Succeeding in B2B digital commerce can be difficult. It can be challenging to figure out how to deploy or upgrade eCommerce technology and build an effective future-proof B2B eCommerce experience and strategy.
Want to know what steps you can take to deploy a successful B2B eCommerce site that engages customers, builds your brand and grows your business? Digital Commerce 360’s recent report, B2B Ecommerce Handbook: Downloading Digital Designs outlines important considerations for B2B eCommerce. The top tips include:
1. Identify your customer’s demands and your sales channels
Determine what your customers need and how your eCommerce site can address those needs. How will you ensure your customers have a valuable experience? Understanding your customer’s demands is crucial, and exploring strategies to attract and retain B2B clients in specific industries, such as the hospitality sector, can provide further insights into tailoring your approach
2. Get all stakeholders involved
Determine which company stakeholders should be involved in planning a new site while also getting input on website design from all pertinent departments and stakeholders. Make sure to include your valued customers as part of the process!
3. Understand your existing business technology
This should include ERP, PIM and other data management tools. Figure out what you need to add or upgrade, and determine how you need to integrate these applications with your eCommerce platform to provide the best online customer experience.
A frictionless payments experience is central to B2B eCommerce. The pandemic highlighted the inefficiencies of manual processes, which pose a challenge as companies transition to digital sales channels. Many B2B businesses had to change their entire go-to market sales strategies, which included implementing eCommerce offerings so buyers could conveniently and seamlessly transact online. Offering a seamless, invisible, and frictionless payments experience is central to it all. But these businesses are also facing unique challenges when it comes to offering a checkout experience that meets the needs of today’s B2B buyer, including:
4. The ability to provide the choices that B2B buyers expect at checkout
B2B transactions are more complex than B2C transactions because they involve multiple stakeholders and many different payment options. To provide a seamless experience, B2B businesses need to offer payment choices that include trade credit.
5. Protecting against fraud
B2B businesses must manage the risk associated with invoice fraud as more vendors enter the mix. An inability to flag fraudulent businesses and correctly identify actual businesses can constrain growth.
For businesses who are looking for the right embedded payments partner, Coppolo noted that they should look for a company that can handle:
- Credit decisioning and underwriting;
- Trade credit and buy now, pay later options for buyers;
- Omnichannel solutions for in-store and online transactions;
- Payments via check, wire, ACH or direct debit credit card;
- A mobile payment app;
- Accounts receivable solutions for invoicing, auto dunning, collections and disputes
Follow Jeff Coppolo on LinkedIn for more.
