B2B eCommerce:

Getting Started

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B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 1

Table of Contents
An introduction to B2B eCommerce ................................................................................ 1

The state of B2B eCommerce ........................................................................................... 3

Your wholesale workflows and how they’ll get better .................................................. 4

Factors defining the future of B2B eCommerce ............................................................ 6

Why you should be wholesaling online .......................................................................... 7

How to transition from selling retail to wholesale online ............................................ 8

Wholesale metrics, KPIs and measuring performance online .................................... 9

How to take your B2B eCommerce platform to the next level ................................... 11

How a B2B eCommerce platform will empower your customers .............................. 12

B2B eCommerce, it’s the future ...................................................................................... 13

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 2

An Introduction to B2B eCommerce
You either have your own brand or are a distributor and a good one at
that. You have quality products, a reputation for being reliable, and your
customers are happy.

You might have also have built up a great online retail business with your Shopify,
Magento or WooCommerce store, and now you’re looking for new ways to grow.

You see a huge opportunity that you’re not taking advantage of – and that’s going
wholesale. So maybe it is time to explore more about what this channel has to offer. In
this eBook, we will walk you through the process of starting or moving your wholesale
business online successfully.

To get started, let’s look at the benefits of switching over to selling wholesale online,
or as well call it here, B2B eCommerce. By bringing your wholesale customers to place
orders online, you can save so much time!

Imagine never having to:

• take orders over the phone or email

• manually checking if your products are in stock,
• creating a quote or sales orders for each order, or
• updating the customer with their order status

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 1

Here is an overview of what B2B eCommerce can do:

ORDER (6)

1 Think of your B2B eCommerce

store as a free marketing tool. 2 Customers can order exactly what
they need with maximum efficiency.

3 View your full order history

in one place. 4 A professional sales channel to help
build trust and make your customer
feel in control of their purchasing.

Take your wholesale business online by starting a free trial with TradeGecko to setup
your own B2B eCommerce Store!

Still not convinced? Read on to learn more about the current state of B2B eCommerce,
and why you should move your wholesale business online.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 2

The state of B2B eCommerce
Before making any commitments, let’s get an idea of what you’re getting
yourself into. What’s the current B2B eCommerce market, and why is it
going to stick around?

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves. In fact, 74% of B2B buyers prefer to buy
online than from a sales rep. It’s faster, more convenient, and always available. Buyers
want you to make their lives easy - bringing your wholesale business online does that
and more.

If the big players like Alibaba and Did you know?

Amazon are investing in B2B eCommerce
(and they are), it’s a pretty good sign that
the industry is shifting. TradeGecko’s B2B
eCommerce Store allows you to create a
private eCommerce storefront for your
wholesale customers.

If you already have an existing online

store on Shopify, WooCommerce, and
Magento, TradeGecko can automatically
pull your products and publish them on
your wholesale store.

TradeGecko streamlines the purchasing

87% of TradeGecko’s B2B
process for your buyers so that they can
eCommerce platform users say
buy from you, 24/7.
that they prefer ordering online
versus over the phone, fax
Customize the look and feel of your
or by email.
store, and decide which products each
buyer will see, and what prices they can
purchase products for.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 3

Your wholesale workflows and how
they’ll get better
Your day-to-day workflows as a wholesaler will also benefit from getting
online. Overall, they’ll be simpler, with all the information you need in one
centralized place, your workflows will get more efficient and accurate.

Here are a few examples:

1 2 3
Sales team Invoices, sales Order
workflows orders and fulfillment
purchase orders

Sales teams have These workflows will With in-house

better information benefit from real-time fulfillment, everyone
when you’re online, updates and centralized in the company will be
along with quick and data. When the status working from the same,
easy access to product of any of these items updated inventory
catalogs, product changes, i.e. from levels. With a 3PL,
photos and updated packed to shipped operating online means
inventory levels. online updates simplify better communication
the process. and transparency.

These are all to do with the more technical aspects of the day-to-day. Your high-level
workflows will also benefit from online operations.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 4

 4 5 6
Marketing Business Individual
activities decisions workflows

An online presence As everyone within Having all the

and storefront will the company will work information in one
improve your marketing from the same, updated place gives autonomy
activities without much information (rather to your employees,
effort on your part. than individual files allowing them to move
Making it easier to and folders), major through their own daily
reach your store only business decisions can activities at their pace,
improves awareness be streamlined and rather than having to
and interest in what you easily communicated wait for reports from
have to offer. throughout other departments.
departments.

