The times have changed and this is why the buyers as well as the sellers are making the most out of the e-commerce trend. It is a fact that the B2B and B2C commerce are entirely unique, wherein the B2B is the business platform catering the specific needs and the latter is the consumer destination that is all about surfing, shopping and ordering the choicest stuff; but their stumbling blocks are just the same. While the B2B and B2C Marketers have spared no efforts to meet their customers through different digital points yet the B2C e-commerce’s 15 years lead is working in their favor for bringing in higher social engagement.
In order to sustain themselves in the soaring competition with the online B2B marketers globally, there are few lessons that the B2B shall learn from their B2C brethren, which are cited below:
Consumerize The B2B E-commerce Sites
The business is from the customers and if they aren’t satisfied then everything else is futile. At the e-commerce stores, there are no trained human resources to convince the customers and it’s the stellar online experience that compels them to make a purchase. In this context, the B2C online marketers have raised the bars for the B2B ones by offering the transparent product information, easy user interface, guest checkouts, customer ratings etc. to the visitors.
Providing such rich information can be a tedious task for the customers, but an investment in the Product Information Management application can help to turn the existing product catalog into the rich, market-ready product listings, without much effort.
After Mobile Responsive Websites, It’s the Time For Mobile Storefront
Earlier it was ‘E-commerce’, but now it’s the M-commerce, the hottest faction of the online marketing activities. About the 87% of the tech-savvy generation is using between 2-3 technical devices daily, as per the reports of Forbes. Mobile, being the handiest among all the tech-devices is positioned on the top list when it comes to enriching the online shopping experience of the users. While the B2B and B2C Marketers have fast adopted the mobile responsivity trend to their existing e-commerce solution, the need is to constantly adapt and alter according to the various customer issues like internet disconnection, look-up speed, visual feedback, lost data, etc.
A Cloud-based Storefront Mobile is an ideal application that can work entirely offline, thus easing the user experience and boosting the sales of manufacturers and wholesale distributors by up to 20%.
Give The Customers A Personalized Shopping Experience
Though the trend is for online marketing, the buyers still yearn for that little human interaction and lookout for the sellers who go the extra mile to make them feel important. While the B2C sellers create the user experience that fall in line with the individual tastes via personalized greetings on the homepage, recommendations on the basis of past searches, wish lists, and saved credit card information, the B2B practices should slightly vary.
The B2B marketers shall customize their e-commerce websites as per the customer’s needs by offering the multi-site, multi-brand, user-based permissions, pricing schedules by user groups or companies, and other aerodynamic processes. This way B2B companies will outsell competitors devoid of these strategies by 30% before 2018, as per the predictions by Gartner.
Integrate The E-commerce And Back-Office Operations
The burgeoning use of technology and e-commerce can certainly not overshadow the efforts of the Customer Support Reps, Warehouse, Sales Reps, Distributors, and Retailers etc. For instance when the gadgets and the self-service tools fall short to understand the exact customer query, the frustrated lot switches to these Sales Reps for getting the valid solution for their troubles. Thus, there shall be a seamless integration in order to offer the top of the line services to the customers.
The essential step to this is to compensate the Representatives accordingly or else there will be no impelling power to adopt the B2B e-commerce adaptations.
By considering all these steps as the part of the e-commerce building, B2B marketers can gain a good business sense and rule e-commerce like their B2C brethren.
