It won’t exactly be news to you if you are a business selling to other businesses, but it’s worth underlining nonetheless: business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) are not the same. That much is clear from – among other sources – Forrester data, which indicates that as much as 90% of the B2B customer journey is complete by the time a would-be purchaser lands on the ecommerce website of a B2B firm.
Death Of A (B2B) Salesman
Skip to main content Save or Share this Report Forrester forecasts that 1 million US B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service eCommerce by the year 2020. While B2B buyers overwhelmingly prefer to research, and increasingly buy, products and services via a self-service website, B2B sellers still force buyers to interact with their salespeople as part of the purchase process.
In other ways, however, the ecommerce portals of B2B and B2C companies can actually be quite similar. What are some of the features that it might be especially important for you to add to your own B2B firm’s eCommerce presence?
1. Customer registration
One way in which B2B online stores differ from their B2C counterparts is the crucial role of customer accounts. Frankly, it’s vital for B2B purchases to be associated with specific customer accounts, so that the store in question can provide benefits such as pricing based on the purchase history of a particular account, and promotions and offers tailored to each customer’s needs.
Having the infrastructure in place to get your B2B customers to quickly and easily create an account with you could scarcely be more important.
2. On-site search and filters
There’s a tendency for many B2B retailers to offer a large catalogue of products that are very similar to each other, save for certain finer points of their specifications – think brand, size, and so on. This, in turn, makes it crucial for B2B ecommerce stores to allow prospective purchasers to rapidly narrow down the list of potential products to exactly the ones they need.
The right on-site filter and advanced search options will help your customers to do precisely this. That way, they won’t be forced to sift through page after page after page of product listings.
3. Comprehensive product specifications
When a business is looking to buy the items that it needs to operate, it can’t risk ending up with the wrong product. Your B2B customers will wish to make only the most informed purchasing decisions; this will need to be reflected in the specification information you include on your product pages.
Details in relation to each given product’s quality, safety and dimensions will be especially imperative – as will anything else that makes the item a suitable and attractive option compared to alternatives.
4. A real-time stock counter
Given that B2B customers routinely buy products in bulk, it’s likely to be seriously useful to them if you have an up-to-the-minute stock counter on each of your product pages.
Nor is a stock counter only good for keeping your customers informed about availability, as when stock numbers run low, it will also instil some urgency in them to buy from you. They might even end up buying the particular item in a larger quantity than they were otherwise intending, to ensure they don’t miss out.
5. Estimated delivery times and order tracking
Businesses purchasing business essentials don’t just depend on receiving the right quantity of product – they also need to be confident of the items they’ve ordered arriving in good time.
After all, the customer may be planning to start using that product the moment it arrives at their premises. Provide accurate estimated delivery times and order tracking, then, to assure them that buying from your store will be a good choice.
Whether your own brand is a B2B or B2C one, if you’re currently comparing website design companies in the UK, we’re here to serve your needs here at PENNInk Productions. We’re all about putting together powerful ecommerce websites for businesses of all manner of sizes. Why not email or call us today, on 020 8144 7931, for a more detailed discussion of your requirements?
Edward Solomon has over 30 years’ experience in project management, technical education, computer networking, web design and development and is a Digital Business Consultant for PENNInk Productions Ltd.
