The Hurdles of B2B eCommerce and How to Overcome Them

The Hurdles of B2B eCommerce and How to Overcome Them

Large-scale digital transformations, while increasingly necessary in a growingly digital world, can be daunting and nerve-wracking projects that take a lot of time and investment from many different departments of your business. In the B2B world, these initiatives seem to face even more pushback due to the reluctance of change and adoption of eCommerce in many B2B organizations. Many businesses avoid taking the plunge to really invest in their digital channels due to the risks and fear of failing.

 

After over a decade of experience with these large-scale projects, Redstage CEO Adam Morris and Head of Digital Transformation Matthew Jasper know a thing or two about why companies are reluctant to start an eCommerce initiative and why some of these projects do not come to fruition. Having served over a hundred enterprise companies, from small and mid-market organizations to billion-dollar enterprises, they shared with us what obstacles usually keep organizations from succeeding in Digital Transformation and eCommerce projects.

 

In the first part of this in-depth interview, we will discuss why companies have been avoiding starting these transformation initiatives even in the “new normal” of an almost entirely digital world and what to make sure teams focus on to make sure the project reaches its full potential.

 

 

Why Are B2B Organizations Reluctant To Start Digital Transformation Initiatives?

 

 

I think the challenge is that a core function for us as human beings is that it’s difficult for us to act for the future, right? We’ve been discussing the changing demographics and needs of the buyer with our B2B clients, and it’s something that you can’t really see. When you’re not investing in a digital sales channel, and you’re using traditional methods, it’s hard to see that what are the downstream effects of these changing demographics and needs. What are the downstream effects for your customer experience, for digital natives that are coming in to be your main source of buyers? And what happens is this change happens slowly and is sometimes hard to perceive or see coming.

Adam Morris

CEO, Redstage

Yes. I think one key element is, are companies being proactive about going to kind of a digitally transformed eCommerce strategy? Or are they being reactive? And that, I think, is really what has kept most B2B companies on the slow side in the past. Prior to the pandemic, in order to digitally transform their business, they needed to be proactive and build a roadmap in advance to build out an eCommerce strategy. And most of them didn’t do that because they were chasing the latest thing to react to. But with the pandemic, ultimately, the solution has been digital transformation and eCommerce services to help keep the traditional businesses afloat, leveraging web sales and online sales in that respect.

So ultimately, this strategy has to be shifted from a reactive to a proactive one. So obviously, the pandemic has accelerated a lot of those types of initiatives that should have been happening over the course of the last five, ten, even twenty years, which some of these companies have been around for. But, the B2B space has been some of the last industries impacted by digital transformation in part because they were a little bit downstream or a little bit further nested into supply chains and distribution strategies for some of these other companies. So, they’ve been impacted a little bit further behind, as opposed to the business-to-consumer side of industries. But, that’s partially why they’ve been a little bit slow to react, is because they could get by with business as usual for longer.

Matthew Jasper

Head of Digital Transformation, Redstage

So there are three functions at play when thinking about digital transformation; you’ve got driving new revenue, you’ve got cost savings that might be missed opportunities by not investing in the digital channel, and you’ve got customer attrition issues. From the changing demographics and needs of especially the younger generation of B2B buyers, it’s really hard for some companies to quantify, and then the question becomes who owns that change, right?

Normally, if you’re talking about driving new revenue streams, well that’s traditionally the sales team in a B2B environment. The challenge there is the sales team, a director of sales, a chief revenue officer, their job is really mainly building driving sales teams. Personnel and people management. What is the sales strategy? What’s the funnel-managed pipeline? It doesn’t really include the expertise or KPIs around digital sales. It also has operational ramifications, right, so you need to involve operations, even though they don’t have revenue or sales as KPIs. You also have I.T. that might try to get involved, the CIO is really looking at how to enable business strategy and how to reduce costs. So, this is a cross-functional strategy that I think between the difficulty and challenges of quantifying what the digital transformation will hold for the business, as well as not having a true clear owner inside the organization, it makes it really challenging.

And now, we kind of look at the environment sort of in a post-pandemic world, where we’ve seen the conversation change a lot to okay, well we have to transfer. We’ve seen that the world has to have the digital capability, so we know that we need to change. We need to do five years of transformation that we should have been doing, in one year now. But the interesting part about that conversation is if you dig into why we need to change, the answer is sort of simply well because we have to.