Overall, the technical operations of your workflows won’t change much - with the
exception of the time and accuracy with which you can do them!

Check out this workflow blog post for detailed descriptions of each of these
improvements.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 5

Factors Defining The Future Of
B2B eCommerce

Increasing interest on the part of

wholesalers for their eCommerce
platform to support complex
configuration and pricing
workflows.

Order management integrated

at the platform level to enable
greater synchronized order
processing across every channel.

Being able to deliver unique

eCommerce buying experiences
B2B buyers expect a consistently
for multi-tier distribution channels
high-quality customer
including partners, distributors,
experience across all channels and
dealers, resellers, service
are loyal to companies who deliver
providers and OEMs is in high
excellence daily.
demand today.

The need for greater price

optimization and Configure-Price-
Quote (CPQ) flexibility across every Interested in giving B2B
selling channel.
a go? Set up your B2B
eCommerce Store in 5
The number of capabilities
minutes with TradeGecko!
in eCommerce technology
is increasing Total Cost of
GET STARTED NOW
Ownership (TCO), making
companies consider a unified cloud
platform more than before.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 6

Why you should be wholesaling online
Thinking about making the move online but not sure whether your
wholesale customers are ready to buy online? Read on to find out why a
digital transformation strategy should become your top priority.

By 2019, spending on B2B

eCommerce will be over 2x the
B2C eCommerce market.

B2B Priority for a Digital Transformation Strategy

1. Mobile Responsive Website 84%

2. Social Media Usage 78%

3. Big Data 71%
4. Mobile App 66%

5. Cloud Based Software 66%

52% of SME’s have mobile-optimized

their website.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 7

How to transition from selling retail to
wholesale online
Moving your wholesale ordering systems online can seem a bit
intimidating. But having all your information in one centralized place has
numerous advantages you can’t afford to miss.

There’s opportunity for higher profit margins, a bigger customer reach, and the
advantage of taking control of your supply chain by moving into online wholesale. Start
with these 5 tips for making the move and transition to B2B eCommerce smoother.

1 Make it all about you. The wholesale process does move slower than B2C
and a lot of your sales will depend on long term relationships. But setting up a
detailed product description, using clear product photos and addressing common
enquiries will help you sell your products online before the customer even
contacts you.

2 A big part of your decision

to move into wholesale is to 3 Modify your order fulfilment
processes and workflows. While
grow your business and let’s your basic order fulfilment
put it bluntly - to make more processes can probably stay the
money. Making sure that your same, it’s important to modify
pricing and minimum order for wholesale by including
quantities are set up to make an increase in capacity for
orders worth your while is an volume and making sure your
essential part of the wholesale pick, pack, ship process is
model. streamlined.

4 Use all of that retail or B2C

eCommerce experience to your 5 Look at wholesale as an
opportunity to grow your
advantage by transferring business. Essentially moving
the convenience of the online into wholesale is another sales
buying experience to your new channel and way to increase
online wholesale environment. your sales, so it’s definitely
worth your time investment.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 8

Wholesale metrics, KPIs and measuring
performance online
Now let’s focus on measuring how well your wholesale business is doing
by taking a look at the metrics and KPIs that matter. The great thing about
moving your wholesale order operations online is that all of your data is
stored in one place, and so these metrics become much easier to track.

There are three types of wholesale metrics you should be measuring:

QUALITY METRICS SERVICE METRICS OPERATIONS METRICS

These measure These measure how This looks at the

the quality of your you’re serving your overall state of your
products. customers. business.

When setting the The KPIs for service The KPIs for business
KPIs for your quality metrics might include: operations focuses
metrics, you might be on:
looking at things like: • Customer retention
• Customer • Return on equity
• Production purchasing • Return on assets
efficiency frequency • Inventory ratios
• Percentage of • Customer • Warehouse
defective products satisfaction expenses
• Shipping accuracy • Buyer
demographics

Metrics and KPIs explained

Each of these three categories include various metrics, and you should focus on metrics
relevant to your operations, areas to improve, and those that help you make informed
business decisions. When you attach measurable dates and goals to any of these
metrics, they become your KPIs. For more on KPIs, check out this blog post.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 9

How going online makes you more intelligent
Using an online platform with cloud technology means your data is centralized and
up-to-date, eliminating the potential for errors due to manual data entry. Going online
makes tracking results easier and means less manual calculations when measuring KPIs.
TradeGecko’s online B2B eCommerce Store provides intelligence reports that let you pull
up sales insights from reports that previously would have taken more time and manual
calculations.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 10

How to take your B2B eCommerce
platform to the next level
With these 10x tips you can easily customize your B2B eCommerce store
to the needs of each buyer, promote your products, set up automated
processes and have full control.

