do you think it’s possible to adopt B2B e-commerce strategies?
and if yes, what are the most effective strategies to do it?
You are linking together the two most risky types of transactions for a payment processor to approve. B2B is is usually high ticket, high volume. Ecommerce is card not present and so it falls into a less qualified interchange. So make sure you let the processor know exactly what you plan on doing when you go to get setup or you will either get declined or you will get approved and then they will hold your funds for 6 months.
Strategies are a different story. What kind of B2B sales are you going to do?
If I’m understanding the question correctly, my answer is ABSOLUTELY! Think of a webhosting company for example- That is B2B eCommerce. Selling services to business over the internet. There are many examples of this. I also echo tobuso’s question of ‘What type of business services are you selling’?
Of course. Businesses have regular people doing much of their ordering. Not all items can go without a direct contact meeting like heavy duty equipment, but commodity items can be purchased online without the need for in-person interaction.
Absolutely, but your average order price will dictate how professional your site needs to be and how much personalized service you offer.
I own a business that primarily targets consumers but that also get the occasional business orders, which are usually much larger. Even making small investments into creating a ‘Business or Corporate’ orders page can pay some big dividends.
One thing you need to decide - Are you willing to extend credit to businesses? This can open the door to a lot more business, but is also much more risky in the event your business customers don’t pay up after your deliver. We take a hybrid approach: We require a credit card for the first few transactions to establish a relationship, and then if they have good references we’ll extend them net 30 payment terms. We nearly got burned on a $10,000 purchase order once, so we’re much more careful now.
Good luck!
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