The trend is unmistakable. The strict watershed between retail on the one hand and B2B and D2C on the other hand evaporated. Because wholesalers are taking alternative routes to broaden their business and brand suppliers are more often looking directly at consumers. And it all happens online. Based on this development, the tech industry offers increasingly specialized B2B Ecommerce platforms and D2C solutions. So there is plenty to choose. Ecom Solutions helps with this. With product presentations and reviews.
Wholesale companies have been undergoing a transformation for some time now. Digitization is the magic word here. The days when personal contacts and the individual knowledge of the representative made the difference are behind us. Corona goes a step further. If you want to survive as a wholesale company, you need at the very least a smart and reliable digital B2B platform. Because business customers are also increasingly 'shopping' digitally. In the private sphere, your business relations are used to a seamless customer journey, preferably personalized. They expect no less from their wholesaler. After all: the wholesaler in particular is expected to know its customers.
B2B Ecommerce platforms
Does this mean that B2B Ecommerce platforms require no different approach than retail solutions? Anyway. For example, typical B2B Ecommerce platforms do not have to 'face' as well as a webshop that focuses on consumers. More important aspects are:
- a perfect search and navigation function, tailored to the often large product volume;
- smart and reliable tools for product data management;
- direct links with your stock management and logistics;
- optimal customer convenience, in other words: the best possible user experience;
- a customer portal that increases the ease of ordering and displays order and payment history.
In summary: the functionality is more important than the looks and feels. So it is good to test the range of specialist B2B Ecommerce platforms on this. In addition, it is recommended to investigate which possibilities a B2B Ecommerce solution offers to support and / or automate marketing activities. Because serving your customers online requires new marketing techniques. Frankwatching called the B2B customer journey recently 'from personal offline to personal online'.
From B2B Ecommerce to D2C
Once the step to online business has been taken, the next step is obvious: to find the online consumer. More and more wholesalers are taking that step. Not infrequently, this happens with different D2C platforms that serve their own customer segments. This explains the interest in headless solutions. This means that the frontend (the visible part) is separated from the backend (the technical, process-based part). In other words: each platform gets its own 'face', but time-consuming actions in the backend (such as filling and updating content) only need to be done once. Later, in a subsequent blog, we will come back to this trend.
Wholesale platforms that look up online private customers look like B2C platforms, but they are D2C platforms - 'Direct to Consumer '. Big brands have of course been doing this for some time, based on well thought-out omnichannel strategies. With its own physical outlets and shop-in-the-shop formulas and with fancy online 'brand shops'. We also see the shop-in-the-shop formula advancing online. Think of the possibilities marketplaces as Amazon and bol.com offer to take their own place as a brand. For smaller brands, this is an excellent opportunity to reach a larger – even international – audience in the D2C sphere. So it is important to pay attention to good integration options with online marketplaces.
Compare B2B and D2C solutions
As mentioned, the lines between retail and B2B are blurring. It is not new that brands and manufacturers seek out consumers. It goes without saying that they increasingly do this online. D2B is less obvious for wholesalers, but with a good, separate approach, the different roles and channels appear to coexist well. And then the advantages are great: more sales opportunities. Both at home and abroad. A condition is that you set up and deploy the most suitable Ecommerce platform for each sales channel. You will discover for yourself what the most suitable D2C and B2B Ecommerce platforms are. By comparing the offer based on your specific business requirements. At Ecom Solutions. And if desired, you can easily and quickly online free advice ask one of our specialists. We are ready for you.