Adam Morris

CEO, Redstage

Yes. I just got off a call with an essential client on the sales side, where they were asking this exact question. They said we know we need to build out a digital solution, and we haven’t done it yet. So, should it live with sales? Should it live with I.T.? Should we build a dedicated digital team or a dedicated eCommerce team? What should we do?

And ultimately, the way which I told them to think about it is you’re building an entire parallel startup that touches all of your business processes. But, there’s going to be somebody who is ultimately accountable for it. Whether it’s the chief marketing officer or the head of product, there’s somebody that’s going to have ownership of this element of the business, but it’s going to touch each individual element of your business. So, if you are the eCommerce operations manager, you might be tasked with figuring out things like how do we get our warehouses or business processes in order to make the digital solution a little bit more efficient? If you are on the marketing side, you might be tasked with figuring what paid advertising solution to use to drive traffic to our website. What does building our marketing pipeline look like on the B2B side of things? What does an Omnichannel marketing strategy look like to drive traffic to our site and then get people to convert? 

So every single element of the business needs to have a stake in the process for a digital transformation when going from a traditional business to a digital one. That comes from buy-in across leadership, as well as accountability for individuals either on the sales or marketing side. 

Matthew Jasper

Head of Digital Transformation, Redstage

Matt, I have something to add there too. You mentioned the word startup, and it’s a very interesting conundrum, and I think this is a blocker for a lot of transformations, especially why B2B companies are so slow to adopt or adapt or transform. We work with mostly larger enterprises, right? And a big challenge is when you’re creating something new, or you’re evolving something that’s in its early stages of maturity, you have to be able to react more entrepreneurial, more agile, right? You have to be able to iterate, you have to be able to test, and you have to move.

So if we’re talking about enterprises, where is this owned? Is it owned by the business unit head? A lot of these business units are mature. You don’t move quickly on purpose, you’re careful and methodical, and that’s going to lead to your success in a mature business. So, how do you balance creating this sort of entrepreneurial iterative culture in conjunction with your I.T. organization that’s going to want to be more methodical? With your business strategy, with your planning and forecasting. All of these things are often at odds with each other, create conflict and create roadblocks. So I think it’s important to acknowledge those issues, and set up a plan and roadmap, and get everybody on board that this is an iterative process. Understand which processes of the core business are going to need to break or need to change, or need to diverge, from what has made us successful to this point.

Adam Morris

CEO, Redstage

Yes, and one last point on that startup mentality versus mature business. Some of our clients have been around for hundreds of years, even. Where they’ve built a model over time by being focused on certain core activities and solving very specific business problems, and building long-term trusted customer relationships with their particular ecosystem. So, given that they’ve been around for so long, they’ve been at a certain scale of business. If you’re generating, you know, a billion dollar’s worth of revenue from traditional models, building a website to sell your products online may disrupt the apple cart, so to speak. Where you lose a little bit of that exclusivity of that trusted partnership with some of your supply chain or your distribution network. So, there’s an element of risk from a B2B customer perspective, whereby opening it up might be weakening some of those ties that have been some of the elements of your secret sauce.

Because of that, you need to navigate that carefully and manage that customer expectation. Where no, you’re not necessarily disrupting your business-to-business network, you’re just trying to support how that buyer wants to do business. They no longer are looking to necessarily be wined and dined in a COVID era, and instead would rather just go to your website and click purchase or maybe get a quote, and then work back and forth via email, instead of even a phone call at times. So, there’s a matter of how do you meet your customers where they are, without necessarily viewing digital as a risk to the business. Which I think is an important point, and maybe some of the traditional hesitancy pre-COVID, to taking your business model and transporting that online.

Matthew Jasper

Head of Digital Transformation, Redstage

 

 

What did we learn?

 

The major factors holding B2B merchants back from reaching their business’s full potential and maximize sales are unexpectedly simple; several departments in your organization need to buy in for a digital transformation to work, yet you need one business head to own the process and see it to fruition. Finally, you need to have an iterative and proactive mindset to these projects, understanding the future benefit while working in the present to see it through step by step. 

 

Often, organizations can see these projects as daunting and too risky to delve into in the middle of the year, or even to delve into at all. Sometimes, you just need an exterior team to evaluate your processes and look at your organization with a bird’s eye view. Contact Redstage today if you need help starting your eCommerce or Digital Transformation journey.

