Coin Toss
Just as an NFL team meticulously designs offensive playbooks to conquer the defense, IT leaders need a strategic approach to tackle prevalent issues in the B2B eCommerce landscape. BigCommerce's features offer such a playbook, providing innovative solutions tailored to address the unique challenges faced by IT leaders in the B2B domain.
Before the Game
This playbook delineates the tactics that drive success for digital leaders in B2B. However, akin to the game of football, it's not solely about the plays themselves, but rather the underlying strategy, the cohesive team you assemble, and unwavering execution. Remember, tactics alone are insufficient to propel you towards your goals.
Draft Strategy
When building your team, it's crucial to consider your budget, growth stage and projected ROI. Many mid-market manufacturers and distributors have found that combining external resources with key internal staff yields the greatest benefits for their growth. By seeking external support for your digital strategy and execution, you can collaborate with experienced specialists who can guide you in developing a tailored approach that aligns with your market position.
Similar to football, assembling your team requires various roles, such as a UX Designer, Front-end/full-stack developer, Business Systems Analyst, ERP integration specialist, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Email marketing manager, Online advertising manager, Social media manager, Content writer, and Online channel manager. Some of these roles can be fulfilled by the same individual, depending on your strategy. It's important to recognize that investing in specialists for specific areas may be necessary based on your goals.
1st Down: Personalized B2B Experiences
Play: BigCommerce's inherent flexibility allows for custom catalog views, price lists, and segmented customer groups.
Win: This creates a personalized buyer experience, helping build long-term customer relationships and loyalty.
Execution:
- BigCommerce price lists allow variant-level pricing overrides based on storefronts and customer groups. By integrating price lists with your ERP, you allow your wholesale customers to view and order products at their specialized price. Price lists require BigCommerce's Enterprise Edition, but do not require B2B Edition, enabling merchants to start with this feature even before they may choose to expand into other B2B feaures available on BigCommerce.
- Corporate Account Management: In B2B Edition, the account management features allow for the assignment of multiple users to an account, each with distinct roles and permissions. This enables efficient collaboration and streamlined access control.
- Shared Shopping Lists: BigCommerce's shared shopping list feature allows multiple users to organize products they are interested in, providing the opportunity for a more efficient and collaborative purchasing process.
- Sales Admin Masquerade: This feature in B2B Edition enables sales administrators to log in as another user and checkout on their behalf - perfect for assisting customers with ordering large items.
- Request a Quote: Customers can request a quote for products, or add them to their cart and checkout immediately. This offers flexibility and options for customers to efficiently interact with your company in the way that serves them best.
- Sales Rep Quoting: This feature allows sales reps to create quotes on behalf of customers. Quotes can be converted into orders if the customer decides to accept them.
2nd Down: Streamlined Order Management
Play: BigCommerce offers an automated order management system that significantly reduces manual intervention and human errors.
Win: This streamlines processing reduces overhead costs and boosts efficiency.
Execution:
- Control panel dashboard: BigCommerce's control panel dashboard provides visibility into orders, shipments, and customers in real time. This enables a comprehensive view of the customer journey from order submission to fulfillment.
- Automated order processing: The automation of manual tasks helps reduce overhead costs and improves operational efficiency considerably. This includes automated updates for shipping labels, email notifications for customers upon order status changes,
- Inventory Sync: By synchronizing your inventory, both ways, you can ensure that your stock is always up to date, no matter where or when a sale is made. This eliminates the risk of overselling and minimizes data entry errors that can lead to customer frustration. Experience the convenience and efficiency of seamless inventory management for your valuable customers.
- Integration with ERP: BigCommere's strong APIs and focus on integrations enables you to have confidence that you can automate order processing with your existing business systems. If you are considering a move to a new ERP, take a look at Acumatica. In addition to its unlimited user approach, Acumatica has a native integration with BigCommerce.
- Feedonomics: While separate products, BigCommerce acquired Feedonomics, an industry-leading solution that allows merchants to list, optimize, sell, and fulfill across 100+ channels. There are licensing benefits to licensing these two products together - offering great value in tandem with expanded sales and streamlined order management.
3rd Down: Integrated B2B and B2C Operations
Play: BigCommerce allows for the integration of B2B and B2C operations on a single platform.
Win: This simplification eliminates the need to juggle between platforms, reducing IT complexity.
Execution:
- One site can serve both: You can have B2B and B2C features on the same store enabling you to streamline your work and your customer experience.
- Multi-storefront: In the case you want to have separate brands or experiences for wholesale and retail, you can also have separate storefronts that tie into the same admin management portal.
- BigCommerce Ecosystem: The ecosystem of BigCommerce apps offers additional capabilities for B2B and B2C. Increasingly B2B customers are interested in features that have been used for consumer sales. An ecosystem and platform that serves both allows strong customer experiences that can be tailored to your customer efficiently.
4th Down: Robust Security
Play: BigCommerce has in-built security measures, including PCI DSS compliance and security against threats.
Win: This ensures the safety of sensitive data, offering peace of mind to both IT leaders and their clients.
Execution:
- Payment providers: BigCommerce offers over 65 pre-integrated online payment providers, enabling you to take payments easily with a few simple setup steps.
- BigCommerce is a PCI-DSS Level 1 Service Provider, simplifying your work and minimizing your responsibility in your PCI DSS certification
- Lower Total Cost of Ownership: By entrusting BigCommerce with the hosting of your ecommerce application, you will have fewer headaches and expenses for your team in maintaining secure systems. As a result, you can redirect your time and energy towards enhancing the customer experience, ensuring a smoother journey for your valued customers.
Play to Win
This playbook presents a solution to numerous challenges, allowing IT leaders to confidently navigate the competitive B2B landscape. Just as an NFL team leans on its offensive playbook to win games, IT leaders can leverage BigCommerce's B2B features to gain a competitive edge and score wins in their field.
