Marketing and PR guide: Selling your B2B products online

Considered selling your existing products online but thought e-commerce was best suited to B2C? If so, then it might be time to think again.

By Don Fryer, director, Piranha

Selling online can be a very cost effective and relatively easy way to expand your business. It will increase your market reach and create opportunities to grow your overall business sales revenue.

8 good reasons to consider e-commerce: 1. Your customers can place orders outside of your business hours. This is especially useful for smaller businesses where everyone is fully occupied with their ‘day jobs’ during normal working hours. 2. Customers can view their bespoke prices and have access to previous orders, enabling them to manage their purchasing history online and making it simpler and easier to re-order. 3. Account holders can order through their credit controlled account whilst new customers can pay by credit and debit card. 4. Your cashflow can be significantly enhanced by payment being taken at the point of purchase/dispatch, minimising administration and debt recovery costs. 5. The website can be integrated into your current back-office systems, providing a seamless process for you and your customers. 6. An e-commerce website will expand your geographical market and even enable you to explore the export market. 7. You get to take control - managing content, special offers and also viewing all orders placed on your website via any internet connection. 8. An e-commerce website will build your customer database and form a platform for ongoing marketing. So, it is well worth exploring how an e-commerce solution might fit in to your business plan. It may well be the additional string to your bow that you are looking for.