Online wholesale management is the systematic and strategic approach to operating a wholesale business through cloud-based software—also known as wholesale eCommerce.
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Investing in the right wholesale eCommerce platform will also allow your business to run more efficiently and effectively—and will provide numerous opportunities for your company to grow.
The main reason? Large and small alike, B2B customers want the buying process to be online.
Data shows that among wholesale buyers …
In other words, the modern B2B consumer does their homework before making a purchase. And they do it on their own. No longer do wholesale buyers sit back and wait for suppliers to spoon-feed them information; they go out and find it themselves.
Among the many pieces of info they look for, B2B buyers take it upon themselves to:
By providing everything through an online wholesale solution, you place the power potential customers want in the palm of their hands.
QuickBooks Commerce's Wholesale eCommerce platform makes selling wholesale easier than even before
To start, let’s examine why bringing your wholesale business online—or, extending your B2C business into wholesale—will benefit existing customers as well as attract new customers.
It’s no secret that technology makes things easier—and this definitely applies to the world of retail.
To start, being online adds a direct wholesale channel that makes it easier for both parties to get in touch with each other throughout the buyer’s journey. The faster your prospects can move through the sales funnel toward conversion, the more likely they are to become customers.
Operating online can also make your transactional processes streamlined. While your sales teams probably won’t want to be completely hands-off as their customers go through with a purchase, automation takes much of the legwork out of the process. In turn, your salespeople can focus more of their energy on providing top-notch value to their customers.
Overall, diving into the world of B2B online retail will allow your business to get things done without having to deal with excess downtime or hang-ups in between.
Efficiency, however, is just one side of the coin. The right solution can also make your team more effective.
Case in point, McKinsey found that wholesale companies that fully adopt an online approach to marketing and sales can see five times the revenue growth of a non-digital competitor.
To add to that, Econsultancy found that business owners that have moved their ordering process online report an increased average order value (AOV) of 44%.
In meeting your customers’ needs throughout their journey—and doing so on their terms—you develop a sense of trust within them. If they can trust that you’re 100% dedicated to providing top-notch value, they have no reason not to do business with your company.
As your online presence allows your wholesale company to become more efficient and effective, you’ll soon find yourself in a position where you have a major opportunity to grow.
This stems from the fact that (1) you’re getting more done and (2) you’re using fewer resources to do it all.
After a sustained period of online success, your company is likely to have more time, money, and other resources on-hand than ever before.
Whether this means streamlining internal processes or providing more value to prospective customers leading up to conversion, your team will finally be able to spend their time and energy on initiatives that actually matter to your company’s growth.
As you complete these improvements and initiatives, and your now-online wholesale company begins running like an even more finely-tuned machine, you can also start thinking about scaling and expanding.
Whether this means branching out into new territories or audience bases, or expanding the services you provide your current customers, you’ll likely now have the bandwidth to tackle your new venture head on—and with relative ease.
