The business that is conducted between companies, rather than a company and its end consumer is referred to as the B2B module of business. The stakeholders in a B2B module are product owners, their distribution network and bulk buyers. Majority of the buyers establish repeat business and require constant connect through the sales team. On the other hand, the business that is conducted between the company and its end buyer or consumer is referred to as the B2C module of business. This transaction is usually between the reseller and the end buyer, and these are mostly one-time transactions. Sometimes, the buyer could be a potential high-volume consumer too.
There is however another module which is gaining popularity these days. It is B2B2C – Business to Business to Consumer. This is the business where all stakeholders interact on a common sales platform, whereby the end buyer (or consumer) would remain in direct connect with the product owner and continue to procure the product and services from any supplier within the distribution network of the product owner. Thus, B2B2C eCommerce will have all the features of B2B & B2C.
Here are Some of the Most Amazing B2B2C Terminologies:
1. ASSOCIATED COMPANY
A company can have more than one associated companies that are either different manufacturing units or separate localized sales centers. These associated companies act on behalf of the main group company in order to manage their sales & distribution network.
2. MULTIPLE PRODUCT LINES
A company can segregate their products under different product lines. Furthermore, they can categorize a build the product hierarchy under these products lines.
3. AUTO QUOTATIONS
A company can enable automatic system generated quotations, whereby on receiving the online request-for-quote from the customer, the system will automatically populate the quotation based on the price lists & promotions offered for the selected products by the customer.
4. ORDER ACCEPTANCE
An authorized salesperson would get notification for the incoming sales orders. They can review the order & accept is along with specifying the expected dispatch dates for the incoming orders. The buyer would get notification for the acceptance of the order.
5. MULTIPLE PRICE LISTS
A company can create and maintain different price lists under price list types. These price lists can be revised and old price lists can be archived. All price lists are maintained on with-effect-from (wef) date that specifies the date from which the price list gets in-force. Whenever a user publishes the new price list, the system sends out notifications to the customers set with it as a base price list.
6. CUSTOMER SPECIFIC PRICE LIST
A company can assign a base price list to the customer and override it with a customer specific product price list. The customer would get a special price for the products mentioned in the override price list, and they would continue to do business on other products based on their base price list.
7. PROMOTIONS FOR SPECIFIC CUSTOMERS
A company can create promotions for specific customers. These promotions will be applicable to the customers regardless of their base price list. The company creates these promotions in order to provide special discounts to certain very high volume buyers.
8. PROMOTIONS ON SELECTED PRODUCTS
A company can create promotions on selected products. These promotional offers will be applicable to all the buyers regardless of their base price list. The company creates these promotions in order to provide discounts on seasonal products or new product launch.
9. PROMOTIONS FOR SPECIFIC REGIONS
A company can create promotions for a specific region. These promotions will only be applicable to customers based in the specified region.
10. PROMOTIONS FOR A TIME PERIOD
A company can create promotions for a specific time period. They can define the start date and an end date for the promotion.
11. BUYER ACTIVE PRODUCTS
The list of active products for the buyers gets populated based on the past orders received from the buyer. Buyer can add products to this list and even set to limit their access to Active Product list only. i.e. the buyer would only deal in Active Products with the product owner or the supplier.
12. INTERMEDIARY
A company can set up any customer or buyer as “Intermediary” in a B2B2C module. The intermediaries can perform the role as a buyer in order to place orders and also as a seller in order to accept orders from the customers where the intermediary is assigned as Supplier.
13. DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL LEVELS
A company can maintain multiple levels in their distribution network. There is no restriction in creating & positioning their intermediaries. Client admin needs to assign the supplier to the intermediary in order to build the network.
14. INTERMEDIARY’S OVERRIDE PRICE LIST
A company can create an override price list for the intermediary. The override price list will be for specific products only.
15. PRODUCT CATALOGUES
The products are grouped and categorized on the web portal as per the set up in a B2B2C module. These are displayed along with the basic description and photographs. The products can be filtered based on the product categories and its variants. The visitor can also search the product based on name, description, variants, SKU, etc.
16. PRODUCT DOCUMENTS OR FILES
Any files or documents that are published along with the product, such as Product’s technical documents or product’s manual that can be downloaded from the web portal.
17. QUICK QUOTATIONS
The buyer can request for a quick quote for the products present in their cart or they can quickly add new products by specifying the product name and selecting the SKU. They also need to specify the required quantity in order to get the quote.
18. QUICK ORDER
The buyer can request for quick order for the products present in their cart or they can quickly add new products by specifying the product name and selecting the SKU. They also need to specify the required quantity in order to place the order. The buyer must be a registered customer in order to place an order.
19. ORDERS HISTORY REPORTS
A user can check the list of sales orders with their details and status. Each sales order will show issue date, order number, customer name, invoice number, fulfilment status, salesperson, supplier name, sales volume, sales value, and shipment date.
20. SALESPERSON
A company can create multiple salespersons. They can be assigned to specific customer accounts in order to manage customer relations. Salespersons can even be associate specific product lines that they need to focus to sell.
B2B2C is the next generation of online business. It will forever change the entire game of how eCommerce works and will bring the giants of manufacturing, distribution, wholesale and end-consumers together. With the B2B2C module rapidly trying to take over, we can expect market giants to indulge in personalized practices of not only catering to one channel of selling – but rather maintain a multi-channel sales line catering to various customers!
Get started with your B2B eCommerce store and gain a competitive edge in the market!
