The benefits of B2B eCommerce software on business growth

By Nick Spooner
CEO at Salesorder.com | Software and expertise for wholesaler optimization

In the last few years, B2B eCommerce has shifted from traditional outbound sales channels to eCommerce platforms, giving B2B brands access to new opportunities and changing the way that they do business.

But what are the benefits of utilising a B2B wholesale eCommerce platform and is it a good fit for your business?

In the following guide, we’ll highlight some of the biggest benefits of B2B eCommerce while covering questions such as:

How does B2B eCommerce software work?
How can it save my business money?
How do I choose a B2B eCommerce platform?

How to Choose a B2B eCommerce Platform | Salesorder

Streamline your operations, with the best eCommerce platform for B2B. These are the...

1. Ability to maximise efficiency

B2B eCommerce software is built with efficiency in mind. It can streamline complicated processes, automate time-consuming tasks, and allow you to focus more on your customers.

If your staff members are spending less time processing orders and handling workflows, they can expend more effort on customer service.

Good customer service is at the heart of every successful business, and that’s especially true in the wholesale sector, where long-term relationships are key.

Streamlining also reduces the risk of human error and the damage that those errors cause to your business.

2. Reduced costs and improved profitability

By automating time-consuming tasks, eliminating mistakes, and streamlining key operational areas, a proper B2B eCommerce strategy can greatly reduce expenditure and increase profitability.

Reduced costs are clearly one of the most important benefits of B2B eCommerce. Wholesalers work with fine margins and often provide sizeable discounts. Keeping those expenses low provides more of a financial buffer and ensures the business is not permanently one disaster away from financial ruin.

3. Easy to scale

Scaling a business of any size and in any industry is a challenge. There are financial and logistical challenges, and you’re dealing with an immense amount of uncertainty.

One of the benefits of B2B eCommerce is that you can scale steadily, affordably, and strategically.

It’s easier to open new channels, target new customers, onboard new employees, and increase your capacity for accepting and processing orders.

4. Customer insight and analytics

Customers should be at the heart of every B2B eCommerce strategy. Forget about products, prices, and operational efficiency—if your customers aren’t happy, your business is going nowhere.

Many of the benefits of B2B eCommerce platforms revolve around customers. Not only do they speed up operations and minimise mistakes, thus ensuring that customers get exactly what they ordered in the shortest time possible, but they also provide insights into how those customers shop.

Businesses can provide recommendations, target popular trends, offer tailored discounts, and utilise customer reviews and testimonials.

Furthermore, every click, purchase, and cart abandonment is tracked, and software can also be installed to record what devices customers are using, where they are located, how long they spend on the site, and how they got there.

5. Predictable, recurring revenue

The easier it is for your customers to place an order, the more likely they are to do so. Some of the payment-related benefits of B2B eCommerce include:

Accept multiple different payment methods
Easily process payments in many different currencies
Create recurring billing and auto-shipments
Send invoices automatically every time payments are due

There is a great deal of uncertainty in the wholesale sector, and that’s especially true in recent years, as world events have shaken many businesses to their core. Having regular payments that you can rely on is essential for the survival and success of your business and ensures the funds keep coming in.

6. A reduction in B2B marketing costs

If you’re focusing your marketing efforts offline and relying on printed catalogues, phone calls, and other outbound efforts, you’re targeting an increasingly smaller number of customers and spending more to reach them.

These days, customers expect to buy online. They expect to see your catalogue on a website and want to make purchases with a few clicks. By launching your business into the eCommerce space, you can reduce your total marketing spend.

One of the great benefits of B2B eCommerce is that you can target hyper-specific groups of people. You’re not simply posting an advert in a local newspaper or on a local TV channel and then hoping the right people will see it. You’re relying on vast databases maintained by the likes of Google and Facebook to target people in specific areas and with specific needs.

And that’s not all.

If you create a website and fill it with relevant and helpful guides, articles, and blog posts, you can improve your Google rankings and generate passive leads. Unlike traditional marketing methods, you’re not paying for every thousand impressions, every click, or even every lead. You just create the content, wait for it to be indexed, and the search engines will do the rest.

7. Improve your brand recognition

Utilising a B2B eCommerce platform places your brand in front of more prospective customers. It’s an opportunity to gain global recognition for a local brand, but even if you only target local customers, it’s a chance to ensure that everyone in that area knows about the brand and understands what it sells.

Of course, you can’t simply create a site and then wait for global recognition. That’s not how it works. You still need to market your brand and ensure that people hear about it. But an eCommerce platform gives you the chance to do just that.

Get help from an expert

Whether you’re drop shipping a wide range of products to a global customer base, shipping highly specialised products to your local area, or still putting the finishing touches to your business plan, we can help.

We provide a range of state-of-the-art software solutions for B2B companies, all of which are geared towards making your business more profitable and more efficient.

FAQ

How do I start an B2B eCommerce project?

There are clearly many benefits of B2B eCommerce, so you’re probably keen to get involved and get your piece of the pie. Your first step is to figure out what you want to do/sell. After that, just create a business plan (outlining your objectives and including analyses of your customers, competitors, and the market), find a supplier, establish a location, hire staff, and prepare your software.

What are the challenges of B2B eCommerce?

B2B eCommerce presents many of the same challenges as traditional wholesaling, including maintaining customer relationships, converting leads, utilising the right technology, and keeping track of trends and competitors. One of the areas where it differs is that you also need to think about processing payments online and keeping transactions and data secure.

Working with dedicated software like SalesOrder can help you with all of that.

How to choose a B2B eCommerce platform?

Look for a platform that is secure, efficient, easy to use, and affordable while also thinking about whether it meets your specific needs. What works for one company in one industry might not necessarily work for another. Check out the features, arrange a call with the providers, and do your due diligence.