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AI is Transforming B2B eCommerce: Here's How
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the business world, just like it changed how we shop online. Think of AI in B2B powering your search engine, your smart speaker, or even those “you might also like” product recommendations you see online. Now, businesses selling to other businesses (B2B sales) are harnessing AI tools to personalize customer experiences, make smarter decisions, and gain a competitive advantage. Let’s explore some key ways AI is impacting B2B eCommerce, enabling businesses to achieve revenue growth:
From Catalogs to AI-Powered Recommendations
For years, online B2B purchasing has felt like flipping through a giant catalog. Buyers searched for products on their own, with limited help from the platform. This is about to change, enhancing customer interactions along the customer journey.
Imagine AI stepping in to provide highly targeted product recommendations in real-time. These recommendations would consider what you’ve searched for, your past purchases, and even what similar businesses are buying, drawing insights from market data. This is possible thanks to advancements in “large language models,” or LLMs, which can understand and process vast amounts of data.
Optimizing Your Product Information
Every large B2B company struggles with managing product data. Think about cleaning up, organizing, and standardizing thousands of product codes and descriptions – it’s a huge headache, often involving manual data entry tasks. This problem is even worse for online marketplaces that need to manage products from hundreds of different vendors, each with their own unique way of describing things.
Advancements in LLMs and generative AI are paving the way for AI-powered systems that can automatically classify and organize this messy inventory data. These systems can tackle the “data problem” caused by inconsistent product codes and terminology across different manufacturers.
Instead of relying on manual labor to clean up this data, distributors can leverage AI technology and automate repetitive tasks, freeing up their sales and marketing teams to focus on more strategic tasks like improving marketing efficiency and developing effective marketing strategies.
Unlocking the Power of AI in B2B Sales: The Benefits
Integrating AI into your B2B eCommerce operations can be a game-changer. Whether it’s features baked right into your platform or using cool third-party AI apps, there’s a ton of potential to empower your sales teams and boost your bottom line. Let’s dive into how advancements in AI techology, like machine learning and generative AI, can supercharge your sales strategy and decision-making processes:
Elevated Customer Experience
90% of B2B buyers would jump ship to a competitor if they offered a better online experience. That’s where AI solutions come in. Think AI-driven chatbots for your customer service teams, supercharged search, and personalized website experiences.
By analyzing customer data and understanding how customers interact with your business, you can build stronger customer relationships, boost loyalty, and keep those conversion rates climbing.
Sharper Decision-Making
AI can sift through mountains of data – historical data, market data, you name it – to uncover valuable insights that can optimize the customer journey. Imagine connecting all your data (CRM, ERP, inventory) and layering in real-time website behavior.
Suddenly, you’ve got a crystal-clear view of your customers and what makes them tick. AI-powered analytical tools can automate this entire process, freeing up your sales leaders and marketing teams to focus on refining strategies and exploring new opportunities.
Automation of Routine Tasks
Workflow automation is where AI truly shines in the B2B world. AI tools can take over those tedious, repetitive tasks and free up your team for more strategic work. Think syncing pricing across all your channels, managing inventory like a pro, and even automating parts of your sales process and digital marketing efforts.
AI automation can handle content development, invoice follow-up, and reporting. By strategically choosing the right AI tools, you can streamline your sales efforts, boost your marketing capabilities, and give your sales team their time back.
Personalized Marketing and Sales
AI algorithms can learn from your customers’ behavior – what they buy, what they browse – to create personalized experiences that drive sales. Think tailored product recommendations, dynamic product catalogs that adapt to each customer, and even offering helpful resources like webinar invitations or product sheets at just the right moment.
AI can also be a secret weapon for account-based marketing, providing insights into campaign performance and helping you identify those hot leads. And with predictive analytics, fueled by AI, you can spot hidden patterns, anticipate market trends, and unlock opportunities that you might have otherwise missed.
Supply Chain Optimization
AI-powered predictive analytics can help you optimize every step of the way. Think forecasting demand with incredible accuracy, prioritizing suppliers based on multiple factors, and even automating parts of your production and transportation flows.