1 Control access to your wholesale customers.

2 Create custom price lists and discounts.

Control stock order statuses:

3 1. Set minimum order quantities
2. Choose whether the commit or not commit to stock orders

4 Personalize your B2B eCommerce Store to match your branding by

adding your company logo, colour theme, and your store name / header.

5 Add a custom domain.

6 Customize your email order forms.

7 Showcase your products with quality photos & descriptions.

8 Invite customers by sending personal invitations.

Setup tax types by:

9 1. Country
2. Product Category
3. Customer

10 Filter your product catalog by customer, categories, brands and tags.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 11

How a B2B eCommerce platform will
empower your customers
You might be worried about how your customers will react to being invited
to a B2B platform... You may think “What happens when they’re asked to
do something differently? Can they adapt?”

Making the move to online wholesaling allows your customers to take control of the
ordering process. They’ll be able to get online when it’s convenient for them, regardless
of time zones, weekends, or holidays.

And the ordering process itself becomes much simpler. Gone are the days of a tedious
back-and-forth over the phone, fax or by email, whereby stock levels are checked
manually, and quotes are issued, accepted, and then hopefully converted to sales
orders.

With our B2B eCommerce Store, your

Did you know?
customers - once invited - simply log in
and then browse new products, view
their entire order history or re-order
items directly.

Stock levels can be displayed in real-time

if tracking is enabled on the product in
question, or you can allow users to place
orders regardless, so they’ll never be
disappointed. The store is customizable
According to a report of B2B
with your brand and colors, so it’ll fit
eCommerce trends, 89% of B2B
right alongside your existing online
customers research products on
presence. What’s more, it can be tailored
the internet before they buy and
with a custom price list and discounts
do 12 Google searches before
per customer.
starting the buying process. 1

Sources: 1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2016/09/12/predicting-the-future-of-b2b-e-commerce

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 12

Overall, you can make the entire process of wholesale ordering for your customers as
easy, convenient, and fun as online shopping. And who doesn’t enjoy that?

So... what are you waiting for? If you want time savings and customer empowerment,
then it’s time to take wholesaling online seriously. Why not start a free trial with
TradeGecko today?

Introducing your new B2B eCommerce Store

Start taking bulk orders in minutes with a private wholesale
ordering platform tailored to your customers and brand.

TRY OUR B2B ECOMMERCE STORE NOW 

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 13

B2B eCommerce, it’s the future
B2B eCommerce is expected to quickly outgrow B2C eCommerce by the
time we reach 2020, as more businesses adopt this new way of selling
wholesale.

Customers are ready to have their wholesale buying work as quickly and simply as
their retail buying - a service that’s quickly becoming a necessity, rather than just
a convenience. They’re already looking for you online - make sure you give them
something to find!

$99
$14
$23
$45

All signs point to a channel shift - to websites and increasingly, mobile apps, streamlining
the whole B2B sales process. Going online is the future. In fact, it’s already the present.
The world is only growing more connected and as a result, business operations are
getting faster, easier and more effective. It makes sense that wholesale is moving along
with that trend.

So what does a successful B2B website look like? See who’s doing online wholesale right
at the moment. B2B eCommerce isn’t just a fad, it’s looking to become the way to do
business - is your business ready to evolve with the times?

If you’re ready to give wholesaling online a try, our B2B eCommerce Store would be a
great place for you to start!

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 14

 TradeGecko makes powerful inventory
and order management software
available to every business!

CLICK HERE TO START A FREE TRIAL

About TradeGecko | tradegecko.com

TradeGecko is powerful inventory and order management software on web and
mobile. Every product, order and customer is managed in one place along with the
best eCommerce, accounting and shipping integrations. Also includes a customizable
B2B eCommerce Store so you can sell wholesale online with unique prices for each
customer.

B2B eCommerce: Getting Started 15