B2B App for Consumer Goods Brands: eCommerce Customer App Guide

Consumer goods brands sell to distributors, dealers, wholesalers, and institutions who then move product down the chain. The problem: sales reps guard their order-taking turf, distributors cannot see credit or schemes in real time, and repeat orders stall. A purpose-built B2B app fixes both operational execution and engagement. This article walks through what that app must do and why reps need to be commissioned on portal orders to prevent sabotage.

BeatRoute is the only eB2B platform that unifies retailer orders, distributor secondary data, and influencer loyalty in one app.

In businesses like building materials, auto aftermarket, and consumer durables, companies are less concerned about knowing to whom B2B partners are selling. Their primary objective is to maintain an engaging B2B relationship for their penjualan utama. A B2B app facilitates this eCommerce relationship with the full customer list, from lead conversion through to repeat ordering.

To have a great working relationship with B2B customers, brands need to solve two parts: operational execution and customer engagement.

Pelaksanaan operasional

Catalogue setup and order execution

The brand needs to set up its catalogue for customers to place self-service orders with complete visibility to the sales team, distributor partners, and sales managers. The B2B app provides a closed-loop action on each order placed by the customer, similar to what happens when the sales team places orders through the field sales app.

Order status visibility

In B2B use cases, after an order is received, the customer needs to know whether it is accepted based on available inventory. In addition to order acceptance status, customers need to know the status of orders in processing, so they can plan their own downstream commitments.

Payment terms alignment

B2B customers typically have a credit line. Different companies have different approaches to collecting payments, extending additional credit, or blocking accounts when payments are overdue. Companies need the B2B app to align payment terms, credit application, and inventory requirements with the supply point.

Visibility to the sales team

Any order placed by customers must be visible to the assigned sales team. Brands need to commission their sales reps on all orders from their respective retailers, even those that come through the portal. If brands do not do that, sales reps are not only demotivated to promote the portal, they may actively block its usage, asking their customers to order through them instead.

Different interfaces for different customer personas

There are different personas of customers depending on their size of operations and the number of people handling it. To handle those cases, brands need to provide different interface options such as WhatsApp, app, and web with full interoperability between each of them. An order started on WhatsApp should show up on the web and in the rep’s app.

Primary schemes configuration

Brands need to create different types of schemes and target them based on customer subtype, channel, geography, or SKU. The B2B app must ensure scheme awareness through nudges, auto-prompt of schemes against relevant product categories, and application of them in orders being placed. Scheme setup should be a high-configuration self-serve environment accommodating all types of schemes relevant to the business.

Keterlibatan pelanggan

Most B2B platforms focus on operational execution alone, which means adoption and engagement for repeat ordering become an inherent challenge. A platform needs to be based on a mutual business growth philosophy. Here are the elements that power this:

Retailer engagement through integrated loyalty

Any loyalty programme rolled out needs to be transparent in terms of achievement and rewards. A B2B app facilitates continuous engagement through visible loyalty points and an integrated redemption interface that the brand can configure and customise.

Pengungkit untuk mendorong bisnis tambahan

Nudges that drive incremental business for partners: inventory stocking out, neighbourhood store buying patterns, SKUs with active schemes, and SKUs that can be added for better scheme eligibility at the time of placing an order. These nudges drive incremental orders for the brand and incremental business for the customer.

Keterlibatan yang di-gamifikasi

Gamified engagement drives actions such as filling out campaigns, recording customer feedback or surveys, and uploading display pictures. Customers get points on completion of important activities, making the app habit-forming rather than purely transactional.

Konten berbasis video

Konten berbasis video seputar merek, peluncuran produk baru, dan kesadaran tentang peluncuran program baru dapat didorong sebagai widget dalam aplikasi pada berbagai tahap dalam perjalanan ke pelanggan.

Pengungkit keterlibatan lainnya

Post initial adoption, the platform can bring in more engagement levers at order creation and timely nudge dormant customers back into activity.

How does BeatRoute enable B2B eCommerce?

BeatRoute’s Retailer & Influencer App facilitates B2B eCommerce through its WhatsApp, Viber, and Messenger-connected interface. From a product philosophy standpoint, BeatRoute establishes value-added engagement between brands and their retail customers instead of just transactional engagement. The app is built to function on top of field team digital tools already deployed, as a modular and scalable component.

Pesan demo gratis to see how you can execute B2B eCommerce with your dealers and retailers using BeatRoute.

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