B2B vs B2C Commerce Cloud: Licensing Differences and Negotiation Strategies

B2B vs B2C Commerce Cloud

Introduction – Why This Comparison Matters

Salesforce markets both B2C Commerce (formerly Demandware) and B2B Commerce (formerly CloudCraze) under the Commerce Cloud banner.

Don’t be fooled, they use very different licensing models, and understanding those differences is crucial for anyone evaluating the platforms.

E-commerce directors, CIOs, CFOs, and procurement teams must understand how each model drives costs before entering contract negotiations. Salesforce’s one-size-fits-all messaging often glosses over the nuances.

A misstep here can mean paying a “success tax” on your sales or locking into an inflexible user-based contract.

In this guide, we break down B2C vs B2B Commerce Cloud licensing mechanics and share negotiation strategies to ensure a buyer-first, favorable deal. For a complete overview, read our Salesforce Commerce Cloud Pricing & Negotiation Guide.

B2C Commerce Licensing – GMV/Revenue Share Model

Salesforce B2C Commerce is typically sold via a revenue share model based on Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). In simple terms, you pay Salesforce a percentage of all sales processed through your online store.

For example, if your B2C site handles $50 million in annual GMV and your rate is 2%, your base Commerce Cloud fee would be around $1 million per year.

This usage-based approach aligns cost with sales performance, but it also means the more successful your online store, the more Salesforce earns. It’s essentially a transaction tax on your e-commerce success.

Salesforce often requires an annual GMV commitment. You might agree to, say, $50M GMV for the year at 2%. If you exceed that (great news for sales), you’ll owe overage fees (often at the same rate or higher).

If you fall short, you generally still pay the committed minimum – Salesforce gets paid no matter what. This model is best suited for consumer retail brands with high traffic and sales volume, where a GMV-based fee can start small and scale with growth.

It’s attractive for companies without large up-front budgets, since Salesforce’s cut comes out of actual sales.

However, fast-growing retailers can quickly feel the pinch of this “success tax” – fees balloon as sales grow.

Negotiation focus for B2C Commerce: Because costs directly scale with revenue, savvy negotiators will push for protections and flexibility in the contract:

• Caps on GMV fees: Try to negotiate a cap on the total annual fee or an upper limit on the GMV counted. This ensures that beyond a certain sales volume, your costs won’t keep rising (protecting you in case of explosive growth or an unforeseen sales spike).
• Tiered revenue share reductions: Aim for a tiered percentage model where the fee percentage drops at higher sales tiers. For example, 2% on the first $50M GMV, then 1.5% on the next $50M, and so on. This rewards your growth by lowering the effective rate as you scale.
• Seasonal flexibility: If your business is seasonal (common in retail), negotiate terms to handle peaks. You might ask to calculate fees on an annualized basis rather than strict monthly or quarterly caps, or get temporary buffer allowances for holiday seasons. The goal is to avoid punitive charges for short-term traffic surges as long as annual sales align with forecasts.
• Forecast-based adjustments: Salesforce will price based on your projected GMV. Come with your own conservative but realistic forecasts. Negotiate roll-over provisions or grace thresholds – if you modestly exceed forecast, perhaps a lower rate kicks in or the overage is forgiven up to a point. Likewise, ensure that if sales underperform, you have options (like applying the difference as a credit toward next year, or a one-time re-forecast without penalty).

B2C Commerce’s GMV model can be powerful but must be managed. Always remember: Salesforce’s goal is to grow with your revenue – your goal is to prevent them from outgrowing your budget.

Strategies for controlling cost – Managing GMV Overage Clauses: How to Cap and Control Commerce Cloud Costs.

B2B Commerce Licensing – User and Platform-Based Model

Salesforce B2B Commerce (for business-to-business selling and partner storefronts) lives on the core Salesforce platform. Its licensing looks very different: it’s typically based on users and site usage, not a cut of revenue.

In a B2B Commerce deal, you aren’t paying a percentage of transaction value. Instead, costs come from licensing the platform resources needed to support your partner or customer portal.

