Advantages of the B2B eCommerce Model for Businesses in 2022 and Beyond

1. Scalability and growth

A well-performing web store strengthens your online presence, drawing more potential clients on your turf. Thus, an effective eCommerce platform will be easily discoverable, SEO-optimized, and mobile-friendly. The key B2B eCommerce benefits is its flexibility, which allows businesses to open multiple stores and expand into B2C, B2B2C, and D2C selling modes. For example, in medical supplies eCommerce, B2B2C is used to maintain regulatory oversight and healthcare organizations must ensure their marketing information is consistent and compliant.

2. Customer-centricity

It is clear that consumers now prefer do-it-yourself options for researching products prior to buying. Well-designed eCommerce solutions provide them with access to self-service portals with relevant resources, such as product descriptions, reviews, shipping, and handling information, as well as their account, order history, and delivery tracking information. 

By leveraging B2B eCommerce platforms‘ personalization capabilities, you can even customize the way your storefront looks or which products it displays first based on buyer preferences. Most importantly, your sales team gets access to a wealth of data on each customer and their transactions, helping them to offer personalized, customer-centric updates and support.

3. Customer reach

Your customers are already online searching for the best prices, comparing products, and spending money with companies that meet their requirements. You, too, can take advantage of new sales channels: go where your buyers are researching their purchases and leverage the power of digital marketing. An SEO-friendly, responsive site that is accessible on any device will rank higher on Google, increasing your brand awareness and engagement and boosting online sales.

Whether you open a web store or build a B2B marketplace, getting catalogs online allows you to not only reach new markets but centralize data, too. For example, even your physical teams will appreciate a well-organized website. They will have a single source of truth since catalog items, orders, pricing, and history will be easily accessible – whether they’re working remotely or out in the field..

4. Digital agility

B2B businesses must have the ability to launch a web store quickly, shift to new markets, or scale their eCommerce business to meet growing demand. Today’s technology makes it easy for brands to build long-term relationships or build a following of their own.

Among the key benefits of B2B eCommerce for business is that it allows B2B retailers to grow beyond their local area and reach new customers. Unlike their brick-and-mortar counterparts, retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers owning a B2B eCommerce platform can build a web store in local languages, currencies and accept local payment methods – even if it means operating within different tax codes and legal regulations.

5. Increased productivity

Some potential benefits of B2B eCommerce are centered around productivity. It allows businesses to focus on building relationships with customers instead of merely taking orders and entering data into an ERP. A self-service portal can take orders 24/7 and supply customers with personalized pricing, order status, and more.

Automated order workflows reduce the possibility of errors and misunderstandings while increasing the efficiency of sales processes. This empowers your staff to address and manage things a machine cannot do – advising, consulting, and supporting leads and clients.

6. Omnichannel experience

One of the main pros of a B2B eCommerce coupled with omnichannel retail is that the online sales experience transcends selling barriers posed by physical stores. Business-to-business customers don’t have to visit a showroom only to find out they can’t find what they need and leave empty-handed. Today’s customer journeys are rarely linear, as they move between devices and platforms. For example, customers can start on your LinkedIn’s mobile site and transfer to your website on a desktop. Brands rely on eCommerce in order to offer platform-specific offers and conversion-driving experiences on their stores.

7. Flexible payment options

A typical large-scale B2B business can process a variety of terms, payment, and invoice options. Thus, not offering the right payment method can result in unneeded friction for the customer resulting in lost sales. One of the key benefits of B2B platforms is the ability to offer built-in payment methods and integrate with payment processors, invoicing systems, accounting software, support physical checks – thereby streamlining the checkout process for customers. 

8. Accurate analytics

With customer expectations growing, quick thinking is everything, and businesses cannot afford to make mistakes. Making the wrong decisions about orders, fulfillment, or even stock counts will push customers to shop elsewhere. With the right data at their fingertips, back-office staff can get accurate stock counts and use that to offer more efficient service to customers.

Integrating eCommerce platform data into other enterprise software (ERP, PIM eComemrce, Procurement, CRM, etc.) provides you with a holistic view of all business processes. This allows for greater instant insight into the effectiveness of business processes. The benefits of such insights are countless; for example, you can use them to provide recommendations on optimizing price management to increase online sales or reduce costs.  

9. Improved sales process

Perhaps one of the substantial benefits of B2B eCommerce, it that your online sales platform will quickly become your best salesperson because it can supply customers with the right information and make it easy for them to complete their order. When customers can self-serve, order, and reorder according to their negotiated terms, previous quotes, or personalized prices, you increase sales and average order values.

Your B2B eCommerce back-office must provide reps with full visibility into customer info, their order history, personalized pricing, and instant insight into stock availability. Finally, it must also be mobile-friendly and accessible to reps working remotely or on the road.

10. Stronger brand

With your very own online presence backed by an eCommerce platform, you have full control over growing and promoting your brand. While joining third-party marketplaces may be an attractive low-cost option of getting your brand online, you give up your margins and lose data about your customers. Be strategic and leverage B2B marketplaces as an additional sales channel, not a substitute for your own branded eCommerce site.

Hope These Benefits Got You Thinking About B2B eCommerce!

Although most B2B business owners are well aware of the necessity of digital transformation, the amount of merchants reaping the opportunities in the B2B eCommerce space is still limited. We hope that this infographic does its part to increase B2B eCommerce awareness and help you identify the many potential benefits of B2B eCommerce and advantages of B2B eCommerce architecture and solutions for your business.

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