Exceeding Your B2B Customers' Ecommerce Needs In 2020: SIMPLIFYING THE BUYING JOURNEY WITH SEVEN CRITICAL SOLUTIONS
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Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020: SIMPLIFYING THE BUYING JOURNEY WITH SEVEN CRITICAL SOLUTIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
Meet the B2B Solutions Experts 4
Foreword 7
Section 1: Exploring Ecommerce Platforms: Building the Site That
Will Earn You Customers 10
\\ One Platform to Serve Them All
\\ Finding Your Platform: Headless vs. Monolith
\\ The Next Phase of Your B2B Ecommerce
Section 2: Scale Smarter with ERP Integration 17
\\ ERP Integration: Why It Matters and How to Do It by Growing your B2B
Commerce Business
\\ The Benefits (and Obstacles) of ERP Integration
\\ Options for Integration and What to Expect
Section 3: Improve Your Buyers’ Online Experience with Self-
Service Catalog and Account Management 21
\\ Why Account and Catalog Management Matters
\\ How to Improve Account and Catalog Management on Your Site
\\ Key Tools and Features that Can Help
Section 4: Optimizing Site Search to Simplify the Buyer Journey 25
\\ How Site Search Helps Create an Exceptional Shopping Experience
\\ How to Improve B2B Site Search
\\ Features of an Advanced B2B Site Search Tool
Section 5: Simplifying Digital Procurement Processes with 31
eProcurement Integrators
\\ How eProcurement Integration Benefits Buyers and Sellers
\\ Leading eProcurement Technologies and Solutions
\\ How To Make eProcurement Work For Your Business
\\ B2B Supplier Best Practices
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Section 6: Offering Credit and Flexible Payments: Meeting B2B 39 Buyers’ Expectations \\ Why extend credit to B2B customers? \\ Questions to Ask When Establishing a Credit Program \\ Cons of Extending Credit to Customers \\ Solutions to Consider Section 7: Let’s Ship It: Developing Your B2B Shipping Strategy 45 \\ B2B Shipping Best Practices \\ Factors to Consider in Making Your Shipping Strategy \\ Finding Your Shipping Solution
Meet the B2B Solutions Experts
Brian Beck
THOUGHT LEADER, B2B CONSULTANT
Brian has more than two decades of experience in the ecommerce field, including
seventeen years as a C-level executive driving digital transformation. He is a
sought-after expert and trusted advisor, guiding executives at manufacturers,
brands, and distributors in creating tremendous growth from digital commerce.
His clients include some of the most prominent brands in the world. During his
time in operating roles, Brian served as the ecommerce executive at multiple
industry leading companies, including Harbor Freight Tools, PacSun, and others.
Brian is the author of the first comprehensive book on B2B ecommerce, entitled
Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce.
Susan Meyer
ENTERPRISE CONTENT MARKETING MANAGER, BIGCOMMERCE
Susan Meyer is the Enterprise Content Marketing Manager at BigCommerce,
where she researches, analyzes and educates B2B and B2C brands making more
than $10M in annual online sales on tech stack scalability, flexibility and overall
growth strategies that alleviate growing CAC. She lives and works in Austin,
Texas and her decade of writing experience spans everything from young adult
nonfiction to technical documentation.
Ellie Barton
HEAD OF US MARKETING, BRIGHTPEARL
In her role as Head of US Marketing, Ellie manages the overall marketing strategy
for Brightpearl in the US, helping hundreds of retailers and wholesalers stay
ahead of market trends in the broad ecommerce landscape. Working closely
with Brightpearl’s go-to-market revenue teams, customers, and partners, she
is responsible for building new business pipeline, strategic partner growth, and
expanding the footprint of Brightpearl within the US. With an extensive thirst for
knowledge and drive to make anything a bit more edgy, she enjoys educating
retailers on how they can deliver exceptional customer experiences and build
brand loyalty.
4 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Alec Berkley
CHANNEL SALES EXECUTIVE, SILK SOFTWARE
Alec Berkley has worked closely with the BigCommerce platform for over four
years as the head of SILK’s BigCommerce sales team to deliver successful
commerce solutions for merchants. He now leads the product sales team for
Bundle B2B and is passionate about supporting B2B businesses with powerful
B2B commerce solutions.
Connie Wong
MARKETING MANAGER, SILK SOFTWARE
Connie Wong oversees and runs the product marketing initiatives for
Bundle B2B. From content creation and campaign management to strategic
engagements and tailored messaging, she is passionate about helping both store
owners and their customers find success while improving their experiences in
B2B commerce.
Michael Daley
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE FOR ENTERPRISE, NEXTOPIA
Michael is an experienced and passionate enterprise B2B professional, with a
strong background in SaaS industry sales, leadership, and teamwork. Michael has
a demonstrated history of collaborating with mid-market and enterprise level
clients to implement site-search best practices that boost conversions, sales, and
AOV. He earned his BA in International Comparative Studies from the University
of Western Ontario.
Brady Behrman
CEO, PUNCHOUT2GO
Brady Behrman is the CEO and founding partner of PunchOut2Go. As an
entrepreneur with experience and a proven track record in building technology
businesses that focus on client success innovation, Brady and his team help
organizations of all sizes around the globe adapt to the ever-evolving, complex
B2B Commerce & eProcurement technologies.
5 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Matt Osborn
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, APRUVE
Matt Osborn is the Director of Marketing at Apruve, a Fintech company that is
revolutionizing how businesses buy from each other. He is a gifted “dad joker”
although he has not fathered any children. He writes his own small business
marketing blog, MarketingCarpenter.com.
