Get Started on B2B eCommerce
with Our Sample RFP Template

A request for proposal (RFP) is a document with criteria businesses use to evaluate and narrow down their eCommerce vendor. It includes a set of questions vendors have to answer, enabling you to compare responses with other vendors, helping you select a platform that will best serve your needs.

For a successful RFP, you must carefully craft your questions that address priorities on the company, departmental, and even individual levels. A sample RFP template is a great starting point to ensure you cover all the bases and stay on the right track during the discovery, drafting, evaluation, and final selection process.

Every piece of software is different. An RFP puts them on an equal playing field, pitting them against each other in an apples-to-apples comparison. Since vendors provide answers to the same questions, it enables a fair and unbiased software evaluation, allowing you to make an informed decision.

An RFP project is critical when selecting a new platform or replatforming. Without an RFP, it’s easy for every eCommerce vendor to market its strong features. You won’t be able to make sense of vendor capabilities or judge solutions against business requirements that matter most.

Before getting started on an RFP for eCommerce website, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is your business like? Define your competitive landscape, your position in the market, and your traffic and sales numbers.
• What are your platform goals? Do you want to reduce the total cost of ownership, modernize your technology stack, or establish yourself as an innovator in your field?
• What products do you sell? What sales channels do you utilize? Do you sell globally or locally, and what are your growth plans?
• Do you have any special B2B eCommerce features, from unique product configuration needs, pricing needs, ordering, or fulfillment requirements?
• What is your customer strategy like? Describe your marketing, promotions, site navigation, and UX needs.
• List your partnerships, system integrations, and other relationships you want to maintain.

Having a good eCommerce RFP process in place is just as important as the RFP document itself. A typical RFP-driven sourcing process consists of the following four steps:

The preparation stage:

Research the eCommerce market, review competitors in the industry and evaluate your current solution. Talk to your employees and customers.

Identify all of your eCommerce stakeholders, list their goals, and determine why an eCommerce solution is necessary and why now.

Prioritize your capabilities and features. Design your evaluation criteria and how you will maintain engagement with stakeholders during this process.

The RFP stage in B2B:

This is where you compile the bulk of your eCommerce RFP. Work with stakeholders on specific and open-ended questions, including evaluation criteria. Set your categories, the number of questions, and the timeline for completing your RFP.

The evaluation stage:

Get stakeholders to evaluate respondents, and measure them against each other. A great way to evaluate vendors is to line up questions and answers side by side. This way, you focus away from a particular vendor and on the response.

Shortlisting the winners:

Shortlist those with the highest scores. Check vendor references and contact them for additional information. Explore potential implementation partners and start negotiations.

Internal stakeholders, external partners, and consultants play a critical role in forming business objectives, determining the required features, and evaluating vendors.

The RFP process is usually led by digital, marketing, and eCommerce directors. They receive input from business owners, chief financial officers, technical directors, and IT managers. Don’t forget to include business units, departments, and individuals stakeholders that will use the solution.

Subject matter experts, business digitization consultants & agencies, solution integration experts, and RFP consultants can also offer input during the RFP process.

There are three main challenges to the RFP process:

It’s resource-intensive. Understand that the RFP process is not always quick and easy. Approach it carefully without rushing the process.

You can receive unsatisfactory or inconclusive responses from vendors. Make sure you invite the most suitable vendors, invite enough of them, and ask them the right questions.

Stakeholder engagement is another common challenge. Identify the most valuable stakeholders and engage with them early on. Communicate benefits, gather their feedback, and reinforce responsibilities throughout the process.