8 Essential B2B E-commerce Tips To Scale Online Business

Your B2B e-commerce website is finally up and running, and you're ready to go with online sales. You must also optimize your website to scale to acquire customers, drive conversions, and generate revenue in the digital world.

B2B e-commerce will become more and more popular

The world of B2B E-Commerce market is thrice the scale of the B2C market and is anticipated to just about double by 2027. B2B e-commerce will grow by more than 70% by 2027, reaching $20.9 trillion (compared to $12.2 trillion in 2019). This is the number given in the white paper “The Ultimate B2B E-commerce Guide: Tradition is out. Digital is in”. To meet buyer expectations, companies must provide a payment experience, and selling online is easily optimized for B2B buyer expectations.

Today's entrepreneurs must be prepared to face exponential growth to become leaders in their niche. Making smart decisions right from the start of your business – such as focusing on the buyer experience – can make a big difference in the lifetime of your online business. Who is ready to grow? Take your business to the next level.

What factors are needed to expand B2B eCommerce?

First of all, your customers may want to be able to self-service reorders, track orders, and pay online. They want to view inventory and track orders in real-time to help improve order fulfilment and management. Second, your competition is already doing it, so you may need to catch up. So those are your customers and competitors, but what else does your business need?

• Open your doors to new markets and customers without the usual brick and mortar costs
• Create a first-class experience for your customers to make your purchases easy
• Centralize your product and sales management to reduce manual admin
• Allow customers to self-service / self-manage
• Facilitate real-time buyer/supplier relationship
• Improved scalability
• Improve operational efficiency

Why should I scale my online business?

We all want to become a million-dollar business, but we also know that it's not easy if we don't put in our best efforts. Scaling your eCommerce business strategy is the best way to manage high growth and help prevent your business from dealing with a flood of unhappy customers. Taking a strategic approach to growing your business allows you to always be ready for what's next. It could be introducing new products, managing additional social media accounts, developing your content marketing using freelancers, bloggers, and influencers.

Either way, you can follow our step-by-step guide to get ahead of the curve.

8 tips to Scale your B2B eCommerce Business

1. Be unique

Think outside the box and try new things. You need to be unique and stand out.

It would be best to do A/B testing to see what works for your customers. A/B testing means that a visitor views 1 of 2 different pages. One is called version A, and the other is called version B. They usually have a slightly different design or some other difference.

You collect data from real visitors during testing; That way, you can clearly measure which pages convert best. This is a very effective approach to increase conversions, as you will find the design solution that gives the best results.

2. Push notifications

Give your customers the chance to sign up for your weekly (or monthly) newsletter. Emails can contain news, discounts, inspiration, and information from your B2B website.

Email recommendations or mobile push notifications leverage unique behavioral data to send tailored product recommendations to your customers, increasing conversions, click-through rates, and revenue.

3. Enable multiple international payment methods and provide e-invoices

Multiple payment methods will offer a more seamless customer experience

One of the biggest opportunities with B2B sales is the opportunity to sell internationally across borders. A B2B e-commerce best practice for international expansion is to go beyond wire transfers, cards, and invoicing and accept a variety of payment methods including wire transfers and e-wallets. When you provide options for different payment methods in your invoicing documents, you provide a more seamless experience for your customers.

4. Vending

It is virtually impossible to track everything and control your online sales in real-time. Your sales need to be highly automated. Reacting quickly to emerging trends and seasonal assortment changes keep your products displayed in the right place, at the right time, which can increase sales.

5. Provide excellent UX and beautiful UI

A great user experience and an engaging user interface are key technology factors when it comes to the success of your B2B eCommerce strategies. If your platform is challenging to navigate or use, it is difficult for buyers to reaccess it. While UI creates a nice, friendly feel, UX refers to the customer's experience visiting your e-commerce website. A mobile-friendly B2B website is an integral part of the equation, but UX goes beyond that.