Most B2B Commerce implementations leverage Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud) for the e-commerce portal.

This means you’ll be licensing external user access in one of two ways:

• Named user licenses (member-based): e.g,. Purchasing a certain number of Customer Community Plus or Partner Community users. Each user login (often one per partner or customer account user) has a fixed annual cost.
• Login volume (pooled logins): or a usage-based approach where you buy, say, X number of logins per month (pooled across all external users). For instance, you might pay for 10,000 login sessions/month instead of 1,000 named users, which can be cost-effective if many users log in infrequently.

Additionally, Salesforce may impose usage caps, such as page view limits or data storage limits for the community site, which can incur costs if exceeded. The key point: B2B Commerce costs scale with how many users you have and how much they use the site – but not directly with order value.

If one of your distributors places a $1 million order through the portal, you pay the same license cost as if they placed a $1,000 order.

This makes the B2B model attractive for companies involved in high-value transactions or dealing with a known set of partners. It feels more like a traditional software subscription: predictable based on users, rather than a variable sales commission.

However, B2B licensing isn’t without its own risks. If your user base expands (say you onboard 50 new dealers who all need access), your costs will rise because you need more licenses or logins.

Heavy site activity might push you into higher tiers for logins or require additional resources.

Negotiation focus for B2B Commerce should therefore center on optimizing how you license those users and usage:

• Optimize the login model: Decide what mix of member-based vs login-based licenses fits your user behavior. For example, if a partner rep will log in daily to place orders, a named user license is more cost-effective. If 5,000 customers log in only once a month to check stock or place occasional orders, a pool of logins might be cheaper. Salesforce will often let you blend models (e.g., 100 power users on named licenses and a pool of 10,000 logins for everyone else). Negotiate the flexibility to adjust this mix over time as usage patterns emerge.
• Volume discounts and user bundles: Just as with B2C, scale is leveraged. If you need thousands of partner users or logins, don’t paythe sticker price. Negotiate custom tiers – for example, if you exceed 1,000 partner users, get a lower per-user cost for the next batch. Also, bundle in any ancillary platform costs: ensure things like extra page views, API calls, or data storage for your commerce site are either included or discounted in the deal.
• Align with Experience Cloud deals: Because B2B Commerce is an add-on to the Salesforce platform, you have an opportunity to bundle it with your core Salesforce agreement. Try to co-term your B2B Commerce licenses with your main Salesforce renewal and negotiate it alongside Sales/Service Cloud or other product licenses. Salesforce will often give better pricing if the B2B portal is part of a larger, strategic deal. Leverage any existing investment: e.g., “We’re already spending $X on Salesforce CRM, and now we’re adding B2B Commerce – we expect favorable terms across the board.” (For more tips specific to community licensing negotiations, see our Experience Cloud negotiation guide.)
• Cap usage growth: Lock in predictable costs by negotiating how expansions will be priced. For instance, if you know your portal user count might double in 2 years, negotiate future license costs now (e.g., any additional users in year 2 at the same discounted rate as initial users). Also seek overage protection: if you exceed your login count in a month, consider whether the contract allows for an automatic temporary increase at a pre-agreed rate or a true-up at a reasonable unit cost, rather than an exorbitant surcharge. The goal is to avoid nasty surprises if your portal’s popularity suddenly jumps.

In summary, B2B Commerce’s model is more like a typical SaaS license – it can be more predictable than B2C, but only if you negotiate the right structure and keep an eye on user metrics. Always right-size your user/license counts and have a growth plan.

B2B vs B2C Cost Drivers and Best-Fit Comparison

The fundamental cost drivers differ significantly between B2C and B2B Commerce.

Below is a quick comparison of how each model works, which business scenarios they fit best, and what to watch out for:

Understanding these differences can guide you to the right platform for your needs. If you’re in consumer retail, paying by GMV might be acceptable (just negotiate the percentage hard).

