How Business to Business (B2B) Sellers Can Apply Direct to Consumer (D2C) Lessons
Recent trends have seen B2B customers adapting and forming more of a D2C mindset, increasingly wanting their buying journey to be similar to that of their own personal shopping experiences. B2B buyers are now wanting and expecting a fundamentally different relationship with companies. With customers now having more choice and control over their buyer journey, it is your responsibility to educate your customers on what you’re offering and why they should make the purchase, without intervening. B2B customers want to be treated as partners and not as targets, which is now shaping how the B2B sector does business.
“Your buyers now expect a fundamentally different relationship with your company. Customers now control more of their buying journeys—and they know it. Your job is no longer to convince them to buy, it’s to help them buy.”– Forrester Report, May 2020
Let’s take a company such as Amazon, for example. We’ve all had some kind of personal shopping experience with Amazon where we’ve educated ourselves before making a purchase. We’ve had a look at what products are available, maybe checked different colors or sizing, how many of the product is available and in stock, the expected delivery date- all of these factors have helped us to make a decision about our purchase and we expect these functions to be readily available to us. Well, the same now goes for your B2B customers. They too expect to be able to educate themselves on a product before they buy. They want to know what your stock inventory levels are, what sizes and colors are available and they want to be able to track their order, easily place repeat orders, and download invoices.
B2B customers are even starting to make business purchases from home. This has become particularly apparent since the COVID-19 pandemic, where the majority of businesses have had to move to a home-working environment. A mobile-optimized site is now key to businesses that are looking to incorporate the digital world into their current business model, so that customers can make purchases from anywhere, at any time, and from any device. By leveraging the data stored in your Sage 300 (formerly known as ACCPAC) or Sage X3 ERP, commercebuild can help to support you and bring in more business. B2B customers want the same functionalities as D2C customers being able to purchase on the go and to track the progress of their order, even when they’re not in the office. Therefore, ensuring your digital platform is mobile-friendly is key to providing an exceptional customer experience.
Our valued customer, Canadian Life Science, says “We have seen a 240% increase in NEW USERS year over year and created personalized buying experiences through frequently ordered items on our website.”
A commercebuild eCommerce platform could help you to close deals quicker and reconcile funds more quickly by processing transactions quickly and securely. Our platform has the functionality of a Sage integrated payment system, which is key for any Sage-run business moving online. Similar to the functions available for D2C customers, a commercebuild platform will give B2B customers the option to choose their shipping method and how they would like to pay. Customers can also pay their invoices at any time, while also being able to see what’s outstanding on their account, through a seamless and easy-to-use Customer Portal or Webstore. commercebuild customers have control over what they want to show their customers, how they want to show it, and who they want to show it to. Our platform provides you with the ability to go global with support from our data centers around the world and to become a revenue center.
Take a look at our blog post– Turn your Sage 300 or X3 Customer Portal or Webstore into a Revenue Center
With functionalities such as an online chatbot and giving your customers access to their up-to-date account information at their fingertips, you can be sure to provide your B2B customers with the D2C-like experience they’re looking for. commercebuild can help you create a fully Sage integrated, seamless customer experience that can help you to develop new channels of business and keep up with the ever-changing, ever-growing digital world.
As we have seen, it is vital in today’s digital world that you are accessible to your customers and are providing them with useful and easy-to-use features. It is clear that giving your customers the ability to educate themselves about your products is invaluable to your business and can be complemented by the use of customer support functions such as chatbots, to give your customers a D2C-like experience. These capabilities within the commercebuild platform are what will help you to meet and exceed your customer’s needs and expectations by taking the capabilities and functions of the D2C world and adapting them for your B2B customers. A mobile-optimized site that gives your customers the ability to choose their shipping and payment method that reflects the D2C world could drive more business and unlock new potential and revenue growth for your business.
Are you interested in growing your business and giving your customers the customer-focused digital experience they’re looking for?
Book a free demo with us today to learn more about how a commercebuild Webstore or Customer Portal could help to accelerate your B2B into the digital world.
About commercebuild
commercebuild is the missing piece in transforming your ERP data into a truly personalized eCommerce experience. Flexible and frictionless, our turnkey eCommerce solution delivers 24/7 revenue opportunities to you and your customers. Quick to deploy and easy-to-use, we eliminate the need for middleware between the storefront and ERP data to enable seamless online buying and selling.
Our solutions can be live in 30-days and offer complete eCommerce capabilities at a price B2B and B2C businesses can afford.
Drive revenue growth for you, and your customers, while enjoying rapid ROI for both. Go head-to-head with the online retail giants of the world, and win. Experience a solution that integrates with your ERP data and provides automagical cross-sell and upsell opportunities to every customer on your site.
At the height of ecommerce growth, commercebuild offers scalable, reliable, and robust eCommerce solutions for everyone.
If your business is using Sage 300, Sage X3 or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERPs, commercebuild can build a ERP-driven B2B and B2C eCommerce webstore or Customer Portal