B2B E-Commerce Advantages vs. Disadvantages
B2B E-commerce, also known as Business-To-Business Electronic Commerce, involves selling goods or services between businesses through an online sales portal. An online store can help companies reach out to new customers regionally and help gather data insights.
B2B E-Commerce is a good marketing strategy to generate a sizable revenue pool for businesses. According to Statista, payments related to B2B E-Commerce are expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2021, and B2B E-Commerce is growing at a 7.4 per cent annual rate.
With the global expansion of E-Commerce, an increasing number of businesses are becoming acquainted with the B2B model to achieve their objectives and, ultimately, increase the profitability of their business. Though B2B E-Commerce has many benefits, it also has some disadvantages.
B2B E-Commerce Advantages
1. Efficiency
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) automates business processes and is commonly used with E-commerce. ERP software increases business operations’ efficiency by managing core processes with additional convenience and efficiency. Businesses can also improve operations by understanding customer feedback and offering faster responses.
2. Reduced Costs & Errors
An online store which primarily relies on technology can help businesses increase sales and lower costs in the long run by automating repetitive tasks like order fulfilment and billing. A B2B e-commerce company that operates exclusively online can also save the cost required to maintain a physical storefront.
3. Reach Out to More Customers
An e-commerce site can help businesses eliminate geographic restrictions and reach out to more potential customers regionally without being physically present. Potential customers worldwide can view the company’s catalogue and place orders with an internet connection. Due to its online presence, the company can use digital marketing techniques like search engine optimisation to expand its reach organically.
4. Increase in sales
With e-commerce, businesses can gain new clients with the help of the transparency of online reviews. Businesses that frequently offer products at wholesale amounts will enable customers to save money with discounted prices. With the digitalisation of sales, automated features like cross-selling can help recommend and promote more products to consumers.
Customer data collected by the platform can help businesses understand buying habits and demographics and improve the customer shopping experience.
5. Convenience
Businesses in the past mostly have transactions over the phone or in physical stores. With technology, sales can now move online, where companies can market their goods and services, host demonstrations, and make it simple to place orders. This digital transaction architecture provides efficient order processing for sellers as well.
E-commerce can enable a B2B business to sell to businesses and directly to consumers, as shown by the B2B2C model. A B2B company can further grow its sales and customer base by building the system to accommodate buy volumes of all sizes and focusing the marketing toward various audiences.
B2B E-Commerce Disadvantages
1. Lack of Human Touch
Customer service and human touch are crucial in a B2B model because a B2B seller-buyer relationship often takes time to develop trust between sellers and buyers. Thus, businesses are concerned that adopting B2B E-Commerce might reduce the quality of their customer service and create a distance between them and the customers.
Potential B2B clients might have similar preferences to consumers in this regard, especially if they plan to make any purchases. Unfortunately, the e-commerce platform does not permit in-person inspection of the items, necessitating faith-based purchases. Given the chance that the customer may be dissatisfied with the products, the company may have to deal with pricey after-sale disputes and their reputation. Refining product descriptions and providing video demonstrations are crucial to enhance the browsing experience for customers to prevent this risk.
2. Lack of E-Commerce Security
Many businesses are also concerned about exposing customers’ confidential and sensitive information to potential security breaches using an E-Commerce platform. For example, customers are at risk of security breaches such as exposed credit card numbers. Furthermore, some businesses may be reluctant to reveal their prices online to their competitors.
A web-based business strategy exposes the company and its customers to several hazards. Businesses are disclosing their pricing to rivals by running an openly available internet portal, which they may exploit to boost their sales. Customers could worry that making purchases online puts their private information in danger of security breaches. Investing in robust online security measures that encrypt client data and guard against data leaks is crucial to reduce risk.
3. Complicated Online Experience for Customers
On an E-commerce site, sellers sometimes have customised products for customers to choose from different requirements for their business. However, sellers are concerned that this will make B2B customers’ purchasing journeys more difficult and make the purchasing process convenient compared to a phone call.
Long-term customers frequently request or anticipate preferential treatment, such as purchase price breaks. Considerably in the more adaptable world of face-to-face talks, such requests can take time. However, the largely automated world of e-commerce can make it even harder. Long meetings or emails may be necessary to address devoted customers’ unique requirements and desires, which somewhat undermines the convenience of an e-commerce approach. It might be advantageous to set up the system such that talks can take place independently from the purchasing platform.
Conclusion
As more consumers move online to purchase items, building an E-commerce B2B website is an excellent method to generate sales. Ultimately, as the world moves towards digitalisation, businesses are recommended to jump onto the bandwagon and slowly adopt E-Commerce platforms to remain competitive.
Feel free to contact us about E-commerce web development in Singapore.
