your own terms
What would your checkout look like with invoice, credit limits and your agreed prices in place — and Swish and Klarna for the customers who want to pay directly? Book a demo and we will show you a Swedish B2B checkout in HDL Commerce, set up around your customer structure. We reply within 4 hours (weekdays).
