B2B eCommerce is here to stay. Forrester (News - Alert) are forecasting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% in B2B eCommerce over the next four years. The only option for consumer goods brands and wholesalers is to get onboard. Once you have decided to invest in a wholesale eCommerce platform, (good decision), you will have the daunting task of choosing the best one for your business. There are so many to pick from, how will you know where to start?
Below are 5 points to look out for to ensure you choose the best platform:
1. Your wholesale eCommerce platform needs to look and feel like a B2C one
Even though your customers are B2B buyers, they are B2C buyers in their personal lives and are used to buying from professional, streamlined, intuitive interfaces.
You need to offer the same modern, convenient, easy-to-use buying experience they are used to in their personal lives or they will not adopt your B2B buying platform.
2. It must have gated access and personalization
The usual practice of a B2B wholesale company is to do business with customers that have gone through an approval process, to check their credit rating. Unlike a B2C eCommerce platform where anyone can access the Storefront, a B2B platform must be set up so that only approved customers are able to log in.
Each of your customers will have different pricing structures and payment options based on various business rules and agreements you made with them. This personalization must also be reflected on your platform.
So, to make sure only your customers are seeing the information relevant to them, your platform needs gated access to permit each customer to view the individualized pricing and information which is relevant to their own accounts.
3. Omnichannel is essential
We don’t think twice about shopping online. We pay on mobile devices and may even get order updates via WhatsApp. When we order online, going through this process is the most normal thing in the world, yet every step requires us to switch channels. Omnichannel is a major part of modern sales.
Each of your sales channels must be part of a cohesive whole, ensuring your customers’ experience is consistent, regardless of which channel they use to interact with you. The way to achieve this is through your wholesale eCommerce platform integrating with your ERP or accounting system to ensure that all information is the same, in real-time, from wherever it’s accessed.
4. Customer support must be spot on
Research from the CMO Council demonstrates that fast response time to your customers’ specific needs and issues is one of the leading elements of an ideal customer experience.
To ensure your customer service exceeds their expectations, your platform should use technologies that give them assistance without forcing them to leave the product page. So, besides the standard ‘contact us’ with your phone number and contact form, you could offer ‘live chat’ or ‘click-to-call’ on mobile sites.
5. It must appeal to your sales reps
When your business starts using B2B eCommerce, you will need your sales reps to be onboard. They have built relationships with your customers and are in a great position to persuade them to switch to online purchasing.
If your sales reps aren’t compensated for online sales, they will see B2B e-Commerce as a threat to their income and are likely to block its adoption. To motivate them, make sure they are commissioned on all orders, including those placed online.
It is also important to consider how their role will change with the introduction of a new sales channel. They will need to function more as consultative sellers or business advisors. They will be spending much less time on entering and fulfilling orders and will have a lot more time for building customer relationships and increasing sales, which is exactly what they want.