Elizabeth Van Hoose
MARKETING COORDINATOR, SHIPPERHQ
Elizabeth works as a Marketing Coordinator at ShipperHQ, where she researches,
writes and promotes content on how merchants can create a seamless shipping
experience that keeps up with their customer needs. She is a born and raised
Austinite and UT alumna who began her career working in product marketing,
public relations and social media management at a local start up and PR agency.
In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys singing, trying new restaurants and hiking
outside with her dog Scout.
6 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Foreword The Time Is Now. For businesses that sell to other businesses, but have not yet introduced ecommerce for their customers, 2020 marks an important milestone and an opportunity to “get in the game.” Despite industry-wide and remarkably consistent customer expectations for transactional ecommerce, many B2B companies are lagging behind in providing this capability. A recent survey by Digital Commerce 360, the parent company of Internet Retailer, indicated that almost 50% of manufacturers do not yet have an ecommerce site. While ahead of their manufacturer counterparts, distributors continue to lag behind in ecommerce functionalities as well. In spite of this, buyers purchasing from these companies expect to be presented with an easy-to- use, online commerce experience from the companies they do business with. A recent survey by Forrester Research found that 38% of B2B buyers were making half or more work purchases online as of 2017, and this number was expected to grow to 55% by 2020. Why isn’t it already at 55%? Because sellers don’t yet offer their products for sale via ecommerce. But the customer expectation is there! This spells opportunity for companies that act. Business shoppers and buyers (your customers) have their expectations set for B2B ecommerce by their own personal consumer behaviors on sites like Amazon. Your customers expect fast web site load times, relevant and quick on-site search tools, intuitive product and category navigation, detailed product images and descriptions, web-based self-service for things like checking order status, and rapid and easy to use web checkout. These are now all foundational elements of B2B digital commerce and must be delivered by companies seeking to retain and stay relevant to their customers. Business workflows must also be supported, including customer-specific contract pricing, custom catalogs, purchasing approvals, payment on credit terms and other business-specific payment types, easy and fast re-ordering, unique delivery and pick up methods, and the digitization of other traditional offline processes. The bar is high. Sellers must meet expectations for a B2C-like digital experience, while also accommodating traditional B2B workflows and processes. However, those that make the buyer’s job easier and meet 7 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
these expectations are hitching their fortunes to a skyrocketing trend that is centered on
delivering on customer needs. Following this trend has the potential to drive real value for both
buyer and seller.
This is bearing out in the marketplace with real, somewhat startling, numbers. In 2018, Forrester
Research estimated U.S. B2B ecommerce amounted to $1.134 trillion in sales, up from $969 billion
in 2017. These sales figures dwarf the much-discussed and hyped world of retail ecommerce,
including Amazon, which in sum amounted to less than one half of B2B ecommerce in 2017, with
$453 billion in that year. Businesses that are acting now and creating an online presence in line with
what today’s buyers are expecting are winning this ecommerce revenue and creating a long term,
sustainable competitive advantage for their company.
Realizing ROI from Ecommerce
How do B2B sellers justify a move into ecommerce and the corresponding investments in tools and
resources? The benefits can be tremendous and carry across the entire enterprise.
Generally speaking, companies that successfully implement ecommerce realize return on
investment (ROI) from three key levers:
\\ Revenue lift: Sales increases among existing customers through various enablers, including making
re-orders easier and faster and boosting average order value by exposing additional products to
customers who may not be aware that you carry.
\\ New customers: The acquisition of new customers, often including those who currently cannot be
reached through existing sales and marketing channels because they are too small, and don’t warrant
a sales call.
\\ Revenue shift: The shift of revenue-generating activity from higher-cost channels (e.g., in-person
sales) to lower-cost channels (e.g., a website or mobile sales), as well as operational efficiencies by
providing customer self-service via the web.
In addition to these factors, companies that engage in B2B ecommerce also frequently realize
higher gross margin on transactions that are completed through digital channels versus traditional
offline methods.
This can be simply because a call to the sales rep never happens – e.g. the sales associate never
has a chance to offer a discount to the customer, even when one isn’t required. The speed and
convenience of online ordering will become more important than price in many cases. I have clients
generating 3-5% higher gross margin on orders completed via the web. What would that kind of
margin lift do for your bottom line?
8 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
This Playbook and Why It’s Important In years past, manufacturers, brands, and distributors in B2B categories were required to invest millions to enable ecommerce for their customers. Advanced digital commerce software tools were commercially available only to the largest of enterprises, or those with very significant capital budgets. Tools available to the mid-market and smaller B2B players were inadequate and functionally deficient. As a result, many sellers found the prospect of launching ecommerce to be impractical and overwhelming. However, the world has changed. The tools are now available to enable companies of all sizes to embrace ecommerce, meet customer expectations, and thrive as a result. The combination of solutions presented in this playbook represent a compelling and comprehensive way for companies to quickly and cost-effectively enter the ecommerce market or improve on current activities. With BigCommerce at the core, the solution set described on the following pages will empower sellers to deliver a world-class digital commerce experience that will enable them to capture the ROI I described above. BigCommerce has carefully selected six partners that enhance the overall customer experience and capabilities of its already robust ecommerce platform. These include solutions for advanced site search (Nextopia), eprocurement (PunchOut2Go), shipping (ShipperHQ), account and catalog management (Bundle B2B), payments (Apruve), and Enterprise Resource Planning (Brightpearl). Together these solutions can help you capture your ecommerce opportunity, in months, not years, and at a cost well inside of the ROI that is available to you. Now Is Your Time Companies acting now on ecommerce will meet their customers’ expectations and create enduring advantages. If you haven’t yet pursued an ecommerce strategy, or if you haven’t refined your ecommerce site to simplify the buyer journey and meet customers’ ever-increasing expectations, it’s not too late. But your time is short. Large players like Amazon are moving aggressively into B2B. For example, Amazon Business is current adding business-specific assortments and targeting multiple ecommerce categories. I cover the topics above and more in my book Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce. The time is now for you to modernize the experience you are delivering and seize the opportunity for the next stage in your company’s evolution. Don’t let this time pass you by. Brian Beck MARCH 2019 | PASADENA, CA 9 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
SECTION 1
Exploring Ecommerce Platforms:
Building the Site That Will Earn
You Customers
Like prepping a strong foundation for a house, choosing the right ecommerce
platform to build your B2B business’s digital presence is a critical first step. In
many ways your ecommerce platform won’t just be the foundation, but the walls
that create the rooms, and the roof and doors that keep everything—from your
systems to your customers’ data—safe. You don’t need just any ecommerce
platform. You need to find the platform that meets your business needs, provides
an unbeatable customer experience, and grows with your business as it helps your
business to grow.
