When Your Storefront Pages Don't Do Enough, the Entire Buying Process Gets Jeopardized
Faceted search is missing, so buyers can't narrow down complex catalogs
A search bar alone isn't enough when buyers need to filter by product specification, category, or option type. Without faceted filtering on catalog pages, potential customers spend more time searching and less time purchasing, and your conversion rates suffer.
Product listings don't give buyers enough info to decide without calling sales
When a product details page surfaces only a name and a price, technical buyers, especially those identifying spare parts or evaluating product variants, can't make a confident purchasing decision. Every gap in your product offerings is a reason to pick up the phone instead of completing the order, costing you more conversions.
There's no structured way to compare similar products before adding to cart
B2B buyers frequently evaluate multiple SKUs or product variants before committing. Without a dedicated compare page, buyers resort to opening multiple tabs or contacting a sales rep, slowing down the purchase process and increasing drop-off at a critical moment in the customer experience.
Order managers have no consolidated view of in-progress or completed orders
When incomplete orders and placed orders are scattered across disconnected views — or invisible entirely — order managers lose track of what's pending and what's fulfilled. That gap drives unnecessary support contacts and erodes customer engagement over time.
Returns require leaving the storefront entirely
If customers have to initiate returns through a separate system or support ticket, post-sale service costs climb and the storefront loses its relevance after the first purchase. A disconnected returns process is one of the most common ways businesses undermine lasting relationships with B2B buyers.
User and role management requires IT involvement for routine changes
Without a dedicated account management page inside the storefront, inviting a new buyer or changing a user's role requires internal support — adding overhead that slows onboarding and shouldn't even reach IT in the first place.
Catalog Page: Make product discovery work for complex buying journeys
The catalog page is the primary way buyers browse, search, and select products across your online store. It combines a search bar with faceted filtering across product options, specifications, and categories so buyers can navigate even the most complex product catalog. Buyers who can filter by the attributes that matter to them reach the right product faster, improving the overall shopping experience and reducing bounce rates significantly. For growing businesses managing large or technically deep product ranges, this is a game changer for self-service adoption and business growth.
Product Details Page: Give buyers the information they need to purchase with confidence
The product details page surfaces descriptions, full specifications, product images, and links to related products in one place. For B2B buyers evaluating technical products or spare parts, rich product listings that go beyond a name and price — surfacing complete customer data, personalized recommendations, and browsing history context — reduce the friction between product discovery and purchase. Product details pages can also be built using display page templates, giving teams greater control over storefront design and layout without performance issues or compromising performance of the overall experience.
Compare Page: Help buyers make faster, better-informed decisions
The compare page lets buyers view two or more products side by side using the Product Comparison Table widget. When buyers are evaluating similar SKUs or product variants, direct side-by-side comparison creates significant improvements to decision confidence — shortening the path to purchase products and driving more conversions. Unlike most popular website builders or simple e-commerce tools, Liferay's compare functionality is built for catalogs with real technical depth.
Search Page: Surface the right content across the entire storefront
The search page goes beyond product lookup. Buyers can search across web content, knowledge base articles, documents, images, and products from a single search bar, with facets to refine search results. For B2B online storefronts where buyers need technical documentation and support content alongside product listings, unified search is a meaningful improvement to the user experience — enabling customers to find what they need faster, increasing sales opportunities at the point of discovery, and reducing time-to-purchase.
Cart: Reduce friction before the checkout experience begins
The cart page is where buyers review their selections before committing to an order. A clean, functional cart experience that clearly surfaces product offerings, quantities, and pricing reduces the hesitation that leads to abandonment, particularly for complex orders with multiple line items. For businesses focused on smooth operations and higher conversion rates, the cart is where good storefront design and seamless integration of pricing and product data pays off most directly.
Checkout: Configure the purchase process around your buyers' actual needs
The checkout page activates once a buyer submits an order and supports custom checkout steps through extension points. Teams can implement approval steps, split shipping logic, or compliance checks, adapting the checkout experience to the way different B2B accounts actually buy, rather than forcing buyers through a one-size-fits-all flow that creates friction and slows down sales. This depth of customization options — including integration capabilities with payment gateways, payment processing systems, and third-party services — sets Liferay apart from most popular website builders and out-of-the-box e-commerce platforms that can't accommodate real B2B purchasing behavior.
Lists: Enable buyers to manage and reuse product selections
The lists page gives authenticated users access to wish list and wish list contents widgets, allowing them to create and manage custom product lists. For B2B buyers planning recurring purchases or managing procurement across multiple cost centers, saved lists reduce the time spent rebuilding orders — making repeat purchasing faster and improving operational efficiency on both sides of the transaction. As business grows, this kind of self-service capability directly supports increased online sales without adding sales or support headcount. Allowing businesses to create unique reorder flows for different buyer types makes lists a powerful tool for customer retention and engagement.
Pending Orders: Give order managers full visibility before checkout
The pending orders page displays all incomplete orders associated with an account; i.e., those containing items in the cart that haven't yet completed the checkout process. Order managers get full visibility across all in-progress orders for their account and can create new orders directly from this page. This is especially valuable for organizations where multiple buyers contribute to a single account order, or where orders require internal review before submission so teams get real-time data on purchasing activity without relying on external reporting or third-party tools.
