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How to Succeed at Digital Transformation in B2B eCommerceAchieving success in APAC’s booming B2B landscape

At Balance Internet, we’re all about the balance between technology, data and what

your customers actually want. We partner with Australia’s leading B2B and B2C

merchants to create innovative eCommerce experiences that drive results.

Balance Internet is proud to be the trusted digital solutions partner for some of

Asia Pacific’s leading brands, government agencies, educational institutions and

corporations. We are one of the most experienced B2B eCommerce solution providers

in the Asia-Pacific region with members of our core team working in the space since

1996. With the combination of open-source technologies such as Magento Commerce

at our core, we deliver innovative, high-performing solutions that have been recognised

by the open-source community worldwide.

Balance Internet is at the forefront of B2B digital transformation strategy and

development backed by our ever-growing team of certified developers, creative

designers, business analysts and eCommerce specialists. We help you succeed with

holistic, best-practice, fully-integrated solutions designed to grow your business or

service your users.

Learn More:

balanceinternet.com.au

Learn More:

Magento Commerce, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, is the leading commerce solution

for merchants and brands across B2C and B2B industries and was recently named a

leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce.

Magento Commerce boasts a strong portfolio of cloud-based omnichannel solutions

that empower merchants to successfully integrate digital and physical shopping

experiences. Magento is the #1 provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000, the B2B 300

and the Top 500 Guides for Europe and Latin America.

Magento is supported by a vast global network of solution and technology partners, a

highly active global developer community and the largest eCommerce marketplace for

extensions available for download on the Magento Marketplace.

magento.com

Table of Contents

Welcome 6

People & Resources 8

The Customer Experience (CX) 14

Merchandising & Personalisation 20

Website & Channel Content 26

Product Data & Information Management 32

The User Experience (UX) 40

Loyalty & Rewards 46

Your IT Landscape 52

Systems Integration 58

Marketplaces 64

Marketing Strategy 70

Marketing Automation & CRM 78

Payments & Security 84

Business Intelligence 90

Inventory Management 100

Fulfilment 106

Order Management & Returns 112

Customer Service 116

Conclusion 122

References 123

6

Welcome

James Horne Managing Director | Balance Internet

7

Welcome to the present.

Business-to-business (B2B) transactional

commerce is booming and Asia Pacific (APAC)

merchants are embarking on grand scale digital

transformation like never before.

The once futuristic concepts of smart cities, the

Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence

(AI) are now mainstream and it’s becoming cheaper

and faster for businesses to become digital leaders.

To succeed at digital transformation in B2B eCommerce: clarity,

a spirit of innovation and — above all — progressive planning

are essential. Businesses need to be able to develop a holistic

strategy that aligns with overarching business goals to take

them from B2B as we know it to the B2B of the future.

A comprehensive approach to digital transformation requires

that all elements of eCommerce are explored and translated

into a strategy that will work for each B2B business. It also

requires an understanding that each part of the transformation

is intimately interconnected and must be understood in the

context of the full eCommerce solution.

The eCommerce solution needs to be able to propel

B2B business growth, and crucially, work seamlessly

with other operational systems and processes.

Whether a merchant is endeavouring into

eCommerce development for the first time,

is replatforming a legacy site, or undertaking

significant improvements to their existing platform,

each project must fit into their roadmap for digital

transformation.

Digital transformation in B2B eCommerce means

challenging the status quo to ensure you won’t be left behind.

At times, this might mean fundamentally changing who you are

as a business — your people, your products and the people who

purchase them.

The landscape of B2B is experiencing rapid transformation and

to excel you need to be well ahead of the curve. As a business, if

you’re only looking at what’s possible within the next two years...

plot twist, you need to think bigger and further into the future.

With the continuous digital transformation of the B2B industry

in APAC and globally, today’s customers expect the same

experience when they buy for business as when they buy online

for themselves. B2B solutions in today’s market need to be

designed with the ever-evolving demands of contemporary

business models.

Similarly, there has historically been a distinction between

business-to-consumer (B2C) software and B2B software, but in

recent years, the line between the two has fast been fading, if

not disappearing completely.

At Balance Internet, we design, develop, deploy and support

enterprise-scale B2B eCommerce experiences. We grow B2B

commerce for our clients through collaborative, evidence-based

design methodology, and by targeting business efficiency. We

strive to enable merchants and their people to get the most

value out of their platform.

What this whitepaper is all about

With more than two hundred combined years of experience

developing enterprise-scale solutions for Australia’s leading

B2B Merchants, the team at Balance Internet have collaborated

to develop a must-read guide for digital transformation in B2B

eCommerce.

We dive into 18 critical areas of B2B eCommerce, each with its

own chapter. We set the context and show you how to include

each area of functionality as a part of your transformation. We

lean on our network of industry partners and experts for insights

and pose questions for your stakeholders to answer, helping you

to develop business requirements.

Where to from here?

There are many ways to undergo digital transformation, and

we’ve shared critical areas for consideration to help you along

your journey.

Experienced in digital, starting to experiment, or limited

exposure? Whatever stage you are at as a business, we hope you

are able to utilise the learnings from this whitepaper to start

planning your B2B Digital Transformation today.

People& Resources

aking your business through digital transformation is

substantially more complex than carefully integrating digital technologies into key areas. Digital transformation fundamentally changes how a business is currently operating and how it offers value to its customers: challenging the current business processes and capabilities at every turn.

9

To be ready to embark on the journey ahead,

your organisational structure needs to be ready for

acceleration. Without a doubt this means change. It’s

vital to create a people and resourcing framework that

will scale.

The art of ‘successful’ digital transformation means having

the correct organisational structure and resourcing in place

to perform the set of projects and activities required to fulfil a

transformative roadmap.

Successful projects will need cross-functional teams with the right digital competencies and organisational accountability relative to the roles theyare performing.

It’s crucial to ensure, as a business, you have the right person in

the right seat, which is by no means an easy task. It’s often so

challenging that B2B businesses we speak with say that it’s one

of the key factors affecting their growth potential and speed to

market.

Setting the scene

Gartner, Smarter With Gartner, “Foster

Innovation to Drive Digital Transformation”,

Jacke Wiles, 1 April 2019

https://www.gartner.com/

smarterwithgartner/foster-innovation-to-

drive-digital-transformation/*

The network approach – building and drawing on a network of expertise, including leaders and employees to innovate at scale – increases innovation effectiveness by 23%, regardless of the digital acumen in the organisation’s workforce.”

Did you know?

*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the

highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements

of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

10

World Economic Forum

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/the-digital-revolution-is-not-about-technology-it-s-about-people/

Any company can digitally transform, in their own way. However, they should remember one thing: if they make every other change but employees are not empowered, the digital transformation will not be successful. Empowering people is the key to achieving profound and lasting digital transformation that provides sustainable growth and inclusion.”

Did you know?

Across a typical timeline of three years, you will need to

understand the blend of internal staff, contractors, vendors and

service provider companies that may be required. Who will you

need permanently? Who will you hire temporarily?

Three types of resource teams that need to be considered:

1. The business team: full-time equivalent (FTE), part-time

equivalent (PTE), casual, contract employees.

2. The outsourced team: contractors, advisors and consultants,

often engaged as required.

3. The third-party team: third-party providers, subject matter

experts.

You will need to determine the mix across these three teams

that works best for your company and its needs. Take into

account the weighting that works best within your operational

constraints, relative to the bodies of work you want to

undertake.

With the business team, in particular, it’s imperative to ensure

the organisational structure will allow for new recruits where

required; and those full-time, part-time and casual salaries are

factored into the project cost, operational expenditure and

capital expenditure.

Of the businesses we see undergoing digital transformation,

those which tend to be successful have the correct teams and

complementary digital competencies in place to handle the

growth. This also ensures innovation doesn’t slow down once a

single project is delivered.

We see that efficient and cross-functional teams tend to limit

the size of the internal group to six to eight people (that seems

to be the sweet spot). We think of it as the ‘two pizza group’ — if

you sat down for an impromptu lunch you’d eat two pizzas, not

five or six.

We’ve taken insights from leading Australian businesses in how they run digital transformation projects. These are some of the roles

you might expect to see:

Something to Consider: Building an Effective Digital Transformation Team

• Chief Executive Officer

• Chief Marketing Officer

• Chief Technology Officer

• Chief Financial Officer

• eCommerce Manager

• eCommerce Consultant /

Strategic Advisor

• Marketing Content Producer /

Agency

• Copywriter / Photographer /

• Platform Provider eg. Magento

Commerce, dotdigital

• Systems Integrator eg. Balance

Internet

• Digital Agency / Web

• eCommerce Coordinator

• Content Manager

• Marketing Manager

• Sales Manager /

Representatives

Media Production Agency

• Digital Marketing Consultant /

Agency

• Security Consultancy

Developers eg. Balance Internet

• ERP Provider eg. Pronto, Surefire,

AP21

• Hosting Provider eg. Amazon,

AC3

• Retail Manager

• Resource & Planning Manager

• Shipping & Fulfilment Provider

eg. Shippit, ShipStation

Internal Team Members

Outsourced Team Members

Third-Party Provider Team Members

Belinda is a Cyber Security Consultant, providing businesses across APAC with assistance to meet security and compliance

requirements throughout Digital Transformation in B2B eCommerce.

Many B2B merchants are currently on their journey of digital transformation. Based on the size and complexity of the business, such a journey takes different forms; however, one commonality of successful merchants is the acknowledgement of the importance of cyber security and the execution of a well-planned strategy.

“B2B businesses in the eCommerce landscape today have countless risks associated with their business operations with very serious consequences for both the business and its

customers, including (but not limited to) phishing schemes, malware, brute force attacks, IoT or algorithm manipulation and ransomware, to name a few.

“All merchants need to implement cyber security safeguards and counter-measures to avoid, detect and counteract security risks in their eCommerce platforms. Engaging a cyber security third party or consultant with expertise and knowledge is a necessity without the digital competency in house and must be factored into the plan for delivery.”

Belinda Noel Cyber Security Consultant

linkedin.com/in/belinda-noel-6a658419/

Expert Insight

13

Robbie is a Digital IT Recruiter, providing businesses across the UK with assistance to attract, shortlist, select and appoint candidates

for a wide range of roles throughout IT.

As the digital landscape continues to expand at such a fast pace it is crucial more than ever to manage your time effectively. I have worked in recruitment for a number of years now and the one thing that never changes in the digital world is the challenge of finding quality staff. We are the start-up generation. If you don’t manage your time effectively and hire the right people there are a huge number of other businesses for your clients to choose from. “Digital professionals have so much choice in today’s markets. As a business you need to make sure you are organised, ambitious and honest with potential hires when interviewing. You may have heard your recruiter say ‘it is a candidate driven market’. If you have a roadmap

in place and deadlines to hit, you must take time to consider using every possible resource when hiring staff… whether that be an external recruiter, job adverts, social media posts or using your network of freelancers. “After all, how you use your time is the most important factor when trying to deliver quality work to your clients and growing your wider business. It is important to not look at the costs incurred from using a recruiter but to look at the value of having someone out in the market promoting your business and attracting top talent — which, in the long run, will only organically grow your business.”

Robbie Chandler Director & Digital IT Recruiter | Just Digital People | London UK

linkedin.com/in/robbiechandler/

The Customer Experience(CX)

bsolutely nobody wants to do business with a company that

treats them poorly — not even for a better deal or cheaper price. Options abound, and customers can take their money elsewhere. A study from PWC[1] discovered that one in three consumers will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. Just one! Customer experience must be a core part of everything you do.

[1]. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory-services/

publications/consumer-intelligence-series/pwc-

consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.

pdf

15

The customer and their experience with your

company should be the centre of your business

universe; second only to your people — the

team that makes your business operations

possible in the first place.

When Econsultancy and Adobe

conducted their Annual Digital Trends

report[2], they asked B2B companies

to state the single most exciting

opportunity for following year.

The results? The customer

experience (or CX) came in first

(beating content marketing,

video marketing and social!).

[2]. https://www.adobe.com/lu_en/modal-offers/article-digital-trends-2019.html

When embarking on digital transformation in B2B; customer

experience needs to be a key focus of solution architecture and

development right from the outset.

The customer experienceyou deliver should go handin hand with a business model that has excellent customer service and experience embeddedin the company fabric.

Setting the scene

State of B2B ECommerce in ANZ, Southeast Asia and India. (2018).

Econsultancy, p.4

https://magento.com/resources/state-of-b2b-ecommerce-in-anz

The retail and tech giants raising the bar when it comes to digital interaction and engagement, there is a growing need for B2B-focused brands to make more of an impact when it comes to meeting growing expectations for a great customer experience.”

Did you know?

16

Rolling out an exceptional customer experience as a part

of digital transformation requires several projects that sit

alongside eCommerce platform development.

You will need to restructure the customer service department

and the way they offer support through your chosen support

channels. This will likely create a need to recruit new team

members with digital competencies to work on the platform

you develop. Then there’s the change management work to

deliver the transformation to your organisational structure and

processes, making sure everyone is on board. Of course, a new

platform and new systems also require training and empowering

your team to be successfully fulfilling their roles in customer

experience.

[3]. https://www.b2binternational.com/publications/six-steps-to-b2b-customer-experience-excellence/

According to B2B International Global Market Research[3], there

are six key areas of focus for building a superior customer

experience:

1. Commitment

Being enthusiastic about satisfying customers and making them

feel valued

2. Fulfilment

Understanding and delivering on customer needs

3. Seamlessness

Making life easier for the customer

4. Responsiveness

Timely response, delivery and resolution

5. Proactivity

Anticipating customers needs and desires and striving to resolve

issues before the customer feels pain

6. Evolution

Continually seeking to evolve the customer experience

Companies that we see achieve success in Digital

Transformation in B2B eCommerce have business requirements

relative to these six areas throughout their digital strategy, and

not only deliver meaningful solutions but continue to evolve

the offering.

