B2B

Business-to-business ecommerce needs are unique, with client-specific pricing, quotation options, invoicing and payment variations, sophisticated data integrations, coordination with in-house sales staffs, and much more. We address it all — for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers.

B2B
Amazon’s B2B Site Evolving, Growing Rapidly

October 12, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

When AmazonSupply became Amazon Business in April 2015, much more than a rebranding occurred. With AmazonSupply, the company was the only seller. But Amazon Business copied the very successful marketplace ...
B2B
8 Innovative B2B Ecommerce Sites

September 27, 2016 • Lori McDonald

B2B ecommerce sites are typically more complicated, with more features, than B2C. In this article, I will address eight innovative B2B ecommerce sites. My company has no business relationship with these ...
B2B
B2B Ecommerce: Pros and Cons of SaaS Platforms

August 29, 2016 • Lori McDonald

Software-as-a-service ecommerce platforms are gaining market share. They have clear benefits, but they also have limitations, especially for B2B companies. SaaS platforms — hosted carts — charge a monthly fee ...
B2B
5 Types of B2B Product Data That Improve Online Sales

July 24, 2016 • Lori McDonald

Sometimes B2B companies invest in a highly functional ecommerce site and fail to use good product data. Shoppers don’t buy from websites if they don’t have the information they need to ...
B2B
Using Site Search to Grow B2B Revenue

June 15, 2016 • Lori McDonald

If you help ecommerce shoppers quickly find what they are looking for, you will likely sell more. To accomplish this, look at your site’s navigation as well as its search ...
B2B
11 Critical Features for B2B Ecommerce Sites

May 4, 2016 • Lori McDonald

An important part of redesigning or launching a business-to-business ecommerce site is to identify the required features. They can be available out of the box in your ecommerce platform, or ...
B2B
7 Mistakes That Will Kill Your B2B Ecommerce Launch

March 23, 2016 • Lori McDonald

I’ve worked in the B2B ecommerce industry for 18 years. I’ve seen it all — good and bad. Here are seven mistakes that often cause failures in B2B ecommerce launches. 1.
B2B
Using Product Feeds for B2B Ecommerce

February 18, 2016 • Lori McDonald

A data feed is a structured file that provides information to another system. Typical formats are XML, CSV, and TXT files. Think of it like a data export from your ...
B2B
How to Attract B2B Buyers to Ecommerce

February 11, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Today’s B2B buyers have fewer constraints than those of 10 years ago. To decrease costs, even enterprise companies are streamlining their purchasing processes, including increased online purchasing without the traditional ...
B2B
Choosing a B2B Ecommerce Platform: Weighing the Risks

January 21, 2016 • Lori McDonald

When considering a B2B ecommerce platform, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the software solution you select. There are, in my experience, three types of software ...
B2B
3 Ways to Build B2B Relationships with Ecommerce

December 9, 2015 • Lori McDonald

When it comes to building relationships, B2B ecommerce is different than B2C. There is still an individual relationship — there’s always a person on the other side. However, in B2B ...
B2B
Using Facebook Ads for B2B Targeting

November 18, 2015 • Michael Stancil

If you had asked online marketers a couple of years ago to name the best channel for B2B targeting, most would not have said Facebook. In fact, it wasn’t until early ...
B2B
Preparing a 2016 B2B Ecommerce Budget

October 28, 2015 • Lori McDonald

It’s time to pull together the 2016 budget for your B2B ecommerce site. Budgeting for a B2B ecommerce site typically has four phases: information gathering, reflection on priorities, assigning numbers, and ...
B2B
4 Tactics B2B Ecommerce Can Borrow from B2C

September 13, 2015 • Lori McDonald

“We don’t need ecommerce. Our customers don’t buy that way. They find us through Thomas Register and place orders with us by phone and fax.” That’s what the president of a ...
B2B
B2B Ecommerce Success Starts in the Boardroom

May 18, 2015 • Dale Traxler

Business-to-business ecommerce revenue in the U.S., at $780 billion in 2015, is roughly twice the size of B2C, according to Forrester Research. But that amount represents less than 10 percent ...
B2B
B2B Ecommerce Growing; Becoming More Like B2C

April 9, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

While B2C ecommerce gets the most media attention, B2B ecommerce is the bigger revenue generator, both globally and in the United States. The entry of ecommerce giants such as Alibaba ...
B2B
How to Use SlideShare for B2B Ecommerce

February 3, 2015 • Paul Chaney

SlideShare, the presentation software platform, may be one of the most overlooked and underutilized tools for B2B ecommerce content marketing. There are several reasons to consider using SlideShare. The slideshow format ...
B2B
9 B2B Companies that Excel at Social Media

January 6, 2015 • Sig Ueland

Businesses that sell primarily to other companies can use social media to expand a brand, convey a vision, engage a community, promote products, and even provide customer support. Here is a list ...
B2B
Using LinkedIn Publisher for B2B Ecommerce

November 4, 2014 • Paul Chaney

Due to its focus on fostering business-to-business relationships, LinkedIn is a social network that B2B ecommerce companies should use to build brand awareness and establish industry expertise. LinkedIn provides a variety ...
B2B
4 Keys to B2B Ecommerce Success

October 1, 2014 • Dale Traxler

Online B2B revenues in the U.S. are rapidly growing, to $1 billion per year according to published reports. The reasons for this growth are twofold. First, more manufacturers and distributors are ...
B2B
B2B Ecommerce: Overcoming Conflict with Sales Teams

August 19, 2014 • Dale Traxler

When online retail took off roughly 10 years ago, many manufacturers and distributors were resistant about opening an online store. There were many reasons for this then, and now, including ...
B2B
How B2B Distributors Compete with AmazonSupply

July 9, 2014 • Dale Traxler

In “Distributors Beware of AmazonSupply.com?,” my previous article, I suggested that wholesale distributors recognize the threat presented by Amazon in the B2B marketplace and find ways to compete. This article ...
B2B
Ecommerce Key for Manufacturers and Distributors

May 5, 2014 • Dale Traxler

Many B-to-B companies are still not aggressively pursuing ecommerce. Most have an online presence — in fact, an extensive one. They likely have a corporate site, an online product catalog,
B2B
To Implement B-to-B Ecommerce, Empower Marketing not IT

February 18, 2014 • Dale Traxler

In “B-to-B Ecommerce: Big Opportunity, Big Obstacles,” I addressed the challenges manufacturers and distributors face as they initiate and grow their ecommerce operations. One of those challenges is to identify what department ...
B2B
4 Keys for Effective B-to-B Ecommerce

February 11, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Business-to-business ecommerce describes Internet-enabled transactions between businesses, such as a manufacturer and a wholesaler, a wholesaler and a retailers, or a wholesaler and a business user. The B-to-B ecommerce market ...
B2B
B-to-B Ecommerce: Big Opportunity, with Obstacles

February 10, 2014 • Dale Traxler

Business-to-business merchants face ecommerce challenges that are different from their business-to-consumer counterparts. This has slowed the entry into ecommerce for many B-to-B manufacturers and distributors. Forrester Research projected 2013 B-to-B ecommerce ...
B2B
Use a PIM to Manage Cross-Channel Product Details

August 21, 2012 • Armando Roggio

As an online retail business grows, managing product data can become a monumental task. Product information management solutions can help keep track of product data — descriptions, photography, and even pricing information — improve accuracy, and ensure good customer shopping experience...