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Four Ways to Win at Convenience in B2B eCommerce

Four Ways to Win at Convenience in B2B eCommerce

Megan Wenzl

Megan Wenzl

SEO Content Manager

Megan Wenzl is the SEO Content Manager at Linnworks, a total commerce solution that connects, manages and automates commerce operations. Megan enjoys creating useful, informative stories to help businesses succeed. When not writing, Megan enjoys spending time with her family.

 

 

In the world of enterprise B2B eCommerce, ever-changing consumer trends continue to cling to one constant — convenience. 

 

In fact, a convenient buying journey has become the cornerstone for success in B2B eCommerce. But what makes a buying journey effortless?

 

Keep reading for four ways to win at convenience in B2B eCommerce to increase conversion rates and revenue.

 

 

Focus on a Frictionless Customer Experience

 

frictionless customer experience with advanced search

 

According to research on total commerce by Linnworks, convenience is defined by a frictionless online buying journey. In fact, 58% of consumers have stopped using a website altogether if they find it difficult to navigate, and 90% prioritize a trouble-free experience. 

 

So what can be done to create a frictionless CX? Every interaction a user has with a brand needs to be smooth and quick to avoid abandonment. Two of the most critical touchpoints are search and check-out. (Two out of three consumers have abandoned a purchase over complicated search and check-out touchpoints.) Offering smart, advanced search and check-out features will encourage buyers to stay on your site at the beginning of their journey and complete their transaction near the end. 

 

Speed is also a significant player in the eCommerce experience. No one wants to wait for pages to load. To increase speed, it’s essential to upgrade software, consolidate integrations, and minimize extensions. 

 

It’s also critical to increase product traceability and avoid human errors like over-selling by automating inventory management and similar processes. Automating inventory management will speed up the user experience and minimize errors across all channels, creating a more frictionless CX. (Read more about the importance of inventory management here.) 

Personalization is Key 

 

 

Ultimately B2B decision-makers are searching for solutions to a problem they’re experiencing. The buying journey needs to be as personalized as possible for them to feel like your company has the exclusive and best answer to their problem.

 

Employing AI technology to extract data can help automate this process. AI software gathers analytics from search, recently viewed, and purchase history. It can also collect demographics like location, company, email — and more to determine what problem a B2B consumer is trying to solve. Then, this data is used to create the most customized web-based experience possible that provides a solution. 

 

During a recent website migration, B2B enterprise company Sea Bags added a new AI feature to their website that collects data from previously visited pages and recent purchases to help consumers find recommended products. The addition of AI technology to personalize the buying journey was a significant contributing factor to an astounding 53% growth in revenue in just three months. 

Upgrade the Mobile Experience

 

mobile online shopping buying experience b2b

 

With the upsurge of easy-to-navigate eCommerce platforms, consumers have come to expect a seamless omnichannel experience. According to the research from Linnworks, 81% of consumers want a buying journey to begin on one device and end on another — without interruption. And to increase traffic and conversion rates, this seamless omnichannel experience undoubtedly should include updated mobile channels. 

 

The current expectation is that mobile purchasing should be as effortless as desktop. To optimize the mobile experience, focus on sleek minimalist design with features that surprise and delight your users — more specifically, micro-interactions. These seemingly insignificant moments pack a big punch when it comes to keeping buyers engaged (and coming back). 

 

High-end coffee giant Jura Coffee saw a hefty increase in mobile traffic and conversion rates after updating its mobile channel design. After creating an experience that closely measured up to that of the desktop, they saw a 55% increase in traffic and a 44% boost to their mobile conversion rate! With statistics like that, most companies can’t afford to continue offering archaic mobile buying experiences. 

Offer Innovative Features

 

innovative eCommerce features shipping inventory

 

At its core, consumer convenience is rooted in innovation. To keep up with the competition and trends in buyer habits, companies have to capitalize on innovation at every turn. Luckily, the fluctuating landscape of eCommerce affords the opportunity to continually offer buyers new and convenient ways to examine products and make purchases with the push of the button. 

 

B2B distributor The Binding Source worked hand-in-hand with Redstage Business Analysts to create a convenient buying experience for their customers with innovative features. Some of the additions to their website that capitalized on convenience were custom product filtering, advanced shipping options, customer segmentation, and payment storage. The addition of these convenient and innovative features helped increase their conversion rate by 170% in just one month! 

2021 MARKET SURVEY

2021 State of eCommerce Report

Answer 5 quick questions for our 2021 State of eCommerce Report to receive a free usability assessment from Redstage!

