While up until a few years ago, customers had to walk to physical stores to buy the items they needed, things have now changed significantly thanks to the technological advancement of online shopping. Similarly, companies who need to buy goods and services can now just go online and buy from the B2B sellers that offer the best deals.
In light of the shift to online transactions, businesses must rethink their marketing and channel strategies to remain profitable. One of the best strategies is to set up a B2B eCommerce platform to do business online. There is a multitude of benefits that a business stands to gain when it trades through a reliable B2B eCommerce platform.
Understanding B2B eCommerce platforms
If you're asking yourself what a B2B eCommerce platform is, it is simply a software platform that provides a wide range of functions and solutions. It facilitates business-to-business transactions, for example between manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and others.
Ways in which a B2B eCommerce platform can help your business
Companies have an option of using email marketing or basic websites, but there are so many advantages of using an excellent B2B eCommerce platform. The benefits include:
Better customer reach
Using a B2B eCommerce platform allows the business to incorporate various media such as social platforms into their online stores. The beauty of doing this is that it makes it easier for businesses to reach more customers without incurring higher costs. With a broader customer reach, the business improves its sales and brand awareness and competes well with other companies eyeing its niche.
Improved customer service
The best B2B eCommerce platforms like Virto Commerce emphasize the overall customer experience. The mass-selling approach does not work well with B2B selling, and the best eCommerce platforms allow the personalization of services for every customer. They enable the tailoring of services to the needs of each client instead of generic strategies. For example, after analyzing a buyer's list of purchases over time, the solution helps the buyer to easily place an order. This makes the entire process, including checking out, hassle-free.
Increased efficiency and productivity
A great B2B eCommerce platform will allow easy integration with other systems and ERP solutions. Linking with other back end systems and making the various processes seamless improves efficiency and increases productivity. For instance, ordering is linked to inventory and other functions so that the stock levels are updated in real-time avoiding issues due to incorrect inventory quantities.
Enhanced analytics capacity
Data analysis is key to the efficient running of a business offering customers the best service. Fortunately, a B2B eCommerce platform makes data gathering and analysis easy. B2B companies can measure and assess the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, inventory turnover, and other parameters hence making proper decisions that help to improve customer service, profitability, and overall business success.
Conclusion
If you were in any doubt if you're a company in B2B trading that can benefit in any way from using a B2B eCommerce platform, you must have seen how much you're missing out. Benefits include more customer connections, improved customer service, higher efficiency and productivity, and better analytics ability.
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Community manager at Visual Contenting. Jacqueline loves to talk about social media trends, new technology and how they help businesses accelerate their marketing efforts.