If you’re in a distribution or partner sales context, a user-based model could be more predictable and fair. (For more on tailoring strategy to industry context, see our internal industry vertical strategy guide comparing retail vs. distribution commerce approaches.)

Hybrid Scenarios – Running Both B2B and B2C

Many enterprises find they need both B2C and B2B Commerce to cover all their channels.

For example, a manufacturer might sell directly to consumers online and also run a B2B portal for distributors. Salesforce offers both under Commerce Cloud.

If you plan to run a hybrid B2B and B2C commerce model, you must pay extra attention to licensing to avoid siloed, expensive deals.

The good news is that a combined investment can become leverage. Use your combined spend as a bargaining chip with Salesforce:

• Bundle negotiations: Instead of negotiating B2C and B2B contracts separately, let Salesforce know you’re considering both (or already using one and adding the other). Negotiate them together if possible. Salesforce will often see larger deal sizes and provide better discounts or concessions. For instance, you might secure a lower GMV rate on B2C because you’re also committing to a big B2B user license purchase – or vice versa.
• Cross-discounts: Push for cross-product discounts. Maybe your B2C Commerce contract is up for renewal – use that timing to also renegotiate your B2B Commerce terms, leveraging the threat that you could invest more in one platform at the expense of the other. It might sound odd (since both are Salesforce), but internal product teams have quotas and will compete to win a bigger share of your wallet. Smart customers play this to their advantage.
• One Salesforce face: Insist on a unified account management approach. Sometimes, different Salesforce teams handle B2C vs B2B sales. Make them coordinate and present you a single, cohesive proposal. This avoids a scenario where you sign two suboptimal deals instead of one optimized agreement. Consolidating contract dates and terms can prevent loopholes where Salesforce sneaks in unfavorable clauses on the smaller deal.
• Avoid overlap costs: Running both platforms, ensure you’re not double-paying for anything. For example, if you have both, you might be paying a revenue share on B2C and also buying Marketing Cloud or Service Cloud to support those customers – look for opportunities where Salesforce can throw in an add-on or reduce a fee, given your multi-cloud commitment. Also, ensure data integration between B2C and B2B (and your CRM) is part of the package; you don’t want to pay extra for connectors that make the products work together – Salesforce should include that to sweeten the multi-product deal.

In hybrid scenarios, you aim to maximize your bargaining power by combining deals. Salesforce, of course, wants to be your single commerce solution for all channels – if you’re evaluating both B2C and B2B, hint that you could go with a competitor for one of them unless the combined offer is attractive.

When done right, a unified negotiation can yield bigger discounts, better contract terms, and a more coherent agreement.

Negotiation Strategies for Each Model

When it comes time to negotiate with Salesforce, tailor your strategy to the licensing model at hand.

Here are key tactics for each:

• For B2C Commerce (GMV-based): Address the “success tax” directly. From the outset, ask for a lower percentage if your projected sales are high, and lock that rate for multiple years. Negotiate GMV brackets – commit to a base level of sales and get any overflow at a reduced rate. Also consider negotiating on the definition of GMV (for example, excluding taxes, shipping, or even certain low-margin product categories from the GMV calculation can save you a lot). Importantly, seek protection against over-forecasting: if you paid for 20% growth that didn’t materialize, perhaps you get a credit or capacity carryover. And always insert a cap or flat fee option for extraordinary scenarios (e.g., “if GMV exceeds $X, the fee will be a flat $Y” or “not to exceed Z% of our net revenue”). This prevents open-ended exposure.
• For B2B Commerce (user-based): Focus on license flexibility and unit costs. Push for the right to true-down or swap licenses at renewal – you don’t want to be stuck paying for 1,000 partner users if only 800 end up using the portal. If Salesforce won’t budge on mid-term adjustments (they usually won’t let you reduce mid-contract), then negotiate smaller initial commitments with the option to expand at the same discounted rate. Ensure that any login-based pricing has an adequate cushion (e.g., if you contract 10k logins/month, maybe you get 120k logins/year to allow variance). Also, nail down what happens if you need more logins or users – pre-negotiate the cost of additional blocks of users or logins. This way, growth won’t force a renegotiation at a worse rate. Additionally, consider multi-year deals carefully: Salesforce might offer a discount for a longer term, but make sure you also cap the annual price increase (uplift) on renewals. A typical Salesforce tactic is a 7% year-over-year uplift; try to limit this or tie it to performance. Finally, bundle support and extras in your negotiation – for example, ask for a few extra sandbox environments, premium support, or training licenses for your B2B platform as free add-ons, given the overall investment.
• For Hybrid Customers (both B2B & B2C): Leverage one against the other. Even if you’re sold on Salesforce for both solutions, act as if each could be optional. Let Salesforce know you have alternative options (e.g., “We could use Magento/Adobe for B2C if the numbers don’t add up”) to put constructive pressure on pricing. Aim to synchronize the contracts so that they co-terminate, giving you a single renewal date where you can reevaluate the whole relationship – a powerful incentive for Salesforce to keep you happy. Also, use bundled discount rates: for example, “We’ll sign a three-year Commerce Cloud deal covering both products, but we expect a 20% overall discount and a cap on any GMV rate increases at renewal.” When Salesforce sees a big-picture opportunity, they’re more likely to concede on individual line items. Lastly, get a holistic view of value: request that Salesforce provide an executive sponsor or extra success resources for a combined customer. Sometimes, you can get free strategy workshops, additional support SLAs, or roadmap influence by virtue of being a marquee multi-cloud customer – those don’t show up as line items, but they add value to your deal.

Checklist – Key Negotiation Tactics by Model

To ensure you’ve covered all bases, use the following checklist of negotiation tactics, tailored for B2C vs B2B Commerce Cloud deals:

B2C Commerce (GMV-Based) – Before Signing:

• Determine your baseline GMV commitment carefully. Don’t simply accept Salesforce’s forecast – use your own data to avoid over-committing. Start a bit lower if unsure; it’s easier to pay a small overage than commit to unrealistic high numbers.
• Negotiate the GMV percentage (%) down. Even a few tenths of a percent off can save huge dollars. Use references from similar vendors or highlight if your margins are thin. Emphasize that a lower rate is needed for a win-win partnership.
• Include a cap or graduated rates. Ensure the contract specifies a maximum fee or lower rates after certain thresholds. For example, lock an absolute dollar cap on fees for year 1, or state that any GMV beyond your forecast is charged at 50% of the standard rate.
• Get seasonal/quarterly flexibility in writing. If you expect spikes (e.g. holiday season), negotiate how billing will account for that. Ideally, have overages measured on an annual total, not per month. Or get a clause that allows one peak quarter with no penalty as long as annual GMV is on track.
• Plan renewal timing strategically. If possible, align your contract to renew right after your slow season – you’ll have more leverage renegotiating when sales are at a low point (and Salesforce is more eager to ensure you ramp up usage). Also request a pre-renewal review with Salesforce to adjust terms based on actual performance data.

B2B Commerce (User-Based) – Before Signing:

• Choose login vs member licenses wisely. Analyze your user login frequency. Use Salesforce’s models to calculate costs both ways. Pick the cheaper model (or mix) and have Salesforce include the ability to switch some users to the other model if needed at renewal.
• Right-size the initial user count. Don’t overbuy licenses “just in case.” If you expect 500 partner users this year, don’t purchase 1000 up front. Negotiate the ability to add users at the same discounted price later. Avoid paying for shelfware (unused licenses sitting idle).
• Negotiate volume tiers for expansion. If you plan to grow your portal user base, lock in pricing for additional users/logins now. E.g., “price per login for any logins beyond 100k/year will be $X (or a 10% discount from base price).” This prevents price hikes when you’re handcuffed later.
• Bundle with your Salesforce platform deal. Remind Salesforce of your total investment. Push to get B2B Commerce licenses discounted as part of a larger package (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, etc.). You might secure a better rate by saying, “If we add these partner community licenses, we need a break on our overall spend.”
• Check for hidden usage fees. Ask about limits on API calls, data storage, or page views for the B2B site. Often, Salesforce includes a certain allowance. If your use case might exceed those, negotiate upfront for higher limits or include those add-ons now at little or no cost. It’s cheaper to get them baked in than to add later under duress.
• Set support expectations. For a critical B2B portal, ensure you have the appropriate Salesforce support level (e.g,. Premier or Signature support). Negotiate this into the deal, especially if you’re paying enterprise-level fees. Also, ask for performance SLAs for your Commerce site if downtime would be disastrous – get commitments on uptime or at least rapid response, even if it’s just an addendum with credits for outages.