Learn More

Conclusion

 

To win at convenience in B2B eCommerce, the primary focus needs to be keeping up with innovation and subsequent consumer demand. If you don’t create a personalized and frictionless buying experience or offer innovative features to meet B2B decision makers’ needs, another company will. Contact Redstage to start maximizing convenience for your buyers today. 

Download the Latest Research from Linnworks for More Insights

 

How to Meet B2B Customers New Expectations in a Self-Service World

How to Meet B2B Customers New Expectations in a Self-Service World

In the age of self-checkouts and one-click online shopping, how many B2B companies are still forcing their customers to order and reorder materials and products through an offline, sales rep only model? The answer will surprise you: 37% of B2B companies are primarily selling through in-person means. Meanwhile, only 41% sell primarily through online, eCommerce buying options.

 

Whether over the phone, through fax, or email, the friction of your buying process is losing customers and revenue. In the rapidly evolving and almost entirely online world, how important is it to allow your customers to serve themselves online with eCommerce?

 

The answer? Extremely, the shift is urgently imperative and unavoidable.

 

With 46% of B2B buyers being in the 25-34 age range, and expected to grow to 75% by 2025, the new largest group in the workforce demands the features they’ve come to expect from buying and selling online themselves, at work.

 

They don’t want to talk to a sales rep.

They don’t want to use a fax machine.

They don’t want to go through multiple hoops to get a quote.

 

So, how do you service a demographic that wants fast, direct buying options without the friction of the typical B2B buying experience? Why should you work to provide the experiences and features this group has come to expect, as soon as possible? Let’s find out.

 

 

Why do you need self-service options now?

 

b2b eCommerce self service options

 

Changing buyer expectations, both due to COVID-19 and the inevitable shift of millennials in the buying force, is the biggest reason why B2B companies need to start providing online self-service buying options.

 

“During the pandemic, it was revealed that all communications, even purchasing through a business, can be done digitally,”

– Redstage CEO Adam Morris.

 

Now that these faster, easier, and more convenient channels of selling have been proven to be able to be done, they are now the expectation of buyers. What used to be “nice-to-have” features, like advanced site searching capabilities, product filtering, and shipping options, are expectations for the new generation of B2B buyers. Let buyers speak for themselves, as Demand Gen Report’s B2B Buyers Survey found that 67% of B2B buyers surveyed said they wanted easier access to pricing as one of their top desires in the buying process. It’s never been more important to invest in your online buying portal or eCommerce operations.

 

 

2021 MARKET SURVEY

2021 State of eCommerce Report

Answer 5 quick questions for our 2021 State of eCommerce Report to receive a free usability assessment from Redstage!

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Another one of the biggest things you’re missing out on but not fully utilizing digital self-service buying options is capturing quality, actionable, and insightful data from your customers. Without this extremely valuable data, outlining how your customers move from product to product, how they interact with checkout, when they checkout, and more, you are unable to optimize the sales process to its full potential. 

 

Australian-based, packaged explosives materials manufacturer Orica has its materials in 1,500 explosions per day. Up until very recently, the data for these materials was kept on pen and paper, according to the Harvard Business Review. Orica decided to invest heavily into digitizing this data into one source of truth, allowing for more efficient model development, post-blast measurements, and product analytics. Their new data hub, endearingly titled Blast IQ, is said to provide “benchmarks and insights to ensure sustainable, cost-effective improvements in performance.”

How Do I Get Started?

 

 

Ultimately, in order to provide a buying process with minimal friction, that captures insightful and impactful analytics, and is easily scalable and sustainable you must invest in digital, self-serving buying options through eCommerce. It begins with overcoming what we call “technical debt” and investing in upgrading your current infrastructure, check out this on-demand Q&A our Senior eCommerce Platform Expert put on explaining technical debt here.

 

This paves the way for implementing digital options like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), or many other digital solutions for complex business operations. Streamlining and automating these processes opens the door to increased flexibility to scale, increased productivity, and revenue growth.

 

 

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The Biggest Disruptor for B2B Business in 2022

The Biggest Disruptor for B2B Business in 2022

At HPE Discover in June 2020, former Cisco CEO turned Venture Capitalist John Chambers shared this warning to business leaders around the globe:

 

“40% to 50% of the Fortune 500 will not exist in a decade, it’s going to be a brutal change. These terrible events we’re now seeing will accelerate that. Probably 60% of the startups won’t exist in a decade and several won’t exist in two to three years. So, it’s a period where you either disrupt or you get disrupted.”

 

Disrupt, or Get Disrupted.

