B2B eCommerce presents its own unique challenges—while it shares similarities with B2C eCommerce, the differences are profound.
One of the most difficult aspects of order management for wholesalers has always been the management of sales reps.
Thirty years ago, Amazon didn’t exist, the World Wide Web was still a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye, and nobody (except maybe a few science fiction authors) could have possibly predicted the effect that ecommerce websites and online sales systems would have on the world.
Amazon is popular for a reason—the website provides a customer shopping experience that’s truly unparalleled.
Distributors, manufacturers, and wholesalers rely on B2B orders from loyal customers. What Customers Want in a B2B Order Site – is the question businesses should be asking. In order to retain repeat customers and gain new customers, innovative solutions have to be attained and implemented. Now Commerce helps businesses stay ahead of advancing technology, by offering a cloud based add-on for QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise users.
QuickBooks integration with our Now Commerce Platform gives businesses a B2B e-commerce platform for managing online ordering. Within our innovative software are portals where sales reps, managers, and B2B customers can get access to advanced tools which simplify and enhance the ordering process.
Innovative technology is changing the way businesses operate and how they interact with customers. This is a simplistic statement, which means different things to different industries. For wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers, this means an upgraded customer-facing interface with practical implications. Meeting customer expectations for retailers vs. wholesalers involves the difference between their integrated order management systems.
Finding quality B2B order management software can mean scoping out the best features, but it also means having complete control from multiple sides. You can adjust your chair to fit you, but is the software you're using able to adjust as much as you'd like it to? You need to find software that doesn't force you to adhere to its own rigid structure.
Paper-based order handling methods can't keep up with the speed and accuracy required by today's wholesale businesses. This is why it's so important to use portal software that is specifically made to handle all of the demands of this environment. This software doesn't just accept online orders from customers. Instead, it modernizes the entire operation so orders are handled better no matter which channel they come through.
Wholesale is a hard business to be in. There may not be manufacturing or consumers to deal with, but profit margins tend to be relatively thin, which means that even small mistakes can cause major problems. One of the biggest issues a business can run into is falling behind because of an old fashioned wholesale sales process. Technology moves quickly, everybody else is keeping up with it, so you have to too. Even the things that used to be cutting edge are now obsolete. Obsolete things waste time, and wasted time means lost money. Many of these outdated things can also lead to problems and mistakes that don't happen with new sales software, and some of your customers simply won't do business with a wholesale company that isn't using new technology. Luckily, there is software that can solve all of these problems. Here are a few of the things that you might be doing that can be modernized.
As a member of the B2B industry, you're no doubt trying to find order management software with the ability to give more personal connections to your business customers and partners. Software that makes it easy for your customers and partners is the one you obviously want, and personal portals go a long way toward that goal.