The long-term value of your eCommerce store 

For wholesale businesses with a pre-existing eCommerce solution in place, the transition has been much easier. Sales reps have been able to place orders for their clients remotely, or their clients have simply placed the order for themselves. 

As a result, the financial impact on the business has been minimised. 

But what about the businesses that don’t have an eCommerce solution in place? Can they still survive? The answer varies between businesses and is dependent on the industry that they’re operating in.

However, the door is still open for strong financial returns by investing in their eCommerce solution, even while our economy is in hibernation. 





Cost Reductions of B2B eCommerce



While the value of in-person consultations with your clients will always hold true, establishing an easy to use and well-designed eCommerce system will reduce a number of operational costs. 

By establishing an eCommerce solution for your business, you can expect to save money in the following areas. 




1 - INCORRECT ORDERS AND RETURNS



Naturally, the deliberate and calculated action of your customer placing the order themselves will reduce the number of incorrect orders that come in, minimising the financial and time costs associated with incorrect orders and refunds. 





2 - DATA-ENTRY



When it comes to data-entry, the main cost is your time. A solid eCommerce solution will automatically integrate with your accounting software and overall fulfilment process, wiping out the majority of required paperwork in your business.





3 - GENERAL STATIONERY



When sales are made online, or via an app, the costs of stationery, paper and print brochures will be significantly reduced within your business. Often, the cost of this alone justifies having a solid B2B eCommerce solution. 





ROI Potenial of B2B eCommerce





Now, let’s look at how a solid eCommerce solution will generate more income for your business. The obvious one here is the money raised from online sales - but when we look deeper we uncover a few more reasons to get excited.



1 - THE VALUE OF MORE TIME IN YOUR BUSINESS



The role of your online store isn’t to make your field salespeople redundant - it’s to give you and your staff more time to focus on productive tasks. 

Your field sales reps can nurture larger clients that place big orders, while your customers that place small orders can simply do so anytime online. Your admin team won’t be bogged down in pointless paperwork and can focus on creating processes and systems that drive further productivity. Importantly, management and owners can focus on revenue-building activities for the business, instead of running around putting out fires. 





2 - THE LIFETIME VALUE OF NEW CLIENTS OR RE-ENGAGED CLIENTS



When people have the capability of finding your business and making orders on their own accord, your business opens the door to new repeat customers that otherwise wouldn’t have found you. 

If your online store is SEO optimised, people will organically find your business in the search engine when they look up a particular item you stock. Once a person makes a purchase for the first time, generally, they’ll be repeat customers for years to come. 

Also, having your products easily accessible online might wake up a few dormant customers as they utilise the easy to use online alternative to get their stock. 





3 - MORE DIVERSE ORDERS





Another benefit of an online store is having your customers finding products they often miss when they browse through your catalogue in-person. Being able to search for products by category online will give your customer the chance to find new products that they can sell, which in turn generates new revenue for the business. 



A solid eCommerce solution is a long-term investment.



Right now, the need to revamp or establish your online store might seem like an untimely and forced expense as you adjust your business model to operate online. 

However, rushing to establish a cheap online store or simply refusing to offer an eCommerce solution altogether is going to be far more costly in the long-run. 

It’s common knowledge that the wholesale industry is continually becoming digitised. Having an eCommerce system in place for your business is no longer a competitive advantage - it’s a minimum requirement to compete altogether. 

On face value, a solid eCommerce system not only saves you time and money but gives your business the flexibility it needs to operate in the current online climate. More importantly, it will be a foundation of your businesses success for years to come. 

As the industry negates the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the capability of a businesses eCommerce system will play a major role in how a business will look in a few months time. 



WE ARE HERE TO HELP

 

Inzant is a sales app that allows wholesale reps to generate online orders and facilitate mobile sales. On top of this, we create custom online order portals for your clients so they can place orders themselfs and build e-commerce stores. 

Feel free to reach out if your wholesale business needs help with its online sales capability. 

Team Inzant.