Companies operating in the B2B space are quickly adopting eCommerce. The past few years saw the emergence of major players in the B2B eCommerce segment. However, according to MarketingLand, only 11% of B2B was on eCommerce in 2016. This indicates a clear growth path for B2B eCommerce, and eCommerce players are about to witness substantial and sustainable growth. New or growing B2B eCommerce players need to gear up for this growth to leverage this opportunity. This blog talks about the challenges B2B companies face in emulating the offline experience online and how ERP eCommerce integration, along with a few other connectors, can help.
Connected ecosystems bridge the gap to allow seamless flow of information. However, mere interconnection of multiple systems will not be sufficient. Each eCommerce player has specific requirements and needs custom solutions. Below are some such modules and their role in the B2B eCommerce business, which enhance the functionality of the ecosystem.
1. Simplifying Quotation Process
B2B organizations operate in complex environments and deal with a large number of suppliers and distributors. They mostly follow a typical flow – request for proposal, negotiation, quotations are made accordingly and sent to the requester, and the process closes with the requester accepting the proposal. Once the deal is closed, the transaction occurs. Magento 2 offers some of these features. However, most players need better flexibility to address their needs.
i95Dev Magento B2B extension Advanced Quote Module expands the stock features by adding a full quotation process and giving your business the necessary edge to accomplish business objectives.
2. Quick Ordering
B2B customers are more often returning customers who know exactly what they need. All they look for is ease in searching products and, importantly, selecting bulk products at one go when they buy those items regularly. Even Magento 2 falls short in this feature to support the necessary flexibility. Lack of this feature, along with the ability to customize it, forces bulk buyers to search or browse products one by one, which affects the customer experience.
i95Dev Magento B2B extension ‘Quick Order Module’ helps your business facilitate customers to purchase products using complete or partial SKU numbers and designate the quantity for purchase. This makes the journey of repeat buyers easier, as they no longer have to perform the repetitive, time-consuming task of ordering in bulk online.
3. Simplifying the Work of a B2B Salesperson
One key challenge a B2B salesperson faces is information management of their leads and clients. If the information is not readily available, they end up spending time sifting through information, and their productivity takes a hit.
Our Magento B2B extension ‘SalesPerson Module’ allows assigning a specific salesperson to each customer or group of customers to provide the best customer service. Sales reps can easily access transaction history, order status, custom pricing levels, and billing and shipping information, as well as place orders for customers.
This is possible due to the communication between Magento and the ERP. Some of the benefits are:
- The creation of a new salesperson in Magento will update the ERP with the new information in real time. The Magento store admin can assign commissions, customers, and orders to a specific salesperson.
- The salesperson can log in to manage their information, including customers and orders. Reporting of commissions and total orders is available in real time for everyone.
4. Net Terms
Terms of payment play an important role in closing an account. B2B stores often fail to provide the details of net terms, and this lack of information is a key challenge. A B2B eCommerce store must make sure that the information is available on the store payment window.
This Magento B2B extension ‘Net Terms Module’ helps your customers choose suitable payment terms and pay their pending invoices from the convenience of the Magento eCommerce store. This information is synced back to the ERP to make sure your account books are up to date.
5. National Accounts
A B2B company tends to serve a variety of companies that have different credit limits and terms. When B2B eCommerce companies leverage ERP-Magento integration, online transactions must be in sync with the ERP structure.
Our ‘National Accounts Module’ allows B2B eCommerce players to maintain their account books while they scale their B2B eCommerce business. It automates various aspects like maintaining parent account details in ERP and eCommerce, maintaining child information, maintaining the predefined parent-child hierarchy, generating the parent entity for a child entity’s expenditure, and more.
6. Bill Pay & Credit Limit
The payment process in B2B is generally complicated compared to a B2C scenario. Aspects like partial payment and single invoicing for parent accounts are important in a B2B scenario. The payment options offered are specific to each eCommerce company. However, Magento might not be able to address all the specific challenges.
i95Dev’s ‘Bill Pay Module’ can help B2B eCommerce players bring the much-needed flexibility into the payment process. Coupled with one of our suite of connectors, this module can take care of all the bill pay needs and credit limits of customers.
Conclusion
i95Dev has worked with various companies spanning different continents since 2000. We are Magento Platinum Certified eCommerce solution providers. Our clientele spans across various domains, both B2B and B2C. Apart from Magento development, we also provide integration solutions between your Magento store and the most widely used ERP systems (Dynamics AX, GP, NAV, SAGE, SAP B1). If you are an eCommerce operation looking to take the next logical step, contact us at info@i95dev.com.
