The eCommerce market is a growing sector with 58 percent of consumers and 80 percent of businesses planning to make more purchases online. The most traditional eCommerce models are:
- Business to Consumer (B2C): is the most popular, with the sale taking place between a business and a consumer.
- Business to Business(B2B): refers to a company that sells a good or service to another company, such as a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer. Business to business does not target consumers and usually involves products such as raw materials, software, or combination products.
eCommerce is certainly one of the fastest growing sectors in our country: in 2007 it accounted for 5.1 percent of total sales, in 2019 16.0 percent, until the exponential growth accrued during the pandemic.
Digital commerce in Italy saw a 78 percent increase in 2021, which placed the country fourth in the world for growth in the sector, after Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
In this article we will discuss the 10 benefits of adopting a B2B eCommerce platform.
What this article is about:
The difference between a B2B and B2C eCommerce
B2B organizations find it difficult to transition to digital commerce because many of the dedicated platforms are designed with only B2C in mind.
Yet the challenge for B2B companies is just as compelling as that of B2C, because they must adopt a customer-centric approach to mirror the experiences shoppers have with sites like Amazon and eBay, and extend functionality and opportunities beyond simple order entry.
Of course, those approaching the adoption of a B2B eCommerce platform have different needs than B2C ones, so here it is necessary to offer different strategies for managing online channels.
- In Business to Customer (B2C) the user is the final consumer. In this case, the customer buys mainly to satisfy an emotional need, the sales process will therefore be quick since the decision on purchase is individual.
- In Business to Business (B2B), the customer is a professional with specific needs, knows the product well, and has clear ideas about what they want to buy. The decision-making process, unlike in the B2C platform, is often not individual, so the decision on purchase can be longer.
Open a B2B eCommerce to improve your performance
Adoption of B2B eCommerce platforms continues to grow and is increasingly approaching B2C levels. Many B2B companies are implementing digital strategies to improve efficiency and reduce manual administration, making business processes faster.
Below we have summarized the top 10 benefits that should drive your organization to adopt a branded eCommerce with a B2B engine.
1. Scalability
An effective B2B eCommerce platform will enable your organization to easily grow and scale to meet market demand and customer needs, opening new sales channels and continuously reaching new market segments.
2. Improved efficiency and productivity
With resource planning and other back-end business systems, eCommerce offers significant benefits for B2B organizations. Customers can order online at any time, so companies optimize time by focusing on the actual functions of Customer Service.
In addition, automating certain processes eliminates the need to reconfigure data in independent systems, thus reducing the possibility of errors. This further improves the efficiency of shipping processes and increases order productivity.
3. More customers
A B2B eCommerce site with public catalog pages is a powerful tool for reaching new customers. As B2B buyers browse online to compare products and find the best prices. Manufacturers and distributors can harness the power of search engines to connect with them.
4. Improved brand awareness
A B2B eCommerce platform provides your business with an online presence, growing your company's awareness, so you can promote, enhance and strengthen your brand both locally and internationally.
eCommerce is one of the main marketing tools to grow web presence and visibility, so it is also important to develop content from an SEO perspective to improve search engine rankings.
5. Increased sales
In addition to the ease with which you can reach new customers, a B2B eCommerce site allows you to easily implement automated cross-sell and upsell advice strategies.
A well-designed platform provides the right information to your customers, thus facilitating the process related to orders. In addition, by providing self-service features, eCommerce websites allow customers to easily order or reorder based on previous purchases, including negotiated prices and personalized preferences, this not only increases sales, but also improves average order values.
6. Analytical skills
With the right B2B eCommerce platform, you can launch comprehensive analytics campaigns. The company can easily measure and evaluate marketing campaigns, sales effectiveness, product mix, inventory turns, customer sales effectiveness and customer engagement.
7. Customer-centered experience
Although there are differences in B2C and B2B shopping experiences, B2B organizations still need to implement intuitive design, rich content and interactive features on their websites in terms of product recommendations and trends based on previous research: merchandise by holiday or themes and easy access to past orders, account settings, profile and wish lists.
8. Outstanding customer service
Use B2B eCommerce to improve your Customer Service. Sites can provide access to self-service portals with account, order, history, or customer tracking information.
9. Greater involvement in sales
Your physical sales team will also benefit from launching a high-performing eCommerce. A B2B site or portal improves your sales teams' visibility into customer orders, pricing, and history while traveling or working remotely.
With automated inventory management and order tracking, you can synchronize data across your eCommerce channels and provide accurate updates to your customers. This is a proven way to promote transparency, ensure faster deliveries and improve the customer experience.
10. Multisite capability
Starting channel-specific or co-branded eCommerce sites is easy with the right platform. This feature allows you to offer co-branded websites or microsites for each of your distributors or key customers, as well as implement sites that can cater to specific international audiences by presenting content in alternative languages or currencies.
Power2Cloud partners with the best B2B and B2C eCommerce platforms!
Do you find these benefits useful for your reality as well, if you are interested in evaluating a B2B eCommerce platform for your business contact our team!
With power2Cloud you have a partner who will assist you in implementing a dedicated eCommerce for B2B customers. We can follow you and offer consulting services, migration, integrations, training and support. In addition, we are already partners with the two best platforms on the market - BigCommerce and Shopify!
Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce with which you can create a unique shopping experience for your user. You can choose from more than 100 themes and natively integrate the platform with the most widely used software such as: Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, Google Merchant Centre, Google Analytics, Google Ads, eBay, Amazon, HubSpot, Zendesk Support, Zendesk Chat and many more.
BigCommerce is an Open Saas eCommerce platform with which you can deliver complete, personalized experiences to your customer with a truly versatile enterprise solution. The power of Headless CMS is put at the service of B2C experiences and B2B business models.
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