Contents
Or read the White Paper below ...
The digital revolution has created a significant opportunity for B2B businesses. B2B customers now expect the same range of omni-channel buying options they enjoy as consumers – which is why almost half of B2B buyers (49%) prefer to use consumer websites to make work-related purchases.
When asked about their technology priorities, the following eCommerce features came out top: enhanced search functionality (48 percent), improved personalisation and service recommendations (42 percent), and mobile website access (39 percent).
They want both self-service and full-service purchasing options. B2B customers want to make purchases 24x7, track orders, view order history and manage their credit without having to talk to a sales rep.
However, when they do want to talk to a sales person, reps will have capabilities at their fingertips that allow them to deliver high-end service including creating quotes and orders, recommending products and trouble shooting issues with orders started online.
Magento has made significant investments in B2B functionality in recent years and was named a leader in B2B
commerce in the Forrester Wave: V2B Commerce Suites for
Midsize Organisations, Q3 2017.
The well known research firm cited the Magento platform, an all-in-one cloud solution with a full set of B2B and B2C functionality, as the “best fit for mid-sized B2B companies that want an open, feature rich solution that can be extended easily and inexpensively”.
Please find below an overview of the features and functions available in Magento to make the most of the opportunities presented in the market today for B2B omni-channel eCommerce.
Allow customers to manage their own accounts
Magento Commerce allows customers to request and manage their own company accounts.
Customers can set roles and permissions within their account with multiple levels of buyers.
Allow B2b merchants to categorise and organise accounts
B2B merchants have access to extended features to better categorise and organise their customer information including the power to export customer lists and the ability to designate sales reps to selected accounts.
Improve buyer relations
Magento Commerce supports customer quoting and price negotiations with a streamlined request for quote workflow that can be entirely managed within Magento or via external systems using APIs. Magento’s advanced workflow helps improve quote responsiveness and ultimately leads to higher conversion rates.
B2B customers can request quotes directly from their shopping baskets, including supporting comments and documentation if desired. They can also track their status once issued.
On the merchant’s end, quote requests can be easily monitored and customised through a quote management panel where quote details, history and communications data are all recorded to assist negotiations. Quote expiration dates can also be set to encourage customer action.
Personalise content
Magento comes with powerful tools for merchandising, content management and promotional campaigns. With Magento B2B merchants can create custom catalogues and
make personalised product recommendations for different
customer groups. In addition, they can create custom price lists for individual companies or groups of customers.
Customise payment options
Payment options can be customised for each customer to support payments on account, credit cards, etc. for maximised sales and convenience.
Magento merchants can configure their store’s credit options to manage the purchasing conditions for their B2B customers, therefore reducing the need for their customers to call for support.
Minimum and maximum order limits, and credit restrictions for chosen countries are just some of the adjustable credit payment settings.
Furthermore, Magento merchants will be able to monitor customer credit data and specify limits between those individual accounts. This means trusted buyers can exceed the credit limit for purchases compared to other less familiar
customer accounts. Customers will also be able to track the status of their personal credit information.
Access easy-to-use business intelligence tools for greater insight
Magento Business Intelligence provides a complete
commerce analytics platform to make it easy for non-analysts to gain valuable insights from their data such as what their customer lifetime value is across different segments. Magento BI includes the following:-
Drive recurring revenue
With Magento you can improve operations with a single solution for managing orders from all sales channels.
B2B customers can place orders by entering one or more SKUs at a time. Once input, Magento will automatically validate the SKU and notify customers whether that inventory is available. Customers can also upload CSV files to quickly complete their orders or choose items from pre-set
requisition lists.
On the other side, merchants can assist customers by creating requisition lists for the products that are purchased most often. These can be later assigned to selected customers to streamline orders.
Improve shipping options
Merchants can improve service and reduce overall shipping related costs by automating their primary shipping processes. Magento Shipping includes management tools to organise the loading and dispatching of store products from anywhere, and the ability to apply unique product allocation rules
per each shipping location.
Engage customers across multiple devices
Business buyers are consumers too. You can create engaging mobile optimised experiences to empower your customers and sales staff to place orders on any device, at any time.
Integrate your website with your back office
Provide customers with accurate, real-time inventory from across your supply chain and use automated business rules to optimise your fulfilment costs and delivery times.
Magento comes with extensive APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and off-the-shelf extensions that allow B2B merchants to integrate with any Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, Product Information Management, Accounting Suite, etc. In order to sell effectively online, customer expect to see real-time inventory, pricing and shipping information.
Magento Commerce has all the features and functions that you could want to capitalise on the current B2B eCommerce digital transformation.
In addition, Screen Pages has extensive experience of implementing both B2B and B2C omni-channel eCommerce solutions for merchants on Magento.
For a list of case studies and references, please go to
https://www.screenpages.com/about/our-clients under the B2B section.
Call us today on 01932 359160 to find out how we can help you.