As touched on in the Foreword, more and offline business or faxing, emailing, and phoning
more B2B companies are changing the way in orders? One of the main drivers for B2B
they do things and developing stronger and businesses to get online or improve their online
more experience-driven online stores. A 2018 experience is a change in buyer demographics.
BigCommerce survey of 500 international B2B
More and more B2B buyers are millennials (over
merchants found that 78% have been selling
half, in fact, according to a 2015 Google survey).
online for at least 2-5 years. And those that
These millennial buyers are used to digital
were not yet selling online overwhelmingly
conveniences in their personal lives and personal
reported they planned to create a dedicated
shopping habits and these expectations carry
website in the next year. As another compelling
over to their professional shopping. They expect
data point, Forrester Research projected in 2017
a positive user experience, ease of purchase,
that B2B ecommerce transactions would reach
and to be able to easily find the information they
a whopping $1.2 trillion by 2021.
need online. Choose a platform that will meet
So what is driving so many B2B businesses to their needs (and yours) and you will keep your
leave behind (or supplement) the old ways of B2B company well ahead of the competition.
10 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020C HA P T E R 1 :
One Platform to Serve Them All
Your business is unique, and you are the expert on your industry, your customers and their
expectations. However, there are several things that will likely benefit many B2B businesses.
Here are a few things to consider when choosing your platform.
Customized site experiences for different customers
Some B2B companies report a reluctance to sell online because they don’t want their prices
publically available. If you’re selling in an industry with slim margins and fierce competitors looking
to underbid your prices, you have a strong incentive to not publish your prices online. But not
posting them for all to see, doesn’t mean you can’t practice price transparency with your customers.
Some of your business needs will depend on what type of B2B business you’re operating. Are you
pure B2B or are you a hybrid business also offering B2C goods? Either way, you will likely have
some differentiation in pricing, product lists, and what you want different customer groups to see
when they come to your site.
Here are a few functions you might want to be able to do:
\\ Hide your bulk/wholesale pricing from B2C customers
\\ Show pricing/price lists only to certain customers
\\ Require customers to register to see your B2B site
\\ Provide different price lists for different customers based on
membership tier, negotiated pricing, geographic area, etc.
Some ecommerce platforms, like BigCommerce, will allow you to do all of this and create a place for
both your B2B and B2C customers to shop in one unified solution.
A user-focused customer journey
As mentioned in the beginning of this section, a big driver for creating online stores to begin with
is to match the expectations of millennial buyers. Because of this, you’re not doing yourself any
favors if your site doesn’t provide an unparalleled customer experience. It should be easy for your
customers to navigate to find the products and information they’re looking for to make decisions.
According to Statista data from 2018, B2B buyers research 2-3 B2B websites prior to making
11 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020purchasing decisions. You may never hear from these buyers because they may not reach out to
you to get their questions answered. If they can’t find the information they need from your website,
they may just go with one of your competitors.
Beyond just making a site that’s intuitive to search and provides necessary information with few
clicks, your site should also be:
\\ Customizable so your brand can shine through.
\\ Responsive on various devices.
\\ Easy to integrate with tools for personalization, rewards programs, coupon offers, and more.
Capable of integrating with all of the systems you need
Your B2B ecommerce platform likely won’t stand all on its own. The complications and challenges
of running a B2B business mean you will need to integrate with a number of other systems.
This could include:
\\ Customer management tools \\ Shipping
\\ Punchout catalogues and \\ Account and
eprocurement systems catalog management
\\ Advanced site search \\ ERP and more
Finding a platform that will enable you to have all of your systems work together will help
simplify your task from a business standpoint and create a harmonious solution from your
customers’ perspective.
Total cost of ownership
Of course, the platform only works for your business if it also meets your budget and ROI. It’s
important to consider not only the initial costs of the platform, but the ongoing associated costs
of managing your online store.
There are different types of platforms to choose from. In the next chapter we will look at how
the underlying architecture behind your platform and how you choose to host it can impact your
budget and the types of experiences you can create for your customers.
12 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020C HA P T E R 2:
Finding Your Platform: Headless vs. Monolith
Now that you have a sense of what your platform should be able to do, let’s work through some of
the basic options. There are a number of different ecommerce platforms for B2B businesses. The
best way to start narrowing down your options is to consider their broader categories.
