How do I build a good B2B webshop?

B2B is an international term for business to business: companies to companies. This concerns companies that specifically only do business with other companies. So this concerns professionals, why does the success of a B2B webshop often fail? Thanks to the internet, people can read up on their information, they know what they want and developments are happening at lightning speed. How do you build a good B2B webshop? Here are five mistakes you can avoid anyway:

The business case

This is what you start with and yet this is often what is missing during meetings. If the business case is there, then, for example, only possible revenue increases are considered and not how you can keep costs low or reduce them. In our view, this is a missed opportunity, because there is often considerable room for improvement in cost reduction, especially in the number of mistakes that are made. When you reduce margins of error (think of the errors that arise during miscommunications, for example) you can save quite a bit of money. A good example is to implement an online ordering system instead of taking orders over the phone (yes this still happens here and there).

Falling behind on your B2C

B2C is an international term for business to customer: companies to customers. Practice has shown that companies often think too easily about certain aspects of a webshop that should receive a lot of attention. Then we are talking about design and ease of use, B2C webshops have of course arranged this down to the last detail. This is not the case with B2B, there is still a lot of room for improvement. In 2019 it is easy to assume that orders will come in automatically. Things like office chairs, laptops, computer screens, etc. are still necessary, right? Competition is increasing online and ultimately it is people who place the orders, even at B2B. That is why it is also necessary with this form to 'seduce' someone – also because it is easier for them to come back for the next order – with a beautiful and freshly designed website. We therefore advise investing every four to five years in a new website with an up-to-date design.

to be untraceable

Yes, there it is again: SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you want to achieve maximum results for his or her findability in Google, there is no way around it. The chance that someone accidentally bumps into an online store is not that great, so it often takes a lot of time to be easily found online and with good reason. Other marketing activities such as email marketing and social media campaigns also contribute to better findability and conversion (the completed desired action such as orders). In that respect, it is also better organized in B2C, because many marketing strategies are already aimed at increasing conversion. Online marketing is a separate profession, we therefore always advise to hire a specialist where possible, to map out a step-by-step plan that you as a company can also work with independently.

No input from the customer

There is nothing wrong with inventorying at the customer, and this is actually done far too little. Knowing who you are doing all that effort for is extremely important to get the most out of your webshop. Here, as a B2B entrepreneur, you actually have the advantage over B2C, because your relationship with the customer is more intensive. Then why not ask the customer if everything is satisfactory and what the long-term goals are? If there really isn't time for this – because busy, busy, busy – you could consider automating this process in part. This can be done very easily by implementing an online questionnaire that the customer can then complete.

Get all the data in order

According to research, 87% (!) of the companies surveyed state that getting the data in order is the biggest challenge during the digitization of B2B organizations. We believe the WooCommerce system can provide a solution. This system provides the important factor of connection, it contains the most current (and of course correct) information. Things like prices, discounts, customers and products are important to keep in order in your backend.

Of course you do not want outdated or incorrect information to appear on the website, if you therefore go for an integrated B2B webshop, all information from the WooCommerce system is also used in the webshop. Of course it is also important that the information in the frontend is correct, such as product images and descriptions, banners and background images. This way you have the most complete webshop possible, so that the launch will go faster.

Contact us, Social Brothers thinks along with you if you can't quite get out of building your B2B webshop. it's what we do: