Main Benefits of B2B eCommerce

Although B2C eCommerce still has great precedence over B2B eCommerce, it is clear that the pattern of trading is rapidly changing. The use of developed self-service buying models not requiring speaking to a sales representative accelerates the process of purchasing and procurement.

As a result, not only does it influence productivity growth, it also enables businesses to buy more cost-effective, fast and efficient. Digital trading has become the novel face of commerce. Whether the participant is a wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer, the growth of B2B eCommerce is shaping the future of how trading and contracting is done. According to Forrester's estimations, global B2B eCommerce sales will exceed $9 trillion in 2021.

Since B2B eCommerce is expected to attain such rapid growth, we decided to explore and share the main benefits of B2B eCommerce and how it affects the merchants' revenues overall.

Reach new markets and sell globally

Digitized trading has changed the way of attaining new partnerships. The Demand Gen’s 2020 B2B Buyer Behavior Study has revealed that there are three major channels for finding new partners online:

• 53% of respondents of the survey use the web search
• 47% of respondents of the survey use vendor websites
• 30% of respondents of the survey use review sites

Making the finding of new contacts easy and increasing the visibility of possible new partners gives unlimited options for spreading eCommerce worldwide. For that reason, the first major benefit of B2B eCommerce is the possibility of reaching new markets, finding new partners and selling globally.

Better management of suppliers and customers

The greatest improvement of managing supplies is handling the inventory in a more transparent way for your business customers. This is a direct result of the digitization of the supply chain management sector. That way, your business customers can be provided with more specific details on stock availability, delivery deadlines, why a specific product might be out of stock and when it is expected to be available on the market again.

Since the entire system is merged through software and website, the buying patterns of both B2B and B2C customers can easily be traced. Tracking seasonal trends and adjusting the production to specific products meeting the customers' requirements allows you to increase sales and invest in products you actually can sell. In this case, the main benefit of B2B eCommerce will be simplified communication regarding stock inventory and improving customer experience.

Sales increase to existing customers

Once you have established a high-quality customer experience, you can start selling more to existing customers. This will increase a company’s revenue not only in terms of increased procurements but also in terms of the decreased cost of new customer acquisition.

First, let's clarify what a high-quality customer experience for B2B eCommerce means and why we chose to highlight it as one of the main benefits of B2B eCommerce.

It implies a more personalized approach which is not that difficult to attain since there is vast data available on their purchasing habits. Your task will be to scrutinize in detail what type of products they order, in which part of the year they are doing so, and whether they need some special tailor-made offer so they could increase their sales.

Answering those questions could help you segment them easier and send them more relevant offers. It can also increase loyalty and customer lifetime value.

Don't forget your off-line customers

Even though it is certain that the number of business customers who prefer communication in person will dramatically decrease that moment the Millennial customers take over the decision-making sectors, your off-line customers still might represent a valuable revenue source. Instead of neglecting them and focusing exclusively on eCommerce customers, try to migrate them to an online environment.

Simplify request forms, integrate a chat box so they could receive information instantly, create FAQs pages, video guides and, if possible, organize training in person.

Be customer-oriented

A high-quality customer experience also means that your B2B eCommerce website should be customer-oriented, further implying an impeccable website's user experience.

Users prefer multiple and advanced search features enabled across any website. The more categories they have, the better prospects for sales they will have. Hence, detailed product pages that contain the tiniest piece of information such as descriptions, shipping, delivery and reviews are an essential part of every page on your B2B eCommerce website. Don't forget that they communicate with the final customer in most cases, so you have to support them to provide them with all information that is necessary.

Access to data and analytics

B2B eCommerce websites are actually a great opportunity to collect and create incredibly vast databases. Data is the most valuable asset for any business, which is why we recognized data access and analytics as one of the main benefits of B2B eCommerce. The analysis of collected data can actually help you increase your sales showing how your customer reacts when consuming the content on your eCommerce website.

Based on those analytics, you can track every click the customer made and estimate the selection of products and future orders. This will enable you to  better manage the supply chain and provide more personalized content for your customers in the form of special sales newsletters, information pages, etc.

Lower your costs

The greatest benefit of B2B eCommerce is that your costs will drastically decrease. A B2B eCommerce platform provides all the merchants to track the complete circle of an order - starting from order entry and customer provision to customer service and order delivery.

The usage of B2B eCommerce platforms and automated processes will enable you to cut all the unnecessary costs in every department of your enterprise. It will positively affect the decrease of costs in inventory, sales, personnel, the average cost per lead, new customer acquisition, and it will successfully prevent loss of revenue due to order errors.

Is there space for further evolution of B2B eCommerce?

The evolution of eCommerce is already happening at Safex Marketplace - a blockchain-based eCommerce platform powered by Safex. This crypto-commerce marketplace provides numerous benefits to online businesses, enabling the payment with decentralized cryptocurrency that is fully privacy-oriented and enables the possibility to build unstoppable online stores that will help you increase your eCommerce revenue.

Integrating blockchain technology with eCommerce features, Safex is helping you to create unstoppable web stores and find a trustworthy and reliable partner you can count on.

Safex supports its users with multiple benefits such as:

• Lower costs for both merchants and customers
• Guaranteed personal data privacy
• B2B transaction system
• Lower transaction fees
• Decentralization of cross-border trade
• Protection from chargeback frauds
• Rating and messaging system for a high-level shopping experience

Read ore about related eCommerce topics on our blog.