7 Ways Wholesalers Can Grow Their Revenue With B2B eCommerce

Did you know there are almost 800,000 wholesale businesses in the U.S. alone? And with a market size of $12 trillion, selling wholesale is an impressive feat.

Of course, B2B eCommerce offers incredible possibilities to those wholesalers who have set up online B2B stores—the most salient being the opportunity to increase their revenue through their digital platforms.

Importantly, “As baby boomers retire and millennials mature into key decision-making positions, a digital-first buying posture will become the norm,” states Cristina Gomez, Managing Vice President for the Gartner Sales Practice.  

So, as a wholesaler, you must stay on top of the latest trends to maximize your profits. From targeted discounts to offering an efficient checkout process, below, you’ll find seven ways to grow your revenue through B2B eCommerce.

7 ways to grow your revenue online

1. Elevate customers’ shopping experience through personalization

Accenture reports that 73% of B2B buyers look for a custom B2C-like experience. And by personalizing the ordering and purchase journey for your customers in your B2B store, you can significantly increase your profit. In fact, personalization is so crucial that nearly 90% of online B2B businesses already invest in it at some level. Here are just a few examples of how you can do this:

• Tailored product suggestions. Create recommendations for your customers based on what they prefer to buy from you. Why? According to Forrester Research, product recommendations are responsible for an average of 10-30% of eCommerce site revenue.

• Offer custom pricing for customers by segmenting them into groups that reflect your commercial agreements with them or the value they bring to your company’s revenue.
• Create promotions based on each customer’s order history and preferences using coupons or volume discounts. For example, you can set up tiered pricing based on customers’ order quantities, rewarding larger orders with better discounts and encouraging customers to increase their order size. In other words, utilize data analytics to track sales performance, customer behavior, and trends. These insights will help you make data-driven decisions and optimize your B2B eCommerce sales strategy.
• Use targeted discounts to promote best-selling, new, or seasonal products to your customers. Also, you can offer customer discounts to boost loyalty with an existing customer or attract new customers. In this respect, offering discounts is an effective and strategic way of establishing and solidifying a strong relationship with them.
• Feature your PDF catalog on your storefront. A digital catalog is crucial to your business success. According to B2B eCommerce, 94% of B2B buyers do research online before making a purchase, while 71% of them prefer this process over having a salesperson explain their options.

2. Streamline the ordering process

Simplify the buying experience for your customers by providing quick reordering options, bulk ordering capabilities, and a smooth checkout process. Why is this important? More than 50% of customers are less likely to complete a purchase if the checkout is longer than 30 seconds, according to a survey by Forter. In other words, minimizing the number of steps required to complete a purchase leads to more profits.

3. Empower customers with self-service features

Offer capabilities such as order tracking, invoice and order history, and account management tools. These empower customers and reduce the need for direct assistance, increasing the efficiency and profitability of your business.

4. Leverage data insights to cross-sell and upsell

Well-executed upsell and cross-sell strategies have a common benefit to any business, regardless of the industry—more revenue without having to constantly acquire new customers. Recommend complementary products or higher-priced alternatives to increase the average order value. For example, let’s say you’re a wholesaler selling wallpapers; you can cross-sell by suggesting to customers related products, such as wallpaper adhesive and cutting tools, to add to their order.

5. Connect your accounting system with your B2B ordering platform

By connecting your modern B2B eCommerce platform with your accounting solution, you can streamline invoicing, inventory syncing, and other back-office operations and keep track of your revenue and all related processes.

6. Offer flexible payment options

Offering various payment options, including credit limits, net terms, and online payments, creates more profit opportunities. This flexibility caters to different customer preferences and increases conversion rates for new customers and retention rates and loyalty among returning ones.  

7. Showcase real-time inventory and pricing data

Keep your B2B customers informed about real-time inventory levels and pricing updates through functionalities like product feeds. This transparency enhances trust and helps customers make timely purchasing decisions.

Increasing revenue through marketing and customer support

Apart from establishing a user-friendly and feature-rich B2B store and customizing it to ensure your business’s growth, you can adjust your marketing and support policy to this goal. How? Here are a few examples:

• Set up and run customer loyalty programs to reward returning customers and encourage them to continue purchasing from your online B2B store.
• Provide excellent customer support through multiple channels, such as email, phone, and live chat, to build trust and customer satisfaction and enhance your customer experience.
• Utilize digital marketing channels, such as Google Ads, to promote your B2B store and attract new customers.

Final words

Most wholesalers go online because of the fantastic money-making opportunities the digital world can offer. According to Gartner’s Future of Sales research, by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels. So, establishing your B2B store will surely increase your sales and revenue.

But to maximize your B2B eCommerce profits, you need to do a lot more, like opting for a solution that allows you to tailor the buying experience to your customers’ needs and create unique deals for them. A solution that makes ordering intuitive and payments easy for your buyers and elevates their interaction with your business. And these are only a few ways your B2B eCommerce solution can help you grow your revenue online.

Still trying to figure out where to start? Request a demo from our team today to check out the unique capabilities of our B2B eCommerce platform.