Companies that embrace AI in their supply chain can see major cost savings in logistics (up to 15%), reduce inventory levels (up to 35%), and boost service levels (up to 65%).
The OroCommerce Difference
We understand that B2B businesses have unique needs. Unlike generic AI solutions, OroCommerce’s AI features are built specifically for the complexities of B2B, empowering you to:
- Boost efficiency: Automate tasks, surface critical information faster, and free up valuable time for your sales team to focus on strategic initiatives.
- Personalize the buyer journey: Deliver tailored product recommendations, content, and experiences that cater to individual buyer preferences and drive conversions.
- Stay ahead of the curve: Maintain your competitive edge by leveraging the latest AI advancements to optimize your eCommerce operations and exceed customer expectations.
How OroCommerce's AI-Powered Features Transform Your Business
Next-Generation Product Recommendations
Go beyond basic "Customers Also Bought" suggestions with OroCommerce's integration with Google's Vertex AI. Leveraging your own transactional data, you can train the AI to power recommendations like "Frequently Bought Together," "Similar Items," "Buy It Again," and more, optimizing for specific business goals like increased revenue or click-through rates.
AI-Powered Product Information Engine
Create and deliver compelling, accurate, and dynamic product content at scale. By integrating Generative AI with your existing PIM and product data, this feature automates content creation and ensures buyers have access to the information they need, precisely when they need it.
OroCommerce SmartAgent
IN BETA, GA Q4‘24
Empower your buyers with an AI-powered assistant. Integrated with your OroCommerce inbox, SmartAgent instantly answers account and product questions, creates quotes, and even places orders – all through intuitive, natural language commands.
OroCommerce SmartOrder
IN BETA, GA Q4‘24
Convert emailed PDFs and other order documents into actionable orders within OroCommerce. This AI-driven feature automates order entry, reducing manual errors and saving valuable time. SmartOrder also identifies inconsistencies in imported data, ensuring order accuracy before processing.
Questions and Answers about AI Tools for B2B Sales Teams
Do B2B websites use artificial intelligence?
Absolutely! B2B websites are increasingly using AI in B2B to ditch the old, static platform for something way more dynamic. Imagine transforming your site into a personalized portal for every customer. AI tools make it possible by tailoring what products users see based on their past behavior, previous orders, and even their company profile. This creates a smooth, almost B2C-like customer experience that boosts satisfaction and makes everyone’s lives easier.
What's the future of AI in B2B sales and customer relationship management?
AI-powered solutions are already changing how businesses buy and sell, with sales teams at the forefront of this revolution. Here’s a glimpse of what’s possible:
- Data-driven insights: Imagine using AI algorithms to analyze data – customer behavior such as past purchases, market trends, even social media activity. This gives your sales and marketing teams superpowers to predict what customers want before they even know it.
- Enhance sales processes: AI can automate tedious tasks like lead qualification, freeing up your sales professionals to focus on what they do best: building customer relationships.
- Personalized customer interactions: AI can help tailor every interaction a customer has with your brand. From personalized website experiences to targeted email campaigns, AI can significantly enhance customer interactions.
How can AI be used for B2B pricing?
B2B pricing can get complicated – think bulk discounts, tiered pricing, and dynamic market adjustments. Artificial intelligence helps by:
- Analyzing historical data to identify optimal pricing strategies for different customer segments.
- Providing real-time insights into market demand and competitor pricing to support data-driven decisions.
- Automating price adjustments based on pre-defined rules, ensuring you always offer competitive rates.
This means no more manual number-crunching – AI takes the reins, leaving your B2B sales leaders free to focus on strategy and revenue growth.
What are some challenges in implementing AI in B2B sales?
While AI offers incredible potential, successful implementation requires careful planning:
- Poor data quality: Garbage in, garbage out. Generative AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. Cleaning up your data and ensuring its accuracy is crucial.
- Master AI integration: Successfully integrating AI into your existing business operations and sales processes requires careful planning and execution.
- Robust data security measures: Handling sensitive customer data requires top-notch security measures to maintain customer loyalty and trust.