Posts about:
Today’s b2b eCommerce buyers expect a customer experience that matches the top b2c sites they visit for their personal shopping. With Forrester research saying that more than 70% of midmarket sellers now earn at least 25% of their revenue from online channels, these sellers must optimise their digital operations and sales platforms if they are to benefit from greater customer loyalty, increased revenues and higher margins.
Today’s b2b buyers have high standards when it comes to customer service, and they expect sellers to provide them with a purchasing experience that’s fine-tuned to their personal preferences. In our experience however, companies still face many challenges in delivering a consistently high quality of service across multiple sales channels. Frequently we see how sellers fail to provide the convenient and efficient omnichannel experience that buyers demand. And more often than not, this is down to the inadequate provisioning of technology.
With the UK in COVID-19 lockdown, businesses are struggling to juggle a multitude of challenges – from generating sales and managing remote workers, to controlling cost and maintaining cash flow.
As manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors increasingly move their sales and ordering processes online, the benefits of a best-in-class integrated eCommerce solution are difficult to ignore. Companies that have found and implemented the right solution are enabling customers to self-serve 24/7 through feature-rich digital platforms. These platforms are delivering better margins from larger orders, lower costs and increased efficiency through automated systems and the elimination of manual data inputting.
The recent fall in manufacturing PMI, which combines statistics for output, orders and jobs, reflects the nature of a challenging market for b2b companies. Manufacturers, along with wholesalers and distributors are searching for ways to get ahead of the curve, looking for anything that delivers competitive advantage.
As the popularity of b2b eCommerce as a preferred sales channel continues to grow at pace, there are still plenty of manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that remain to be convinced of its benefits. This is despite all the evidence suggesting that setting up an online store helps to enhance the customer experience, boost order value, increase margin, cut cost and reduce processing errors.
Recent research on the varied growth rates of b2b eCommerce adoption by distributor and wholesale companies throws up some interesting data. Firstly, it shows that around 65% of these businesses have an online sales channel – and around 40% of their sales were transacted digitally. But the study also shows that the proportion of actual eCommerce sales varies dramatically between companies, with nearly 80% of distributors and wholesalers claiming that eCommerce accounted for less than 25% of total sales.
When you decide to switch to b2b eCommerce, as well as creating a website there are a number of other factors you need to consider and address before you’re ready to make the move. Think about the changes you’ll need to make to operational systems and process to accommodate an automated sales procedure where customers can access product information, real-time stock availability, and place orders 24/7.
Launched in 2015, Amazon Business is the b2b version of the familiar online consumer marketplace and now boasts over a million customer accounts, more than 45,000 active sellers, and over 10 million products for sale. This rapid growth proves that Amazon Business is satisfying the needs of business procurement teams, but many companies are still unsure whether they’re better off focusing their sales efforts on their own eCommerce websites. If you’re thinking about buying or selling through Amazon Business, here are a few of the upsides and downsides to consider.
So you’ve made the decision to create an eCommerce channel for your b2b business, you know which customers you’re aiming the service at, what the website will need to do, and the technology you’ll have to put in place. But what about your people? How will you prepare different teams across your business for change, and at the same time ensure that resources are deployed in the most efficient way?