3 proven ways to get your slice of the B2B e-commerce pie

Once upon a time, single online sales transactions were much celebrated, but any company looking to grow their business can’t rely on the status quo.

Evolving demands from partners and customers—not to mention competitors hungry for their own slice of the pie—are pushing organizations to redefine how they deliver and then sustain exceptional omni-channel customer experiences. That’s right: omnichannel is the name of the game and the only competitive advantage that counts.

Of course, it’s no easy task to unify all the complexities of your processes, data (orders, product content, and customer information), business channels, models and markets. So what are some practical steps you can take to achieve omni-channel commerce success?

B2B e-commerce strategy

Never fear: I’ve done the research for you. I sifted through the latest commerce articles and trends covered by analysts to and listened closely during recent engagements with some large enterprise companies to find these three key strategies:

1. Understand B2B buyers have just as much swagger as B2C buyers. In other words, B2B customers expect B2C experience. Translation? Easy, peasy, and lemon-squeezy— easy in the sense of the whole end-to-end purchase engagement. Multi-channel satisfaction in-store, online, and mobile from anywhere and anytime.
2. Provide a comprehensive omni-channel experience to ensure customer loyalty. According to Forrester, “Such an offering includes the combination of consistently low prices, excellent product service, and a broad product selection, combined with different delivery options regardless of the channel it is bought from. This can motivate B2B buyers to come back for repeat orders.” In a nutshell, take your sales smarts up a notch. Predict your customers needs using data and serve up more relevant products to increase the size of the order. No brainer right?
3. Realize it’s a win-win to up-level and optimize investments. By extending and upgrading the value of old technologies with new ones, you can support the dynamic, omni-channel requirements of your B2B buyers. Second upside? You reap the benefits of delivering better business agility, streamlined processes without compromising profits, and empowering your people with tools they’ll actually use. How dandy is that?