What you’ll learn:
What are recurring orders?
Recurring orders are automated purchases scheduled to occur at regular intervals — weekly, monthly or custom-defined — without manual reordering each time. They are especially useful for businesses that need to replenish the same products repeatedly, such as office supplies, industrial components, medical equipment or raw materials.
By enabling recurring orders, B2B companies can reduce the risk of stockouts, improve procurement efficiency, ensure uninterrupted operations and deliver a smoother, more convenient buying experience for B2B buyers.
B2B recurring orders: A smarter approach to replenishment management
Managing appropriate inventory levels is no small task for B2B businesses, when a single missed order of essential goods or supplies can trigger costly delays or production halts. For many B2B enterprises, the sheer number of products that need to be procured and purchased regularly requires an automated system that works faster and more efficiently than manual labor.
Efficient order replenishment through eCommerce is gaining momentum across the B2B sector. For B2B buyers, scheduled reorders ensure continuity, reduce manual workload and give them greater control over inventory management. For B2B sellers, offering buyers the ability to place orders at predefined intervals not only increases customer lifetime value and streamlines processes but also boosts predictable revenue growth.
B2B recurring orders processed through eCommerce are on the rise, with 62% of buyers1 saying their companies are asking them to move lower consideration replenishment orders to the online channel, and 79% of them2 prefer to place repeat orders online.
As part of the quest to improve customer experiences while increasing revenue streams, providing recurring orders for automated replenishment provides an excellent opportunity for B2B organizations.
Use cases for B2B recurring orders
Recurring orders are especially valuable in B2B industries that depend on consistency, timely replenishment and centralized procurement. Real-world examples include:
Uninterrupted access to medical supplies is essential in the healthcare sector. A regional provider managing multiple clinics under one procurement system uses recurring orders to match each location’s supply needs. For example:
Business unit A (high patient volume):
Gloves and syringes delivered weekly
COVID test kits delivered monthly
Bandages delivered every 2 days
Business unit B (lower patient volume):
Syringes delivered bi-weekly
Disinfectants delivered monthly
💡Note: Recurring carts can be configured to allow one-time changes to individual future orders. For example, if your upcoming recurring cart includes syringes, you can add bandages to that specific order as a one-time addition, without including them in every future recurring order.
Recurring orders support just-in-time delivery of essential materials in manufacturing. Say an automotive parts manufacturer uses recurring orders to maintain inventory levels for bolts, lubricants and safety gear. These items are automatically delivered bi-weekly (or at time intervals specified by the buyer), ensuring smooth operations without over-/under-stocking.
A regional bakery chain with multiple storefronts uses recurring orders to meet varying demand across locations. For instance:
Bakery location A (high volume):
Flour, sugar and butter delivered weekly
Cake boxes and packaging every 3 days
Specialty ingredients every 2 weeks based on seasonal trends
Bakery location B (lower volume):
Flour and sugar bi-weekly
Packaging supplies weekly
💡Note: To prevent waste or overstocking of perishable or specialty items, recurring templates can be configured to adjust quantities based on the prior week’s sales data.
Maintaining uptime is critical in industries like manufacturing, logistics and heavy equipment. That’s why leveraging recurring orders to automate the delivery of high-usage or wear-prone spare parts for scheduled maintenance and repairs is a crucial capability for many businesses. For example:
Conveyor belts, filters and seals delivered monthly
Replacement parts for machinery scheduled quarterly
Critical safety components (e.g., brake pads, gaskets) delivered bi-weekly
Recurring orders are also highly effective in B2B2C models, where a business orders for end-customers. For example, an eye care clinic may regularly order contact lenses from a manufacturer every quarter and distribute them directly to patients.
This model ensures doctors can maintain stock for patient care without placing individual orders, improving both efficiency and patient experience.
💡Note: When patient data is included in the ordering process, commercetools can seamlessly handle PHI (protected health information) within our HIPAA-compliant commerce engine through our Healthcare solution.
Native B2B recurring orders feature by commercetools
Recurring orders is an out-of-the-box (OOTB) commercetools feature that allows B2B enterprises to automate repeat order scheduling for their buyers. It’s ideal for businesses with predictable replenishment or procurement cycles, helping reduce manual effort and improve operational efficiency.
This functionality is available via API and our business tooling, the Merchant Center, and is seamlessly integrated into the commercetools composable commerce stack. Recurring orders are designed to fit naturally into the order lifecycle and can be used alongside existing fulfillment processes and external payment systems.
Furthermore, the recurring orders feature provides rich scheduling and lifecycle controls, including:
Create recurring orders: Based on saved carts and customer preferences.
Flexible scheduling: Define intervals, such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc. You can also customize intervals, e.g., every 2 weeks, every six months.
Pause/resume: Provide the option to temporarily suspend recurring orders, as well as resume orders according to buyers’ needs.
Skip next occurrence: Allow buyers to adjust supplies in the short term to meet their supply needs.
Cancel: Fully terminate recurring schedules according to specific timeframes.
Recurring orders are often used interchangeably with subscriptions, but they aren’t the same thing. This is how they differentiate in the B2B sector:
Recurring orders:Recurring orders and approval flows
It’s worth mentioning that commercetools’ recurring orders feature can be utilized with buyer approval flows, ensuring that every repeat purchase still goes through the appropriate governance process.
For example, imagine a business sets up recurring orders for air conditioning filters as part of its regular spare parts replenishment. Even though the order is automated, the configured approval flow is automatically triggered. This means designated reviewers are notified and must review and approve the order before it is processed. This is especially important in B2B environments, where pricing can fluctuate, and compliance and transparency are essential.
commercetools allows merchants to define rules such as product categories or frequency-based checks, enabling recurring orders to work in tandem with granular approval logic. This combination ensures efficiency through automation, while maintaining full control over spending and procurement compliance.
Recurring orders in the B2B Store Launchpad
More than enabling recurring orders in the commerce backend, B2B enterprises can leverage this native feature with the Store Launchpad for B2B to create a B2B eCommerce site with less development time and faster time to value.
The Store Launchpad is a template that consists of Frontend components, extensions and types that leverage native features from commercetools Composable Commerce for B2B and commercetools Frontend. With recurring orders built in, B2B enterprises can expedite repeat orders into their online offering.
Recurring orders in the Merchant Center
While recurring orders drive long-term customer value, managing them can be complex without centralized visibility and control for business users. B2B enterprises often need a streamlined interface to review, adjust and monitor upcoming recurring orders without relying solely on APIs or developer tools.
Available in the commercetools Merchant Center, the recurring orders feature provides business users with an intuitive UI to oversee and manage repeat purchases. They can also view upcoming orders, modify schedules and support customer requests easily, quickly responding to customer needs and making changes to recurring schedules as needed. This reduces operational friction and improves service responsiveness.
Enterprise-scale B2B recurring orders with commercetools
Designed for enterprise scale, commercetools’ recurring orders OOTB feature enables manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors to maximize buyer convenience while opening new revenue opportunities.
Read our tutorial and learn how to get started with Recurring Orders.
Sources: 1Master B2B 2Digital Commerce 360
Natasha leads the team responsible for order management at commercetools. She brings a strong product mindset, combining technical understanding and user focus, with 12 years experience spanning marketing, digital media, and commerce platform development.