Using this checklist, you can enter negotiations confident that you’ve addressed the major cost drivers of each model. Every Salesforce Commerce deal is unique, but these tactics apply broadly and can save you significant money and headaches.

FAQs

Q: Does Salesforce B2B Commerce ever use GMV-based pricing?
A: Generally, no – B2B Commerce is not priced by GMV. Unlike B2C, you won’t be paying a percentage of sales for the B2B platform. Salesforce B2B Commerce is typically sold as an add-on to platform licenses (users or logins) and may also include an annual platform fee. There have been rare cases or older contracts where order volume was a factor, but it’s not the norm. You should plan for a per-user or usage license cost for B2B, and negotiate accordingly. Don’t let a Salesforce rep confuse the issue by mixing in GMV; keep the discussion to login counts, users, and site capacity for B2B deals.

Q: Can B2C Commerce be negotiated to an order-based fee instead of a GMV percentage?
A: It’s not common, but yes, you can try. Salesforce’s standard is a revenue share, but some customers have negotiated alternate structures – for example, a flat fee per order or per transaction, especially if their average order values are very high or very low. If you prefer a more predictable cost, you could propose an order-based model (e.g., $X per order up to a certain number of orders). Salesforce may entertain it if the math works out similarly to GMV. However, be prepared: they will still want to see upside for themselves as your order volumes grow. Hybrid models exist too (a smaller % of GMV plus a small per-order fee). The key is to align pricing with your business model and to have data backing why that alternative benefits both parties.

Q: Are B2B Commerce community licenses included in our core Salesforce agreement, or are they separate?
A: B2B Commerce licenses for external users are typically separate from your core CRM licenses. If you’re already a Salesforce customer, your standard Sales/Service Cloud users are internal licenses – those do not cover external partner or customer access. To launch a B2B Commerce portal, you will need to purchase Experience Cloud (community) licenses for those external users. These could be Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, or similar license type,s depending on the functionality needed. Sometimes, Salesforce might bundle a small number of external user licenses in a promotional deal, but assume you’ll be buying those à la carte. It’s wise to coordinate your main Salesforce account team with the Commerce Cloud team to make sure these community licenses are provisioned and priced optimally. They should be part of your negotiation strategy (see above), not an afterthought, since they represent a significant portion of B2B Commerce costs.

Q: How do hybrid B2B + B2C deployments impact pricing and contracts?
A: Running both B2B and B2C Commerce doesn’t inherently grant a discount – but it gives you leverage to negotiate one. Pricing for each will still be determined by its own model (GMV for B2C, users for B2B). However, Salesforce will view a customer using both as a larger, more strategic account. Use that to your advantage: insist on bundled pricing or incentives (like a bigger discount on one since you’re also buying the other). Also, be mindful of contract alignment: ideally, co-term the agreements so you can renegotiate them together. In terms of budgeting, hybrid means you’ll have two different cost streams to manage – one variable with sales, one tied to users. There’s no direct crossover in how fees are calculated, so you’ll need to keep an eye on each separately. But you can often negotiate things like cross-product credits or flexible funds (for example, if one side of the commerce business under-runs and the other over-runs). This isn’t standard, but creative negotiations can sometimes achieve a pooled spend approach. At minimum, make sure Salesforce knows that your commitment to Commerce Cloud spans both products, and you expect a preferred customer treatment as a result.

