Did you miss our panel discussion on clearing B2B ecommerce hurdles? It’s available on-demand. Watch now.
eCommerce is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a must-have. But what does that really mean for distributors, and how can you build out that online sales channel to meet your customers’ true needs?
Too often, web strategies get tripped up on messy product data, one-size-fits-all approaches and shortsighted definitions of success.
In a recent Distribution Strategy Group Distribution Leader Panel, Jonathan Bein asked panelists to share how they clear these and other common ecommerce hurdles.
Panelists included:
- Matthew James, Purity Life Health Products LP
- Ashley Rickman, RelaDyne LLC
- Stu Tisdale, ADI
- Sheila Hernandez, Summit Electric Supply
eCommerce Hurdle No. 1: Staying up to date.
The ecommerce landscape is continually evolving. New online features, services and updates roll out all the time. So how can you keep current?
Hernandez’s solution is benchmarking. She advised keeping an eye on similar websites and adjacent industry sites such as those for industrial manufacturers or the retail sector. “Our customers use retail, right? So, they’re going to judge us against it, whether we like it or not.”
Some of the best benchmarks may already be in your network. Tisdale recommended gleaning ideas from events like B2B Online and EnvisionB2B, associations like the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, or even third-party web services that you already use. “Engage with them and ask them what they’re seeing.”.
eCommerce Hurdle No. 2: Meeting your customers’ needs.
Simply parroting other distributors won’t meet your customers’ needs. The real trick is staying in tune with your customers and adjusting to their expectations. “The biggest thing is really listening to feedback and recognizing that what we have has lots of room for improvement. Never say, ‘Our baby isn’t ugly’,” Hernandez said.
This feedback can—and should—come in a variety of forms: surveys (before and after launching new features), insights from team members working directly with customers, user studies, customer comments and backend data.
Then, to gauge the quality of that feedback, validate your findings with market research, Tisdale added. “It’s hard to do because it takes a lot of work. But I do think if you slow down and you do that work, ultimately over the long term, you’re going to have a much more differentiated user experience on your site.”
eCommerce Hurdle No. 3: Juggling product data.
One of the biggest challenges of an ecommerce platform is product data. If customers aren’t able to engage with helpful, accurate content, they’re less likely to place an order. “It’s hard to get conversion if the customer can’t get a spec sheet or understand what the product looks like just to validate it’s correct,” said Tisdale.
Admittedly, trying to manage product information for thousands of SKUs is a herculean task. At the same time, it’s absolutely necessary that distributors accurately present products. For Rickman, the solution is leaning on systems to present data in customer-friendly formats.
Still, even the best technology is only half of the equation. It’s even more important, Tisdale said, that the people managing the data see how important their work is. “Our product content is one of the most important aspects of our experience. We treat it as an asset. We think about it as an asset.”
eCommerce Hurdle No. 4: Accurate inventory data.
If a customer can’t tell whether a product is in stock, then it’s going to be hard for them to make an informed purchase. “In the B2B space, it’s been proven many times that shoppers are really interested in just understanding what’s in stock, getting what’s in stock and then doing the work they have to do,” Tisdale said.
To address this hurdle, panelists recommended using an ERP to manage and track inventory both internally and for customers. Modern ERPs enable firms to have real-time accuracy on inventory. But what’s more, by connecting your ERP to your digital platform, customers can have that same window into your stock levels. With this setup, Tisdale explained, “what functionality exists on the ERP is largely what functionality gets represented to your customers.”
James even goes so far as to connect customers with automated lead times on stocked out items. “When it’s out of stock, we will say, based on PO information in our ERP system, here’s when it’s expected to be back in stock,” James said. “We’re only as good as the information our vendors provide. So, we try to make sure we get quality information and make that visible to our retailers. We try to provide as much visibility as possible.”
eCommerce Hurdle No. 5: Measuring success.
Distributors need to recognize that their website is more than an online sales channel or inventory display. According to Hernandez, part of the goal of an ecommerce platform is to get customers to engage in as many ways as possible. “You have to gauge the success and the viability of the site, not purely by dollars going through the site,” she said. “Are (customers) going to the project management portal? Are they looking up PODs or online bill pay or product information or price and availability?”
Presenting valuable content saves your sales team time, boosts customer confidence and generates loyalty. And while helping customers in this way may not trigger an immediate sale, that doesn’t mean the story ends there.
“They may not place the order through the ecommerce site,” James said. But they may be “going on there, checking inventory information, and then placing their POs through their own systems.” Or as Bein put it, “Find who’s visiting a lot and then see who’s buying a lot. And you’re going to see pretty heavy overlap in those Venn diagrams.”
Get more by watching this program on-demand. Access now.
