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B2B e-commerce now an essential item

When does a ‘nice to have’ become an ‘essential’ in business? 

When the market dictates?
 
When customers demand it?
 
When you lose competitive edge?
 
Probably when all three combine.
 
Recent figures suggest over two thirds of business to business (B2B) organisations now offer some form of online ecommerce, and it’s growing fast. In 2021, online sales on B2B ecommerce sites, log-in portals and marketplaces increased by 17.8% to $1.63 trillion worldwide.¹
 
What’s fuelling the shift away from a sales force towards ecommerce is a multitude of factors. The rise in Millennials within the workforce who are used to (and expect) online purchasing, we’re all purchasing more online personally so why not in the workplace?
 
Additionally, the past two year’s pandemic has raised questions throughout businesses as to the need for face-to-face meetings. This goes far beyond buyer decision making but the isolation of buyers working from home has given them the opportunity to research, browse and shop for goods online like never before.
 
The pressure on budgets has also reduced buyer loyalty. Automation and process reviews, the reduction in head count and the need to justify every pound spent during tough times will, naturally lead to both an increased need to research the cheapest product and automate the buying process.
 
In addition, sales forces are being reduced to the bare minimum. Difficult choices are being made; spend £30,000 on a new ecommerce system or employ a team of salespeople on the road?
 
If your organisation doesn’t invest in technology, while your competitor does, where will that leave your business?
 
One of the reasons for NOT investing is the fear of how to integrate various legacy databases, accounting systems and purchasing processes. Where do you start?
 
At Stack Technologies, we understand this concern. Our integrated ecommerce platform, Red Transact is designed for the B2B market. Uniquely, the sales order processing module allows sales staff and remote workers to process orders for customers, and provide customer service, through an easy-to-use, and simple to access platform. 
 
The website is driven by a single, easy-to-use interface that manages all web content and digital assets seamlessly, it even offers multi-currency, multi-lingual and multi-site capabilities.
 
In addition, because we understand the website is only one part of the marketing mix, the online marketing module offers email marketing, automation, content personalisation, A/B testing, and Lead Scoring. 
 
Using Stack’s own system, TranSync, a market-proven integration solution, seamlessly and securely synchronise your web stores and portals with account, CRM, ERP, payroll, warehouse management, and document management systems.
 
It’s a brave new world out there now and investing in customer focused technology is the answer.

Read how we introduced Red Transact to Trophy Distributors.
 
 
^{1 https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk/articles/b2b-ecommerce/b2b-ecommerce-trends/}
 

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