For example, you can self-host your ecommerce platform on your own hardware and servers on-
premise. This can give you more control of the platform, but also requires more manpower and
up-front expenses on your part. Platforms can also be cloud-hosted through a secondary hosting
service like Amazon Web Services.
Another option is to outsource both the hosting and infrastructure with a SaaS
(Software as a Service) solution.
On-premise and SaaS solutions
You can choose to own an open source software solution that you can make changes to on the code
level. Or you can choose to “rent” software through SaaS options.
SaaS ecommerce platforms have a number of advantages:
\\ Lower total cost of ownership because cost of hosting, maintenance, and upgrades are included.
\\ Included security and fraud protection, so you don’t have to handle PCI compliance yourself.
\\ Lower development and design investments meaning you can get to market faster.
The disadvantage of a SaaS platform is that you won’t have as much control over your platform at
the code level.
To use our original analogy of the ecommerce platform as a house: A SaaS solution allows you
to rent the house instead of owning it. Because you are renting, you can’t knock down any walls,
but you also aren’t on the hook for an expensive fix if the pipes burst. And you don’t have to pay
property taxes (hosting fees being the equivalent here). Even better, in this rental, your security
system comes included!
In addition to SaaS, there are a few other acronyms for cloud-hosted platforms that you might want
to know about: IaaS and PaaS. These options still involve receiving aspects of your platform over
the internet. Here is a quick comparison from Tony Hou on the BigCommerce blog:
13 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020ON-PREMISE: PAAS:
Software that’s installed in the same Hardware and software tools
building as your business. available over the internet.
IAAS: SAAS:
Cloud-based, pay-as-you-go Software that’s available via a
services such as storage, networking, third-party over the internet.
and virtualization.
To read more about the differences, you can find the whole blog here.
The future is headless
Beyond where and how your platform is hosted, there is another way to categorize ecommerce
platforms, and that’s through their underlying architecture.
Ecommerce platforms can be either a traditional monolith platform with tightly coupled systems
that are expensive and time consuming to maintain or an API-driven, selectively decoupled CaaS
(Commerce as a Service) or headless approach.
Headless ecommerce is so called because the frontend of the website (the head) is decoupled from
the backend. These two layers are then connected together by APIs. The advantage of a headless
approach is that you can create the more robust customer experiences that customers are now
expecting. For example, using a plugin, you can build the frontend of your site on WordPress (or the
CMS of your choice) and easily connect it to a decoupled shopping cart solution on the backend,
such as BigCommerce.
By creating a site that is focused on the customer journey and that is driven by content, you will
earn new customers who are coming to expect these aspects more and more even in the B2B space.
14 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020C HA P T E R 3 :
The Next Phase of Your B2B Ecommerce
If you’re a B2B merchant getting ready to take your business online for the first time, you may have
different considerations than if you are already online and realizing your existing platform can’t
keep up with your business needs.
However, either way, you will need to do a thorough audit or your needs before finding the platform
that will meet them. This chapter will consider some of the items you should consider in this audit.
Choosing a platform
If you’re taking your business online for the first time, the first question to ask yourself is: what are
your business goals? Obviously, getting a positive ROI is probably high up there. But beyond that,
what are your priorities? For example:
\\ Are you hoping to acquire new customers?
\\ Are you prioritizing cementing relationships with existing customers?
\\ Do you want to shift the majority of your business online
or use your site to supplement what you do offline?
Figuring out what you hope to gain from your site will help you better choose the site to meet
those goals.
Other factors to consider are the budget of the project and the total cost of ownership of your
system. You should also consider the scalability of your chosen tool and any features you will need.
Talk to people in different departments from sales and marketing to logistics and shipping to get a
big picture and different perspectives on what features are must-haves and which are
nice-to-haves.
Another aspect to consider is the partner network of platforms that you are considering. Even if
a feature isn’t native to the platform, a third-party solution might work with it to give you exactly
what you need. Choosing a platform with a strong network of developers and designers who work
on the platform will also make it easier for you to find people to help you do exactly what you want
on the platform if you choose to outsource those services.