Episerver

https://www.episerver.com/learn/guides/

report-b2b-survey-on-digital-experience-

tactics-in-2019/

84% of B2B decision-makers say increasing digital expectations from their customers or partners is their top external threat. Like consumers, business buyers want effortless interactions — even if they struggle to deliver them at their own company.”

Did you know?

B2B International has conducted research into how customer centric large B2B companies truly are.

Where does your company fit in?

• Company profiles and associated user permissions

• B2B customer billing agreements

• B2B customer requisition lists

• Custom quoting and negotiations

• Payment methods (pay on account, offline methods)

• Credit limits

• Pay on cost centre (ability to select which cost

centre order is associated)

• Pay for your account online

• Download invoice/statements

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Something to Consider: The Customer Experience Engagement Scale

Customer experience is embedded into the fabric of the companyEmbedded

Customer experience is a core piece of the company’s strategyEngaged

Customer service is critical and the company team are actively involvedCommitted

Customer experience is very important and formalised programs are in placeInvested

Customer experience is important but receives little staffing resource or

financial attention to growInterested

Brandon is the eCommerce Manager at Total Tools, overseeing the company’s online sales through their Magento Commerce

platform. Brandon leads the eCommerce team and drives strategic projects throughout the business to improve

online customer experience.

One of our major values is having a customer-first approach and a big part of that is delivering an impeccable customer experience from all channels. At Total Tools we are in a somewhat unique position where a good portion of our customers are B2B customers — from individual tradies and small businesses through to major national organisations.

“We are fairly new to eCommerce in comparison to many of our competitors, only starting our journey in 2014, but since then we have evolved in leaps and bounds. Over the last two years in particular we have been very active in focusing on the customer experience for all our customer types with evolution and innovation in the following areas:

• Changed platforms and moved to a responsive website, with the majority of our users interacting with our website on a smartphone.

• Tripled our staff count in the eCommerce team with dedicated teams for content and customer support to help handle the growth of the business and customer’s needs.

• Completely reinvigorated and simplified our loyalty program.

• Engaged in a number of integration projects to ensure all types of customers, no matter how large or small, have an easy way to deal with us.

• Implemented a continuous improvement program to take in ideas and suggestions from within the business, but most importantly from our customers.”

Brandon Soo eCommerce Manager | Total Tools

linkedin.com/in/brandonsoo/

Expert Insight

19

A seasoned expert in commerce strategy and technology for global brands, Nick delivers strategy creatively and inspires creative

work strategically. His passion lies in creating engaging experiences and innovative business strategies that inspire deeper

relationships between brands and their customers.

When crafting new commerce experiences with B2B organisations, I often find they quickly gravitate toward focusing on specific functions or how a solution will fit existing legacy systems and processes. While this is certainly important, it is a fundamentally insular and non-customer centric approach.

“I’m sure I don’t need to sing the praises for going customer first. Many empirical studies have proven that a customer-first approach pays dividends — being critical to maximising sales, profit and ROI.

“While this approach is now the norm in the B2C world, it’s often missed when working in B2B commerce, which is a mistake. Today’s business buyers are consumers in their daily lives and their expectations of your digital experience

are influenced and informed by the best digital experiences they have as consumers. They are increasingly digital natives: Generation Z is set to be almost 30% of the workforce by 2025, with generation Alpha not far behind.

“Without great CX you won’t get adoption of the solution. B2B is all about making the buyer’s experience — and by extension, the buyer’s life — easier. Adoption is a key KPI measured for a new B2B solution — we want as many people using digital ordering channels as possible to realise the value of lower cost per sale, higher average order value and generally high orders per customer. To maximise adoption we need to ensure that we deliver on a great ordering experience through digital channels that makes them as convenient and simple as we can.”

Nick Hull Commerce Account Executive | Adobe

linkedin.com/in/nick-hull-21407441/

Merchandising& Personalisation

n a bricks-and-mortar store, merchandising might focus on building eye-catching window

displays, dusting your shelves, ensuring the lighting shows your products off, and printing clear and enticing shelf signage.

21

In the eCommerce world, you are restricted to

what you can do through a screen; but eCommerce

has several key advantages over in-store promotions:

namely, the personalisation options that are becoming

increasingly prevalent, thanks to data and analytics.

Put simply, online merchandising is the process of getting

the correct static content and product content in front of

the correct people at the correct time. Your site can serve a

different experience to a user based on their immediate history

(have they just looked at three different sport products?) or

demographic data provided by tracking pixels (are they likely to

be male/female?).

You should consider personalising site content in two areas:

static content and products/pricing. Static content includes

banners, information pages, landing pages. If a visitor indicates

early in their browsing experience the area they’re interested in,

the next page they visit should reflect that through the images

and content displayed.

The logic behind this is that people want to see things that

matter to them; and eCommerce merchandising must make the

online shopping experience seamless and fast.

As soon as your technology knows who it’s providing content to, the experience should be tailored to that user. Why? Because we buy more when the information means more to us. We want things to be relevant to us.

In the world of B2B, you still want to personalise your content

to the person reading. But demographic information such as

gender and age might not be as relevant, as, say, the location or

season of where the end user is.

One of the most important areas that B2B users expect to be

personal is the product catalog and product pricing. It’s not

Setting the scene

Econsultancy

https://econsultancy.com/12-stats-that-prove-

why-personalisation-is-so-important/

An Econsultancy report shows that “44% of consumers say that they will likely become repeat buyers after a personalised shopping experience with a particular company”, and “49% say they have purchased a product that they did not initially intend to buy after receiving a personalised recommendation from a brand.

Did you know?

22

State of B2B ECommerce in ANZ, Southeast Asia and India.

(2018). Econsultancy, p.75

https://magento.com/resources/state-of-b2b-ecommerce-

in-anz

OneSpot

https://www.onespot.com/tools-resources/2017-year-

content-personalization-heres-why/

Personalisation is one of the top technology related trends for B2B eCommerce.”

87% of consumers surveyed say that personally relevant branded content positively influences how they feelabout a brand.”

Did you know?

• Create and assign custom catalogues and price lists

to buyers

• Create and manage multiple tailored B2B sites from

a single platform

• Robust segmentation and targeting capabilities

• Adobe Sensei AI and machine learning for

personalised B2B customer content experiences

• Branded portal

• Customer-specific content and offers

• Ability to set catalogues for employees (a subset of

catalogue within a company)

• Ability to hide price for customers (buying against

allocation)

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

unusual for B2B companies to negotiate “contract

prices” with their customers, which results in large

price books — often with custom pricing per

customer.

Balance Internet has one client who has a product

set of 15,000 items and over 300,000 customers,

and everyone gets a different price. Ensuring

the online experience matches the pricing and

product model that a sales rep would deliver is

paramount to success for a B2B online store.

Personalised product catalogs don’t stop just at

the pricing. Some organisations have limits on who

they can sell what to.

This results in a requirement where one company

customer will see one set of products and another

customer will see a different set.

Getting the right things in front of the right people

as often as possible is key to merchandising and

personalisation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t just the stuff of sci-fi anymore, with marketing departments already using AI to personalise the buyer journey for their B2C and B2B customers. Why?

Personalising a journey for thousands of people just

isn’t possible with human-only data processing and

content delivery. AI can instantly understand the

content the buyer has engaged with and content their

connections have engaged with, and serve them what

will be most useful at the right time.

Consider Netflix. Their recommendation system

doesn’t just serve romantic comedies to women and

action flicks to men. Their algorithm assesses “what

people watch, what they watch after, what they watch

before, what they watched a year ago, what they’ve

watched recently and what time of day.”[4] This hyper-

personalisation means that every individual sees

recommendations perfectly fit to them — resulting

in far more interesting patterns, like how viewers

might like strong female leads or the examination of

technology.

This hyper-personalisation in B2B eCommerce will

mean buyers will start seeing recommendations for

products they hadn’t even known they needed, with AI

being able to predict their actions based

on past behaviour.

[4]. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-do-netflixs-algorithms-work-machine-learning-helps-to-predict-what-viewers-will-like

Something to Consider:How AI Will Influence Personalisation

By 2023, 80% of organisations using AI for digital commerce will achieve at least 25% improvement in customer satisfaction, revenue or cost reduction.”

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, Penny Gillespie et al., 22 August 2019 *

*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the

highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements

of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Aaron has a background in traditional bricks and mortar retail. After building three online stores in the late 2000s, Aaron jumped

ship to Balance Internet to be a Project Manager. He is now the Head of Business Development and Account Management. He

thrives on understanding the nuances of how each business goes about getting a product online, how a customer buys it, and

how it ultimately gets into their hands. Aaron is passionate about online operational strategy, end-to-end business analytics and

technology deployment.

Back when I worked in retail, our store merchandising was focused on the physical space. We’d try to appeal to everyone coming into the store. Display signs, in-store posters, point-of-sale materials, flyers, balloons, t-shirts... it was all designed to appeal to as many people as possible.”

“Now, the focus is about driving conversion by showing the right product and content to the right people, as often as possible. Personalisation is huge — it’s no longer about just throwing everything at everyone and hoping some of it sticks.

“One organisation I’ve seen do personalisation online well is Surfstitch. If you visit the

homepage and click ‘Men’s’, your whole site experience changes. The rest of the pages you visit have men’s content, the site banners and offers are completely dynamic all over the site. Obviously, you get a different experience if you click on ‘Women’s’.”

“While Surfstitch is 100% B2C, the same philosophy applies to B2B. Even the smallest tweak to show a person more relevant content can drastically increase on-site conversion. Ultimately, people want to see things that mean the most to them. Personalisation helps give the customer what they want and this directly leads to conversion.”

Aaron Chidley Head of Business Development & Account Management

| Balance Internet

linkedin.com/in/aaron-chidley-26b94a24/

Expert Insight

25

Josie develops digital experiences across Swisse globally. Her role as Digital Experience and Enablement Manager sees Josie

managing the eCommerce platform and capabilities, and development of audience led campaigns and data profiling.

The key to delivering a successful personalisation program as a part of any digital transformation roadmap is providing relevant experiences and communication to the right customers, with the right message, at the right time. Although this might sound simple enough to achieve, it’s not simple at all to master.

“The challenge with getting started can be a temptation to go too granular.

“Start by understanding your goals and business challenges. Do you want to increase on-site lead capturing? Increase specific sales revenue metrics, such as average order value? Improve customer experience and satisfaction metrics? Personalisation may be the right enabler to help.

“Then, understand the highest value customer group opportunities and focus on these initially. Is there an opportunity to drive incremental revenue from your loyal champion customers? Is it a big-enough audience to generate ROI or should you go wider?

“Finally, once you have answered these questions, you can begin planning your personalisation tactics. Whether through content generation per customer group or segment, structured digital marketing activities or the implementation of personalisation software.”

Josie Kidd Digital Experience and Enablement Manager | Swisse Wellness

linkedin.com/in/josiek/

Website & Channel Content

2B content has always been a part of the sales process, it just used to look different: an ad in

the yellow pages, or sales reps talking leads through product features over a cup of coffee. But today’s world is increasingly digital and increasingly impatient, with more choice than ever before. It’s no longer practical to rely on one-to-one conversations to buildyour leads.

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Digital B2B content gives your brand an entire

team of passionate brand ambassadors,

all working tirelessly to build relationships,

explain key features, and set you apart from

the competition. The difference is that this

team now comes in the form of social media

messages, blogs, whitepapers, product sheets,

videos, webinars, and user generated content.

Content is your most passionate salesperson (that

never takes a sick day or goes to Bali over summer).

Content spreads brand awareness and generates leads at scale,

each channel fulfilling different goals. Social media boosts

brand awareness and builds those nascent relationships with

potential customers, years before they buy. Targeted marketing

emails nurture relationships for months, keeping you front of

mind and enhancing your brand reputation as a trusted voice.

Blogs, articles and whitepapers establish you as a thought

leader in your industry. Product sheets, walk-through guides

and sales decks give your potential customers the information

they need before buying to make informed decisions. And that’s

the tip of the iceberg! User-generated content, infographics,

webinars, the slides you present at conferences, the LinkedIn

posts your leaders make… the breadth of B2B content is only

limited by your imagination.

In the B2B world, the purchasing process can be long and

detailed, involving many decision makers. Unlike a B2C

company selling one pair of shoes to one person, your B2B

company might need signoff from the product team, the

marketing team, finance, operations, and the C-level.

Do you have content aimed at each level that answers their

questions and builds trust in your product? Sound like overkill?

[5]. https://techjury.net/stats-about/seo/

Well, if you don’t have offer the answers to these questions, your

competitor might; and who is the customer going to trust after

that?

When preparing your content, it’s also vital to remember that you aren’t just trying to appeal to humans with your content. 93% of website visits start with a search engine[5].

As well as being educational, informative or entertaining

for human readers, your content needs to include relevant

keywords, optimised metadata, and correct tagging for Google

to find it.

Setting the scene

‘Content Rules’, Handley & Chapman

Done right, the content you create will position your company not just as a seller of stuff, but as a reliable source of information”

Did you know?

28

Content creation and optimisation takes time and resources,

and can sometimes be a slow burn before you see the proof

of increase in leads. But it’s worth the investment so that you

stay relevant, rank in Google listings, and be the brand your

customers trust.

• Branded portal

• Customer-specific content and offers

• Company branded material (eg. upload a

logo and then download all product data

sheets, or safety sheets with logo included)

• News/blog for companies (including

restricting blog posts so messages can be

sent to only specific viewers)

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

‘Get Content, Get Customers’, Joe Pulizzi

The one who has the most engaging content wins, because frequent and regular contact builds a relationship.”

Did you know?

Uncover the underlying needs of your customers,

understand their challenges and motivations. Develop

content that will meet and address the needs, interwoven

with your product or service offering.

