With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, many shops and stores closed down and the government restricted or limited physical buying and selling activities. This has not only made people turn to buying and selling online, but also compelled B2B businesses to take some strategic steps towards ensuring the needs of their customers are met.
Actually, it’s not all about making goods and services available on the internet only. It’s mostly about having a close connection between you and your customers through different online media. Though some people prefer physical meetings with customers, it’s your choice to check and know which one works best for you.
In building a strong business relationship with your clients, customers, or suppliers, there are different B2B e-commerce strategies you should try so as to improve your B2B e-commerce business. So in this post, we are going to share them with you.
5 Great Strategies For Growing Your B2B E-commerce Business
Most B2B customers do expect the same kind of service from B2C stores online when buying from them, not knowing that B2B is way different from B2C.
Creating and providing strategic digital commerce services is very important for a B2B business so that every customer’s needs are met. Hence, we have found a few of these strategies you are about to learn to be very efficient in improving B2B e-commerce businesses. –
1. Enhance the B2B Purchasing Experience
Due to the high competition and lots of similar B2B companies, customers take their time to carefully review different products or services of different brands selling almost the same product before choosing which one they are going for.
It’s now your own work as a B2B business owner to make sure they (customers) enjoy every bit of their buying experience at your store.
You should charm them strategically, so that they keep revisiting and checking your products. You should also update them on new products or services with attractive and well-designed packages that might really push them to stick with your products when compared to other sellers.
2. Make Use of Mobile Shopping
Presently, the number of people using mobile gadgets or devices to shop online is much higher than any other means by which B2B customers are not excluded. Netizens and B2B users can shop online without having to use a desktop computer.
The highest percentage of people purchasing goods and services online use mobile devices like smart phones and laptops to shop. It has therefore created a big online market space for B2B businesses to strive dynamically with lots of goods and services.
In 2021, the US mobile shops’ income via mobile phones was calculated to have produced a total sale of over $200 billion and is expected to reach $400 billion by 2024. Isn’t that huge? Well, it is, so it’s advisable for anyone in the B2B business space to focus more on mobile shopping because it keeps trending and increasing year in and year out.
3. Utilize Social Media
Social media is no doubt a very effective B2B e-commerce marketing tool for driving sales, even though it is underrated. If used appropriately, social media is very good for all e-commerce sites.
However, using social media like Pinterest and Instagram is not advisable because it’s not that effective. You should consider using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn because these sites and social media are highly recommended for targeting companies and professionals. They have proven to be super-effective for marketing B2B products and services. Let’s take a company like Intel, for example, which operates a mainly B2B-focused account on Twitter.
4. Include A Large Number Of Customer Reviews
New customers that want to check out your products or services will like to hear from customers who have already used them to know what they say about your product or service. They tend to be reassured when they see these reviews.
So, adding more customer reviews to your e-commerce website, just like Google Playstore does with adding app reviews to their app, will not only bring you more customers but will also improve your products and services, as customers that have purchased on your website will tell you what they feel is missing and what needs to be added, so you, as a business, will have to look into this and find ways to bridge that gap.
5. Include More FAQs
B2B customers often want to ask more questions about a specific product or service. Because of this, it’s very important to add more FAQs to your e-commerce website so as to answer more questions potential customers might want answers to pertaining to your product or service.
Creating more FAQs for buyers means optimizing the user experience. It helps to boost SEO and conversation rates.
Final Thoughts
Some B2C strategies might actually work for B2B marketing and improve your e-commerce business if refined to fit different markets.
Notwithstanding, there are lots of things you can do to improve your B2B e-commerce sales, but that’s only if you are willing to invest your time, efforts, and money in marketing on your e-commerce website.
