B2B E-commerce today.
The challenges of E-commerce in a B2B setting.
As consumers, we are used to e-commerce for more than a decade now. We all enjoy the ease of use and the features B2C e-commerce offers.
Buyers in B2B have more and more the same high expectations. The convenience of online shopping 24-7 and the faster ordering process shift purchases to online in B2B. Note that for sellers, B2B e-commerce makes selling less expensive.
Typically, B2B e-commerce platforms have the following functionalities:
- Support for multi-brand and multi-site
- Custom catalogs and pricing per customer
- Personalization
- Easy re-ordering
- User-friendly shopping experience
- Advanced search
- Analytics and insights
Challenges of B2B e-commerce
Some companies already invested in B2B e-commerce. Their IT departments build a custom e-commerce site closely integrated with their ERP system, which contains the product catalogs and prices for the different customers. These companies are faced with the fact that commercial off-the-shelf B2B e-commerce platforms can generate more relevant functionalities faster because they have bigger development teams behind their off the shelf products.
Other companies did not invest in B2B e-commerce yet but are investigating it. They will learn that it is more complex to setup a B2B e-commerce platform than it is to setup B2C e-commerce. Despite the challenges, the benefits of investing in B2B e-commerce are huge. B2B e-commerce will increase sales and profitability. And if your competition is investing in B2B e-commerce, can you afford to stay behind?
To find out how Formica can help solving your B2B e-commerce challenges, contact us at info@formica.digital.
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