 

Buyer habits and demographics are changing rapidly, forcing B2B companies to fight tooth and nail for attention. But, how do you disrupt a trillion-dollar industry like pharma or manufacturing?

 

The key is creating a centralized, easy to use interface for buying and selling online. One that easily connects buyers and sellers while collecting valuable customer data. For these reasons, 2021 is quickly becoming the year of the B2B marketplace. So, what are B2B marketplaces and what advantages can they provide you?

 

What is a B2B Marketplace?

 

what is a b2b marketplace buyer portal online digital market

 

In the same way Amazon allows consumers to purchase items from 3rd party vendors on Amazon.com, corporate megaliths like 3M and AB InBev now have online portals that provide better buying experiences for their vendors. In other words, a B2B marketplace is an online store that uses eCommerce functionality to let buyers view different brands and product lines from hundreds of vendors all in one place. Buyers using these B2B marketplaces can easily compare prices and products to ensure they order the products they need at the best price.

 

 

2021 MARKET SURVEY

2021 State of eCommerce Report

Answer 5 quick questions for our 2021 State of eCommerce Report to receive a free usability assessment from Redstage!

Learn More

The industry shift to online marketplaces is not only a result of new software specifically designed to help B2B companies operate more efficiently… Early last year, Bank of America analyst Justin Post said the firm expected Amazon to capture 10% of the addressable B2B market by 2021. Since then, companies around the world from aerospace to construction and more have been launching online marketplaces left and right, hoping to get ahead of the curve. If the alarm bells aren’t ringing yet, they should be, as Amazon’s incredible ability to scale will soon disrupt B2B the same way it dominates retail today.

 

Competition aside, giving your vendors and buyers a “one-stop shop” experience is just good business. And make no mistake, B2B marketplaces give incredible benefits to the businesses that own them. Let’s take a look at two top companies to learn how their marketplaces strengthen their overall strategy.

 

Strategic Advantage: AB InBev’s B2B Portal

ab inbev b2b marketplace portal store digital b2b market

 

In December, global beer distributor AB InBev (owner of top brands like Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois) constructed a one-stop shop B2B marketplace for all the individual vendors of their products. With 98% of AB InBev’s business coming from B2B distribution, providing their sellers a much easier to use and automated way to order stock was extremely important. After generating $6 million GMV in the first month, AB InBev plans to scale this digital platform continuously in 2021 and beyond.

 

Their new B2B vendor portal also allowed them to map the customer journey for all their vendors. With this insightful data in hand, AB InBev is armed with the tools to continue to improve their buyers’ experience. The data also helps them stay ahead of buyer trends as they change with seasonality and other variables. Constantly improving and changing, the marketplace gives AB InBev added adaptability and flexibility with their commerce operations.

 

Strategic Advantage: 3M’s Marketplace

 

3M also launched a new B2B marketplace this year where their channel partners can all sell their products independently on the same platform. They took a different approach; instead of controlling the buyer process, they allow their channel partners to control all the selling and transactions, even with their own offers and pricing. 3M only facilitates the connection between their partner sellers and buyers. 3M simply provides the front end and a premium customer experience.

 

This hands-off approach allows 3M to oversee all of their online product sales without having to micromanage vendors. It also allows them to give their vendor customers a better, more efficient buying process while avoiding channel conflict.

 

Top 5 Features of B2B Marketplaces

brandless b2b marketplace online chemical healthcare portal

 

What are some of the biggest benefits of implementing a B2B marketplace?

  • Providing faster ordering and automatic reordering, custom pricing, minimum order quantities, shipping options, payment options, and other premium digital features to your customers, all without calling a sales rep.
  • Allowing your business and/or individual BUs to scale faster in a rapidly changing digital ecosystem.
  • eCommerce platforms, especially SaaS platforms, are easier to maintain and upgrade as needed, compared to manual and physical supply-chain infrastructure.
  • Digital systems provide employees with much-needed assistance with automation and analytics, enhancing the capabilities of your teams from sales and marketing to accounting, tax, compliance, and more.
  • Making things much easier on their sellers and vendors helps them thrive in this new ecosystem as well, connecting digital systems and speeding up processes for everyone.

With online orders reaching levels previously expected 10 years from now, making the buying process as easy as possible is crucial to ensuring products get to the right places at the right time.