15 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020Preparing to re-platform If you’re already online with your business and simply starting to realize your platform can’t keep up with you or your customers, you may have a hard decision ahead of you. On the one hand compared to those just getting online for the first time, you may have a better sense of what you want out of a platform. But on the other hand, you now face the uphill slog of a re-platform project. Re-platforming can be an expensive and logistical headache, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be a great decision in the end. Once the re-platform is complete, if it’s done well, you can quickly see a return on your efforts. When planning to switch platforms, your process of choosing a new platform will likely begin with an audit of your pain points with your existing platform. Consider both what features you need to maintain and those that you need to change. Finding one unified solution BigCommerce is one SaaS solution you may want to consider. The platform offers easy price differentiation and varied site experiences for different customer groups so you can show, hide, or offer different prices to both B2B or B2C customers on the same website. As a SaaS solution, BigCommerce also offers a lower total cost of ownership than many on-premise options. And it includes the cost of maintenance, upgrades, security, and PCI compliance. The platform’s flexible APIs make it a great headless solution so you can create engaging site experiences to meet and exceed customer expectations. Finally, BigCommerce has a strong network for partners that can work with the platform to create even more features and functionality to suit your B2B business needs. You can read about some of these solutions in subsequent sections. 16 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
SECTION 2 Scale Smarter with ERP Integration B2B buyers expect flexibility on how they order and how they pay. This expectation presents new challenges for multiple channels, and it can mean that data exists in multiple siloed systems. An ERP consolidates all your data into a single real-time system and provides all the flexibility you need to grow your B2B business and tailor your back office to the B2B environment. In the growing world of B2B commerce, businesses are under immense pressure to offer new and exciting shopping experiences for increasingly demanding clients. The traditional B2B methods of in-person and phone sales are no longer the only and expected forms of commerce. Today’s B2B buyers expect easy and seamless B2C- like shopping experiences and automated EDI transactions are quickly gaining popularity. C HA P T E R 1 : ERP Integration: Why It Matters and How to Do It by Growing your B2B Commerce Business An ERP provides B2B businesses with an all-in-one automated solution, which integrates order management, accounting and a 360-degree view of your clients, enabling you to spend more time developing lasting client relationships, seeking new opportunities and getting paid faster. Furthermore, an ERP’s embedded workflows and functionality have all been designed to fit the unique requirements of your business perfectly. Selling to retailers and wholesalers is a very different model than selling directly to consumers. Retail buyers are usually purchasing a significantly larger product inventory amount. To keep up, they are constantly looking for distributors that offer fair prices on popular inventory, in addition to 17 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
those that deliver on their business operations. As you are looking to scale your business, you want to make sure you are able to offer quick response times, accurate inventory levels, and extremely efficient order operations. Retailers demand ease and efficiency, making the need for your back office operations to be clean, up-to- date, and able to handle multiple workflows and tracking all in one place. A strong ERP integration and back office technology provides you with a clear holistic view of your business and inventory levels, as well as the ability to deliver a stellar performance and strengthen your overall operations to meet the demands of these buyers. C HA P T E R 2: The Benefits (and Obstacles) of ERP Integration There are multiple strategies to consider when implementing ERP technology. And there are several that specifically support your company’s ability to address the needs of B2B buyers. Implementing strategies like tiered pricing, barcodes that simplify inventory management, and automated orders and workflows will put your company in a much stronger position to compete with other wholesalers through the effectiveness of your back office operations. Anticipating obstacles It can be very daunting taking on the launch of any new technology, and embarking on the journey of implementing an enterprise-scale integration is no different. Before deciding to take on a new ERP system, there are several aspects to consider. This includes planning effectively for the integration, understanding the level of training that will be involved, and ensuring effective buy-in internally for the new system. You will need to be aware of which legacy apps will need to be integrated effectively with the new platform. Keep an eye out for systems and apps that may create bumps in the process so you don’t experience surprises later. While preparing for and transitioning to a new system can have its challenges, a solid ERP implementation plan delivers much in return. Once your system is up and running, you can go back to doing what you love - running your business strategy and growing it to the next level. 18 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Creating a clear path for integration It’s important to know from the start what makes a successful implementation. Set clear expectations of what will be needed from the beginning and set trackable goals and timelines. There are quite a lot of details, but if done right from the beginning, you will be set up for great success moving forward. Getting started, you will want to have an understanding of all operational expectations, business impact planning, and the true costs of your implementation and data migration project. Shortcuts may be tempting at the beginning from a cost-saving tactic, but in the long-term, you will end up spending more money fixing problems that you didn’t know existed further down the line. Implementing an ERP system is a daunting task. For most it is a very new technology, so you want to ensure that you have a team ready to help you. A clear advantage when implementing a new ERP system is to have consultants that will help you with every step of the implementation process, such as those provided with Brightpearl. This team can also provide valuable market knowledge on best practices, future trends to keep an eye out for, and strategies to continue aligning your business growth goals with your technology stack. Take this into account when choosing an ERP system. Will it provide support during and after the integration? This will make your experience much smoother and speed up the process of implementing an integral product in a much faster time period. C HA P T E R 3 : Options for Integration and What to Expect Your ecommerce platform is the bones of your business and sales for your consumers and is necessary for you to truly operate efficiently. Moreover, as you grow your business, more and more functionality is needed to support managing your storefronts, your added SKU volume, currencies... the list goes on. The efficiency of managing your products becomes increasingly difficult as you start selling across more channels and in larger volumes. This is where having an efficient ERP integration is essential in enhancing and optimizing your ecommerce functionality. Having an ERP made for retailers and wholesalers is also essential so that your workflows and fulfillments work in conjunction with the nuances of how retail and wholesale businesses operate. Your ecommerce system can give you the 19 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
basic information you need, but not the in-depth information about your products and inventory that is needed for business growth. When considering the ERP that is right for you, you’ll want to make sure that it can function the way your business is running. It should be able to manage multiple key functions of your business such as inventory, order management, purchase order and supplier management, warehouse and logistics, accounting, CRM and marketing functions. When you integrate with an ERP, you’re able to gain real-time and data-driven insights into every aspect of your business. The technology contains all of the functionality needed to run your business, across different channels, markets and multiple warehouse locations, such as RRP and vendor prices, order fulfillment, inventory values, and much more. 20 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
SECTION 3 Improve Your Buyers’ Online Experience with Self-Service Catalog and Account Management As B2B commerce continues to grow and evolve, so will the shopping habits and needs of your B2B customers. Buyers are moving away from visiting their neighborhood B2B store to talk with a sales rep in person or ordering off of a paper catalog. The demographic of B2B customers is changing. As uncovered in a Google Report, nearly half of all B2B buyers are millennials. This means that today’s B2B audience is increasingly more tech-savvy and comfortable with starting their purchasing journey online. It is important to understand these shifting trends so that you can best meet the unique requirements of your B2B customers. Equipping yourself and your buyers with the right online self- service account and catalog management tools will not only improve the shopping experience on your website, but ultimately better serve your customers. C HA P T E R 1 : Why Account and Catalog Management Matters To compete in the growing B2B market, businesses can no longer afford to solely maintain their B2B transactions and processes offline. Even in the case of B2B buyers who ultimately complete their purchase offline, the online influence throughout their path to purchase can’t be ignored. Whether it’s conducting web searches, consulting online catalogs, or visiting branded websites, B2B buyers want to be able to access the information they’re looking for without ever needing to set foot inside a physical store. While B2B buyers are demanding a more personalized shopping experience similar to what they would receive when shopping online as a B2C user, there are a number of differences and complexities that must be factored into being able to create the seamless online buying experience they expect. 21 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Account Management The B2B purchasing workflow can consist of many different individuals, each with their own specific responsibilities and roles. A company could have employees who need to compile a shopping list and put in a request to their supervisor to order new materials. There could be a supervisor who oversees and approves the purchasing of different products or a team member in charge of procurement who’s been asked to place an order. The store owner or manager could also be involved with assigning new team members to these roles and keeping track of all completed orders. No matter the exact positions, B2B companies will have different roles with tiers of requirements that they need addressed. To meet this need, you can leverage online B2B capabilities that will allow customers to create their own corporate accounts and set up multiple tiers of buyers who have different roles and permissions, making it easier for businesses of all sizes to customize their procurement process. Having the flexibility to accommodate a number of different buyer workflows ultimately makes it easier for you as a seller to increase cart value and encourage repeat purchases. Catalog Management One thing to make sure of is that the online ordering experience is just as easy, if not easier, than the process of purchasing products from a sales rep over the phone. This doesn’t mean that the added personal touch of creating sales over the phone or communication through email is going to completely go away. It’s all about maximizing the potential of your online channels just as much as your offline channels. You can reduce overhead costs from processing traditional orders placed through fax order forms and phone calls by servicing your customers online. You may have B2B customers that don’t need access to the entire catalog or have special negotiated pricing with you on certain products. From variable product options to tier pricing, you should be able to create a variety of different combinations and agreements that are tailored to each B2B customer. Assigning customer catalogs to specific customer segments is a way for you to start to personalize the B2B customer shopping experience for your users. B2B buyers expect pricing, catalogs, and product selection to be organized according to their particular requirements. Especially if you also service B2C users on the same storefront, utilizing catalog management features will allow you to differentiate and offer personalization within the B2B customer shopping experience. 22 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
C HA P T E R 2: How to Improve Account and Catalog Management on Your Site Whether it’s presenting your B2B customers with bulk ordering tools to facilitate quicker transactions or providing your sales representatives with the resources they need to transition normally offline B2B processes online, there are a variety of ways to improve the B2B buying experience on your site through self-service account and catalog management. By automating more of these tasks through your ecommerce site, your team can move away from time spent on processing B2B order entries from email spreadsheets or hard copy forms. Instead, they can focus on what matters most: engaging with customers, providing them with an excellent customer experience, and establishing ongoing client relationships. Allow buyers to quickly enter in product SKUs or upload a CSV file, manage and save multiple shopping lists, or set desired visibility and authority levels for different employees. Instead of having your sales reps conduct all B2B business solely over the phone or create manual orders one-by-one, they can be equipped with the ability to purchase and create shopping lists or complete orders on behalf of a customer online. Customers are expecting their overall B2B buying experience to be exceptionally convenient and smooth. By offering a personalized B2B self-service portal, you’re empowering your customers to make and act on their purchasing decisions faster. It’s all about making it easier for your customers to buy from you. C HA P T E R 3 : Key Tools and Features that Can Help You can optimize your B2B transactions and operations online while delivering the personalized and convenient shopping experience your customers expect by taking advantage of the right set of B2B solutions and features. Leveraging the powerful capabilities of a SaaS application like Bundle B2B provides you with enterprise level B2B functionality and convenient self-service account capabilities for both you and your customers. 23 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Here are just a few of the features and functionality that Bundle B2B offers:
\\ Sales Rep Masquerade: This is a powerful function that can help either internal or external sales reps
more effectively sell to their customer base. Sales representatives can log in on behalf of a company,
access shopping lists created by buyers in the company, add products to the cart, and complete
placement of the order.
\\ Company Approval Process: Differentiate the B2B customer shopping experience by allowing
companies to apply and be approved for an account that is paired with specific customer catalogs
and special pricing available after login.
\\ Company View/User Management: Customers can manage their corporate accounts and set up
multiple tiers of buyers who have specific roles and permissions. For example: Admin User, Senior
Buyer, Junior Buyer.
\\ Shopping List Approval: Buyers can manage and save multiple shopping lists within the app,
allowing them to retrieve these for future use and seamlessly purchase previously saved products.
Based on user permissions, buyers can set authority levels on who can approve/reject shopping lists
and convert them to orders.
\\ Bulk Ordering Tools: By utilizing the Quick Order Pad to enter a SKU or search for SKUs by line
item, or uploading a CSV file, buyers can quickly place orders online. It’s also easy to make repeat
purchases and leverage past shopping lists to quickly place new orders.
The next step to increase order volume and facilitate more growth and revenue for your business
is to create a strategy that allows you to bring more of your offline B2B customers and processes
online to your ecommerce site. It is no longer enough to manage all of your B2B transactions offline.
With support from a reliable and trusted ecommerce platform like BigCommerce paired with B2B
seller and buyer self-service capabilities from Bundle B2B, you can be fully equipped with the tools
you need to elevate your B2B business online.
