B2B Ecommerce Project Guide; How to Start a Successful B2B Web Shop?
Whether you own a smaller or a bigger company, every successful B2B ecommerce project starts with the same steps. With the aim of helping you in launching ecommerce, we decided to simplify them in the form of a simple guide. You want to know how to start a successful online wholesale and what is the best way to launch a B2B web shop? Here’s how.
Set eCommerce goals
Before your B2B ecommerce project goes into realization, the first and the most important question you should be thinking about is “What exactly do I want from a B2B web shop?” if your answer is “To keep up with the competition”, we have to inform you that that is simply not enough.
The base for a successful online wholesale is clearly set eCommerce goals. What exactly do we mean by that? Ecommerce goals can be, for example, removing errors in orders, increasing the efficiency of the ordering process, a better user experience for B2B clients or increasing income and the number of buyers.
Once you set yourself a goal you aspire to, the next step is to define the way you plan to accomplish that goal. Precisely, you have to define your eCommerce strategy. So, in this phase think about who you want to sell to via the B2B web shop, what do you want to sell and to which markets you want to expand your sales to.
Then it’s time to define clear KPI i.e. key performance indicators which are in accordance with your ecommerce strategy and goals. With the help of KPI you can easily measure and analyse the success of the B2B web shop and notice possible shortcomings on time.
Usmjerite se na potrebe B2B klijenata
Kada započinjete B2B ecommerce projekt, ne trebate uzeti u obzir samo svoje poslovne ciljeve nego i one vaših B2B klijenata. Uspjeh B2B web shopa ponajviše ovisi o njihovom korisničkom iskustvu te o tome u kojoj mjeri on ispunjava njihove potrebe.
Upravo zato je vrlo važno da se stavite u poziciju B2B kupaca. Koje su njihove potrebe? Na koji način kupuju proizvode? Što očekuju od B2B web shopa? Možda vaši B2B klijenti žele real-time informacije o dostupnoj ponudi ili ažurne podatke o statusu isporuke narudžbe.
Afterwards, the best way to find out what buyers want is to simply ask them. Ask for an opinion from the biggest clients first and their feedback can give you useful guidelines for B2B ecommerce projects.
Create a successful eCommerce team
Every B2B ecommerce project needs someone to be in charge of its application and running a team of people who are involved. Thus, you need a qualitative ecommerce manager. This person should have relevant experience and knowledge for making necessary decisions, constant improvement of a B2B web shop and guiding the whole B2B ecommerce team towards the same goal – a successful B2B ecommerce.
It is extremely important to include members from all departments into the B2B ecommerce project. Why? A B2B ecommerce project concerns almost all, if not all departments inside your company. That is exactly why all employees with various skills and knowledge should be included.
One of the most common problems that companies face is that higher management doesn’t give adequate amount of attention to ecommerce. If you want it to be successful, your ecommerce project has to be a strategic priority on the level of the whole business organization and have the necessary budgets ensured. It would also be ideal that the ecommerce team has the authority to make decisions in each realization phase of the project, to avoid any possible delays.
Communicate about eCommerce plans
A successful B2B ecommerce project needs to be supported by all departments and management levels inside the company. So, make sure that the whole business organization gets familiar with ecommerce plans on time and that it understands the benefits of ecommerce sales. It is very important that all departments are included in the planning from the beginning, because that way you are ensuring that their opinion is also taken into account in critical moments.
Also have in mind that changes in business often cause concern of the business collective. It is not unusual that some individuals even oppose their implementation. It is your responsibility to familiarize every department with ecommerce benefits and present the actual value of it to them. Higher income, entering new markets, simpler IT processes in sales or disburdening of the user support and the sales team which then get more time for the sales itself. These are all advantages that should be explained and properly communicated.
Prepare content for B2B ecommerce
A large number of companies that initiate a B2B ecommerce project often underestimate the importance of quality online content. Form the information on the company, product descriptions, high quality photographs, product categories and the structure of the page. Before launching a B2B web shop, you have to prepare a lot of quality content and also you have to make sure that all the information is accurate and updated.
How to simplify that? With the help of the integrated B2B system which enables making a real-time connection between a B2B web shop and the ERP system such as the Microsoft Dynamics NAV/ Mcrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The result is updated, real-time information on the condition of the stock, happier clients and maximum time savings.
Ensure the budget for B2B web shop implementation and maintenance
Here we don’t mean just the money, but also internal resources that are needed for launching and maintaining B2B ecommerce. Internal resources also cost money and how much of it you will need, depends primarily on the ecommerce platform you choose for sales digitalization. Certain platforms are more automated than others. For some of them you need a whole team of people that will process orders manually. On the other hand, with the help of the integrated B2B ecommerce, your B2B web shop becomes a self-service platform for clients and it guarantees an excellent user experience.
Are you ready for the digitalization of sales?
Regardless of the amount of quality preparation you do for implementing ecommerce into your business, you have to know that you can’t foresee everything. So choose an appropriate platform that will make the whole digitalization process much easier, prepare yourself and launch your ecommerce platform. Once your B2B web shop starts taking in orders form buyers, continue to test it and perfect it. That is the only way to ensure your clients with the best service possible.
If you also want to offer your products via B2B eCommerce, contact us for more information and learn everything on the latest software solutions that will help you.