Placed Orders: Track every completed order in one place
The placed orders page displays all orders that have completed the checkout process for an account, regardless of order status. Using the Orders widget, buyers and account managers get a single, unified view of their full order history, enabling customers to self-serve order status checks instead of contacting support, and giving businesses the real-time data they need to manage customer relationships proactively and increase sales through faster reordering.
Returns Page: Bring post-sale self-service inside the storefront
The returns page extends the storefront's usefulness beyond the initial purchase, allowing customers to initiate and manage returns without leaving the digital environment. Keeping post-sale tasks inside the storefront — rather than routing them through third-party services or disconnected support systems — reduces service workload, supports smooth operations, and makes the digital storefront a more complete tool across the entire customer lifecycle. For businesses focused on customer satisfaction and lasting relationships, an in-storefront returns experience is a meaningful driver of repeat engagement.
Account Management Page: Put account and user control in the right hands
The account management page is where store administrators and account managers invite users, assign account-specific roles — Buyer, Sales Manager, Account Manager, Sales Agent — and create and manage accounts directly in the storefront. Enabling customers and account teams to manage their own purchasing structure gives them greater control over their buying environment — reducing IT overhead, speeding up onboarding, and delivering the seamless experience that major brands and enterprise buyers expect.
Digital Storefront Features
Account Eligibility & Contextual Pricing
Show the right products, assortments, and negotiated prices to the right customer accounts.
Advanced Product Discovery
Help buyers navigate complex catalogs and identify the right products for technical or parts-heavy purchasing journeys.
Product Relationships & Recommendations
Support bundles, cross-sell, upsell, and related-product discovery within the buying flow.
Customizable Checkout & Workflows
Adapt checkout and approval paths to match how different B2B customers actually purchase.
Frictionless Quick Order Entry
Make repeat and bulk ordering faster through tools such as quick order forms and CSV upload.
Häufig gestellte Fragen (FAQ)
Ein traditionelles CMS (wie WordPress oder Drupal) ist „monolithisch“, das heißt, die Verwaltung und Auslieferung von Inhalten sind eng miteinander verbunden. Ein traditionelles CMS ist vor allem darauf ausgelegt, Inhalte auf einer einzigen Website zu veröffentlichen, meist mithilfe vordefinierter Themes und Templates.
Ein Headless CMS trennt die Content-Verwaltung von der Darstellung. Inhalte werden zentral verwaltet, während das Frontend mit beliebigen Frameworks gebaut werden kann. So lassen sich Inhalte an einem Ort pflegen und über Websites, Apps und andere Kanäle ausspielen.
- Omnichannel-Auslieferung. Inhalte einmal verwalten, überall veröffentlichen – auf Websites, mobilen Apps, Smart Devices und weiteren Kanälen.
- Entwicklerfreiheit. Entwickler können beliebige Frameworks und Tools nutzen, wodurch Entwicklungszyklen beschleunigt und Workflows flexibler werden.
- Zukunftssichere Architektur. Strukturierte Inhalte lassen sich problemlos an neue Technologien und Kanäle anpassen.
- Erhöhte Sicherheit. Da Backend und Frontend getrennt sind, sinkt das Risiko von Angriffen.
- Bessere Performance. Die Trennung von Inhalt und Darstellung sorgt für schnellere Ladezeiten und ein optimiertes Nutzererlebnis.
Liferay kombiniert Headless-Auslieferung mit einer umfassenden Authoring-Erfahrung. Marketing und Redaktionsteams können:
- Vorgefertigte Inhaltsstrukturen nutzen
- Team- und regionsübergreifend zusammenarbeiten
- KI für die Erstellung und Übersetzung von Inhalten einsetzen
- Governance Tools anwenden, um Konsistenz und Compliance sicherzustellen
Liferay eignet sich besonders, wenn Ihre Organisation:
- Inhalte über mehrere Kanäle und Regionen veröffentlichen möchte
- Entwicklern mehr Flexibilität und Agilität bieten will
- Content Workflows optimieren und die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Teams verbessern möchte
- Starke Governance, Konsistenz und Compliance sicherstellen muss
Ja. Selbst in einer Headless-Umgebung ermöglicht Liferay die Vorschau, wie Inhalte auf verschiedenen Kanälen angezeigt werden, bevor sie live gehen. Das Sites-Modul bietet visuelle Vorschauen und APIs erlauben es Entwicklern, Inhalte geräte- und kanalübergreifend zu testen.
In der Regel ja. Durch die Trennung von Frontend und Backend reduziert eine Headless-Architektur die Angriffsfläche. Die CMS-Datenbank ist nicht direkt der öffentlichen Website ausgesetzt, wodurch Bedrohungen wie DDoS-Attacken oder Malware-Injektionen besser abgewehrt werden können.
Yes. The Returns page allows customers to initiate and manage returns without leaving the storefront. Combined with the Placed Orders page — which displays all completed orders per account regardless of status — buyers have direct access to their full post-purchase activity in one place. Keeping these tasks inside the digital environment reduces service workload, supports customer satisfaction, and keeps the storefront relevant beyond the initial transaction.
Weiterführende Inhalte
