As a B2B or D2C shop, your selection over which e-commerce platform to use is one of the most important business decisions you will ever have to make.
Whether you want to sell to local customers or expand into new markets around the world, your e-commerce platform will have a big impact on the long-term profitability and growth of your online business. This is because your e-commerce platform is the backbone of your online business.
Because B2B and D2C businesses are typically more complicated than B2C businesses, it is extremely important to find a system that is designed to accommodate both B2B and B2C retailers.
But what characteristics should an e-commerce platform have to be B2B-friendly? The following are the five most important points to keep in mind.
- Simple ERP integration
If you offer products to customers or organizations over the internet, there is a strong chance that you are already making use of ERP, which stands for enterprise resource planning software.
It would be next to impossible for major merchants with thousands of skus and a wide variety of products to manage their inventory without an ERP software.
Because it automates processes and boosts efficiency, an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) can also be beneficial to smaller businesses.
You will be able to manage your day-to-day operations in a more efficient manner if you use ERP software since it integrates all of the essential back-office procedures, including as accounting, human resources, and inventory management, into a single unified system.
A B2B e-commerce platform should offer seamless connection with ERP systems in order to ensure that the operations of your online store are in sync with those of your back office.
When a customer makes a purchase from your online store, for example, the order is transferred to your ERP, which immediately generates an invoice and updates both your inventory and the information about your customers.
Because of this, selecting an e-commerce platform that comes equipped with a native link to an ERP system is essential. You definitely don’t want to invest money in an e-commerce solution just to find out later that it is incompatible with your ERP system.
In order to connect the two systems, they would either need to be maintained independently of one another or you would need to invest in expensive expansion modules. It is possible to accelerate the launch of your online business by selecting an e-commerce platform that was developed expressly to interact with your ERP.
For example, if all of your product information is stored in your ERP, your new e-commerce platform will immediately transport this information to your online shop, enabling customers to immediately begin purchasing your products. This will save you time and ensure that your business runs smoothly.
- Your financial status
Even while spending the most money won’t necessarily get you the best experience, you still need to be wary of the most cost-effective options that are out there.
Most of the time, these don’t contribute to anything really important. As a consequence of this, your overall expenditures will go up if you are required to purchase add-ons from third-party service providers. Before deciding on a price range for your e-commerce platform, you should first spend some time carefully considering what it is you want to get out of it.
Consider the costs of hosting, maintenance, design, website development, and information technology resources on a monthly basis. Many providers provide bundles that include all of these components and can be purchased for a price that is considered to be acceptable.
One further way to save expenses is to use a PCI-compliant e-commerce platform, which may be selected by the business. Maintaining the safety and legality of an online store may be a time- and money-consuming and expensive endeavor.
Because of this, it is recommended that you make use of a platform that provides total certification and ensures the data security of both your customers and your organization (which can be found at https://www.eliftech.com/ecommerce/).
Platforms that are easy on one’s wallet, such as the one that k-e-commerce provides, are ideal for this particular reason.
They offer all of the services that are necessary to maintain the efficiency of your online store infrastructure, including the design, managed support, and technical staff, through a single source, thereby allowing you to keep your expenses under control.
Due the vendor’s technical employees will function as an extension of your team, this option is especially beneficial if your budget for IT resources is limited. This is because of the way that the vendor will work.
Consider an example of an ecommerce software development company manufacturer who improved the performance of their B2B online shop by combining the use of an e-commerce solution and the k-e-commerce ERP system.
Due to the fact that the k-ecommerce specialists took care of the technical aspects of the online store and the integration, Techno-Fab was able to develop its online activities without having to recruit additional staff members.
- Scalability
You should exercise caution while selecting an ecommerce software development company in order to ensure that it will assist in the expansion of your ecommerce software development firm. Even if your online store isn’t experiencing a lot of traffic at the now, it is vital to have the infrastructure in place to handle the additional demand that will come when your firm attracts more consumers and expands. This is because the additional demand will arrive as your firm grows.
You wouldn’t want your website to crash in the event that unexpectedly high numbers of people visited it. Therefore, while choosing an e-commerce platform, you need to ensure that it can accommodate growing traffic before moving further.
Cloud-based e-commerce platforms, such as the one that k-ecommerce offers, are your best bet for conducting online business. In point of fact, they are designed to keep up with your ever-increasing needs in terms of both speed and performance.
- User encounter
In contrast to B2C establishments, which often offer the same products or services to all of their customers, businesses that sell to other businesses frequently tailor their wares and services to the specific requirements of each individual client.
Before making a purchase in the past, B2B customers were required to have a conversation with a salesperson as part of this one-on-one sales procedure.
Customers in today’s market want to be able to make purchases whenever it is convenient for them; consequently, your B2B online business needs to give a purchasing experience that is both specialized and user-friendly.
We may count our blessings that today’s providers of e-commerce platforms offer a broad variety of features that can assist business-to-business (B2B) organizations in creating a bespoke experience for their customers. Result? A rise in both the number of sales and conversions.
For example, the multi-user management module that is offered by k-ecommerce gives you the ability to set up a variety of shopping flows so that you can satisfy the needs of a wide range of different sorts of customers.
A second feature known as chatbeacon integration enables customer service agents to provide real-time assistance via live chat to clients and prospects.
Because timeliness is equally important for providing a great customer experience, you should ensure that both the front end of your e-commerce store and the full transaction process are optimized for all types of devices.
The dynamic web design used in k-online ecommerce stores makes them compatible with mobile devices. Additionally, the integrated payment methods offered by k-ecommerce facilitate a straightforward checkout procedure.
- Support in a technical sense
It doesn’t matter which e-commerce platform you choose; you’re very certain to run into some kind of technical problem at some point, and you’ll almost certainly need some kind of assistance.
When it finally does come, nothing is more frustrating than having to wait for hours or even days. Before selecting a choice, check that you always have prompt access to assistance in the event that you require it.
