Forrester estimates the B2B ecommerce market to be $3 trillion by 2027 – that opportunity will continue to grow.
In a virtual panel discussion, we spoke with several distribution leaders in ecommerce about their experiences and what they have learned as their companies continue to scale the technology.
Participants in our Technology Leader Panel: An Executive Perspective on eCommerce (now available to listen on-demand) were:
- Brad Rosenthal, Vice President of Marketing at Bostwick-Braun
- Coburn Flannery, Director of E-Business at The Granite Group
- Gail Soliani, Digital Marketing & Creative Manager of 2J Supply HVAC Distributors
- Steven Javor, Global E-Commerce Director of Schneider Electric’s Energy Management Division
Tips to Get the Most from eCommerce
Our panelists shared these tips to help distributors leverage ecommerce to work for their businesses.
Watch the full panel discussion on-demand.
1. Get personal with your customers.
Advancements in ecommerce tools and supporting technology allow distributors to personalize the customer experience. It’s what customers expect today. This may include everything from simply having the customer’s name in targeted promotional emails to product recommendations tailored to a customer’s purchasing history and industry.
Javor reflected on Schneider Electric’s use of a third-party personalization platform:
“We support our (distribution) partners by creating experiences for their customers to have a personalized experience when they land on the webpage. Our efforts also have made it possible for us to identify potential clients during campaigns with our partners and reach out to them using social media – all through our distributor. When implemented, we see a return of about $10 for every dollar we spend on personalization.”
2. Onboard the sales team.
It’s important to understand that your ecommerce site is not just for your customer, but also for your sales team. And without their support, you won’t get the ROI you’re looking for. Do not roll out a top-of-the-line system and still let outside salespeople write customer notes on paper, take a picture of the notes and then send the picture to the inside sales team to input into the system.
eCommerce sites improve the customer experience and to make your sales team more efficient. “We absolutely encourage sales reps to use the site,” said Flannery. “It’s how the sales team gets familiar with it so that they can show the value to customers. The efficiencies gained there is just phenomenal.”
3. Don’t just collect and store data – use it to enhance your website and sales team’s performance.
Everyone has data. However, few businesses organize it in a usable way and implement changes based on the results. Leverage AI-enabled tools to drive better use of your data. It’s especially powerful for driving greater wallet share through upselling and cross-selling.
As Rosenthal points out: “When we can begin to learn from other customers that have bought this item is powerful and lends itself to suggestive selling. If they’re going to buy peanut butter, maybe we ought to try and sell them the jelly and the bread, too. This is a major emphasis for us going into 2023.”
4. Know what metrics you need to measure the ecommerce assist.
A transaction is not the only function of your ecommerce site. Buyers also use it for research, or to find or select a product – only to pick up the phone and place the order, or email it in. If you are only measuring the volume of transactions from your site, then you are missing out on how often the site assists a sale offline.
5. Content matters.
As our panel reflected, your content matters. You can have a top-selling product in stock on the shelves, but if it’s not listed on the website with a picture, availability and all the relevant specs a customer would need to make that decision, then it won’t get purchased.
If customers cannot find your product, they cannot buy it. In addition to having robust search capabilities on your internal ecommerce site, you also need to show up in Google – where most B2B shopping searches begin. To do this, panelists shared they prioritize:
- Thoughtful product descriptions tailored to their target industries
- Search Engine Optimization for relevant keywords
- Leveraging paid ads and staying on top of managing them
Our panel reflected that to do this correctly and consistently, many contracted knowledgeable, outside firms.
What’s next?
eCommerce isn’t just plug and play. Distributors must continually be improving and innovating their customer experience online. So, what’s next on these leaders’ lists? A few include:
- using and transforming data into information that provides value
- implementing an omnichannel experience for customers
- creating a marketplace strategy
- researching more functionality that will add value to the customer experience
Watch our on-demand Technology Leader Panel on ecommerce for the full no-holds-barred discussion. Thank you to Epicor for sponsoring this event.
Dean Mueller is Independent Consultant at Distribution Strategy Group. He has more than 30 years of experience in sales and marketing and helps distributors build holistic digital strategies that drive a significant shift to online sales, improve profitability and grow customer satisfaction. Take your digital strategy to the next level. Contact Dean at dmueller@distributionstrategy.com.