B2B Functionality 101

A good eCommerce platform can handle two things: B2C functionality and B2B functionality. As consumers ourselves, we feel pretty confident about what we like about sites that we purchase items from. Whether it’s shopping for clothes on a personal level or shopping for our business - we know what to expect from the overall purchasing process. There’s nothing more frustrating when something doesn’t go right. So, what happens when something goes extremely well and enhances your buying experience? This is what all partners in the ERP and eCommerce space are looking for. That rich B2B functionality that makes everything that much easier for their clients.

As a partner, you want your customers to feel like their website is providing these positive online buying experiences for their customers. You want them to feel comfortable with their website, making updates and uploads as easy as possible. You want them to get the most out of their site with little headaches and big revenue growth.

We get it. We want that too. It’s important to know the functionality of a great B2B eCommerce site.

Complex Customer Pricing

One of the first and most important B2B features is complex customer pricing. Tailored pricing for different accounts or customers is not a new concept. Store owners have provided discounts and custom pricing for many years, but now, it’s a feature that most eCommerce platforms have available upon setting up the online store. Choosing an eCommerce platform that has this capability is key.

According to Lumoa.com, “At least 80% of B2B buyers are not only looking for but EXPECT a buying experience like that of a B2C customer”.

Most B2C sites show pricing for everyone and it’s easy to set up one price per product, but, with B2B, it’s complicated on who gets what price. Giving customers the ability to log into a site and see products, announcements and pricing catered to them is a game changer for many businesses. You clients can choose to show before discounted prices, nudging the customers to see what a big discount they are getting. Your clients can set up a discount rate date - using a marketing urgency strategy to get their customers to purchase faster.

Reorder Button

Another important feature would be the Reorder Button. The reorder button resides within the online portal of a customer's account order page.

Giving repeat business customers the option to click a simple reorder button from a previous order is easy. Since most businesses who order in bulk usually do it on a timeline (for example, bi-montly) they love the idea of having everything as easy as one click away from ordering everything they need. Not having to go in and recreate an order; adding line item by line item saves employee time and money and can allow them to focus on other business tasks.

Import and Export Tool

We all know that having an online business can sometimes be a difficult task- it’s a lot of work to get everything set up and eventually going live with the site. Your clients are looking for providers who have the Import / Export tool within their platform to make things go smoother. This tool can easily upload all of your clients images and marketing data to the site with one simple data upload; getting a quick-to-market website up and running with little to no issues.

Accounts Receivable (AR) Portal

Another great tool for customers who need to get paid fast is having the AR Portal functionality at their fingertips. You clients need a way for their customers to go into the site, login and pay a bill or an invoice online. Nothing seems easier than a click-to-pay button on a website.

PracticalEcommerce.com says that in 2021, we can expect B2B companies to streamline their accounts receivable infrastructure. This could be as simple as moving away from manual processes such as physically mailing and accommodating payments in new ways.

So, what does this mean for B2B companies? It means that if your clients don’t already offer the payment services for their site you’ll soon be looking for an eCommerce web solution to help set that up. Having live data from your client’s ERP and offering an AR portal through the Customer Portal is an easy and effective way to get your clients paid faster. Hiring the right eCommerce Platform that has the experience to set this up and get moving fast will be yet another critical step in their purchasing process.

Conclusion

Having these features and functionalities at your fingertips will help your clients understand and get the most out of their online business. Guide them every step of the way with the knowledge you’ve gained today. With Nomad’s help and experience with these key steps, we’re confident that your customers will increase their current revenue and build long term relationships with their current clients from the loyalty and satisfaction they get from having a well built, safe and secure website with these features programmed in.