The B2B module of business is a more complex, heavy and demand-based mode that any owner employs. It is estimated that the B2B module will grow at a much faster rate than the regular B2C module. There are, however, challenges that any business owner would face while working with a B2B store. Let’s have a look below at what the challenges might be and how we might overcome them:
1. Advanced Pricing
A business-to-business structure stands on its capability to sell its products to large vendors and at a fairly negotiable price. Also, the quantity of the items is in bulk. For this reason, B2B business owners need to maintain a pricing module that is flexible enough to adjust with all its customers. For B2B, owners will have to maintain dedicated prices for specific customers or group of customers, based on the items or the quantity.
2. Choosing which Products to Sell
It is often important for the eCommerce owner to know which products would be beneficial for them to sell in the market. It is a crucial decision that an owner has to make – which products are the most trending in the B2B market and which products are in demand to stand out in the B2B industry. With super-giants like Amazon, AliExpress and eBay, etc. it is really an effort-taking task to manage and try products that catch the eye of their prospected buyers.
3. Retaining Customers
It is important for B2B merchants to know how to retain their customers. Losing out on customers due to unforeseen reasons lead to significant drops in the sales funnel. To control it, merchants are now using loyalty points to catch hold of the customers. Try it out!
4. Order Approval/Approver System
It so happens in a B2B company many times that there are specified and dedicated contact persons who carry out the delegated task of ordering materials on the behalf or for the company. In general movement, this is a good practice to follow; but as the B2B store grows and flourishes, maintaining aggressive orders becomes a challenge. It so happens that with so many contact persons ordering at the same time, there are instances where multiple orders for the same item has been made or that the order has been made at a non-agreed price! This proves to be a loss for the company. It is important for the business owner to create a sequence in which orders will need to be approved by authorized personnel. In this way, only the approved orders would be placed and processed, evading the risk of duplicate orders.
5. Multi-Vendor Catalogs and Multi-Category Visibility
In a B2B scenario, a business owner sells his products to various other companies. Not every time would he want all his customers to see all his products. This becomes a problem! A business owner must assign the categories to its various customers so that only permitted customers can see specified items to buy. This is the custom category-visibility. On the other hand, it is also a necessity for the business owner to create vendor-specific item catalogs so that only a group of specified customers can view or order that item or group of items. This is the multi-vendor catalog visibility. Category visibility is item-based, whereas multi-vendor visibility is vendor-based.
6. Strong Client Relationship
It is essential for B2B owners to take their client relationship seriously. It is crucial that the client health remains intact and active for any B2B owner. If the relationship is hampered, it directly affects the business. To easily maintain it, a company can employ suitable CRM solutions which help in strategic planning, regular follow-ups and the overall client interaction.
7. Bulk and Fast Shipping
Perhaps the most dreadful dream of any B2B eCommerce business owner would be not to be able to deliver his products in time! Delivering huge quantities of items within a specified, short time-frame often becomes a hectic job for any B2B store. If unlucky, this delay in delivering products leads to the loss of valuable customers. This can be easily overcome if the business owner employs any shipping solution into his business process and integrates it with his existing applications. Due to this, all his orders will have specified process of being shipped and delivered in time!
While a B2B business might face many challenges, most of them are the ones that don’t come up on the page. It is not a theoretical law when working with B2B – it is more of a hands-on-experience! By identifying these pain-points, it is easier to cater to them with the various features of a B2B store. With this, working with B2B eCommerce will surely be smoother.
Learn more about Integrated B2B eCommerce solutions to streamline your business process!