24 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020SECTION 4 Optimizing Site Search to Simplify the Buyer Journey As we’ve seen thus far, it’s no secret that how B2B buyers buy is changing. Print catalogs are gradually fading away, along with the practice of executing purchase orders by fax machine. Overall, the B2B industry is playing catch-up. Millennials are starting to occupy the majority of purchasing and buying roles, in which they’re accustomed to a consumer-oriented, B2C online buying experience where the best website wins. These modern buyers are looking for relevant search results, easy website navigation, and suggested product content, but with accommodations that meet the complexity of B2B buying, such as a unique account with a custom catalog, specialized pricing, and sensitivity to product availability. The future of B2B is in ecommerce, and the need for a personalized, intelligent, search-driven experience is essential. C HA P T ER 1 : How Site Search Helps Create an Exceptional Shopping Experience A B2B site search solution transforms a static, one-size-fits-all B2B site into a dynamic, buyer- centric shopping experience. By supercharging the search box, navigation, and product pages, you provide B2B buyers the ability to find the right product, at the right time, in the quickest way possible—regardless of the product’s complexity, technical specifications, custom pricing, or attributes. 25 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
B2B merchants on the lookout for a site search solution stand to benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) driven algorithms that automatically select the most relevant and accurate results to display to customers, increasing the likelihood of purchase. They can also benefit by controlling the level of automation and AI by easily implementing customizable rules to promote specific brands, showcase specific products, perform in-store merchandising, and conduct site-wide promotions. And they can benefit from translating their search data into measurable insights to further optimize the B2B buying experience, so that repeat buyers can replenish their inventory in the easiest way possible. As a solution dedicated to creating an exceptional shopping experience, the right solution will also be easy to install and integrate with any leading ecommerce platform, like BigCommerce. So where do you begin to improve B2B site search? What tools and functions should you keep an eye out for? The following two chapters give an overview of how you can transform the shopping experience with B2B site search. C HA P T E R 2: How to Improve B2B Site Search STA RT W I T H T H E B U Y E R E X P E R IE NCE : C USTOM P R IC I NG, C ATA LO GS , AND DIS PLAY INFO RMAT IO N Despite some overlapping similarities between B2C and B2B buying expectations, it’s important to recognize that the B2B experience is a unique one. Improving site search for B2B starts with addressing those aspects of the experience that are common to the B2B buyer’s role. To start, most B2B buyers will typically begin the buying process by logging-in to the site from which they will buy. And so the B2B experience starts here. If you’re leveraging a B2B site search solution, the buyer will gain access to non-public facing information and content. In turn, merchants gain the ability to present buyer-specific pricing in compliance with the buyer’s contract, their secured custom discounting, prices based on bulk purchases of number of units, and more. Additionally, merchants gain the ability to present buyer-specific products by way of custom catalogs. The experience can be even further customized through geo-targeting, where buyers can see the availability of products based on the inventory located geographically closest to them, while also protecting OEM and manufacturer-mandated territories. 26 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
In customizing the B2B buying experience with site search, the buyer sees that their interactions and transactions are exclusive. A customized catalog, in conjunction with custom pricing and geo- targeting, enhances the degree of exclusivity that a merchant can offer to buyers, strengthening the buyer-seller relationship, which is key for B2B sales. Moving from Out-of-the Box Search to Adaptive Search with Advanced Autocomplete B2B ecommerce merchants looking to improve their site search will need adaptive search to level- up the search experience. Adaptive search is a technology that learns from and adapts to B2B buyers’ behavior over time. It uses machine learning to display products based on each buyer’s unique browsing and search behavior, thus personalizing the shopping experience. What’s more, with adaptive search, when a group of products has equal relevance and weighting in a buyer’s search results, the best performing product—the one that gets clicked on most often— gets automatically promoted to the top of the search results. Leading B2B site search solutions combine adaptive search with autocomplete. When the buyer is typing, autocomplete completes the word in the search bar and presents suggested answers or results based on the search term. A B2B site search solution takes autocomplete a step further. Its advanced tools instantly match relevant products to a buyer’s every keystroke, guiding the buyer towards a purchase in real-time. By implementing adaptive search and autocomplete on a site-wide search bar, merchants transform this key piece of screen real estate into a powerhouse conversion tool found on every page of their store. How Adaptive Search Utilizes Adaptive Algorithms Adaptive algorithms display search results in a way that makes sense to B2B buyers, by presenting the best performing products at the top of the search results page. Highlighting the most in- demand products from previous searches to current buyers in real-time boosts the probability of conversion. Adaptive search algorithms also change over time, rather than remaining static. As new products are released and the buying habits of B2B buyers change, so do the search results. Finally, adaptive search algorithms are automated, relieving merchants from laborious, time-consuming manual input. Here are some ways that site search solutions leverage adaptive search for B2B functionality: 27 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
\\ Search by Exact Part Number or SKU: B2B searches often require a higher level of specificity and
accuracy so that the correct items are purchased, every time. Advanced B2B site search will offer
partial and exact matches for both SKUs and part numbers, so buyers can clearly identify and select
the right products in their search results.
\\ Search by Exact Keywords including Industry Terms: Similar to searches by exact part number
or SKU, B2B site search providers will include exact keywords, including part names and models,
industry nomenclature, and technical terminology associated with specific products, to make the
search process easy when the buyer doesn’t have SKU or part numbers readily available.
\\ Search by Problem or Issue Solved: Effective B2B site search will also give buyers the ability to
search by problem (e.g., leaking pipe), use-case (e.g., HVAC), or application (e.g., band saw), so that
a relevant product can be found that addresses their search term. Common B2B industries that would
find this effective are tools and hardware, supplies, pharmaceuticals, and other industries requiring
highly specific product applications.