Understand the existing content consumption habits of

your customer base — by channel, format, device, time

of day, etc.

Identify emerging trends and topics your customer base

will be most interested in. What are your competitors

doing? How can you improve on that?

Undertake original research and gain fresh insights to

establish thought leadership and add credibility in your

industry vertical.

Align content with business objectives and brand

positioning in the market. Invest time and resource into

content, but always make sure it aligns with who you are

as a business.

Something to Consider:Five Ways to FindYour Content Sweet Spot

Walker Sands, The Future of B2B

Content 2019

https://www.walkersands.com/the-

future-of-b2b-content-2019-its-about-

business-results/

69% of B2B marketers believe their target audiences will prefer video/multimedia content over written content in the next 12 months.”

Did you know?

Walker Sands, The Future of B2B

Content 2019

https://www.walkersands.com/

the-future-of-b2b-content-2019-its-

about-business-results/

B2B marketers ranked website content as the second most popular content type for attracting new customers, and their preferred option for engaging existing customers.”

Andrew and the team at Convert Digital work with leading Australian brands to develop eCommerce websites, provide systems

integration and offer online store managements using Magento Commerce, Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Enterprise.

B2B merchants are operating in a world where their businesses must adapt quickly to uncertain external environments, and where the eCommerce landscape is forever changing. These priorities demand attention, and developing quality content can fall by the wayside.

“Previously, at Convert, we’d see our B2B merchants launch new digital platforms to enable rapid growth, but fall shortwithon-site content.

“Today though, more and more, merchants that want to be successful in the eCommerce landscape are investing heavily in content resources throughout their product, as well as at key times throughout the year such as new seasons, product launches, and key sale events. This could mean hiring someone or working with an agency at key times. Seeing great results without that content investment is rare.”

Andrew Waite Managing Director | Convert Digital

linkedin.com/in/waiteandrew/

Expert Insight

31

Richie is a writer and digital strategist based in Melbourne. He has worked in brand and digital agencies in the UK and Australia for

over 12 years. Richie combines his love of research, writing and human behaviour to influence the outcome of hundreds of projects

spanning brand, digital and creative content: from cultural institutions to global corporations, Italian-made womens’ shoes to

Vietnamese noodle delivery apps.

A website without content is like a car with no fuel — going nowhere fast! I’m not usually one for slogans, but there is a lot of truth in this one. Without content, your website is a shell. It might have form and structure in the shape of templates and a sitemap, but it has nothing on its shelves — no story, no message, no persuasion, no instruction, no details,no nothing.

“Gearing the site towards achieving its online objectives calls for an understanding of your users — who are they, what are they here for, and how can we meet their needs? And at the heart of the answer to these concurrent questions is content — written, visual, graphical. Without it, you don’t have a website, you have a need — a need for some quality content!”

Richie Meldrum Writer & Strategist

linkedin.com/in/richie-meldrum/

n today’s customer experience based economy, B2B merchants and

manufacturers need to enhance and curate their product information to deliver optimal product experiences wherever customers shop or interact with their products, brands or services.

Product Data& InformationManagement

33

Product Data& InformationManagement

Historically, B2B sellers’ biggest (and most expensive)

hassle was transferring their Yellow Pages sized

print catalogs into electronic data.

Today, a common problem is managing

and maintaining all of that electronic

data.

As you form new relationships

with partners and expand to

sell to new sales channels, your

web of product data can become

very messy, quickly outdated

and inaccurate. You might

have extensive spreadsheets

spread throughout the

company or have a “silo”

of product data in your

Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP) that

is poorly integrated

with all your go-to-

market channels. If

your transactional

eCommerce platform

functionality in this

area does not cut

it you may need to

consider a Product

Information

Management (PIM)

solution. You’re

probably familiar

with the term, but

maybe think it’s

only necessary for

B2C. While it certainly does help with B2C, there are now plenty

of cost effective PIM solutions robust enough to handle the

complexities of B2B.

A Product Information Management (PIM) System is software designed to centrally manage product data by assisting B2B merchants to centralise and harmonise all the technical and marketing information related to their products.

The purpose of a PIM:

• From a technical perspective: extract, manage & prioritise

data to/from different sources. From a functional

perspective: assist in translating and enhancing the product

information.

Setting the scene

PIM is where products come to life for the marketer.”

Peter Sheldon

Senior Director Strategy, Adobe

34

Jasper PIM 2019

https://www.jasperpim.com/pim/

On average, Jasper PIM clients see a 20% reduction in operational costs, 15% increase in online conversions, and 3x faster time to market for new products.”

Demand Gen: 2019 B2B Buyers Survey Report

https://www.demandgenreport.com/resources/research/the-2019-b2b-buyers-survey-report

79% of respondents said the winning vendor’s content had a significant impact on their buying decision.”

Did you know?

• B2C-like customer experience

• Search by SKU (stock keeping unit) or MPN

(manufacturer part number)

• Downloadable product information (eg.

Product data sheet, product safety sheet,

warranty sheet etc.)

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

• Provide access control and enforce data management

processes that facilitates transparent and efficient

collaboration on product data by internal stakeholders (eg.

vendor managers, channel managers, marketing, supply

chain, eCommerce managers) and vendors / manufacturers

/ other external parties (eg. digital agencies, copywriters,

SEO managers).

Maintaining complete and accurate product data across sales

channels and locations whilst delivering compelling product

shopping experiences is critical to success in an omnichannel

world. PIM provides a robust set of tools and features that can

help B2B organisations increase team productivity, speed time-

to-market, and deliver the product experience needed to fuel a

great customer experience.

Operational

1. Avoid spreadsheet nightmares with a single source of truth

2. Increase staff productivity and velocity

3. Distribute and collect product information across the entire supply chain

4. Enable suppliers and staff to upload and edit product content

5. Access bulk aggregated data which enables rapid publishing

Tactical

6. Integrate with InDesign to rapidly create print collateral

7. Enable faster time to market for new or changing product data

8. Extend your product catalogue by easily supporting new products and suppliers

9. Expand into new countries, territories and languages with ease

10. Prepare your multi-channel future by delivering an optimised and relevant experience across all

channels.

Conversion

11. Enhance your business intelligence with detailed attribute and taxonomy architecture

12. Deliver custom price catalogues and service every custom vertical effectively

13. Personalise your content for each channel to enhance market suitability

14. Turn browsers into customers with quality and relevant product data

15. Improve your searchability onsite and offsite

Something to Consider:The 15 Benefits of Best Practice Product Information Management

36

https://blog.bluestonepim.com/2019/04/01/with-or-without-pim-business-benefits-of-product-information-

management/

Working without a smart PIM platform to manage your growing amount of product information data is like painting the walls of your brand-new house with a small art paintbrush instead of a 50cm roller.”

https://blog.bluestonepim.com/2019/04/01/with-or-without-pim-business-benefits-of-product-information-

management/

In a Nielsen experiment, 20% of website users failed to successfully complete a purchase because of incomplete or unclear product information.”

Demand Gen: 2019 B2B Buyers Survey Report

https://www.demandgenreport.com/resources/research/the-2019-b2b-buyers-survey-report

Vendor websites have also been an invaluable source for buyers as they research purchase decisions. Websites continue to be one of the top resources that informed buyers about a solution year over year. Close to half (48%) said it was one of their first three resources utilised.”

Did you know?

38

Daniel founded SKUvantage in 2009 to solve the problem of how to get good product information in front of consumers. The

SKUvantage services and SKUlibrary technology suite provides a turnkey solution to retailers, wholesalers and their suppliers.

Digital product content is just as important when selling to businesses as to consumers — after all, people who work in B2B business are also consumers and have the same need for information. There is little point in having a Ferrari of an eCommerce platform without putting the right (or any) fuel in it. Yet there are many examples of poorly executed B2B eCommerce platforms that don’t provide the information their users need. This results in the same negative impacts experienced by retailers of providing poor product content: additional costs to serve, more returns, lower conversionrates, and fewer satisfied customers.

“In B2B businesses, the expertise for managing product content is even rarer than in consumer-facing businesses, because it has never been needed to be developed. Furthermore, in-house systems are unlikely to be aligned for

eCommerce execution, with ERP systems not configured to support the efficient acquisition of the necessary attribution.

“As you develop your eCommerce strategy, product content needs to be approached from a holistic standpoint; encompassing technology, processes and people. This can be a particular challenge across the enormous product ranges that most B2B businesses have, with limited team capability to execute.

“It is absolutely paramount to join user-friendly technology with aligned team capability, business processes and supporting services, which are tuned to your specific eCommerce requirements. Critical to this is accounting for how your suppliers will provide you product information to enable your strategy to bea success.”

Daniel Roberts CEO & Founder | SKUvantage

linkedin.com/in/danielnroberts

ser experience (UX) is the catch-all term to describe the overall experience a person has

when using a website. Does the layout help them find what they want — and quickly? Do the navigation menus make sense? Good UX can almost be invisible, taking your website visitors from the landing page through to the purchase without any friction.

The User Experience (UX)

41

As a business, you want the people that visit your website to have an easy and

pleasurable experience. If your website loads quickly, is easy to use, and

presents information in an attractive way, people will be more likely to buy

from you.

Good UX design is not created equal, and there’s no easy cheat

sheet that all companies should follow. A B2C company with an

eCommerce website should have a completely different UX design

than a B2B company, as their website visitors have different user

journeys and different goals.

We observe many B2B companies forgetting that B2B websites

should create a good user experience and workflow for

businesses, not customers. B2C sales are usually completed

within one or two website visits, but B2B companies rarely

expect immediate purchases on their websites. B2B sales

cycles are often relatively long, consisting of multiple

interactions across multiple connected devices.

An optimal B2B website is designed to inform, captivate,

and persuade business users to engage with brands and

products. It also enables them to “return to their order” on

any device or browser at any time — and pick up where

they left off!

Designing B2B websites effectively can deliver customer

acquisition, conversion and retention.

The better your website’s user experience, the more positive and lasting impressions your brand will impress on visitors.

Setting the scene

B2B website design should

strengthen business branding. If

you want to be differentiated in

a crowded market, your visual

branding needs to be front of

mind to your customers. Having

a website with inconsistent

branding will leave a forgettable

impression on your customers.

Design for B2B should strengthen

the offering, not overshadow it.

It’s not about impressing your

audience with your photoshop

skills, it’s about communicating

your offering.

B2B website design needs to go

hand in hand with a well planned

and executed content strategy.

Design should complement the

content, not fight for attention.

Something to Consider:The UX Rules for B2B eCommerce

Minimalist design solutions

are highly effective in B2B. It is

important to understand that this

doesn’t mean minimal product data

or content — more that you don’t

want to get in your own way!

Different countries do business

differently. Consider the design

requirements for different store

views and websites for your business

if you operate multi-nationally.

Keep core data above the fold

for B2B buyers — make it easy to

find the important stuff.

43

Finally — refresh the experience.

Keep improving, innovating and

exploring what and improved

UX looks like. B2B eCommerce is

certainly not set and forget.

Understand your users typical

environment of use. Validate

the data that support a desktop

vs mobile approach, making no

assumptions.

Intuitive navigation matters. There

is absolutely no sense in having a

beautiful website that people can’t

figure out how to use.

Plan out the sales funnel for

key customer journeys and

understand how to develop that

with the users needs first.

Australia Post: 2019 eCommerce Industry Report

https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/

documents/inside-australian-online-shopping-ecommerce-

report.pdf

https://articles.uie.com/three_hund_million_button/

Growth in technology has fundamentally shifted eCommerce shopping behaviour, as consumers now expect more convenience and choice when shopping online.”

Amazon changed their ‘Register’ button to read ‘Continue’ and made an extra $300 million a year!’

Did you know?

With a career spanning 25 years in advertising, retail and digital marketing, David is a specialist at leveraging eCommerce to drive

sales and business efficiencies across multiple markets.

Just as the user experience has become essential for engaging and converting customers in the B2C world, an excellent UX is now a critically important success factor for Digital Transformation in B2B eCommerce.

“For business customers, it’s all about a relevant, streamlined and above all simplified digital experience. From searching for products by stock keeping unit (SKU) — or a competitors SKU — to converting an uploaded product list

or wish list to a shopping cart, or editing and re-ordering from a prior invoice, to request for a quote or purchasing quantities of multiple product variants, the experience must be easy, seamless and intuitive.

“Get this right and you’ll build a loyal and high-value customer base and in doing so, you will also build a competitive advantage for your business.”

David Crothers Director | Balance Internet

linkedin.com/in/david-crothers-9582895/

Expert Insight

45

Phil is an award-winning creative and for 15 years has been entrusted to work with world class teams, brands & products. In his

current role as Creative Director with one of Australia’s leading sport & entertainment agencies, he is crafting new ways of engaging

and entertaining audiences.

With shorter online attention spans and multiple device distractions, never has there been a more crucial time for B2B sites to deliver design driven information and engaging content. B2B brands can no longer expect customers to engage with terrible user experience.

“B2B sites built on genuine customer insight and optimised through continual learning and testing cycles bring together the ultimate power of a brand. Customer interactions are at the heart of every design decision as UX design continues to evolve the way B2B site can effectively convert through the purchase journey.”

Phil Moule Creative Director | KOJO

linkedin.com/in/philmoule/

raditionally, you might have associated loyalty

and rewards programs with a classic B2C business model. But today, loyalty and rewards programs within the B2B landscape are a key part of any leading digital transformation.

Loyalty& Rewards

47

Loyalty and rewards programs

have traditionally been

the eCommerce pillars of a

leading acquisition, conversion

and retention strategy.

While B2B companies can

take their cues from B2C

companies and offer loyalty

points and discounts, it’s best to

take a strategic approach and

consider how you might appeal

to all stakeholders within the

organisations you do business

with. The decision maker holding

the purse strings is more likely to

respond to a discount or credits

than the end user is — who might prefer a

personalised gift or customised training.

