One of the most significant differences between the B2B space is its unique challenges compared to B2C transactions. Due to its complexity, many B2B businesses seek solutions that can provide a better customer experience. 

One of the best ways to overcome your B2B ecommerce challenges is to leverage JD Edwards connected commerce solutions. We recently held a webinar on this topic, and today, we will cover some of the common challenges, how to overcome them, and examples of success stories from businesses just like yours!

What Is Digital Commerce?

There are several definitions for digital commerce; however, our favorite one comes from Gartner. Their definition reads, “Digital commerce enables customers to purchase goods and services through an interactive and self-service experience.” It goes on to explain that people, processes, and technologies are all involved in digital commerce. We like this definition because it focuses on the customer experience. 

We deal with customer experience every day—often as the customer ourselves. For example, imagine that your spice cabinet is hard to navigate. Wanting a solution, you go to Amazon and type in “spice cabinet organizer.” Amazon takes this request and provides you with several options for your problem. You pick the one you think looks the best and buy it. 

Likely, you found this experience to be quick, easy, and straightforward, and this is often the case in B2C transactions. Our interactions in B2C are short-term, and we buy basic products with very easy-to-understand pricing. B2B, on the other hand, is very different. These transactions can have long-term relationships and are often complex in both the product itself and its pricing. So how do we navigate this complexity? We’ll explore the answer to this question later on.

Unique B2B Challenges

Before we go into solutions, we first need to know the exact challenges that are unique to B2B transactions. The most prevalent challenges we’ve seen with B2B are the following: 

• Departmental Involvement: In B2B, there are often several steps in the process of the purchase. In a B2C interaction, often it is only one person making the decision to purchase the item. But B2B requires multiple people or even whole departments to agree on the purchase before they can proceed. 

• Robust Information Needs: Because B2B transactions are often large, costly purchases, the buyer will require detailed, or technical information about the product. While a B2C customer may be satisfied with the simple details, B2B buyers often want to know everything they can about the product before they purchase. 

• Customer Support Needs: B2B customers often will call the seller directly. They don’t want to just get the information about the product from a platform—they want to be able to ask specific, usually technical questions about the product, so they can ensure they're getting the right thing for their business. 

• Sales Channel Integration: B2B buyers want their buying platform to synergize well with their already existing sales channels. Some may even see a new ecommerce channel as a threat to their business and customer base. So when launching a new platform, B2B organizations have to be aware and conscious of these concerns. 

Ultimately, all these challenges boil down to two things: B2B platforms need to simplify and manage information well. And we’ll show you how to do exactly that in our next section.

The Key to Customer Experience

The key to B2B success is to prioritize the customer experience. We’ve seen time and time again that when the customer experience is prioritized, B2B ecommerce platforms get better results. In fact, almost 80% of B2B buyers want their experience to mimic what they receive in B2C transactions. So how can we do this? There’s a few things you’ll want to focus on: 

• Single Source of Truth: A single source of truth is your foundation for creating a great customer experience. What this means is that the data is not replicated in multiple places, but everything a customer needs can be found in one location. This data already exists in JD Edwards! With SmarterCommerce’s solutions, we take a JD Edwards-first approach to data and process so your team can ensure product and customer information is not only reliable and accurate but also displayed and managed in a way that’s easy for your customers to interact with. 

• Simplifying Complexity: We’ve already discussed that B2B can be a complex process, but there are ways to simplify it. Using a single source of truth already removes a good portion of the complexity. Providing a helpful and intuitive user experience (UX) design also helps your customers instinctively recognize the layout of an ecommerce site and begin using with little training. 

• Empower Sales/Marketing: With an integrated system, sales and marketing can focus on improving the customer relationship rather than dealing with repairing customer relationships, placing routine orders, or navigating complexity without an integrated system. They don’t have to spend as much time answering questions or mending hurt relationships due to inaccurate information—they can focus solely on good customer service. 

Examples of Overcoming B2B Ecommerce Challenges with JD Edwards

We’ve seen these principles in action many times and the success that comes from focusing on the customer. Here are just a few examples of the businesses we’ve helped accomplish this. 

Linde

Linde needed a new ecommerce platform and point of sales system that allowed for omni-channel support. They needed to find a way for people to easily shop online and pick up in-store or find stores near them. By leveraging the power of JD Edwards and SmarterCommerce Ecommerce and Retail, they were able to deploy over 300 branches, build a base of over 100,000 SKUs and customers, and enhance both the online and in-store experience for their customers.

Morgan Olson

Morgan Olson noticed that their customers needed a simple way to search for VIN-specific replacement parts in their ordering system to ensure compatibility for their customers’ trucks. They were able to overcome their unique B2B ecommerce challenges with SmarterCommerce’s integration to the JD Edwards BOM, and we created a system where customers could search by product name/number, VIN number, unit number, and VMRS code. By focusing on their customers’ needs, they saw a 500% increase in ecommerce sales and reduced customer service calls.

Sennheiser

Sennheiser is a global B2B seller of high fidelity audio equipment, and wanted to create a dealer portal where customers could order in their language, with their currency, and see personalized catalogs. Through the power of JD Edwards integration, SmarterCommerce was able to create a portal where all the complexity was removed, and their customers were able to buy products that they were authorized for in the language and currency that they understood. We successfully created a global deployment of their platform and enhanced the customer experience.

What do all of these case studies have in common? They all understood the needs of their customers, sought out solutions that would meet the unique needs of their customer base, and successfully leveraged JD Edwards data and processes. This is the key to your success. 

How to Deliver a Winning Ecommerce Strategy

Here are five things you need to create a winning ecommerce strategy and improve your customer experience: 

1. Transparency: You must understand customer needs and shopping behaviors. What are the biggest challenges they face on your platform? What would make the ordering process easier for them? Knowing this information allows you to create an experience that is catered to them.

2. Reliability: Ensure the accuracy of your information on the ecommerce platform. Nothing can hurt your customer experience more than inaccurate information. By having real-time data updates, you help solidify yourself as a reliable seller.

3. Convenience: The platform should be designed to make it easy for customers to do business. See what you can learn from B2C platforms and integrate them into your own. 

4. Personalization: By offering personalized experiences, including pricing, product catalogs, and order history, you show your customers you care about them and their experience. They’ll be more likely to stay with you if they feel like you provide them with a unique, personalized experience on your platform. 

5. Trust: This is one of the most important things you need in B2B. Everything in business rises and falls on how much your customers trust you. You can build and maintain trust through reliable, transparent, and personalized interactions.

Improve Your B2B Results with SmarterCommerce’s JD Edwards Connected Solutions!

For over 30 years, SmarterCommerce has worked with many B2B organizations to find the right solution for their customers. We highlighted just a few examples today, but we’ve helped hundreds of businesses find solutions to their B2B ecommerce challenges with JD Edwards. And we can do the same for you! Whatever your needs may be, our team is ready to help you create a winning customer experience. Reach out for a consultation or discussion about your ecommerce needs within the JD Edwards ecosystem.