 

For companies with multiple brand names under their umbrella, the need for an online marketplace becomes even more apparent. The more complicated the fulfillment process, with multiple warehouses, distribution centers, and massive amounts of inventory, the more necessary a comprehensive online portal becomes to automate and speed up these processes.

 

Different Types of Marketplaces

walmart b2b marketplace digital online portal marketplace

 

All kinds of companies are building B2B marketplaces to expand their digital capabilities in 2021. Walmart has launched a digital marketplace, shown above, to compete with Amazon. This allows for a much larger selection of brands and sellers to sell on Walmart’s website. Giving Walmart an even larger market share than they already had.

 

honeywell b2b marketplace buyer portal online digital

 

Outside of CPG, a household name in Aerospace manufacturing Honeywell established the Honeywell Marketplace for aerospace parts companies, and in an industry dominated by brand loyalty and trust, it’s almost impossible to get buyers to see your products if you aren’t on Honeywell’s trusted marketplace.

In Healthcare, Fulcrum Digital and Redstage collaborated to create an online buyer and seller marketplace for DMEhub, a seller of durable medical equipment. A more creative use for a B2B marketplace, DMEhub was able to greatly increase the speed and rate at which they could accept orders of important medical equipment while staying 100% HIPAA compliant.

 

The incredible number of uses and benefits of creating marketplaces for connecting buyers and sellers is well documented. To become a digital leader in 2021, innovation and creativity is sorely needed, and we’re finding new ways to use them every day!

 

Let’s Get Started!

Remember, 40% to 50% of the Fortune 500 will not exist in a decade. So, for companies on the list looking to stay there, and for rapidly growing companies looking to make their first appearance on the acclaimed list, the message stays the same:

Disrupt, or be disrupted.

The biggest disrupter for these businesses is going to be major marketplaces increasing customer’s ease of access to multiple vendors and confidence they’re making the right decisions. It’s time for you to provide the same value as Amazon, if not more.


Not sure where to start?

Redstage is offering completely free eCommerce and business analysis to the first 5 merchants who schedule one. Schedule your free website usability assessment here and find out where you stand compared to others in the same space. Check out our Top 5 B2B eCommerce Features customers are requiring from merchants here.

Want to learn more about marketplaces and other B2B trends? Check out our webinar on the biggest eCommerce trends we saw during the last year with our CEO here

Four Ways to Easily Upgrade Your Customer Experience

Four Ways to Easily Upgrade Your Customer Experience

Thanks to a global boom that shot eCommerce 10 years into the future, companies around the world are quickly adapting to the new normal. In an ocean of different brands from consumer goods to luxury products and more, all investing in strengthening their eCommerce operations, how does a merchant differentiate themselves from the competition?

 

“Some B2Bs are poised to adapt and take advantage of investments they have made in eCommerce and digital marketing. However, many B2Bs are going to be caught flat-footed, having delayed investments in the past or shying away from eCommerce due to internal channel conflict. The time to act is now.”Brian Walker, CSO at BloomReach

 

Your online shopping experience is your business’ most valuable asset. According to PWC’s research, 73% of customers said that shopping experience is a decision-making factor for them. Another study showed that most buyers believe new technologies improve the purchasing process, on and offline.

We interviewed experts from Redstage, BigCommerce, and Threekit to discover how online merchants can upgrade their customer experience and stand out in a hyper-competitive marketplace. Watch the video interview here.

 

 

Meghan Stabler

Meghan Stabler

VP of Global Product Marketing, BigCommerce

With 20 years of experience in product marketing, Meghan leads Global Product Marketing and Communications for the multinational SaaS juggernaut, BigCommerce.

Christopher Yin

Christopher Yin

Global Creative Director, Fulcrum Digital and Redstage

Since creating award-winning online experiences for Fortune 500’s like Crayola, Pfizer, and Macy’s, Christopher helps ensure Redstage’s customers get the same treatment.

Marc Uible

Marc Uible

VP of Marketing, Threekit

Marc has spent the last decade doing marketing for PayPal and being an entrepreneur, helping companies customize products in 3D, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Photography.

 

 

 

1. 3D Product Models

 

 

Online product experiences are changing. In an ecosystem that prohibits shoppers from going to physical stores (not to mention physical product demos), 3D interactive product models are a must. In 2016, the average customer expected to view 3 pictures of a product before purchasing. By 2019, that number rose to 8. In 2025, it could be 20…

Marc Uible poses the question:

 

“Are you prepared to show your customers 10, 20, even 50 images of a single product? Or could you offer a 3D rendering of a product that can be viewed from every imaginable angle and even placed in a [physical] space?” 

