What to Do When Your Client Doesn’t Know Their Part Number

Mastering Intuitive Product Discovery for B2B eCommerce

In the world of B2B manufacturing, a part number is gold. But what happens when your buyer only knows the function, not the SKU?

If your site is rigidly built around exact-match search, you risk losing that sale. It happens more often than you'd think. A maintenance tech might only know what the part looks like. A procurement manager might be replacing a worn component. A buyer new to your catalog might not know what to search at all.

These are make-or-break moments. And the merchants that win them? They’re the ones who build product discovery tools that meet buyers where they are.

photo of a stressed out man sitting at his desk with an open parts website on his laptop screen. he is frustrated, sifting through a dozen different invoices looking for a part number

Why “Search by Part Number” Falls Short

Not every buyer comes to your site with a clean product ID. Sometimes they’re:

Replacing an unlabeled or worn part
Searching for a compatible alternative from another brand
New to the product and unfamiliar with your terminology
Shopping based on specifications, not models
Operating from a visual memory of the part

A rigid search box that only accepts perfect SKUs forces these buyers to abandon your site, call your sales team, or worse... Go to a competitor.

The Cost of a Broken Discovery Process

Every lost search is a lost opportunity. Buyers who can’t find what they need fast don’t stick around. And every manual inquiry your team has to handle is time that could’ve been spent on strategic selling.

The fallout includes:

Lower self-service adoption
Higher service costs
Lost sales to competitors
Diminished buyer trust
A platform that slows down, rather than supports, your growth

Build Smarter: How to Guide Buyers Without a Part Number

Here’s how manufacturers can turn discovery into a strength:

1. Smart, Attribute-Based Search

Use natural language processing and structured product data to make your search engine understand descriptive queries. Buyers should be able to type “valve for high-pressure steam line” and get results.

Include:

Synonym libraries for industry terms
Fuzzy matching for typos
Attribute filters (e.g., size, material, pressure rating)
Auto-suggest that guides buyers toward real results

2. Visual Discovery Tools

Some buyers only know what the part looks like.

Give them:

Reverse image search with photo upload
Exploded diagrams for complex assemblies
“Shop by diagram” or system-based navigation
Application photography to give context

3. Guided Navigation and Product Finders

Use guided selling wizards to walk users through product selection. Ask the right questions in the right order (industry, material, temperature range), and let logic narrow the results.

Add application-based navigation too. Let buyers start from the problem they’re solving, not a catalog they may not understand.

Is Your Site a Roadblock or a Guide?

If you're seeing buyers abandon searches, calling with questions your site should answer, or bouncing from generic terms that return zero results, it's time to rethink your discovery UX.

Helping users find what they need, even without a part number, should be a foundational part of your B2B eCommerce strategy. It's how you reduce friction, support your sales team, and keep buyers coming back.

We cover other helpful strategies for B2B merchants in this free downloadable guide. Feel free to share it with your team as you're evaluating strategy moving forward.

What challenges are your buyers facing?

If your current platform makes discovery harder than it should be, we’d love to hear what you're seeing and explore how to improve it.