B2B ecommerce

Clients in the B2B space prefer to shop online, which means businesses in either industry need an online presence to remain competitive. If this fact is driving you to set up an eCommerce site to target other businesses, take some time to optimize your platform to appeal to this particular market. These are three ways a B2B company can take its eCommerce efforts to the next level of success.

Use All the Online Tools at Your Disposal

There’s more than one way to sell products and services online. To ensure eCommerce success, you need to provide whichever tools your customers prefer to use. If shoppers find it difficult to make a purchase or have to use tools they aren’t familiar with, you’re likely to lose a sale. These are a few basics that almost all successful eCommerce sites use:

  • Multiple payment methods: Businesses are far more likely than individual shoppers to place large orders and to have specific expectations for how they’d like to pay. Offer whatever payment options are convenient for the companies you’re marketing to.
  • Customer accounts: Allowing companies to create accounts is critical. This allows your clients’ customers to create subaccounts, which make it much easier for clients to make money using your services.
  • SEO optimization: Since most clients will start with an online search to find the products and services they need, it’s vital that you optimize your pages to rank well on search engine result pages. Perform keyword research to see what potential clients are typing when they search online, and browse your site with the customer’s perspective in mind to see if the landing pages and other parts of your website are clear and easy to use.
  • A comprehensive eCommerce platform: There are many other tools you need to use, such as email, support for mobile shopping, multiple shopping carts, and a way to process shipping information. Handling these things and the tools mentioned above individually can be a hassle, and integrating independent tools together on your own basically requires keeping IT personnel on staff. An easier solution is to use an eCommerce platform, which gives you access to all these resources through a single platform.

Optimize Product Information to Target Businesses

B2B shoppers are similar in that they start with online research when looking for products or services. However, you shouldn’t treat businesses like you would individual customers. Businesses are more likely to make purchase decisions logically than emotionally, for example, so make sure your product information is honest, articulate, and focused on results.

Make It Easy to Place New and Recurring Orders

B2B shopping carts are more complex than what you’ll see with eCommerce sites targeting customers. Get help from ecommerce developers. You want your website to allow for sku based ordering, the ability to  place and manage recurring orders, flexible shipping rates and options, and custom pricing for different customer groups.

Selling online increases both profit levels and brand awareness. This is obviously true for B2C enterprises, but the same principles can be applied in the B2B space, too. Use all the tools at your disposal, optimize your product information, and set up multiple shopping carts to take your business to the next level using eCommerce.