For example, beautiful website design and seamless payment methods are essential when it comes to customers and a great user experience for a B2B e-commerce business. When selling products to another firm or simply a general customer, you will need to create an effective, user-friendly sales funnel. Having convenient, easy navigation will enable more B2B transactions, as buyers will be easily led through your website – from product to checkout.

You can also enhance the user experience by creating their accounts. This not only promotes customer loyalty but also makes the buying process go more smoothly. Customers will be able to review previous purchases, reorder products as needed, and have all their purchase information saved.

Understand the user's personality you are dealing with, their needs, and their pain points. Please take note of their requests and the problems they are facing. UX/UI building focuses deeply on customer problems, personalities, and demands.

6. Clear, seamless, and organized process

Honesty is vital. Be honest with your customers and provide the information they need about their orders. Will their orders take longer than usual? A critical best practice for any business is documenting your processes and workflow. This can be key as you build your team so that everyone knows what to expect and can deliver consistent service to your customers. Your customers don't want to wonder if they get a different answer every time they call customer service.

Your team cannot succeed if they constantly question how and when they should complete each step of your workflow. Get yourself out of the loop so you don't have to repeat how you micromanage your team and quickly answer any questions by organizing and documenting your entire workflow.

You may feel like you don't have time to document your processes. But if you want to scale your business to the next level and continue to be successful, you must take this step. This can be the best practice, and it will increase productivity while allowing your business to grow and scale.

7. Educational content and essential information B2B

Giving potential customers the ability to do their research helps them get to grips with the product

Educational content shows that you are an expert in your field and understand their needs. They can trust you. When you provide your customer group with relevant information and products, they will see your business as the solution to their challenges. Giving potential customers the ability to do their research helps them get to grips with the product, allowing them to feel more confident about their choice and, therefore, more likely to purchase.

Whether blog posts, video tutorials, how-to guides, white papers, or infographics, educational content, product descriptions can significantly impact your website optimization. Data shows that B2B customers are more likely to buy from your business after consuming some of your content. And accordingly, it will increase the average time people spend on your site, which will boost your SEO.

8. Mobile Optimization

Another thing you will need to consider is mobile optimization. Just because you're in the B2B market, don't limit your customers to only accessing your website through a desktop or laptop browser. Let mobile devices join the game. Approximately 70% of all B2B search queries are performed on a smartphone or tablet, and mobile engagement drives 40% of revenue for B2B internet retailers. One of the most essential elements of website optimization for B2B eCommerce is mobile testing.

E-commerce sales are based on good customer experience throughout the site, but if potential customers can't checkout easily, they'll take their business elsewhere. B2B e-commerce sales have faced a host of challenges. With multiple decision-makers and lengthy complex sales processes, B2B commerce companies need to address these types of barriers early on to ensure continued success and customer satisfaction.

People are becoming more comfortable using their smartphones for most online activities, including emailing, shopping, and working. Not only that, but many people conduct business on their phones before and after official business hours — not to mention while traveling, in meetings, or even right at their desks. The importance of a mobile-friendly e-commerce website should not be overlooked.

When existing or potential customers access your website through a mobile device, it should be easy to read and navigate. If they need to zoom in to read your website copy, can't find what they're looking for, or can't click the button they need, you can't expect them to stay long. It is in your best interest to make the customer experience as smooth as possible.

Conclusion

You have to spend a lot of time focusing on the people in your business. This includes your team members and customers. Take the time to build and encourage your team members. And then also make sure that your website, email, and social media profiles all provide value through helpful content. Finally, you must have the right processes in place to ensure a seamless and timely delivery of your product. Establishing and optimizing best practices for your organization is an ongoing activity that needs to be reviewed and evaluated regularly.

At Groove Technology, we have extensive experience in the field of B2B e-commerce. B2b selling already has so many different facets, and adding an eCommerce sales strategy to the equation can feel overwhelming. That's why we're here to help with a team of engineers and experts. We are committed to providing the ultimate B2B eCommerce solutions, and we have all the tools, resources, and experience you need to take your business to the next level. Contact us today for a consultation!