\\ Search by Content: Beyond products, leading B2B site searches will enable buyers to search for
content related to items, such as sales sheets, spec sheets, brochures (to name a few) so that the
buyer can educate themselves on possible searches. The results from content searches will be web
pages, PDFs, and other documentation relevant for the purchase.
Leveraging Autocomplete Customization and Control for B2B
The power of a search-driven B2B buying experience is realized when merchants have the
convenience of automation, combined with the ability to control search results. A B2B site search
solution enables you to customize what shows up in the autocomplete search box. Here are just
some of the possibilities merchants have for tailoring the autocomplete search experience:
\\ Product Matching: When searching, enhanced autocomplete matches a buyer’s every keystroke
in real-time with products they are looking for 1) before they finish typing the word and 2) prior to
completing the action by clicking the search icon or hitting the ‘Enter’ button. This real-time product
matching actively guides the buyer towards the product as they simultaneously express their buying
intentions by typing.
\\ Visual Merchandising: Visual merchandising enables merchants to bring focus to specific products
by visually serving-up products to the top of autocomplete search results. This increases a product’s
discoverability and the probability of conversion.
\\ Product Promotion: Product promotion in site search enables merchants to identify and set specific
keywords that will serve-up certain products as recognized matches for the user in the autocomplete
results. With this function, merchants can guarantee that specific products (e.g., discounted items)
rank at the top of search results to drive sales directly tied to that promotion.
\\ Custom Banners and Placement: The ability to leverage and implement promotional banners within
the autocomplete dialog box truly takes site search to the next level. It transforms site search into
an advertising and promotional tool, where eye-catching banners can influence buyer behavior by
visually displaying in-store, seasonal, and other kinds of promotions to the buyer.
28 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020Create a Comprehensive B2B Search-Driven Solution A B2B site search solution with advanced autocomplete and visual merchandising enhances basic search by generating an entire autocomplete search experience. In doing so, it ensures B2B buyers always stay on a conversion path up to the point of sale. C HA P T E R 3 : Features of an Advanced B2B Site Search Tool The best B2B site search solutions go beyond the search box. In addressing the B2B search experience, advanced solutions present opportunities to take B2B ecommerce stores to the next level, with a full suite of experience-based conversion tools. By honing in on the buyer experience, these conversion tools make large product libraries more accessible, organized, and intelligible, prompting B2B buyers to further engage with your site through navigation/filters, product finders, product and email recommendations. The ability to further personalize this experience is critical because in the world of B2B, there are unique requirements per user, including price, catalog, and delivery availability. Enhancing Navigation and Pages for B2B Buying Advanced site search solutions will offer site-wide navigation and page enhancements, which are a huge step above the basic navigation offered in ecommerce platforms. They compel B2B buyers to explore product categories, filter results, and refine what they’re looking for by product attribute. Page enhancements like customizable filters and refinements also give buyers the power to filter and discover products according to their preferences. Merchants can organize these preferences through customizable refinements such as product size, color, brand, customer review score, and more. You should also gain the ability to add customized, dynamic filters to any page of your store. General Product Recommendations for the B2B Buyer Product recommendations can enhance the online shopping experience through a recommendation engine designed to serve up products to B2B buyers based on several strategies, including, up-sells, cross-sells, related keyword searches from search engines, top products, and products frequently bought together. 29 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
Product Finders for Critical Technical Specifications A product finder can guide your B2B buyers through an intuitive and interactive process that leads them to the exact product they’re looking for. As an enhanced site search tool, it streamlines the B2B buyer’s buying decisions by soliciting questions about product specifications in the right sequence, and in the user interface best suited for your product catalog. Email Recommendations for Repeat Purchasers Email recommendations enable merchants to further engage with buyers post-sale, bringing them back to your store for repeat purchases. By delivering product recommendations through this additional channel, B2B buyers are enticed to come back to your store, starting from their inbox. Using Search to Create a Conversion Optimized B2B Buying Journey Site search solutions, like those from Nextopia, empower buyers to find products through a full suite of conversion tools optimized for the B2B buyer experience. They allow buyers to better navigate, refine, and narrow down product options, and engage in a buying journey that’s intuitive, interactive, and personalized. A multifaceted search solution with key conversion applications like product recommendations, personalization or email recommendations can quickly and easily adapt to the growing business needs of ecommerce merchants for B2B. 30 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
SECTION 5 Simplifying Digital Procurement Processes with eProcurement Integrators Procurement is the activities a business engages in to acquire the products and services that support its operations. Procurement is an essential function because every part of a business depends on its supply chain. Ideally, procurement is tightly monitored and controlled, with clearly defined policies and processes. As such, procurement departments generate or handle a vast number of documents: contracts, requisition orders, purchase orders, invoices, delivery orders, and more. eProcurement is the digitization of the procurement process. eProcurement platforms such as Coupa and SAP Ariba leverage cloud infrastructure and Software as a Service to digitize procurement processes and operations. B2B buyers use eProcurement platforms because they help them to improve the efficiency of procurement operations and exercise greater control of procurement and spending across their organization. eProcurement platforms enforce procurement An eProcurement integrator bridges the best practices and consolidate procurement divide between buyer and seller platforms, data on a single platform, but getting data into facilitating the flow of requisition, purchase an eProcurement platform can be challenging. order, invoice, and other data between Manual data entry is error-prone and time- ecommerce and eProcurement platforms. consuming. There are often compatibility issues between a buyer’s eProcurement platform and a seller’s ecommerce platform. 31 Exceeding Your B2B Customers’ Ecommerce Needs In 2020
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