Consider each of your stakeholders and their needs. How can

your loyalty and rewards program help them perform their

job better? Consider: product upgrades, early access to new

features, discounts, gift cards, branded materials (stationery,

clothing, toys), personalised gifts, customised training,

invitations to exclusive online warehouse sale events.

To take it to the next level, merchants should focus on the ways that they can add customer advocacy into the mix. Think bigger than retention.

You want more than a customer that just comes back — as a

business, you want a customer to be so engaged with your brand

that they will advocate for you.

Creating advocate customers as a B2B business is no small task,

you’ll need to use the functionality of the platform to create

an outstanding customer experience as a part of your loyalty

program. Certain B2B features such as quick ordering, easy

repeat ordering, requisition lists, and self-service merchant

portals, combined with actual rewards ie. offers, discounts,

invites, and unlocking tiered incentives can be your competitive

advantage to creating advocacy for your B2B business.

Setting the scene

Adobe: 15 Mind-blowing Stats About Loyalty

https://cmo.adobe.com/articles/2017/3/loyalty-mind-blowing-stats-tlp.html#gs.wm14zt

Nearly 80% of companies spend less than 30% of their time and budget on customer retention-focused messaging and content.”

Did you know?

48

https://www.invespcro.com/blog/customer-acquisition-retention/

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60–70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5–20%.” Investing in retention through loyalty programs is investing in sales!”

Did you know?

Think

Customers NOT Sales

Advocates NOT Return customers

Loyalty NOT Promotions

Value to customer segments NOT Generic offers

• Personalised B2B onboarding programs

• Self-service B2B merchant portals

• Quick ordering: upload file, order by SKU or MPN

• Requisition lists

• Punch out purchasing

• B2B referral programs

• Incentivised loyalty program / tier incentives

• OCI (Open catalog interface) / EDI (Electronic Data

Interchange) integration

• Single sign on (SSO) for company users

• Easy reordering functionality for past orders

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Action

What are the actions that are performed by a customer to earn rewards? These could include:

make a purchase, make a purchase over xx dollars, refer a friend, create a requisition list, sign up to

newsletter, purchase from xy category.

Rewards

What are the rewards that will be most appealing to your customers? These could include:

redeeming points again a purchase online / in-store, earn double points on certain products and

categories, invitation to special sale events, entry to competitions, access tier incentives.

Process

What is your business process for onboarding B2B customers? Who creates their online account —

your sales team or the customer themselves? Is the value of your loyalty and rewards program well

explained and obvious?

Something to Consider:Action / Reward / Process

Dawn is the eCommerce Manager at Eckersley’s Art and Craft, overseeing the company’s online sales through their Magento

Commerce platform. Dawn leads the eCommerce team and drives strategic projects throughout the business to improve online

customer experience.

The importance of brand loyalty with our B2B customers is a key focus of ours. By delivering best in market digital experiences, we aim to establish lasting relationships with these key customers.

“We focus on ensuring our digital capabilities are scalable, adaptive and in keeping with the specific requirements of the B2B customer.

“Successful digital engagement from the outset, ensures we are front of mind, builds brand loyalty and enables us to establish long term trusted relationships with these customers.”

Dawn Rafferty eCommerce Manager | Eckersley’s Art and Craft

linkedin.com/in/dawn-r-1a31b357/

Expert Insight

51

Jeremy is the Chief Innovation and Disruption Officer at Global Retail Brands (GRB). Jeremy is a passionate driver of change and

innovation and has developed a love for learning new things and being inspired by the challenge of disruption. Jeremy has a

yearning to communicate the power of quality content and enrich peoples’ lives through fun, engaging, educational and inspiring

ideas. The world of B2B is a new path for GRB and is an exciting part of the Digital Transformation piece that will embody a new

vision for the business.

Brand & customer loyalty is everything. Not only educating our B2B clients about our brand, but also reverse-engineering an ingenious and innovative way to create customer loyalty. Thinking outside the box with building partnerships in an authentic way to continuously drive sales will be the value breaker in the midst of growing competition.

“Whilst a streamlined platform, slick onboarding processes and range of product is critical, everyone underestimates the value of giving real, soul searching loyalty that is relevant to your B2B clients. Points, giveaways, access to data, social media callouts are only part of our plan to build loyalty. Most deals happen

outside of email in this space and relationship building and networking to understand the real challenges businesses face and helping providing solutions will be the real winner. The old ‘barter’ adage is an exciting trend for further discussion... but more importantly, this product transference ignites the conversation to building long-lasting profitable relationships.

“The key is to continue innovating and disrupting the B2B market with exciting loyalty and trade opportunities that work on growing everyone’s sales and databases at the same time.”

Jeremy Krause Chief Innovation and Disruption Officer | Global Retail Brands

linkedin.com/in/jemkrause

hen you are building your B2B digital strategy you should first sit

down and map out your current IT landscape. Get some Textas and make it visual, so everyone is on the same page. After that, map out your future state IT landscape — we recommend looking three years ahead — making sure to add all systems, platforms, plugins, and tools. Most B2B businesses will have 15–25 elements that all need to work together.

Your ITLandscape

53

Your ITLandscape Once you have your landscapes mapped out visually,

you can start your planning and scoping process.

Your digital eCommerce platform is a critical part of a

bigger IT landscape piece, and when considering which

platform to use or build upon, how these systems talk

and connect is critical.

In the past, the size of the investments required to transform

IT legacy systems has deterred companies who sought to

change the B2B digital landscape. There is no doubt that those

hurdles are still significant, but in many areas, the prices are

dropping and the delivery methods are changing. Costs are

coming down, programs are becoming more sophisticated and

companies are beginning to see the value in enhancing the

tools they use within the digital landscape. Cloud, platform as a

service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) based solutions

are making advanced technologies more accessible and viable.

Never stop looking and learning.

Often the devil is in the detail. To set the scene in this chapter,

we will outline what to do — and what not to do — when it

comes to B2B digital transformation of your IT landscape.

Platform and infrastructure

Don’t: just go with the first platform you look at — suffering

limitations later down the road when you need to change, scale

or grow.

Do: consider what deployment model suits your business needs:

SaaS, PaaS, on-demand, hosted, or on-premise? Your platform

and infrastructure should be driven by business needs and

support your long-term objectives.

To market or not to market?

Don’t: be blinded by convenience in getting your digital

eCommerce presence started. Marketplace sites might seem

easy, but difficulty in tailoring content to your specific customer

needs can make them more of a headache than a help.

Complex B2B eCommerce needs need complex B2B eCommerce

solutions.

Do: map out a three-to-five year plan to make sure your

platform can grow with your needs. Some B2C environments

— selling a few products in a handful of categories — would

probably find a marketplace solution more than suitable.

Setting the scene

Quicksprout: The Complete Guide to a Mobile

Friendly Website

https://www.quicksprout.com/mobile-friendly-

website-guide/

80% of the top websites according to the Alexa

rankings were optimized for mobile users. Plus, 80% of all Internet users have smartphones.”

Did you know?

54

Integration

Don’t: choose a digital / transactional platform that doesn’t

integrate with your existing systems. You might think you’re

saving yourself money or set up time by opting for something

simple and quick, but this will end up costing you much more in

time and effort later.

Do: target a seamless IT environment that improves efficiencies

— both for you and for your customer. Our full list of systems to

consider during integration is outlined further in this chapter.

Scalability

Don’t: ignore your growth agenda and select a platform that will

only work for you now.

Do: Anticipate what your company is going to need in three-to-

five years, and select a digital platform that can grow with you.

Plan for scalability and flexibility in the future… avoid platforms

built on outdated code bases, or those with restricted SaaS/PaaS

functionality. Make sure everything passes the long-term test.

Once you have your landscapes mapped out visually, you

can start your planning and scoping process. Your digital

eCommerce platform is a critical part of a bigger IT landscape

piece, and when considering which platform to use or build

upon, how these systems talk and connect is critical.

• Hosting & infrastructure

• API

• Cloud stack

• ERP

• ERP, CRM, PIM, OMS, WMS, ESB, punchout

• Integration methods

• Ease of integration with multiple systems

• Number of integration methods e.g. API, flat file

• Agnostic hosting: either on cloud, on premise or both

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Business Insider: Rise of M-Commerce: Mobile

Ecommerce Shopping Stats & Trends in 2020

https://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-

commerce-shopping-trends-stats/?r=AU&IR=T

Business Insider Intelligence predicts m-commerce volume to rise at a 25.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2019 to hit $488.0 billion, or 44% of eCommerce, in 2024. And there are two key devices driving the m-commerce revolution: smartphones and tablets.”

Did you know?

The key systems to consider/map within your IT landscape are:

Payment gateways Shippingproviders

Order management systems (OMS)

Warehouse management systems (WMS)

Product information management (PIM) system

EDI systems

Customer segmentation and content personalisation systems

Marketing automation

Punchout automation (and customer ERPs)

Customer service systems

Customer relationship management (CRM)

In-store technology / point-of-sale (POS), self-service kiosks and information panels

Middleware systems / enterprise service bus (ESB) / API management

Data warehouse systems

Analytics / business intelligence

Something to Consider:The Key Systems

Enterprise resourcing planning (ERP)

Contract management systems (if not integrated into ERP)

Finance systems (if not integrated into ERP)

Mal is recognised as Australia’s most knowledgeable technology integrator of open source eCommerce platforms. Mal has over

12 years’ experience working with everything from developing web and engineering inventory management solutions through to

industrial automation and control systems.

We all know the pain that a changing IT landscape can bring, both internally and for your customers.

“Any new system that you add to your IT landscape should be carefully considered. New additions should not only be able to directly enhance your customers’ current experience, but must also be adaptable to cater for their future needs.

“B2B customers want to be able to transact when, where and how they want. They’re bringing both their expectations as individual

customers, and the specific demands of their own business. To meet these complex demands, successful B2B businesses are turning to proven web-based transactional platforms that can deliver a personalised experience on any device — and that are open 24/7.

“To incorporate such a platform into your IT landscape, ensure that it is ‘open’ and ‘connectable’. ‘Open’ so you have the ability to add those customisations that are important to your unique business, and ‘connectable’ so it can be easily integrated into your present and future IT landscape.”

Mal Williams Technical Director | Balance Internet

linkedin.com/in/mal-williams-5139b359/

Expert Insight

57

Peter is a well-known industry expert in eCommerce and omni-channel technology, having previously held the role of Vice President

and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research where he spent five years leading Forrester’s global research on digital commerce

technologies.

The reality for most B2B firms is that they live in a world of complexity. The products they manufacture and distribute come in an almost endless array of configurations, are often made to order, and have long lead times.

“The challenge for B2B firms as they embrace digital and enable self service configuration, quoting and buying channels is removing the back-office complexity from the front-office buyer experience.

“Today the buying demographic in B2B is shifting to the millennial generation and they expect the process of ordering to be intuitive, visual, fast, mobile-first and satisfying. Legacy digital conversions of traditional ordering

processes and print catalog experiences no longer cut it.

“For IT leaders at B2B firms, this means investing in a new breed of front-office applications that perhaps have not previously been the focus of attention. Experience management, digital asset management, product information management, 3D-rendering and texturing platforms, personalisation engines and visual site search are now critical to enabling a visual first configuration and buying experience that is intentionally decoupled from the inherent complexity of pricing, SKUs, inventory and manufacturing data found in their existing ERP, PLM and MDM systems”.

Peter Sheldon Senior Director Strategy | Adobe

linkedin.com/in/petersheldon/

s all aspects of B2B commerce benefit from an increasingly rich feature set and ecosystems, the jump in

complexity of exchanging data between IT systems has redefined the role that system integration plays in digital transformation.

SystemsIntegration

59

Systems integration platforms have matured at a pace to allow

businesses to leverage the best-in-class technology offerings

and leave systems compatibility to a growing number of tools

and technologies designed for the purpose. Gone are the

days that you’d export a CSV file and import it into another

application!

Selecting the right integrations platform positions your

business to adapt rapidly emerging technologies

and tie these into your business operations

with ease, reducing business dependency

on single-vendor solutions and enabling

your ability to utilise industry-leading

systems to become a market leader.

Integrating your systems means

avoiding time-consuming data

entry, human errors, and

double-handling.

Systems integrations

can be set up in a

number of ways.

Direct web services,

exchange of flat

files, or middleware.

Middleware is

a smart way of

future-proofing.

Balance Internet

has developed some

middleware software

we affectionately

call Dabus (short for

Data Bus) to handle

the more complex

integrations.

We have found that the biggest challenge for Australian retailers is integrating their eCommerce platform with their enterprise resource planning (ERP) or point-of-sale (POS)software.

Setting the scene

State of B2B ECommerce in ANZ, Southeast

Asia and India. (2018). Econsultancy, p.72

https://magento.com/resources/state-of-b2b-

ecommerce-in-anz

According to Econsultancy, the six areas of business that eCommerce operations are successfully integrated include: Email, Customer Service, CRM/ Sales, Marketing, Financial Systems and Order Management Systems.”

Did you know?

60

These platforms are often on legacy infrastructures that don’t have the API or web service interface we need. With eCommerce it’s

important to give the customer real-time accuracy — quickly and reliably.

Improving the customer experience often requires more integrations. If you want to offer your customer shopping cart

customisations or other custom features, it will require plug-ins and modules to the existing eCommerce framework.

Integration might not sound like the most flashy exciting feature of an eCommerce site, but our clients have found investing in it

means improving their data quality and productivity: freeing up time for the flashy!

• Pre-built support for one or more of

your key platforms

• Extensible to fit your systems, business

and technical requirements

• Secured and compliant with local

regulations

• Scalable to support increasing data

volumes as your business grows

• Automated testing framework to

minimise third-party dependencies

• Reporting and insights into the health

of your systems

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Something to Consider:Three Key Systems Questions to Answer

How is your systems integration platform designed?