Marc Uible

 

The latter is a frictionless way of providing your customers with the confidence they need to purchase. This is where Augmented Reality comes in.

Imagine you are shopping for a stove on an online appliances marketplace. You don’t know exactly how much space you have, but you know the color and finish you want it to be. What kind of shopping experience do you need to experience to ensure that a stove matches your criteria? Check it out:

 

 

Stove Range

We designed this sample model of an AR stove range to show retailers and manufacturers how popular appliances and machinery can be viewed in a home or business setting from anywhere.

📲 Point your smartphone camera at the QR code to try it out, wherever you are!

 

 

The above 3D model provides shoppers with a way to examine every inch of the product. Unique experiences such as this one provide your customers with not only the confidence to purchase, but the confidence to continue to purchase knowing your online shopping experience is a better one than most.

 

“77% of customers have chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that provides a unique or personalized service or experience. Why? Because you’re creating something that feels unique to me. Like I’m in the store or demo, holding the product.”

Meghan Stabler

 

Further, providing interactive 3D renderings for customers to see can help retain customers and cultivate ongoing relationships. Utilizing 3D renderings is great for: 

 

  • Upselling: If extra parts or accessories are available, showing them in tandem with your products so customers can see how and why they should be bought together. Giving customers confidence that you are providing the best service and products keeps them with your brand for life. 
  • Limiting mistakes: When anyone can see what a product looks likes, how it fits in their space, and the parts needed for it there are less mis-orders or mistakes in purchasing. 
  • Service: Make servicing and ordering of new machine parts much easier for customers by utilizing a blown up 3D model that allows them to visualize the part(s) that need servicing.  

 

“Customers are not only going to want these experiences but soon will come to expect that you have them. They will become the standard in eCommerce. If you want to compete with Amazon, you have to provide the same if not better shopping experiences.”

Christopher Yin

 

In conclusion, the main goal of your eCommerce store should be to make customers confident they are making the right decision in their purchase. With 3D models, you can do just that and more. 

 

  

 

2. SaaS eCommerce Platforms for B2B

 

Saas eCommerce Platforms for B2B

  

One of the biggest changes to the B2B buying market has been the change in the buyer demographics. Millennials, the age group of 18-34, are steadily becoming more and more of a percentage of the workforce worldwide. Specifically, becoming B2B buyers and decision-makers more often. In the age of Amazon, this age group is used to and expects great online shopping experiences now. .An eCommerce platform makes making these improvements less complex.

 

As millennials come up in the workforce and start to have buyer decision making power, they’re starting to say: Hey, I’m on Amazon, TikTok, and YouTube all day, spending a majority of my day online. Can I buy this $50,000 machine that I need for my job online as well? You know, as a purchaser, can I buy it online and can I buy it seamlessly? That’s starting to be a real question in the B2B landscape, it’s pretty clear.” 

Marc Uible

 

68% of buyers do not want to talk to a sales rep as their first touchpoint,” says Marc Uible, sourced from this Digital Commerce 360 article. “They want to know for a fact, does this company sell what I need and can I be confident it’s what I’m looking for…” the easiest way to do that is with an eCommerce store.

 

SaaS, or Software as a Solution, eCommerce platforms are in-the-cloud solutions that are automatically updated and maintained by the platform themselves. BigCommerce, for example, is a SaaS eCommerce platform that is utilized by both B2B and B2C enterprises like Avery Dennison, Ben and Jerry’s, and SC Johnson for their eCommerce operations. 

 

“In the B2B world, [millennials] experiences and expectations are still of the B2C world. So, we have to adopt the technologies of the B2C [industry] to enable our B2B buyers. B2B businesses are also beginning to expand their operations and their ability to sell direct to consumers as well. That’s where the experiences are going to delight.”  

Meghan Stabler

 

SaaS platforms are the perfect tool for B2B companies to go direct-to-consumer. A platform like BigCommerce can help implement a wide array of feature sets.

Nationwide distributor The Binding Source launched a direct-to-consumer eCommerce operation on BigCommerce and saw the difference within a month, with conversion rate boosts of 170% and a boost to their transaction volume of 33%. Utilizing the SaaS platform’s out-of-the-box B2B features, such as custom product filters and advanced shipping options, allowed the Binding Source to launch a feature-rich store that is still easy to maintain and customize.

