eCommerce for wholesalers
The eCommerce platform that grows with your organization and the changes in the market
The position of wholesalers
The role of the wholesaler is changing rapidly. Manufacturers are increasingly skipping their traditional distribution channels and supplying directly to consumers or business end users. Switching suppliers is easier than ever. Digitization and innovation are necessary to remain relevant in the market.
It sometimes seems as if the role of wholesalers has become superfluous due to the development of B2B eCommerce. The arrival of marketplaces such as Amazon and Alibaba can be seen as a threat. But for wholesalers who have their eCommerce in order and who dare to take a critical look at their business model, it offers opportunities for further growth. That is why traditional wholesalers must make the transition to online.
What does the wholesaler want to achieve?
- Increase customer loyalty and customer satisfaction
- Increase the number of new customers
- Promote self-service
- Increase average order value
- Communicate assortment to end users
How do you achieve this?
- Broaden assortment through partners
- Branding sites for branding and positioning
- Merge website and webshop for seamless experience
- Lead generation and inspiration before login and focus on transaction and information after login
- Full disclosure of data ERP system to customer portal: invoices, deliveries, track & trace, back orders, order lists, etcetera
Lower costs and efficiency
- Process more orders with fewer staff
- No more retyping orders from the fax
- Avoid manual errors
- Reduce call traffic and email
eCommerce functionalities specifically for wholesalers
Customer-specific prices
As a wholesaler you want to have flexibility in showing prices. You deal with different types of customers with whom you often have price agreements. It is then important that your ERP system seamlessly integrates with your eCommerce platform. That way you don't have any manual work (anymore)!
Catalogs per customer
With customer-specific catalogs you can automatically adjust the displayed range to the customer. This gives your customer a very relevant product overview. You can also opt for catalogs based on industry. In this way, your customer sees a wide range, but specifically for the industry in which he does business. Everything for an optimal shopping experience.
Recurring sales
With B2B sales, recurring purchases are everyday's business. It is therefore important that your customer can easily create order lists. The CloudSuite eCommerce platform remembers previous orders and gives both the possibility to create an order list based on previous purchases and to create new order lists yourself.
A number of wholesalers who already successfully use CloudSuite
Seamless integration with your ERP system
Although B2B and B2C differ considerably, they have in common that the end user is a consumer in both cases. We think the experience of a B2C shopper is important and standard, but why not translate the same experience into a B2B platform? Integration with your ERP system is indispensable to provide an optimal customer journey.
Advantages of integrating with an ERP system are:
- Up-to-date webshop with customer-specific price agreements and conditions
- Customers have 24/7 access to customer data
- Automatic processing of online orders, order status and invoices
- Time savings and fewer errors because manual work is unnecessary
- Increases customer satisfaction
- Continue to work with trusted ERP software
The future of eCommerce for wholesale; 5 mega trends to follow
This whitepaper highlights five of the key trends that will be in the spotlight in the coming year and that could impact the future of wholesalers.
