As new technology disrupts the B2B market, B2B customers are adapting to new ways of doing business. Increased personalization, mobility, and automation are the leading trends. Previously, B2B operations have been a little behind in offering their customers this type of B2C experience. They weren't sure if offering their customers an online experience could still enable them to build customer relationships and increase ROI. But now, with online sales expected to increase within the next five years, wholesalers, manufactures and distributors need to invest more in bringing a typical e-commerce experience to the B2B world.
While companies continue to shift offline customers online, the connection between management programs will also shift. The use of separate software programs make data entry a tedious task, and having to switch back and forth to update information causes frustration. Businesses are looking to integrate their financial software like QuickBooks, to inventory tracking software, and order management apps to help automate the sales process and offer a great user experience to their customers.
Here are three ways to improve your business using QuickBooks order management.
Real-time Inventory Control
A study showed that forty-four percent of retailers said finding the right inventory levels was their biggest inventory-related challenge for their brick and mortar business – more than any other business obstacle.
Just like brick and mortar businesses, B2B e-commerce businesses have to keep track of stock too.
You don't want to turn customers away due to out-of-stock items. It is important to monitor your inventory levels to plan for future inventory orders before you are out of stock. Having an order management system that integrates with your QuickBooks inventory will do the trick. As customers order products, it is constantly updated in your QuickBooks files.
It also helps to show real time stock levels to customers when they are online ready to purchase your products. You can also show when a product is out of stock prior to their ordering so they don’t find out later once their shipment has gone out.
Financial Management
Most businesses encounter some type of hiccups when keying in information into financial software. Something can go wrong even during the order entry process. However, there's a better way to minimize errors when dealing with data entry into financial software. You can save time and reduce errors with order entry software with QuickBooks integration.
With order management, inventory control, and financial management integration, sales reps can handle multiple tasks with fewer steps because information is automatically stored in QuickBooks without data entry. Some helpful benefits of financial management are inventory tracking, expense tracking, creating financial reports, and budget analysis. QuickBooks allows you to sync PayPal, TSheets time tracker app, and other more helpful tools.
Order Management System (OMS)
One of the most important and complex systems for a B2B business is the order management system. An OMS with QuickBooks integration automates the data entry process saving business owners time and reducing multiple job tasks. Customers need a way to view products, place orders, and track their shipments. The better a customer's experience is, the better their transaction will result in customer satisfaction.
With OMS, business owners can customize order forms, monitor customers past order history, and track orders, which provides faster service, and reduces human error.
Another benefit of OMS, is it provides flexibility and mobility. Sales reps can use smartphones, or tablets, to check sales orders, respond to customers, and monitor inventory levels. According to a 2014 study, mobile devices now accounts for 50.3% of all traffic, and 49.3% for computers.
The same goes for the customer. Whether on vacation or shopping after business hours, clients can ask questions, learn about new products, and purchase online from their mobile device. With OMS, customers can track an item with their mobile device and the location and time of shipment delivery.
Now Commerce specializes in B2B e-commerce order management software designed specifically for manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors Contact us for more detail about our software, pricing and to request a live demo.