Q: Which licensing model is more predictable long-term, B2C or B2B Commerce?
A: In general, B2B Commerce’s user-based model is more predictable over time, while B2C’s GMV-based model can be more volatile. With B2B, if you know roughly how many partners or customers you’ll onboard, you can project your costs fairly well (it’s like planning for a certain number of software seats). The caveat is that if your business grows the partner network significantly or usage spikes, you’ll need more licenses – but you have more direct control (you decide when to add users). B2C Commerce, on the other hand, will naturally cost more if your sales boom unexpectedly – that could be a great problem to have. Still, it makes budgeting tricky, as a holiday season or a successful product line could drive up Salesforce fees without much warning. That said, some companies prefer the B2C model because if sales drop, your fees might drop correspondingly (though remember, you often have minimum commitments). B2B tends to be a fixed cost, whether or not your partners order much. So from a CFO’s perspective, B2B licensing is a more traditional fixed-cost model, whereas B2C is a variable cost tied to revenue. Each has predictability in its own way, but if we’re talking long-term stability, a contracted number of users (B2B) is easier to lock in. It doesn’t automatically surge just because you had a blowout sales quarter. With careful negotiations (caps and pre-agreed rates), you can make both models predictable, but B2B offers more inherent control.

Five Expert Recommendations

To wrap up, here are five expert tips to remember when comparing and negotiating Salesforce B2B vs B2C Commerce Cloud licensing:

1. Don’t assume the models are the same. Salesforce might call both “Commerce Cloud,” but B2B Commerce never uses a GMV-based pricing scheme. Don’t let a salesperson apply B2C thinking to a B2B deal – push for the user-based structure that B2B warrants. This avoids unnecessary “taxes” on your large orders and keeps licensing logical for your use case.
2. For B2C deals, always negotiate caps and tiered breaks. Never accept a flat %, unlimited deal without a ceiling. Insist on GMV caps and tiered reductions as your sales grow. This protects you from runaway costs in high-growth scenarios and ensures you benefit from economies of scale, not Salesforce alone. Even if you’re a smaller brand today, secure those tiered terms – they’ll pay off if you grow.
3. For B2B deals, optimize your license structure before adding more users. Treat your B2B Commerce licenses like an elastic budget. Optimize login vs member licenses, and monitor usage closely. Before you ever pay for more users or logins, see if you can reallocate unused ones or adjust the mix. Often, companies over-buy upfront; it’s better to start tight and expand as needed (at pre-negotiated rates) than to overcommit. Salesforce won’t rush to tell you you’ve bought too many licenses – that’s on you to manage.
4. If you’re using both B2B and B2C, negotiate as one big deal. Don’t silo your approach. Leverage the combined value of both platforms to squeeze better terms from Salesforce. This might mean timing the purchases or renewals together and making Salesforce compete for the whole pie of your commerce spend. A unified contract can yield overall discounts, and you can play one product’s needs against the other (politely) to get what you want. Remember, the more you’re spending in total, the more negotiating power you have – use it holistically.
5. Stay ahead of renewals and guard against Salesforce uplifts. The negotiation isn’t over after signing – it’s an ongoing process. Review your Commerce Cloud contracts 6-12 months before renewal. Salesforce often applies automatic price uplifts (5-7% or more) at renewal if you don’t intervene. Ensure that any hard-won discounts or caps are carried forward. If your usage has changed (maybe your GMV grew more slowly, or your partner adoption is higher than expected), use the renewal to rebalance. And always negotiate renewal price protections in the initial contract if possible (even something like “price increase not to exceed 3% at renewal” helps). Early engagement and a proactive stance will prevent Salesforce from eroding your gains with higher fees later.

By keeping these recommendations in mind, you’ll be well-positioned to secure a fair, flexible deal whether you choose B2B Commerce, B2C Commerce, or both.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a powerful suite, but the power dynamic in negotiations can favor the informed buyer.

Do your homework, compare the models, and drive the conversation to ensure the licensing works for your business – not the other way around.

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