In the wake of the pandemic, companies across the globe are reimagining the way they do business. Sales reps, unable to visit their B2B customers onsite, are now engaging with them remotely through various digital channels. However, there is a sense of fear that customers could defect to the competition.
These challenges are pushing companies to re-define sales strategies, and build new business models that can help them retain B2B customers. One such model is B2B e-commerce—enabling customers with an online platform where they can place orders anytime and anywhere without the physical presence or assistance of sales reps.
Since B2C commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart have seen great success among end consumers, companies have begun replicating the same approach for their B2B customers (which include distributors, dealers, and retailers). Providing a B2B commerce platform is no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’—it’s a mandatory checkbox that should have been ticked off yesterday.
Businesses around the world are now rushing to make digital buying and selling easier. In fact, 65% of B2B organisations plan to invest more in e-commerce over the next two years. What’s more, most B2B leaders expect digital channels to provide more than 50% of their revenue in three years.
But before going down the B2B commerce route, companies need to understand exactly what their customers are looking for, and what they can do to build long-lasting customer relationships. After all, these organisational customers expect the same intuitive experience from a B2B commerce platform that they would get with a B2C commerce one.
So, here are a few important aspects to consider.
1. Deliver seamless omni-channel experiences
Companies need to be responsive while serving B2B customers across channels. The idea is to give customers an exceptional and connected user experience, irrespective of the channel they use—be it websites, mobile apps, or chatbots.
Providing an omni-channel experience is all about breaking silos, unifying data, and putting the customer at the heart of everything. According to McKinsey, “Eight in ten B2B leaders say that omnichannel is as or more effective than traditional methods—a sentiment that has grown sharply throughout the past year—rising from 54 percent at the start of the pandemic to 83 percent in February 2021.”
A robust B2B platform can help companies fulfil the promise of omni-channel by unifying the customer experience across channels. So, if a customer adds a product to their shopping cart on their B2B commerce mobile app, it will be available in their cart even when they open the website portal. Customers will also get the same responses irrespective of the channel they use to communicate or transact with companies.
This approach of treating the customer consistently at every touchpoint can greatly enhance the buying experience.
2. Empower customers with all the information they need in one place
The primary focus of a B2B commerce platform is to help customers transact, book products, track orders, and more. But for it to be truly effective, all the information and tools that customers need must be available in one place. If customers have to use different platforms to raise queries, chat with an agent, search products, and find FAQs/details, then the purpose of omni-channel is defeated.
A single platform gives B2B customers the power of knowledge. No longer do they have to toggle between multiple systems or agents to understand “what are the offers or rebates applicable on orders”, “what is the technical literature of a particular product”, and “where to raise a complaint or query?”.
Chatbots can further extend the value of a B2B platform by helping customers make informed purchasing decisions without ever having to speak to a sales rep. This elevates the customer experience, and helps drive up sales.
3. Strengthen back-end integrations
To give customers a one-stop-shop for all their business needs, a B2B commerce platform must be able to smoothly integrate with other critical systems, including:
- Back-end financial systems to issue customer invoices: B2B customers can get an invoice and payment receipt directly from the B2B commerce platform, instead of having to contact various people or departments.
- Inventory management systems to check product availability: B2B buyers can determine which products are available for faster delivery. Based on that, they can plan and forecast demand.
- Supply chain management systems to track the status of customer orders: Buyers can save a lot of time and effort by receiving regular updates on the status of their orders, so that they can plan better.
- Trade promotion systems to manage ongoing customer rebates: B2B buyers can gain visibility into the latest rebates and schemes available while ordering. This can help them make informed decisions about what to buy, when, and how much.
4. Provide intelligent recommendations and delightful service
However well-designed a product catalogue is, customers might forget to order certain products in their initial purchase. Or, they might miss out on offers because they didn’t add certain products to their order.
An intelligent B2B commerce platform can help prevent such issues by providing smart product and service recommendations to buyers in real time, every time. These personalised and contextual recommendations—based on transactional and behavioural data at the backend—help strengthen customer loyalty and share of wallet.
5. Look for a robust and scalable, yet quick-to-roll-out platform
A B2B commerce platform can be quite complex, considering it has to:
- Enable customisation of product and services catalogues
- Provide different user experiences to different categories of B2B customers (e.g., Platinum dealers, Silver dealers)
- Deliver an intuitive shopping experience with self-service built in
- Throw up information that’s relevant to each customer
- Integrate with multiple back-end systems
- Provide an intuitive, simple, and responsive user interface
Considering these complexities, a B2B commerce platform should ideally be fully comprehensive and yet easily configurable, so that even users without coding knowledge can change product catalogues dynamically, and provide personalised user experiences.
The other thing to consider is the speed of deployment. Businesses operate in a dynamic world where time is of the essence. A B2B commerce platform should have the flexibility to be rolled out in weeks, not months. Plus, it should be agile and scalable to align with future business changes.
How Salesforce can help
Salesforce is a market leader in customer engagement solutions. Most recently, Gartner recognised us as a leader in their 2020 Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center.
Salesforce B2B Commerce helps companies connect better with B2B customers and buyers. Through the platform, you can not only make online buying easier, but also go to market quickly.
Salesforce B2B Commerce enables you to:
- Digitise the complete ordering process in a matter of weeks
- Scale seamlessly as you grow
- Offer easy-to-use online commerce tools with self-service options for your customers
- Tailor your commerce site to your industry needs
- Improve customer engagement and revenue even in these pandemic times
Find out how you can make online buying easy, and generate more revenue with the Salesforce B2B Commerce platform. To read more about how B2B commerce is changing, do take a look at the Salesforce State of Commerce report.