Implemented incorrectly, you’ll see increasing costs for systems integration with every technology you

onboard into your transformation as complexity between each of the system interfaces skyrockets.

How will I verify this?

Systems integration includes unique challenges in testing, requiring access to many third-party

systems spread across a number of in house or third-party contacts. End-to-end testing is essential

and requires you to have test versions of your systems ready to go. Don’t forget to factor this into your

costs and timelines.

What are my dependencies?

Ensure that your roadmap includes the dependencies between software and system integrations to

meet project timelines

Collecting recurring payments from your customers, whether it’s for a subscription, invoice or instalment, can be done with an array of different payment methods. But choosing your payment method is just the first step. For every method there is a wide selection of payment service providers (PSPs). Each provider comes with its own set of direct and indirect costs.

“Integration is one example. Adopting any new technology comes at a cost. Find a payments partner that integrates seamlessly with your existing CRM, billing platform or invoicing solution, and you’re going to spend less and get up and running faster.

“Alternatively fintechs with open API integrations can be added to a tech stack, also reducing the cost of development time.

“Also consider coverage. If you need to take payments from outside your home market, a significant portion of your revenue can be eaten up by foreign exchange (FX) fees. Plus, you

might find some providers and banks make their own charge for cross-border transactions.

“This lack of transparency is one reason why businesses can quickly lose their appetite for international expansion. 73% of senior decision-makers think their business would be more successful if it had greater access to international markets, yet 39% believe the complexity of international payments is holding them back.

“Alongside transparency, you should also think about ease of collection, payment success rate, and of course how your customers in each market prefer to pay. Each has a significant impact on the efficiency of your payment operation, and therefore your business. The more borderless you can make each element, the better.

“That’s why you should prioritise selecting the right payment methods and the right partners. It should not be an afterthought. The choice you make will impact operational efficiencies

Carolyn Breeze General Manager, Australia & NZ | GoCardless

Expert Insight

63

Carolyn is General Manager of ANZ for GoCardless, a leading solution for recurring payments. She is an experienced leader with

more than 20 years in the technology sector, including extensive international experience within the fintech, eCommerce, and

telecommunications sectors.

linkedin.com/in/carolynbreeze

to accelerated growth, speed to market to frictionless customer experiences. With recent innovation and growth in the ANZ market, there is no better time to shop around for the right solution and partner.”

s the supply chain of old continues to fragment and dis-intermediate, opportunities increase exponentially for

B2B merchants to participate in marketplaces or create their own marketspaces.

Marketplaces

65

Marketplaces — sites where multiple

merchants sell products through one

marketplace operator, such as

Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Catch of

the Day — offer consumers

a wider range of

selection than a

smaller, focused

site. They also

help eCommerce

stores build brand

awareness and find new

customers.

Research shows that 70% of

Australians visit a marketplace

every month[6], making them

a practical choice for many B2B

eCommerce businesses.

Creating your own marketspace (building a

single sign-on one-stop-shop, and listing products

and services on your website) means owning the real estate,

including the surrounding advertising and the order products

appear.

It also means you don’t have to pay fees or commissions to a

marketplace site. More and more we are seeing our clients mix

both approaches, ensuring they don’t miss out on the brand

reach, but where possible they keep the customer on their site.

[6]. https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7623-top-online-shopping-auctions-websites-march-2018-201806180044

One key element to remember is that marketplaces list all similar items together, which means your customer is seeing your product next to your competition.

Setting the scene

PayPal mCommerce Index Annual Report,

September 2018

https://www.paypalobjects.com/

digitalassets/c/website/marketing/apac/au/

optimized/mcommerce-index/pdf/PayPal_

mCommerce2018_FINAL.pdf

Australian businesses are aware of the power of online marketplaces with two-in-five (44%) selling on marketplaces and 16% selling exclusively via marketplaces.”

Did you know?

66

Your product information management (PIM) will need to be

clear, well-written and enticing; your offer will need to be

competitive; and you cannot rely as much on your branding

and website experience to sell.

Customers searching for your products are increasingly starting

their search journey in marketplaces, and it makes sense to

start fishing in the waters where the fish are biting! Increasingly

B2B customers are using marketplaces for the convenience of a

one-stop-shop, the elegant and initiative customer experience

(CX/UX) delivered by today’s B2B eCom merce websites or they

are hunting for the best price for a volume or repeat purchase.

Oberlo: 10 Amazon Statistics You Need to

Know in 2020

https://au.oberlo.com/blog/amazon-statistics

Amazon heads the ranking of the most popular shopping apps in the United States with 150.6 million mobile users accessing the Amazon appin September 2019.”

Did you know?

• Cross-border trade

• Unique B2B pricing strategies

• Marketplace integration

• Marketplace aggregator integration

• Listing management

• Product information management

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Five things to do before you participate in a B2B marketplace

Complete a three year ROI and

potentially consider a “washing

its own face year one” approach

(where the venture will earn

enough to cover its own running

costs, but no extra profit).

Develop your market acquisition

strategy and budget and ensure

your measure attribution as you

roll it out.

Factor in your human resources

and labour cost for curation,

customer service and fulfilment.

Consider them as fixed moving to

a variable as the volume of sales

on your marketplaces increases.

Consider selling configurable,

bundled or special offers to

create a unique proposition

within your marketplace.

Five things to do before creating a B2B marketspace

Something to Consider:Marketplace vs Marketspace

Run the gross margin numbers

on whether your involvement is

worth the investment: only some

products will make the cut.

Choose to work with vendors

with mature fulfilment and return

models in place to reduce hassle

and costs, as these processes will

be associated with your brand.

Understand all the costs in the

marketplace including fees,

licensing, payment gateway

costs, delivery and freight,

packaging and returns.

Ensure your marketplace

platform will have a leading UX

and CX design. It must look, feel

and perform like the larger, more

established marketplaces.

Look at your product data and

media. Is it mature enough?

Does it have in-depth metadata,

attribution and taxonomy to

ensure it can be searched and

rank highly in the marketplace

search results? If not, this will

take you a lot of time and energy

to create.

Choose products and services

with enhanced and enriched

product data and media that can

be updated via PIM, API, flat file

or ERP integrations.

In Alana’s role as the Head of Client Engagement for APAC, she leads the account management team, as well as a portfolio of

enterprise clients from diverse retail and manufacturing industries supporting their eCommerce channel strategies.

Alana Fennessy Manager Account Services APAC and China | ChannelAdvisor

linkedin.com/in/alanafennessy/

Expert Insight

Consumers continue to redefine the buying process. It’s all about finding the product they want, at a price they want, when they want it.

“According to Australia Post, the number of purchases through marketplaces grew by 31.2% year on year: a strong indication of how important this area of online retailing has

become. That’s why selling on marketplaces is so critical to the success of brands and retailers.

“Now is the time for sellers to take advantage of key shopping channels to ensure they’re setting themselves up for success in an ever-competitive environment.”

69

With over 15 years’ experience in Digital Transformation and eCommerce, Fabian brings a wealth of technical, architecture,

marketing and UX knowledge to his role as Founder and CEO of Omnyfy, the Multi-Vendor Marketplace PaaS company.

B2B commerce is rapidly shifting from single vendor or single brand sales to multi-vendor commerce, where organisations are looking to create marketplaces enabling drop-shipping or direct to consumer sales from resellers, brands, service providers or manufacturers. “The model offers significant benefits including consolidation of fragmented distribution, access to a wider selection and choice, reduction in stock-holding costs, ability to scale and the

opportunity to “own” the sector by bringing all brands or vendors under a single umbrella. “Over US$12 trillion in B2B commerce will progressively shift online in the next five years, to 2024, across product and service industries, and we’re already seeing organisations globally from large enterprises to start-ups who are looking to put in place marketplace business models to capitalise on this massive opportunity.”

Fabian Rebeiro

Founder & CEO | Omnyfy

linkedin.com/in/fabianrebeiro/

he key pillars of any successful digital marketing

strategy — whether for B2C or B2B — are acquisition, conversion and retention. The approach for B2B will be significantly different from the approach for a traditional customer-facing business, but the guiding principles are true for both markets.

Marketing Strategy

71

As a B2B business, it’s vital

to benchmark your digital

marketing strategies and

outcomes against local and

global best practices. One

way we have found to be

extremely successful for our

merchants is to develop a

100-point self-assessment

card for each of the three

pillars that can be reviewed

every quarter to measure

progress. This technique

can prioritise areas of focus

and aid both financial and

staff resource allocation.

In many B2B businesses,

the marketing focus is

geared heavily towards

conversion and retention,

largely due to the high

customer lifetime value

and yearly revenue

generated from this

champion customer

segment.

For example, we

frequently see B2B

merchants take their

10–100 key customers

and focus solely on

delivering them a

superior experience

(conversion) and

optimising business processes, value adds, reorders, cross-sell

up-sell (retention) to immediately show the difference in the

bottom line.

It’s important to remember that no matter how seemingly

satisfied a customer is, they will likely at some point consider

engaging with a competitor. The customer could be drawn to

superior digital experiences offered elsewhere, regardless of

how much they already spend with you and how long they have

been with you. That’s why your acquisition strategy absolutely

can not take a backseat.

When it comes to B2B acquisition strategies, over the last

five years we’ve seen a seismic shift of marketing budgets

from traditional sales and marketing channels like TV, radio,

brochures, face to face sales resources move towards digital

Setting the scene

State of B2B ECommerce in ANZ, Southeast

Asia and India. (2018). Econsultancy, p.71

https://magento.com/resources/state-of-b2b-

ecommerce-in-anz

The three most important marketing-related functionalities within eCommerce platforms are SEO capabilities, multi-channel functionality and site search.”

Did you know?

72

• Customer-specific targeting

• B2C like experience

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

channels such as paid search, SEO, digital advertising,

LinkedIn, affiliates, mobile and SMS marketing.

Digital platforms offer an incredible mechanism for offering personalised approaches to marketing to a B2B customer based on their profile/account.

You’ll have so much information at your fingertips that can be

used to create a personalised marketing approach per customer.

Acquisition Conversion

AdvocacyRetention

Each of the B2B marketing pillars have specific activities that can be undertaken to bolster their effectiveness. Each business will use a different mix, depending on their internal and outsourced resources.

B2B acquisition strategy• Traditional advertising

• Digital advertising

• SEO

• Paid search

• Social media

• Mobile marketing

• Affiliate & network marketing

B2B conversion tactics• Excellent site performance

• Transactional optimisation

• User experience design

• Mobile optimised site

• Rich product data

• Trust and reviews

B2B retention tactics• Loyalty and rewards program

• Superior customer service

• Returns management

• Customer relationship management

• Communication

• Marketing automation

• Content marketing

Something to Consider:B2B Marketing Pillar Activities

Statista: Brand Value – Statistics & Facts

https://www.statista.com/topics/1664/brand-value/

As of 2020, Amazon was the most valuable brand in the world with a brand value close to 221 billion US dollars. Google and Apple were the second and third most valuable brands, with brand values of 159.7 billion U.S. dollars and 140.5 billion US dollars respectively.”

Did you know?

Seth Godin said, ‘Whatever the status quo is, changing it gives you the opportunity to be remarkable.’

“Seth’s right. If your business still relies on traditional tactics to build awareness, and to acquire and keep customers; then you miss the chance to be remarkable. And in this tight market, that means being left behind.

“B2B customers don’t act and think the way they did five years ago. And you can’t treat them the same way you used to.

“These customers are now channel-less: They don’t care about channels. Channels are simply a window to interact with a brand. Instead, focus on your customers’ needs. The B2B customer

needs to be good at their job in order to build a successful business. Your purpose is to help them, by understanding their challenges and solving their problems.

“Adopt a services mindset. Stop sinking your energy solely on talking about your products or services. Instead, start listening to customers. Learn from them, and understand their needs. That’s when you’ll be ready to best help them. “Today, we see the merging of two worlds: the physical and digital. This is the big change happening right now. And the channel-less solution is about intertwining the physical and digital customer experience together.

“So what does this look like in practice? Creating and curating content that sings with relevance

Nicholas Kontopoulos Head of Adobe DX Commercial APAC Marketing | Adobe

Expert Insight

75

As the Head of APAC Commerce Marketing at Adobe, Nicholas Kontopoulos harnesses over 25 years of professional experience, built

across multiple industries and geographies. He’s passionate about challenging the ‘status-quo’ and ‘management dogma’ that stifles

the creative thinking processes that are paramount to delivering amazing customer experiences.

linkedin.com/in/nicholask71/

to your customers. Then identifying in real-time where and how to deliver that content, based on your customer’s preferences. Use the data your customers share with you to guide this process. That’s the secret: data provides the valuable insights needed to deliver a delightful customer experience.

“Don’t be daunted. Big change means bigger opportunities. Be remarkable.“

76

With more than 15 years of experience working in large corporations, start-ups and small to medium enterprises, Hemi adds value

to organisations through innovative strategic advice and offering hassle-free end-to-end digital marketing campaign management

through digital transformation.

The B2B eCommerce market is exploding. The market is fast becoming saturated and eCommerce juggernauts are jumping on board. We are seeing the likes of Amazon and Walmart developing B2B business arms, and enterprise purchase-power has changed, it has become more consumerised. Think of the B2B buyer like we would a B2C buyer; they are real people, with real needs.

“Cultivating meaningful data insights allows businesses to develop an agile marketing strategy, one which is predictive and thus able to present a productive solution. Companies

who are doing this well realise that the B2B decision doesn’t sit with one person. It’s about leveraging CRM and insight data to build awareness within the network of decision-makers, to create virtual stakeholder relationships.

“In this climate, B2B eCommerce marketing strategies can learn from the success of B2C eCommerce by being adaptive. Harnessing the power of real-time data is key to driving acquisition and retention strategies within a complex web of decision-makers.”