 

Redstage’s mission is to help create digital leaders in eCommerce across industries. We help manufacturers and distributors like The Binding Source sell more and give customers a better online shopping experience.” 

Christopher Yin

 

 

3. Virtual Photography

 

Virtual Photography eCommerce B2B

Visualizing products with multiple customization options can be tricky and expensive. Hours and hours of expensive photography and editing work can be saved by utilizing what’s being called Virtual Photography.

A Virtual Photographer can take a product rendering online and apply all the different customization options to it through CGI and 3D modeling. This saves the time and expense needed for major professional photography by allowing one product file to be customized in an endless amount of ways.

 

“Virtual photography is our ability to take all of those configurations, all of those 3D models, and actually render those out into photorealistic 2D imagery. We created 3 million images for Crate & Barrel in under a month without physical photography, but 3D modeling. So it’s just that amazing, sort of, high-fidelity visual that you can get at a massive scale.” 

Marc Uible

 

 

Virtual Photography Demo for

 

Customers have produced an 80% reduction in online returns and a 20% higher order value on average when Virtual Photography and 3D models are utilized. Why?

In apparel and furniture type applications, textures and fabrics are extremely important in helping customers understand and gain confidence in your product. These photo-realistic 3D models can represent the products more precisely than simple 2D images, thus ensuring customers understand the product they’re getting. 

 

 

4. Augmented Reality for B2B and B2C

 

In Home Retail Augmented Reality

 

3D and photo-realistic models aren’t the only implementations into your product pages that can upgrade your shopping experience. Utilizing Augmented Reality to allow customers to place and view your products in their homes is crucial in a post-COVID eCommerce world. Shoppers in today’s ecosystem are raving about AR, especially in fashion, consumer goods, and even trading cards? The numbers speak for themselves:

 

  • 61% of shoppers said they’d prefer to shop at stores that offer AR 
  • 71% of shoppers would shop at a retailer more often if they offered AR
  • 40% of shoppers said they’d be willing to pay more for a product if they could experience it in AR 

 

Taking 3D models further with Augmented Reality is a powerful way to ensure customers can see the products on them or in their space, like furniture or fashionwear, limiting returns and refunds and increasing customer retention. Retailers have reported that customers who used AR on their sites were 11x more likely to purchase than customers who did not.

 

The current value of the AR market right now stands at $3.5 billion and is forecast to hit $70 to $75 billion by 2023. Especially AR, in this post-COVID world, has the unique ability to engage your customers like never before. Customers can now virtually experience the look and feel of a product that traditional photographs just can’t match, and differentiates from competitors leaning on photos.”

Christopher Yin

 

In the B2B space, manufacturers and distributors are implementing AR features online and wearables offline to massively increase productivity and efficiency in warehouses. Companies like DHL and and General Electric Renewables are implementing AR overlays on assembly lines and in fulfillment centers. They’re seeing huge boosts, like a 34% improvement in assembly time and a 25% increase in efficiency after implementation.

 

B2B AR Planning

 

AR can also be used to share product proofs and machinery details more quickly and easily to buyers and decision-makers at client companies. If you need consistent feedback from prospects, sending them AR proofs in the form of QR codes makes getting revisions and confirmation from multiple parties faster and gives them all the confidence to close on the decision.

 

 

“What we’ve seen is even when you’re buying a super complex piece of machinery, a QR code to that exact piece of machinery can be sent to your decision-makers and throughout an organization to get threaded into that organization. People see something in AR and say ‘Wow, I can actually see this million-dollar machine in my space, and it works!’ It really drives engagement and confidence in your buyers.” 

Marc Uible

 

 

What to do now…

 

These four commerce upgrading technologies are changing the way customers are experiencing products online. The more confidence your customers have in your products the more likely they are to buy and continue to buy. It is 5x cheaper to retain a customer than it is to gain a new one and providing the best shopping experiences is the number 1 way to retain customers. How do you provide today’s buyers with stunning shopping experiences? Allow them to experience your products in new ways!

 

3D models, Virtual Photography, Augmented Reality and open SaaS platforms are changing eCommerce just as COVID is, and the trends are continuously moving further and further, so don’t get left behind! If you’re stuck, contact an eCommerce consultant today and receive a free 1-on-1 demo of our 3D model and Augmented Reality capabilities.

 

You can view the video recording of our interview with Meghan, Marc, and Christopher here, with live demos and insights from Tony Lopez, Solutions Engineer at Threekit. Contact Redstage here to get a demo of any of the technologies mentioned above.

 

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