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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many physical stores had to close down or operate at reduced capacity, forcing B2B business to quickly make some strategic adjustments to meet their customers’ needs. However, it goes beyond simply making things from real locations available online. It’s about connecting with B2B customers via online channels while many traditionally preferred to speak directly with sellers.
To build a long relationship with the supplier or customer in B2B eCommerce, you need to approach various methods. In this article, we will discuss how to improve the B2B eCommerce solution at your store.
Why are B2B marketplaces transforming?
B2B marketplace is a digital platform that allows a business to connect with other businesses and conduct business operations. It helps place orders and transactions fully online, as well as offers a simplified and expedited transaction process all in one place.
The B2B platform has been there for over two decades, becoming a nearly indistinct source of trade for many small and medium businesses. However, many large companies are still hesitant to alter their long dependence on working directly with suppliers due to concerns about scale, quality, and reliability. That started to change when the new generation of leaders who are growing up making online transactions realized the power of technology and digital marketplace.
B2C enterprises, consumer brands, and retail sellers had enhanced the usage of digital platforms to get higher margins. In the B2B market, there also have been significant digital improvements and exceptional use of eCommerce technologies, which resulted in tremendous benefits.
In 2019, B2B e-commerce revenue in the US hit a record high of 6.7 trillion US dollars, more than double the 3.2 trillion recorded approximately ten years ago. The e-commerce wholesale trade sales totaled 2.9 trillion US dollars, accounting for about one-third of all wholesale shipments. These figures reveal one thing: the future of B2B eCommerce is bright.
6 Tips to Improve B2B eCommerce Solution
As B2B buyers become more comfortable with making purchases online, they intend to expect the same level of service from online stores. However, B2B business is not the same as B2C, and B2B merchants must develop their digital commerce strategies with the aim of satisfying the demands of consumers in mind. These tips that we detailed below will help you find a good way to improve your B2B eCommerce solutions.
1. Optimize the B2B buying process
Most B2B purchases include 6 big actions: problem identification, options and solutions evaluation, requirements building, supplier selection, validation, and consensus creation – a process to build trust and create ownership. Due to the number of decision-makers on the buying group and the sets of options and solutions, going through various stages might happen rapidly, even bypassing one or two stages, or it can take a long period, with the client revisiting each of those six buying jobs at least once.
Because these stages are not usually carried out sequentially, buyers may return to the same stage more than once. So, the ideal strategy is to optimize every stage of the customer journey to make sure B2B customers enjoy the purchasing process at your store. Take product and service strategies as examples. Enhancing product quality, updating new products or services with attractive and well-designed packages might be a plus point to persuade B2B buyers when they compare your product to others B2B sellers.
2. Divide customers into groups for a more personalized experience
The practice of dividing the personalized customer base into groups is called customer segmentation. The purpose is to identify how to communicate with consumers in each group based on their age, gender, psychographics, interests, and spending habits in order to increase the value of each customer to the business. Depending on this, you can determine the key customer behaviors to make effective allocation of marketing resources and maximize cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
Also, this practice can improve the customer experience and provide the best service for loyal customers. Along with finding the best way to attract prospective customers, you can aim your marketing efforts to your most profitable and loyal customer group to save time and money.
3. Utilize mobile shopping
Nowadays, the number of people shopping through mobile devices is increased dramatically, and B2B consumers are not an exception. B2B users now can access online shopping platforms without a desktop or computer involved.
In the United States, mobile retail commerce income via smartphones was predicted to produce sales of 221.2 billion US dollars in 2021. More than that, smartphone retail commerce sales would exceed $400 billion US dollars by 2024, nearly double the amount expected for 2021.
The number of people who make purchases through smart devices is increasing steadily, paving the way for a dynamic B2B online marketplace with a wide range of goods and services. B2B businesses should prepare for the rise of mobile commerce in the upcoming years as mobile shopping is going to be an expected trend that will continue to strongly grow.
4. Provide excellent B2B eCommerce experience for millennials
Millennials are driving significant change in the B2B world because they are one of the largest groups in today’s workforce and have enormous purchasing power. As a generation who have grown up with technology, they are familiar with online transactions, particularly when it comes to eCommerce experiences. Therefore, it might help greatly expand your business when it comes to making B2B online business a comfortable journey with this customer group. Improving your B2B eCommerce experience to guarantee your online B2B portal attracts these younger customers can expose you to a whole new market while also keeping your company current’s customer base.
5. Employ B2B eCommerce platforms
As eCommerce B2B is on the rise, the number of B2B eCommerce platforms has increased significantly to help B2B businesses speed up digitalization with convenience. Whether you are new to B2B eCommerce or want to leverage your B2B site, investing in B2B eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, etc. can help improve your B2B eCommerce solution significantly.
B2B eCommerce platform gives your business many specialized features, such as B2B customer portal, bulk orders, volume pricing, etc to help you run your B2B sites smoothly and save you some time. However, when you start selling across several channels, you’ll need a dashboard of all of your inventory in real-time. Similarly, you’ll want a single source of truth for product information, such as a product information management system (PIM) or a similar solution, so you don’t have to manually enter product information on each channel where you sell. Hexasync, a data integration platform, can help you connect your data across numerous systems.
You may collect your most essential data to better measure performance and uncover opportunities when your B2B business and eCommerce platforms are closely linked. Customer service benefits greatly from seamless channel transitions as well.
6. Move to headless commerce
One of the best ways to improve the B2B eCommerce solution is transforming to headless commerce. It is an eCommerce technology that separates the frontend presentation (head) from the backend commerce activities. The headless eCommerce platform allows businesses to access the full potential of best-in-class online shopping without being restricted to certain touchpoints, providing a positive customer experience.
Regardless of the customer access point, a fully headless eCommerce platform includes strong commerce capabilities such as shopping carts, product information management, promotions, merchant tools, etc. Taking your B2B business headless might propose a significant improvement for your store in terms of user experience, thanks to its customizability and flexibility.
Read more: 15 Best Examples of Headless Commerce
Conclusion
B2B eCommerce is booming, and the traditional B2B sales model will continue to lose its market share as the eCommerce industry is expanding faster than ever. Keeps updated with the latest trends and constantly improves your B2B online solution for the better. It’s your chance to scale up your B2B online business and optimize your B2B eCommerce solution to stay ahead in this competition.