Hemi Herath

Premier Google Partner & Digital Marketing Consultant | SearchMax

linkedin.com/in/hemiherath/

ne of the most significant technology evolutions that has occurred in the last 10 years is

the rise of marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

MarketingAutomation & CRM

79

MarketingAutomation & CRM

The gradual growth has seen technology that can now

integrate with eCommerce platforms, offer extremely

tailored communications to groups and segments

of customers, use artificial intelligence to

create personalised campaigns and manage a

company’s relationships and interactions like

never before.

Despite the name, a marketing automation

platform shouldn’t be limited to just the marketing

team. Sales, marketing, customer service, account

management, training and human resources teams can

all contribute to the technology. Before implementing an

automation platform, take to the whiteboard and sketch

out a few buyer persona journeys. Where are the current

touchpoints? Where could you add more to bring more value

for your customers? What parts of these could be automated?

Marketing automation platforms allow companies to build a

relationship with prospects slowly over time, helping them to

get to know you and find value in your solutions without your

sales team needing to speak to each person separately. 96%

of visitors that come to your website aren’t ready to buy[7] and

getting them into your email list is a good way of building that

relationship for when they are ready.

Automation platforms usually work with tracking a visitor

to your site and then performing an action when a certain

condition is met.

Maybe if a visitor has downloaded two content pieces from your

site and has opened your email newsletter, it triggers a phone

call? Maybe if they have watched a demo you email them a

case study?

[7]. https://www.marketo.com/ebooks/website-and-seo-for-lead-generation/

Setting the scene

https://on.emarketer.com/rs/867-SLG-901/

images/eMarketer_Report_B2B_

Ecommerce_2018.pdf

Adobe Digital Trends Report 2020

https://www.adobe.com/au/offer/digital-

trends-2020.html

Frost & Sullivan’s forecast of global eCommerce worth is jaw-dropping: $6.6 trillion by 2020.

The ability to rapidly analyse and act on data defines the ceiling for customer experience. Large organisations’ use of automation for data analysis jumped by nearly 20% in this year’s study, rising from 55% to 64%.”

Did you know?

80

Forrester

https://go.forrester.com/blogs/global-

marketing-automation-spending-will-reach-

25-billion-by-2023/

We expect global spending on marketing automation tools to surpass $25 billion by 2023...”

Did you know?Investment and ongoing costs of undertaking marketing automation and CRM systems have decreased significantly, with innovation in the technology making it accessible for most B2B businesses.

This lowering of the barrier of entry with respect to both

upfront and ongoing costs as well as a resource comes with a

measurable return on investment.

B2B eCommerce transactions require a personalised

communication approach and require a significant amount

of special handling. With both the order value typically much

larger than B2C transactions, and the requirements for fulfilment

etc much more complex it needs to be as close to perfect as

possible. Crucially, the relationship management that goes hand

in hand with these high-value transactions is made or break for

B2B merchants.

The intersection of the marketing automation strategy and the

personal relationship management (which typically relies on

the utilisation of a CRM) is what we see leading B2B businesses

investing time and money.

• eCommerce platform & marketing automation

platform integration

• eCommerce platform & CRM platform integration

• Transactional data sync

• Dynamic segment campaigns

• Personalised email notifications & sales documents

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Leading B2B marketing automation platforms:

Leading B2B CRM platforms:

Types of B2B triggered emails & campaigns to consider:

• Welcome series: introduce your new customers to your

product over a series of emails, each explaining a key

feature of your product.

• Customer tier / group based series

• Post transactional series

• Browse abandonment / cart abandonment

• In-store / in-warehouse post purchase follow up

• Customer service follow up

• Anniversary / milestone

• Reactivation / win back

• Loyalty and rewards series

• Special sale events

Something to Consider:Platform Selection

Rohan has more than 12 years’ experience helping eCommerce brands optimise their digital marketing. As dotdigital’s regional

director, Rohan works with local integration and agency partners, as well as key global relationships and integrations to bring

dotdigital’s technology offering to local organisations.

Dubbed the trillion-dollar industry, B2B eCommerce is accelerating, opening up a plethora of opportunities for both businesses and customers. Merchants are becoming more empowered to sell to companies online, while customers have unprecedented access to the products and services they need to grow their business.

“Frost & Sullivan’s forecast of global eCommerce worth is jaw-dropping: $6.6 trillion by 2020. Similarly, eMarketer states that B2B eCommerce sales will have ‘explosive growth’ in coming years, totally eclipsing revenue generated from the B2C market. With serious money up for grabs, the time has come for B2B marketers to

digitalise their marketing efforts to ensure they meet the needs of their online audience, as well as master lead generation and customer retention across all channels.

“Creating multi-channel lifecycle campaigns that boost engagements are crucial to B2B business success. It’s all about targeting the prospect with the right message at the right time, and through the right channel. Similarly, automation is key to supercharging these metrics and capitalising on eCommerce growth. It enables B2B marketers to trigger powerful messages that compel subscribers to act according to their individual paths to purchase.”

Rohan Lock Regional Director APAC | dotdigital

linkedin.com/in/rohan-lock-102b865/

Expert Insight

83

With over 15 years leading strategy in large organisations and agencies, Nathan specialises in eCommerce, digital and marketing

strategy. In April 2018, he launched 12HIGH to help eCommerce organisations to activate their strategy in order to accelerate

growth and optimise profit. Nathan is also the host of the leading Australian eCommerce podcast, ‘Add to Cart’, available wherever

you get your podcasts.

Marketing automation platforms are hugely accessible these days — in terms of both cost and skills. We’ve seen Ferraris become Toyotas. But you know what they say about Ferraris parked in the garage...

“Counter to common jumping-off points, technology selection and implementation won’t be your most significant issue here. Relevance will be. Ensuring that your communication is relevant to your customers. Ensuring that your effort in this space is relevant to driving sales. The technology will follow.

“Before diving into all the possibilities of what a B2B marketing automation platform can do for you, think about what you need to give to your customers to entice them to buy more. Are we looking to reactivate lapsed customers? Reward high spending customers? Make new customers feel welcome? Enhance the experience of recent customers? Start by brainstorming all the scenarios that you can automate to create relevance. The puzzle — and rewards — will unfold in front of your eyes.”

Nathan Bush Founder and Strategist | 12HIGH

linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

he two major transactional requirements in B2B

eCommerce are:1. Delivering the varied payment options customers need to make a purchase, and2. Making sure this is done in a trustworthy and secure manner.

Payments& Security

85

When it comes to finance and

payments in the context of

B2B eCommerce there are

a significant number of

key systems that need

to be considered in any

solution developed.

These could include

point of sale (POS)

systems, payment

gateways,

accounting

software, banks

and unions, buy-

now-pay-later

(BNPL) solutions

and more.

The need for

integration

with these

key systems

should form

the basis for a

set of business

requirements

specifically

relating to

payment and

finance when you go

to market with an RFP.

For businesses already

using an established platform,

we strongly advise considering

working with a specialist consultancy.

Policy and governance is a significant component of digital

transformation in B2B, and more often than not requires

specialist expertise to develop.

We are increasingly seeing leading B2B merchants appoint

a digital security officer (DSO) as part of their digital

transformation projects or into an already established

B2B ecosystem to govern the various policies and internal

Setting the scene

https://atradius.com.au/reports/payment-

practices-barometer-australia-2019.html

Altradius’ Payment Practices Barometer measured 71.5% of B2B sales being made on credit.

State of B2B ECommerce in ANZ, southeast

Asia and India. (2018). 1st ed. Singapore:

Econsultancy, p4

https://magento.com/resources/state-of-b2b-

ecommerce-in-anz

For leading companies with a transactional website for B2B sales, 40% of revenues are directly generated through eCommerce.”

Did you know?

86

• Customer-specific pricing and payment options

(even within one company)

• Customer specific pricing and catalogs

• Payment methods (pay on account, offline methods)

• Credit Limits

• Pay on cost centre

• Pay for account online

• Download invoice/statements

• Toggle VAT

• Ability to show/hide pricing

• Monthly generated reports with the ability to export

– including client, staff, location, range

• Volume discount / tier pricing

• Ability to purchase against allocation/budget

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

procedures and policies that go hand in hand with eCommerce.

This can often be a well-established individual within the

business, such as the Chief Financial Officer,

or eCommerce manager.

Key policies this individual would be responsible for introducing into the business and maintaining at an agreed frequency include:

1. PCI Compliance Policy / Self-Assessment Questionnaire

(SAQ)

2. GDPR Compliance Policy

3. Digital Privacy Policy

4. GDPR Compliance Policy

5. Fraud Protection Policy

6. Cookie Compliance Policy

7. Data Security / Data Protection Policy

8. Cyber Security Policy

9. Incident Response Policy

10. Legislative Reporting Requirements (as required, depending

on the industry, data, and company specifics)

Alongside business policies and procedures, we strongly

advise all merchants to seek consultation about their current

state concerning security. Engaging a cyber security expert to

undertake a security audit is one of the best things you can

do to understand if you are currently in a stable or vulnerable

position. An expert would typically undertake an audit that

includes vulnerability scanning and penetration testing

to begin with.

Something to Consider:Staying Secure

Consider very carefully the business requirements for your B2B business relating to payments, finance

and cyber security before you go to market with an RFP.

Consider appointing a digital security officer. This could be someone within the business already, or a

new role that you recruit for as part of your Digital Transformation.

If you are already on an established platform with no plans to go to market in the immediate future,

consider engaging a consultant to help you understand you current state and potential vulnerabilities.

Dion’s leadership roles have delivered growth to industry and earned many accolades which he is now applying to the fast-moving

Fintech industry and ecosystem, as Chief Commercial Officer of ASX listed Openpay.

Trends in the B2B market are signalling change and now is the time to think ahead. Mapping your B2B processes – how payments are accepted and how you generate cash flow – is crucial. A publication by Atradius confirmed 71.5% of B2B sales are made on credit. The Australian Government reports the biggest challenges for businesses are late payments and access to reliable capital. Businesses must think differently. Now more than ever is the timeto digitise. “Your B2B customer is driving the change – their digital transformation is already underway. They are expecting eCommerce experiences like optimised B2C websites. B2B eCommerce sales

won’t replace traditional B2B sales, but it will complement them. Providing B2B eCommerce sales will also speed up payments and increase cash flow. But your B2B customer are still looking for terms and payment options. “Enhancing B2B sales is the challenge, and you will need to find the right partner to advise and assist your business to make the leap. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), thought of as a retail-only payment channel, can assist. Savvy business operators exploring eCommerce for B2B sales are choosing BNPL to digitally transform their B2B sales for today — and for the future.”

Dion Appel Chief Commercial Officer | Openpay

linkedin.com/in/dionappel/

Expert Insight

89

Hayley has led an impressive career as a payment specialist and sales leader within financial services and technology. Spending

over a decade working in fintech, Hayley is a trusted advisor in many sectors focusing on digital commerce and fraud management.

She specialises in cross border payments, eWallets, data and fraud management, and spans a diverse landscape of retailers, digital

platforms and government agencies. Hayley has achieved outstanding success during her career at Travelex, Western Union, PayPal,

Australia Post and now at Stripe.

Today’s payment landscape has changed significantly because of the rise of digital innovation. This transformation allows businesses to connect more deeply and process payments faster while reducing costs and mitigating risk. Through a digital payments partner, companies hold a competitive advantage offering speed to service and reconcile, data analytics and automation — we find this is one of the key reasons for the shift from paper-based to digital.

“With only 3% of global GDP occurring on the internet, digital payments will continue to

rise and technology will continue to evolve, forever changing the landscape of B2B and B2C and P2P payments. The rise of B2B non-cash transactions will continue through general internet economic growth and the continuing adoption of digital payments.

“Businesses and customers’ expectations are higher than ever. As a payment provider, we need to provide efficient, transparent services that minimise risk and adhere to regulations, all while providing a beautiful user experience for both the front-end and back-end reconciliation.”

Hayley Hopwood Head of Growth | Stripe

linkedin.com/in/hayley-hopwood-1791075/

arnessing the power of accurate data, site and application

performance analytics and reporting tools can rapidly enable a B2B business to optimise their digital performance.

Business Intelligence

91

Just collecting data on everything you can find and building

reports isn’t necessarily a good use of time. Data collection and

analysis should always be used to answer a question or solve

a problem. In the B2B eCommerce world, we have seen useful

reports being built around:

• Market intelligence: are there new territories the company

should expand to? Where are competitors dropping the

ball? What new products do customers need?

• Website analytics: what pages are converting? What pages

have higher than average bounce rates? Does your website

throw up any 404s?

• Social media analytics: what products are people

interacting with? What marketing approaches work

best?

• Since introducing page speed as a ranging

factor for mobile searches in 2018, Google

observed a 20% reduction in abandonment

rate for navigations initiated from Google

Search[8].

• Customer-specific catalog

information: if you have different

catalogs for different clients,

looking at each one separately to

find your bestsellers.

• Sales funnelling reporting: are you

converting your potential clients to

happy customers?

[8]. https://webmasters.googleblog.

com/2019/04/user-experience-

improvements-with-page.html

Business intelligence can allow a business to make operational

changes and improvements based on real data, not just based

on someone’s ‘good idea’. Businesses can make informed

decisions about a wide range of aspects from onsite product

merchandising and marketing automation programs and

campaigns, to sales efforts across the entire enterprise.

The most successful B2B merchants that we see are those that

harness the power of business intelligence by adding meaning

to it, through data visualisation and report dashboarding that’s

targeted at specific stakeholders within their organisations.

For example, in an ideal B2B business model, the Retail and

Merchandising Manager, CMO, CIO, CEO, CFO, Supply Chain

Setting the scene

Source: State of B2B ECommerce in ANZ,

Southeast Asia and India. (2018). Econsultancy,

p.4

https://magento.com/resources/state-of-b2b-

ecommerce-in-anz

In a 2018 Survey, Econsultancy reported that data integration is the most often-cited barrier to developing best-in-class eCommerce operations, with 17% of people selecting it as the principal challenge.

Did you know?

92

EY: How to cook the secret sauce for your

digital transformation, 2019

https://www.ey.com/en_us/digital/how-

to-cook-the-secret-sauce-for-your-digital-

transformation

According to technology analyst IDC, 85 percent of corporate decision-makers say they have two years to make hard inroads into digital transformation or risk falling behind. In this world, no company can afford to stand still.”

Did you know?

• 100+ predefined B2B performance reports

• Customer, product and campaign insights

• Ability to combine data from multiple

sources for deeper insights

• Custom dashboards, including catalogue

performance and sales rep KPIs

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Manager, and Customer Service Managers all have business

intelligence data presented to them in an easily consumable,

personalised relative to their KPIs, and real-time dashboard

format at the click of a mouse. They can then use the insights

to make decisions about their department and evaluate

performance far more frequently.

There has been a rapid evolution of platforms and tools that allow data aggregation (middleware and data warehousing) and presentation and visualisation (analytics and reporting platforms).

Many B2B businesses embarking on a digital transformation

journey will need to re-architect their entire data and analytics

approach. Keeping data siloed in separate departments, saved

in spreadsheets on people’s desktops, or locked down to specific

users only means you’re stopping your company from reaching

its full potential. Centralising data is vital.

We often see challenges here due to a disconnect between

marketing, IT, sales, financial and operational business goals and

KPIs. Often, alignment of the key business goals and indicators

on commencement of an eCommerce solution development can

be the key to building out a successful analytics framework.

Something to Consider:Five Step Plan for Business Intelligence Setup

Key operational and financial goals

should be developed upon embarking

upon a part of any B2B digital

transformation journey.

Understand the analytics that are

crucial to different individuals,

and how those might vary.

Building a successful analytics and

reporting framework requires buy-

in from a wide range of business

stakeholders across all departments.

Consider building out reporting

and dashboard capabilities

incrementally, it can be agile.

The data inputs need to be set up

correctly. Data integrity and credibility

can easily unfold your efforts.

Svitlana is a Data Scientist with a Ph.D. in computer science and 5+ years of hands-on experience leveraging machine learning

models and data mining. Svitlana has a strong background in predictive modelling, data processing and data mining algorithms to

solve challenging business problems.

In the modern digital landscape, business conditions have placed increased demands on digital management systems: in a dynamic external environment and with fiercer competition, data analysis methods and models are playing an increasingly important role in business. Embracing the power of business intelligence allows us to respond to emerging problems and opportunities quickly.

“The tasks of business intelligence are challenging, as is the implementation of modern information-analytical systems in the sphere of B2B eCommerce. Structured data, analytics platforms, digital dashboards, reports, and data visualisations comes to the rescue here.”

Svitlana Iievlieva Associate Professor Applied Mathematics, Kharkiv National

University of Radioelectronics | Data Scientist at Balance Internet

linkedin.com/in/svetlana-iievlieva-91415848/

Expert Insight

95

Michael brings over 20 years’ experience in customer facing roles, partnering with key brands including Suncorp, Cotton On, Boost

Juice, Footlocker and The Body Shop. With a keen interest and passion for customer behaviour and motivation, Michael’s focus is on

establishing relationships with brands. Michael enjoys working with these brands to help them stay ahead of customer

trends, enabling them to understand, engage, and keep their customers.

A benchmark has been set. B2B clients now demand and expect the same experiences that they receive as a direct customer. Analytics and BI enable B2B brands to gain valuable insight into their client’s current needs and the ability to predict future needs.

“This, in turn, supports the supply chain and ongoing business planning. Having this depth of insight helps B2B brands build relationships

with their clients and gain trust — across all layers of the decision making unit (DMU).

“A mistake that many B2B brands make today is making huge investments in technology, expecting an immediate return. However, technology without the right data strategy will fail.”

Michael Woodruff

Head of Growth | Customology

linkedin.com/in/michael-woodruff-b8379226/

96

Not all customers are created equal.

“As businesses grow, the ability to prioritise the human investment (sales, marketing andservice) in nurturing new business prospects into active customers becomes critical toensuring that the hottest and most valuable leads receive the most resources.

“As technology solutions become more accessible, we’re seeing B2B businesses invest inbusiness intelligence, automation and scoring mechanisms in order to better focus theirresources based on optimal revenue outcomes.

“Being able to connect data profiles across the unknown / known-unknown / known-knownstates and correlate a single customer view for

marketing, commerce and sales teams to actupon is critical to ensuring that the programmes of work can be intelligently deployed. Inthe B2B world, being able to create the right parent-child relationships between the entitiesis also key to ensuring that the role that that person plays in the organisation is also clearand the right nurture pathway is set up for them relative to their remit in the relationship.

“The underlying data foundations between systems that store and process customer data(Customer Record Management, Customer Data Platform, data lakes etc) and systemsthat activate personalised audience experiences (Content Management System,Conversion Rate Optimiser, Demand-side platform and marketing automation tools) also

Mark Gretton Chief Technology Officer | CHE Proximity

With over 18 years’ experience in digital, CX and marketing transformation programmes in both Australia and the UK, Mark has

worked with some of the world’s biggest brands. Having delivered globally award-winning projects, he is a leader in the Australian

MarTech landscape. His experience includes leading enterprise eCommerce programmes for brands like Coles, running data cloud

and personalisation projects for brands like Samsung, ANZ Bank, Velocity and Mazda and even launching new start-up digital

businesses such as Frank Health Insurance.

linkedin.com/in/markgretton/

need to be properly configured to ensure that all of these interactions are scalable and thatunnecessary latency barriers are removed in triggering the next action.

“It’s an exciting time of possibility, but one in which data engineering must keep pace withthe market for brands to continue to differentiate their customer experience.”

98

Matthew is a guy that lives and breathes data… it’s been his career for over 20 years! Matthew started his career at ITeM in 2004

and specialises in Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse solutions. He has extensive knowledge of modelling, data integration,

dashboard and report design.

Data is everywhere but using this data effectively is the challenge. B2B businesses today demand real time information to make informed decisions in today’s global economy.

“A business intelligence solution with up-to-the-minute and accurate information can be the difference between making a profitable eCommerce solution or losing out entirely.

“Business intelligence solutions today need to be built upon a platform that can scale quickly,

integrate with multiple disparate data sources and be flexible enough to quickly pivot to changing market conditions.

“Data integration and visualisation needs to occur in hours, not days or weeks, and the ability to explore and ask challenging questions of the data quickly is a must; if your current solution can’t provide this, it’s time to move on.”

Matthew Brown Director Information Management | ITeM Group Consulting

linkedin.com/in/matthew-brown-68028a7/

hen B2B merchants undergo digital transformation, one of the

consistent challenges we see them face is how to handle their inventory management.

Inventory Management

101

Traditionally, a B2B

business would use an

enterprise resource

planning (ERP) system

as the source of truth for

all product inventory and

management. Introducing

an eCommerce platform

into the mix raises several

challenges, most major of all

being ‘should the ERP stay the

source of truth?’ and ‘do we need

inventory for commercial orders?’

Lots of factors come into play here, of course.

Does the merchant have multiple warehouses?

Does the merchant have a storefront — or

several storefronts? Is there a requirement

for a customer service representative to be

able to locate stock for a customer? Is there

a requirement for a customer to self serve

and locate stock themselves within the B2B

platform? (All of these should be use cases and

clear business requirements for the project).

Once the decision is made, there is more often

than not a significant shift from the current

state. With the high value of a B2B customer

(typically significantly higher than a B2C

customer), how the change is managed is

crucial to the successful adaptation of the new

solution.

Enter ‘change management’. We strongly

suggest with the rollout of a new platform or

significant changes to the existing inventory

Setting the scene

W. Edwards Deming, Statistician and author

Albert Einstein

https://www.peoplevox.com/hubfs/Fulfilment%20Survey%20

2017/2017%20Peoplevox%20E-Commerce%20Fulfilment%20

Report.pdf

“Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.”

A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.”

34 percent of businesses have shipped an order late because they inadvertently sold a product that was not in stock.

Did you know?

102

management solution, change management —

both internal and external — is a key part of the

process.

Inventory is a critical consideration in your B2B digital transformation strategy, it’s directly linked to delivering an optimal customer-centric experience for your customers (and staff).

Over the years, we have seen examples of

B2B companies who underinvest in inventory

management solutions and have devastating

out of stock scenarios, to those who overinvest

unnecessarily.

Crucially, we do continually see successful

B2B organisations leveraging analytics tools to

influence inventory purchasing, closely following

sales trends and performance to help with

future inventory. The operational efficiencies are

significant when this is successful.

A successful inventory management solution

will enable a B2B business to improve the

speed of inventory and merchandising decisions

operationally. Furthermore, it will create a

comprehensive view of products for customers,

staff and distributors to improve business

operations, revenue and customer experience

when shopping online.

https://www.zebra.com/content/dam/zebra_new_ia/

en-us/solutions-verticals/vertical-solutions/retail/vision-

study/retail-vision-study-2017-en-gb.pdf

Approximately 72 percent of all retailers plan to leverage real-time inventory visibility—enabled by automation, sensors, and analytics—to reinvent their supply chains.

Logistics Bureau, 2019

https://www.logisticsbureau.com/8-reasons-why-the-

supply-chain-matters-to-business-success/

Only 22% of companies have a proactive supply chain network.”

Did you know?

Something to Consider:Four Questions to Ask When Scoping an Inventory Management Solution

• Accurate real-time inventory levels

• Sourced from multiple locations and supply chain

partners

• Sales and performance trends reporting capability

• Reserved stock for B2B clients

• Company stock allocations

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Does the business have multiple locations to source inventory from?

Does a customer service/sales rep need to have the ability to locate stock for a customer, and in which platform will this need to be done (eCommerce or ERP)?

Does the business have one/many storefronts to source inventory from, in addition to any warehousing?

If products you sell online are made to order, what are the minimum/maximum number of the order you can accept at any one time at a location? What will, in turn, be the stock attribute requirementfor the entire catalogue?

Paul leads a Retail Transformation Consultancy that works with Australian retailers to develop and enhance their omni-channel

service offerings. With over 20 years of industry experience in Australia and the UK, working for well known retail companies like

Carphone Warehouse Group (UK) and City Beach (AU); and as a regular speaker and writer at industry forums; he offers valuable

perspective and insight based on actual, real-world experience in creating/transforming, operating and growing retail sales

channels with demonstrable results.

As digital commerce continues to transform the way in which retail businesses trade with each other, the need for metadata pertaining to inventory goes way beyond how much I have of a particular item.

“Intelligent-inventory systems that allow items to be self-aware of: what they are; where they are; how many of them there are; what they cost; what they sell for; where they are sourced; how much they weigh; what volume they are; what they look like; and what they are made

of — to name but a few — are critical pieces of information that are consumed by a plethora of commerce applications.

“B2B retailers need to imitate the transformation undertaken by B2C retailers in creating and maintaining detailed and accurate inventory information that facilitates digital commerce across multiple sales channels.”

Paul Downs Managing Director | It Works

linkedin.com/in/pauldownsau

Expert Insight

105

Stefan is Co-Founder and CEO of TechDivision GmbH, a leading provider for Digital Commerce, Omnichannel and Agilisation. He

has more than 15 years of experience in this area. He is an outspoken evangelist for open source and supports a number of national

and international brands in their eCommerce and omnichannel activities. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences for

digitisation in commerce and company transformation in the new work environment.

Sustainable inventory management in B2B is certainly one of the supreme disciplines in eCommerce, not only because the number and variety of articles in B2B often goes far beyond the quantity structures in B2C, but also because the complexity of products is significantly higher in B2B.

“In addition, there are often even more complex requirements for delivery. Because this is not enough, a wide variety of warehouses and production sites, as well as production

schedules, often have to be taken into account in the handling process. Especially the decentralised warehousing of available products in real time paired with products available in the future often poses challenges for ERP systems, which is why a dedicated Order Management System (OMS) as inventory management middleware can provide a solid foundation for efficient processes, especially in complex eCommerce scenarios.”

Stefan Willkommer Co-Founder and CEO | TechDivision GmbH

linkedin.com/in/stefan-willkommer-34a8aa50

hoosing a shipping provider is an integral success

factor in B2B eCommerce. The evolution of B2C fulfilment has heavily influenced how consumers today expect to interact with a B2B merchant.

Fulfilment

107

Customers can now ask Alexa about their Amazon delivery from the comfort of their couch, and those same people are then going to the office and expecting the same level of responsiveness and transparency from their B2B

merchant.

(One advancement in B2C shipping: small items

being delivered by drone — is something

we don’t expect to translate well to B2B

just yet!)

As with B2C experiences, how a

B2B business is perceived is heavily

impacted by what happens after a

customer purchases from the business. This

includes everything from ease of delivery

to delays in delivery and damaged goods, and

how the communication and customer service is

handled in both of those scenarios.

B2B fulfillment brings different challenges than B2C. In a

B2C environment a company might invest more in customer

service — helping an individual customer see where their

order is, or talking someone through the international returns

process for one item. In a B2B environment, orders are usually

much larger. Often, products are being shipped wholesale from

across international borders: requiring attention to trade tariffs,

shipping levies, taxes, and government regulations.

B2B eCommerce shipments must also comply with the

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) regulations, meaning that

their labels, barcodes and invoices all need to meet a certain

standard.

Setting the scene

Australia Post: 2019 eCommerce Industry

Report

https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/

auspost_corp/media/documents/inside-

australian-online-shopping-ecommerce-

report.pdf

Online shoppers increasingly expect faster service and

some savvy retailers are now offering quicker fulfilment and shipment. This competitive edge potentially helps retailers stand out and convert more sales. Next-day deliveries has grown by 31.7% and more than 62% of these are fashion related.”

Did you know?

108

For many businesses, the decision to handle fulfilment internally

makes sense. As a company grows, however, it often makes more

sense to outsource fulfilment. This reduces capital investment

and increases tactical speed. Outsourcing can keep costs low as

your company grows — and save you from needing to invest in

a forklift!

https://www.forrester.com/report/US+B2B+eC

ommerce+Will+Hit+12+Trillion+By+2021/-/E-

RES136173

A report from Forrester predicts US B2B eCommerce will hit 1.8 trillion by 2023.

Did you know?

• Supply & delivery chain

• Order management

• Cross border trade

• Returns management

• Own Carrier options (eg. bring your own freight

company, delivery partner)

• Preferred location for Click & Collect (C&C) and

delivery

• If multiple staff are ordering in one order – print

multiple packing slips with each staff name and

each location

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

Something to Consider:Five Things B2B Merchants Should Consider When Choosing a Shipping Partner

What is their technology stack?

Can it seamlessly integrate

with your chosen platform Is

customisation required?

Will you choose to handle

customer service internally,

or through a chosen provider?

What effort would be required

to upskill the customer service

team, relative to your product

and unique business offering?

Does the provider offer local and

global fulfilment?

Does the pricing structure fit

within your budget (particularly

for high volume senders)?

Beyond shipping your orders,

does the provider offer returns

management, shipment tracking,

reporting and analytics, customer

service?

Rob is the co-founder and joint CEO of Shippit, the shipping engine for modern retail. Shippit’s shipping and fulfilment technology

simplifies the end-to-end delivery experience for B2C and B2B eCommerce merchants, customers and carriers.

Accelerated growth in eCommerce and rising customer expectations for seamless purchasing experiences now influence the way that businesses interact with one another.

“Consumers are used to tracking their deliveries on a live map, and it should be no different for businesses. They should also have better visibility across their whole supply chain.

“The fact is, 33% of B2B buyers are open to switching to new vendors that are more transparent, efficient, sustainable and flexible.

“Change is on the horizon, and B2B suppliers need to start thinking about the shipping experience they offer customers, and how they can use deliveries as a way to build and retain better relationships.”

Rob Hango-Zada Co-Founder & Joint CEO | Shippit

linkedin.com/in/robzada/

Expert Insight

111

Merline McGregor leads the Practicology ANZ business, with teams based in both Melbourne and Sydney. Merline has led global

commerce projects from both a client-side and consultancy perspective and focuses on pragmatic strategy and the merging of

technology and insights to create positive customer experiences. Practicology is a global multichannel consultancy focusing on

accelerating B2C and B2B commerce and enabling business-wide digital transformation.

Fulfillment is one of the key areas that will change the game for businesses for better or for worse in the next decade.

“The ante has well and truly been upped from a customer experience perspective and the companies that turn their attention to solving customer challenges rather than just numbers on a spreadsheet will be the winners.

“A key focus not only on speed but on transparency around delivery times creates trust, and having an environmentally friendly proposition may create the edge required to win customer preferences.”

Merline McGregor General Manager ANZ | Practicology

linkedin.com/in/merline-mcgregor-675b4146/

n Order Management System (OMS) is a solution for

managing, selling and fulfilling inventory from any sales channel. An integrated OMS should provide customers with a seamless experience, streamline internal processes within your company, and ultimately save money and effort. Consider the difference in using multiple spreadsheets or legacy systems compared to having one centralised system.

Order Management & Returns

113

An OMS will help set you up for success by

ensuring you can thrive in multiple sales

channels, giving your B2B customers their

orders without requiring as much hands-on

attention from you. When implemented

correctly, an OMS will reduce your

operational costs and accelerate the

time to market.

The system usually comprises

product information, inventory,

vendors, catalogues/promotions,

customer information, orders,

returns, refunds and finances.

Keeping all of this information

connected means avoiding, for

example, selling an out-of-stock

product to a fraudulent customer.

(A situation we’d all rather avoid!)

An OMS is usually more of

an interconnected hub than a

standalone product you buy off

the shelf, because of the amount

of data sources and data pieces

involved. It should have flexibility

for you to customise it depending on

your customer needs.

Many digital commerce platforms like

Magento Commerce include basic OMS

capabilities for small to medium business.

These capabilities often tick all the boxes for

their order management requirements. Larger

omnichannel organisations with complex

operations can often build a strong business

case for implementing an OMS solution as part of the overall

implementation.

B2B brings its own unique set of requirements, of course. Most B2B companies will want to be able to generate quotes, create complex individual pricing lists, configurations for items, and customisable options.

Setting the scene

https://www.supplychain247.com/article/

logility_and_apics_survey_reveals_top_

supply_chain_priorities_for_advanced/

supply_chain

30% of supply chain leaders highlighted the need to respond to customer mandates for faster, more accurate and unique fulfillment as a top business priority moving forward.”

Did you know?

114

https://www.easypost.com/blog/2019-02-25-

top-reasons-to-automate-your-fulfillment-

operations-with-easypost

Companies can reap a 25% increase in productivity, a 20% gain in space usage, and a 30% improvement in stock use efficiency if they use an integrated order processing for their inventory system.”

Did you know?

• Global visibility and management of all

inventory

• Ability to ship to and from anywhere

• Easier and more responsive customer service

• Better customer experience and loyalty

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

B2B customers are also more likely to reorder the same products

regularly. An OMS that can handle all of these requirements

without causing the customer or the business more work will

save time and resources.

Returns are less common in the B2B world than in B2C, where

customers will often buy a number of things to see what best fits

at home. For an OMS that will only ever handle B2B orders, it’s

probably a better investment to focus on the quote generation

and customisation options; and keeping the returns process a

little more manual and customer-service focused.

Something to Consider: Questions to Ask When Defining Business Requirements foran OMS Solution

What are the integrations that

will need to be registered to the

OMS?

What are the data sources and

stock aggregates you will need to

configure in your OMS solution?

What are the OMS cron jobs that

will be required to run in your

production environment?

What are the sourcing rules that

will need to be configured in your

OMS solution?

What are the sales channels that

will need to be configured in your

OMS?

What are the payment methods

that will need to be configured in

your OMS solution?

What are the shipments methods

that will need to be configured in

your OMS solution.

ven though the internet has become the marketplace of

choice for B2B customers, there is still a need for exceptional personal customer service and sales support, both pre- and post-purchase.

Customer Service

117

At the end of the day, whether you’re in the B2C or B2B world,

you’re still a human talking to other humans. No one — whether

they’re a customer trying to return a pair of shoes, or a B2B

client with a technical issue — wants to feel like their

problem is unheard and mishandled.

While we’d all like to aim for perfection, things go

wrong, and we can’t always rely on a computer to

solve the problem. The biggest reason a customer

will switch companies is because they feel

unappreciated[9]. People want to be able to get in

touch with a company and get a swift response and

resolution.

In our experience, B2B customers become frustrated when they

encounter issues and roadblocks and can’t seem to get them

resolved. Not being able to speak to a real person or receiving

a slow response are typical pain points. We can all fare better

by developing a greater awareness of our vulnerabilities and

developing better techniques for correcting things.

As the average order value is typically higher on a B2B

transaction, it stands to reason that you would expect a

customer to take longer to convert (and therefore require more

support and information before purchase). By way of ratio, the

support you offer a B2B customer vs a B2C customer should be

significantly more.

Providing excellent customer service can not only increase sales

and profits but help B2B companies to stand out in competitive

online environments.

In recent years, as many B2B businesses undergo digital

transformation and growth in the eCommerce space,

[9]. https://www.vonage.com/business/perspectives/the-62-billion-customer-service-scared-away-infographic/

we have seen alternate customer service channels be

introduced, many with great success.

We have also seen many B2B businesses work to optimise business processes to enable their teams to provide quality customer service, across varied channels.

Setting the scene

Microsoft, State of Global Customer

Service 2018

https://info.microsoft.com/rs/157-GQE-382/

images/EN-US-CNTNT-ebook-2018-State-of-

Global-Customer-Service.pdf

61% of people stopped doing business with a brand due to a poor customer service experience.

Did you know?

118

• Request a quote

• Online enquiries

• Place orders on behalf of customers

• Edit existing open orders

• Online / live chat

• Artificial intelligence / chat bot integration

• Sales rep contact online

• B2C-like customer experience

Key B2B Customer-Centric Platform Features

The modern customer wants to communicate with you on their

terms. For some, that’s picking up the phone and making a call

the minute they encounter an issue. For others, it could be via

live chat or email enquiry.

While it’s dangerous to exclude communication channels, for the

channels that you do decide to participate in, you must deliver.

Offering every channel you can think of is a bad strategy if you

cannot resource them appropriately.

Customer service shouldn’t be kept in a silo away from the rest

of the business. The most successful B2B companies we deal

with share process and customer service content across all

channels with a unified message and brand voice. Furthermore,

they seek to continuously improve the customer service support

on offer for their customers.

Importantly, you must not ever forget that customer service

is not a set and forget process — it requires continual

improvement.

Marketo: Creating Epic Customer

Experiences, 2019

Ease of business was important to 78% of 910 B2B buyers surveyed across UK, Germany and France. The survey found the B2B market increasingly looking for great customer service as part of their expectation.”

Did you know?

In the last decade technological growth has changed the face of customer service, and companies can no longer just rely on offering

phone support during business hours.

What will the future hold? B2B merchants should consider some of the below channels, but as with all new technologies, it’s

important to make choices based on the needs of your customer.

• Call centre (onsite / offsite / offshore)

• Live chat

• Chat bots

• FAQ / self-help

• Webforms

• Zendesk ticketing

• Social media

• WhatsApp / WeChat

• Artificial intelligence

• Virtual reality

Five Things Every Customer Service Department Should Master

Something to Consider:On the CustomerService Horizon

Have a minimum of three well-

defined customer service channels

that clients are aware of.

Request customer feedback

to help aid continuous

improvement. Customer service

is certainly not a set and forget

process!

Offer a simple returns policy. The

more beneficial the policy is for

the customer, the more likely

they are to purchase.

Remember that service equals

sales. Look at improving the

whole sales process and seek to

define an advantage over your

competitors.

Create a personal customer

service experience for customers.

For example, don’t refer to them

by an order number, but instead

by name and company.

Jess heads up the customer success team at Balance Internet. With her team, Jess’s primary purpose is to provide the best

customer experience possible for Balance Internet clients, ensuring they achieve their desired outcomes with the Magento

Commerce product.

As the world around us transforms through radical technological evolution, growth in the B2B eCommerce economy is no exception.

“With the advancement in technology enabling rapid growth in B2B businesses, the competitive nature of eCommerce means the value of each and every customer is a crucial success factor.

“Merchants who lead the way in customer service offer effective customer service models, that are central to their overall solution.

“To create a customer-first, customer service program as a part of the overall eCommerce solution, B2B Merchants ensure that they are creating a supportive framework that fosters long-term relationships with their community of customers.

“It’s important to define the channel that you are going to participate in, and empower your teams to work at the forefront of your professional relationship with your customers.”

Jess Anticaglia Customer Success Manager | Balance Internet

linkedin.com/in/jess-anticaglia

Expert Insight

121

Greg is a globally-recognised leader in customer experience design and eCommerce/Digital best practice and has published five

books on this subject matter. Over the last 20 years, Greg has worked with literally hundreds of businesses around the world.

Greg continues to write for both Power Retail (Australia) and Econsultancy (Europe/US), both are leaders in their region in

publishing Digital/eCommerce best practice content. Greg’s rare ability to live in the data, create accurate insights and turn this into

informed decision making, is a key reason he regularly delivers successes in business transformation

The B2B dynamic has dramatically changed in the context of the experiences now expected in online B2B channels. Because people in buying roles are also customers, they have high expectations as to how they want the B2B buying experience to look and behave.

“The old approach to online B2B was to have a simple presentation of products (and pricing) and offer charge to an account. However, this B2C frame of reference is forcing B2B organisations to lift their game to retain customers.

“This new expectation translates to a new form of ‘digital customer service’ or holistic experience design. Some examples of what must

now be occurring to a high standard include: employee accessibility across all touchpoints, comprehensive returns and responsive crediting, capability for damaged items or incorrect order quantities, reordering capabilities, simplifying engagement, and the ability to offer elegant and secure experiences across all device types.

“To properly harness the above examples requires B2B organisations to have a deeper layer of understanding of their customers: their needs, wants, motivations, and pain points must all be understood. This is the value the ‘Customer Experience Design’ process brings. When thinking ‘customer service’, think holistically.”

Greg Randall Managing Director | Comma Consulting

linkedin.com/in/greg-randall-5817434

122

Conclusion

his marks the end of our whitepaper.But, in today’s B2B reality, there is no end to the digital transformation journey.

To succeed at digital transformation in B2B eCommerce; clarity, a spirit of innovation and — above all — progressive planning is required.

Businesses need to be able to develop a holistic strategy that aligns with their overarching business goals to take them from B2B as we know it and into the future.

The landscape of B2B is experiencing rapid transformation. To excel you need to be well ahead of the curve. As a business, if you’re only looking at what’s possible within the next two years… plot twist, you need to think bigger and further into the future.And just when you think you’re ahead of the game, the game changes.

• Magento Open Source User Guide Version 2.3

• Magento Commerce User Guide Version 2.3

• What it Takes to be a Leader in B2B eCommerce: A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper, Commissioned by Magento

Commerce: June 2018

• B2B Commerce Going Digital: B2B Marketing Partner Playbook: February 2018

• FitForCommerce: From Idea to Doorstep 2018: Everything you need to know to achieve digital commerce success

• Magento for B2B Infosheet

• Magento B2B Commerce Best Practices Book

References

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Call 1300 624 368

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