There’s no doubt that for businesses to thrive in the 21st century, they need to be tapping into the online sphere to maximize their sales. In 2021 alone, an estimated 2.14 billion people bought goods and services online, with this number expecting to jump even higher in 2023, making up at least 22% of global retail sales.
Due to the changing technological landscape and the advent of the pandemic, B2B eCommerce sales have eclipsed B2C sales. In the U.S alone, B2B eCommerce sales hit a staggering $2.19 trillion in 2020. This shift has caused a surge of B2B retailers looking to pivot their eCommerce services online to capitalize on this trend.
But while this digital navigation is ultimately a good thing, there are key considerations unique to B2B sales that make B2B eCommerce challenging, like bulk orders, complex shipping and large quantity transactions.
As a B2B retailer, how can you provide the most seamless eCommerce experience for your customers while handling complex purchase orders? Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud is designed to do just this. Let’s take a closer look at Commerce Cloud and how it can help your B2B business thrive in the eCommerce space.
B2B Commerce Cloud: An Overview
B2B Commerce Cloud is a dedicated eCommerce platform that provides comprehensive eCommerce features and solutions, specifically tailored to meet B2B requirements.
By providing B2B retailers with the means to swiftly and seamlessly launch their own digital purchasing platforms, Commerce Cloud enables B2B retailers to drive their sales and scale their orders without increasing their overhead costs.
B2B Commerce Cloud also benefits B2B buyers by allowing them to make complex and tailored purchases online with ease, by optimizing self-service purchasing at every point of the sales process.
The Advantages of Harnessing B2B Commerce Cloud
Commerce Cloud adds value to the eCommerce experience for both buyers and sellers. For B2B retailers, Commerce Cloud provides an extensive suite of out-of-the-box features that favour configuration over coding and are ready to use, allowing you as a B2B retailer to:
- Build and launch an eCommerce website at a faster time to market – With a host of pre-designed, user-friendly website architecture tools like site wireframes, embedded capabilities and integrations, you can swiftly and simply create your own eCommerce site for your business. The website tools are all out-of-the-box, which lowers the barrier to entry and speeds up the launch process.
- Provide a seamless omni-platform shopping experience – Simplify the purchasing process with a mobile-optimised eCommerce store, allowing buyers to order from their mobile devices, tablets in addition to desktop ordering. Extend your customer reach on social media platforms with help from additional tools and integrations.
- Build and nurture relationships with buyers through personalisation – Delight your buyers by providing a personalised view of your site to each customer and sharing tailored product recommendations and communications, increasing their likelihood of purchases and enabling cross and upselling.
- Enable self-service purchasing and support features – Put the power in your buyers’ hands by enabling self-service purchasing, which allows them to input purchasing requests, requests for quotes and product configurations for every item. If your buyer has a question or needs support, they’ll be able to find answers quickly by interacting with a support chatbot or by reading self-help articles.
- Handle purchasing orders of every size – With the click of a button, buyers can create and customise their order size, whether it’s a small order or a large order consisting of hundreds of purchases.
- Manage simple and complex shipping requests – Buyers checking out can make use of shipping groups that schedule multiple deliveries in one go, at different destinations on different dates. They can also select their payment method of choice from a list of payment processing options.
By simplifying and streamlining the B2B buying process, Commerce Cloud allows you to offer the convenience of a B2C eCommerce experience while providing the complex services necessary to meet B2B eCommerce requirements.
Is Commerce Cloud Ideal For Your Business?
As a B2B retailer, your overarching goal is to provide a seamless yet comprehensive digital shopping experience for your buyers. Commerce Cloud can help you achieve this by leveraging:
- A faster time to market – Commerce Cloud allows you to set up and launch your eCommerce site faster thanks to the ‘configuration-over-coding’ approach to its functionality.
- Easy Scalability – Scaling your business operations is made simple thanks to Commerce Cloud’s adaptive and responsive features.
- A unified eCommerce experience – Thanks to Commerce Cloud’s omnichannel service capabilities, you can meet your buyer on their platform of choice to guide them along their purchasing journey.
Commerce Cloud’s success and efficacy hinges on a thorough understanding of its configuration and functionality. For this reason, most B2B businesses choose to work with an implementation partner who facilitates their Commerce Cloud onboarding and orientation.
At CloudSmiths we help B2B retailers successfully implement Commerce Cloud in their businesses through comprehensive services including roll-out, implementation, licensing and training.
