More and more companies are shifting their sales B2B to online channels, seeking ways to automate and scale their businesses. However, e-commerce services B2B encompass much more than just an online shop and provide genuine support for business-to-business sales.
B2B sales platforms
We have already written about business-to-business sales platforms on our blog in a post entitled ‘B2B sales platforms’. In that post, we discussed issues relating to the exchange of goods between wholesalers or manufacturers and online shops aimed at individual customers. The post also included information on the possibilities of creating platforms to provide services to other organisations. In this article, we will explore the area of providing e-commerce services to businesses in greater depth.
B2B’s e-commerce services
When we hear about the services at B2B, our first thought is of traditional services that fall within the non-virtual segment of the market. In the blog post mentioned earlier, we gave the provision of office cleaning services as an example. However, the services at B2B are largely virtual in nature. Thanks to the capabilities of modern e-commerce platforms, companies can transfer their operations to the virtual world in countless ways and integrate their systems with one another. This can include payment processing, the circulation of digital documents, or the handling of orders and requests. The automation of marketing activities also offers enormous scope here. Promoting the company or generating leads from potential customers can be commissioned and coordinated via platforms such as B2B.
See also: Online wholesale business – what is it and how do you set one up?
In the field of advertising, Google is a pioneer and global market leader with its AdSense platform, which enables website owners to earn revenue by displaying Google adverts tailored to the audience’s preferences on their sites. Lead generation for B2B is made possible by numerous platforms from Polish and global companies, which are constantly developing and refining their products. Integrating such solutions with a company’s CRM system enables faster and more effective online customer acquisition, without the need to deploy staff to carry out traditional acquisition activities.
It is also common to commission IT services via dedicated platforms. Reporting issues by telephone or email can be replaced by a dedicated customer portal offering the ability to submit technical support requests, contact support, and track the progress of requests as well as the history of previous requests. This solution is used, amongst others, by banks and telecoms, including in the ‘B2C’ segment, to handle complaints and technical support requests from individual customers via their personal online accounts.
Read also: B2B vs B2C – find out the key differences!
Business process optimisation
The integration of e-commerce activities in the area of B2B is made possible by expertise in IT, business process analysis and project management. Before carrying out the integration, it is necessary to map out the process and identify a suitable framework for collaboration between the parties involved. To ensure the integration is carried out correctly during the project preparation stage, close cooperation is required between the provider of the B2B platform and the integration service, and the organisations involved. Given the diversity of activities undertaken by businesses and the complexity of business processes, it is advisable to entrust e-commerce integrations between organisations B2B to experienced professionals.
See also: The B2B online shop and its terms and conditions – what do you need to know?
Centoro This is an innovative ordering system B2B, namely the wholesale platform B2B, which, in addition to software development, specialises in the optimisation and automation of business processes, as well as the production, implementation and maintenance of e-commerce solutions B2B. The clients of Centoro projects include both locally operating small and medium-sized enterprises and global corporations.
Summary
E-commerce B2B is not just an online shop, but a comprehensive suite of services designed to support sales and customer service. Carefully selected solutions streamline processes and enhance the scalability of the business.
Questions and Answers
How do the e-commerce services at B2B differ from those at B2C?
They specialise in wholesale, bespoke solutions and system integrations.
What services are essential for e-commerce at B2B?
Sales platform, integrationsERP, and customer service tools.
Will the e-commerce platform B2B work for every sector?
It works best where sales are based on repeat orders.