Generational change is driving change in the B2B and wholesale sales space. One big area is self-service technology, fulfilled by providing a B2B Commerce Portal.
This change is being driven by the dominance of millennials, who by 2025 are estimated to make up 75% of the workforce, according to Deloitte. Millennials grew up with technology and are more likely to be comfortable with it, and often even require it when working with other businesses.
Recent surveys show millennials make 60% of their purchases online, and that means they are already comfortable making purchases without assistance. While some products in B2B and wholesale industries are more apt to be good for self-service Ecommerce than others, providing more access and control can be beneficial for sales.
Ultimately, this generally has yielded B2C innovations making their way into B2B Ecommerce models, adopting best practices that the millennial generation has come to expect from their day-to-day purchasing online, while maintaining the unique aspects that make B2B Ecommerce successful (in particular successfully managing larger order sizes and a more direct way of ordering).
Benefits of a B2B Commerce Portal
Adopting a B2B Commerce Portal for your buyers can offer a variety of benefits for both you and your customers, including:
- Customers can easily access and review your product catalog, providing exposure to products they may otherwise not know about.
- Buyers can place their own orders, accelerating order placement vs. having to interact with a salesperson for every transaction, freeing up salespeople to find new business or reach out to businesses who are overdue for purchases.
- Your clients can review order history and track orders that are in progress, reducing stress on customer service teams to provide that information. Email alerts can be automated to update customers along the way, as they’re used to with B2C businesses they purchase from.
A portal can also allow for self-service orders to be aggregated with other order sources, streamlining order management and fulfillment. For instance, salespeople can place orders into the same system, either via a mobile app or a web admin.
Zoey Can Help You Migrate to a B2B Commerce Portal
It may sound like a heavy lift to adopt a B2B Commerce Portal, but with the right partner you can get both the technology and the support you need. Zoey offers an innovative onboarding process that works collaboratively with your team to get live quickly, so you can begin to see a return on your investment.
Let’s talk about how Zoey can enable your business for further growth and success, backed by a team that’s dedicated to your success and knowledgeable about B2B Ecommerce:
