A B2B wholesale platform can be a profitable solution for businesses, and there's no doubt about that one! If you already possess an online store on a wholesale B2B marketplace, the time for exploring advanced features to exponentially increase your enterprise returns has come. However, if you don't have one yet, it's about time!
Table of contents
- What is B2B wholesale
- Benefits of B2B wholesale
- Issues faced by B2B wholesale
- Few of the top B2B wholesale platforms of 2021
What is B2B wholesale?
B2B wholesale organizations sell their products in bulk to other organizations. The company that purchases the products uses the products for internal usage; basically for manufacturing or expenditure — or engages in product resell in small-scale quantities to separate purchasers. Substantially, business-to-business wholesale is a subdivision of the larger-scale B2B market.
What are the benefits of B2B wholesale
Once you learn to take advantage of the B2B wholesale market, the benefits to reap are boundless. Here are some of the prime benefits of B2B wholesale:
Boost AOV and order volume
'AOV' known as 'Average order value' depicts the average dollar amount an individual customer spends while placing an order in a shop.
So, how do you calculate your store’s average order value? Well, you can calculate it by dividing the total revenue of your store by the number of overall orders taken.
AOV = Total Revenue of store/ Number of overall orders taken
This is the easiest method to calculate AOV of your store.
Increase brand awareness
The prime function of B2B wholesale is to put across their products in bulk to retailers without the presence of a third-party medium. Showing the complete range of products to retailers brings higher upsell and cross sells.
So, you can bring in brand awareness from new potential clients by simply reselling your products to retail associates; the retail partners then resell the products to their customers.
Remember, the greater your brand visibility, the more the development and space for more opportunities.
Maintain a fixed margin of profit
The prime advantage of wholesaling between businesses is that wholesale vendors get a fixed profit margin. This can be achieved by having a retailer specific price list so that it becomes easy for them to place orders with minimal negotiations. They don't have to fret about the margins of profit in this domain, as the profit amounts that come from selling a set amount of items to retailers can be estimated.
Improve control over the supply
Concerning the supply chain, wholesale B2b marketplace have control over the supply and demand variations between the manufacturer and retail broker. Once manufacturers produce their products, they need to sell their products to create enough funds.
At times retailers can be in situations where they can't purchase items in large quantities as they lack adequate capital. Therefore, it is the wholesalers who purchase it from manufacturers and act as a bridge between the manufacturers and retailers.
You have to realize that B2B retailers depend on wholesale suppliers in aspects of production, reselling, and consumer consumption.
Issues faced by B2B wholesale
Like any other business or platform, B2B wholesale also faces its fair share of issues, and here are some of the common issues faced by B2B wholesale platforms.
Two apps for managing offline & online purchases
Ecommerce is always considered only for the online channel of sales for a wholesale business. It is never considered as an omnichannel commerce whether their customer is buying online or offline. So, wholesalers had to depend on ecommerce for online and sales rep apps for managing their offline orders.
However, now with omnichannel B2B commerce platforms, you can conduct your online and offline business with one version of truth.
Global competition
Competing internationally comes along with the exploration of the Internet, which also adds pressure on the price and affects low-margin wholesalers for most cases. However, if wholesalers can keep their costs under control and venture their business to an all-new market, they’ll have the potential to recover from any loss of sales and possibly increase overall sales.
Retail consolidation
As there is an increase in the number of national retailers, the number of wholesalers dealing with supermarkets, home electronics, and DIY supplies has taken a dip. There are two kinds of wholesalers, the wholesalers who keep growing and serve a wide range of client base and the ones who will focus on particular markets and excel in those domains.
What to look for in a B2B wholesale platform?
If you plan to initiate a business on eCommerce, you can potentially face issues related to choosing a perfect platform for you. There are multiple options to go with, but first, you must be aware of the essential functions that a B2B platform should possess.
Simple to use
Easy handling is one of the prime features to look for in a B2B domain. Unfortunately, because of cutting-edge features making B2B business a lot more complex, it is pretty difficult for the administrator to handle the website's actions.
Therefore, running these functions while maintaining usability is doubtful. Especially when you're changing the status quote and updating the customer data automatically. So, users must enroll in software that’s user-friendly and filled with strong functionalities to avoid complexities.
B2B functionality
A B2B platform should possess features directed more towards buyers such as bulk ordering & pricing, duplicating history of orders, quote management with approvals and negotiation capabilities, availability of products in inventory, management of account, multiple shipping and payment options.
Mobile compatibility
B2B users are using their mobiles instead of PCs to do Business online. Failing to equip customers with a smooth mobile interface can cost you lots of business opportunities. Ensure that your B2B website for wholesale is responsive and high-performing in mobile versions of the website.
Marketing functionality
People need to research well before selling their products. When you provide detailed information about the products you are selling, it will assist B2B wholesalers in the purchasing journey.
Besides, a B2B wholesale platform helps your site stand out on search engines. A B2B wholesale platform boosts brand visibility and increases sales. It also helps to take advantage of digital marketing, by which you can showcase your blogs, case studies, commercial articles, etc.
5 Best B2B wholesale platforms of 2021
While there are so many B2B wholesale platforms to go with, here are five of the best B2B wholesale platforms available in the market that would suit most business models.
1. Growmax
Growmax is the right platform built for B2B companies with great features. In fact, Growmax as a platform provides both B2B, B2B2B, and B2B2C functionalities with headless commerce from the business plan. In addition, it has inbuilt Quote Management, Order Management, Customer-specific Pricing Management, SEO management, Product Management, and customer support system, etc. The feature richness and ease of use have made Growmax one of the best B2B wholesale platforms available in the market today.
Pros
- Built-in PWA Mobile app
- 99% availability & hosted on AWS cloud
- Provides complete quotation and order management
- In-built support & field service
- Includes product catalog and filter management
- Customer-specific pricing options
- Zero transaction fees
Cons
You may have to expect constant updates as Growmax, a young platform, is trying to add more functionalities per customer preferences.
Price
The basic plan starts at $29, while the highest ideal (accelerate) is cited at $289. Growmax has a custom plan upon request too.
2. Shopify plus
Shopify Plus is very popular among multiple big-name companies that deal with enterprise eCommerce. A child organization of Shopify, Shopify plus is a perfect solution that is engineered for scalability and reliability.and is one B2B wholesale platform that is ruling the market today.
Pros
- Scalability
- Unrivaled customer support
- In-depth analysis
- Security
- API
Cons
- Backend personalization limitations
- Product variant limit
- Wholesale limitations
- Longer learning curve
Price
Users are encouraged to contact Shopify plus for their custom pricing plan.
3. Bigcommerce
BigCommerce is an all-in-one B2B wholesale platform that can meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. Regardless of your domain or the products you sell, BigCommerce strives to provide a feature-filled platform with affordable pricing structures and extensive reporting choices. Some providers offer personalization without developer skills, but BigCommerce delivers on all aspects, making it one of the best B2B wholesale solutions.
Pros
- The faster loading time of the site on all platforms and devices
- Easy management of inventory
- Fully accessible metadata for categories, stock, pages, and posts for optimization
- A convenient built-in blog for adding content.
Cons
- Need to be able to add tracking information for customer order
Price
The Bigcommerce Essentials is priced at $29.95, while the Enterprise edition starts at $1500 plus transactional costs.
4. Magento
Created for B2B wholesale enterprises, Magento provides complete control over your eCommerce site so that your developer can create a unique web presence while prolonging server autonomy.
As a product of Adobe, Magento provides a myriad of personalization solutions for big-time companies that plan to scale more. Even though you need a developer to get started with, your non-technical teams will be grateful for the intuitive interface that makes it user-friendly to update and manage your high-volume business.
Magento's open-source, free eCommerce software and hosted software are the most cost-effective solutions for large wholesale companies looking to scale further.
Pros
- Nearly unlimited capabilities
- Open-source software is free
- Best for search engine optimization
Cons
- Sites hosted are expensive
- Need a developer and support from IT to get your website up and running
- No support for open-source software
Price
Pricing based on annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Average Order Value (AOV)
5. Opencart
OpenCart is a free eCommerce software. It is an open-source B2B eCommerce platform which is named amongst the oldest running eCommerce platforms that have been providing services to merchants for quite a long period of time.
Opencart is definitely an efficient option for the new age B2B eCommerce due to its cost-efficient pricing plans. Therefore, Opencart is ideal for beginning your eCommerce journey and running it successfully.
Moreover, the intuitive interface with responsive features and plugins make Opencart stand out as one of the best choices for B2B wholesale.
Pros
- Open-source
- In-built support for payment gateways
- PHP-based platform.
- It is effortlessly customizable
- Easy integration with various extensions
Cons
- Limited feature-set
- Limited customer support
Price
As it is open-source, OpenCart is free to use but requires payments for additional tools within the application.
Conclusion
The value B2B wholesale platforms bring over time is something to take advantage of. Doing Business in the B2B wholesale domain can be complex at first, but the potential for growth & development is something every entrepreneur must not fail to seize. The B2B wholesale platform you decide to be a part of depends upon the type of domain you work with. There isn't one best platform for all; you have to seek what's best for yourself. With that being said, contact for further queries. Good luck!
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