26 Feb
As per the experts, the B2B market will boom in 2021, which indicates the number of B2B customers and business will grow exponentially. This is highly positive for the businesses especially because of the slowdown in the market due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. However, with vast B2B orders, B2B Suppliers (manufacturers, C&F, distributors) will face higher challenges in B2B business in order handling and management.
According to the report, approximately 89% of the customers believe that customer experience is proportional to their products. The B2B 2021 trend is all about enhancing the B2B customer’s experience and services.
Additionally, according to McKinsey & Company, B2B digital leaders drive five time higher revenue growth. The secondary sales data is highly crucial for analytics and planning. The question is, are you in a position to get this data and drive more sales and revenue to your business?
Let’s take a look at the challenges that you might face in B2B order management systems and how you can overcome them.
But before, let’s throw some light into the order management system to understand it better.
What is an Order Management System?
The B2B order management involves the process starting from how a company salesperson takes an order from a B2B customer or B2B customer orders directly, processing the same by the warehouse to pack and ship it, intimate to the customer and monitoring the same till the customer receives. Due to an island of software applications such as Billing, inventory and manual processes, these processes are currently partially done by people and by applications and some of them such as dispatch notification or tracking are not followed due to missing automation.
The order management system consists of various steps, right from receiving the order, approving the order to the product’s final shipment.
The Challenges in B2B Order Management System
With the increased product models, SKUs or partlines, mobility and sales reach in far flung areas , challenges have increased significantly. Some of the difficulties faced by businesses in B2B order management are:
- Multichannel selling: The higher the number of orders you receive, the higher strain your business will fall under, especially if your business lacks efficiency and speed.
- Higher stands of purchasers: B2B customers will have higher purchasing standards compared to B2C customers since they will place large orders along with long-term supply. Your business must meet customers’ high standards, or else you might end up losing your potential business and customer.
- Complicated global supply chains: Besides the traditional in-house supply chain methods, there are plenty of new techniques to keep up with your customers’ orders and complete the shipment worldwide.
- Different business needs: Like B2B customers, each business also comes with its needs. As an owner, you must fulfill your business’s requirements.
What B2B Order Management Can Do For You?
Now that you are aware of the challenges you might face in B2B order management, you can take some practical steps to efficiently remove the hard work and run the B2B order management process.
- Going paperless: Most of the management systems today run on the cloud. According to Techjury, 67% of the business will run on the cloud globally because of the paperless work. Going paperless will enable your business to run efficiently and give you access to the data whenever you need it without going through enormous papers.
- Reducing the complexity of supply chains: When you centralize your inventory data and orders, you can have higher control over the inventory for your business. With an order management system, you can track the process right from receiving the order to the final shipment procedure.
- Meeting the purchaser’s standards: As mentioned previously that B2B customers have higher needs than B2C customers; one of the easiest ways to stand out from your customers is by meeting their high standards. Through an advanced order management system, you will be able to customize the stages for your customers, including payment methods, order fulfillment, invoice, shipping, and more.
- Centralize information: Irrespective of how your customers place orders, you can track the orders from a centralized place. This will help you keep all the data in one location without any hassle.
- Taking orders in person: As your B2B customers will place orders more frequently, having a cloud-based order management system with offline order capabilities will help you and your field sales teams take orders in-person too.
- Track orders: One of the keys to keeping your customers happy is tracking orders efficiently. In case your customers ask about their order, you will be able to give them reliable information about their order.
- Manage CRM: B2B process still involves visit of sales person and taking order in person. Equipped with all customer information, the sales person is able to do effective sales and collection.
Does Your Business Need a B2B Order Management System?
So far, we have seen the challenges and benefits of the B2B order management system. The main question that strikes is, ‘Does your business need a B2B order management system?
Figuring out this is crucial. Below are some of the signs that point out that your business needs a B2B order management system.
- Unable to manage data: As you start your business, you will be relying on multiple systems to organize your data. Although this option may seem reliable initially, you will find yourself stuck to manage your data in one place.
- Hard to keep up with sales channels: Managing orders on multiple channels such as orders via phone, WhatsApp, email etc. comes along with various complexity. When you manage orders on multiple platforms, there are high chances of human errors, delays, and more. This invites a risk of losing control over your business.
- Complex system for buyers: Customers do not want to go through multiple procedures to get the information they need. In this digital era, people need everything at the touch of their fingertips. If the process is long and complicated, you will have higher chances of leaving your customers unsatisfied.
- Sudden running out of inventory: If you do not have an effective order management system, you will run out of inventory as your orders start to grow. Once you get your hands on a reliable B2B order management platform, you will resolve the tracking problems and efficiently run the business.
Reliable B2B Order Management Platform: Profitley
Profitley is cloud-based one of the fastest-growing and flexible order management platforms for B2B sales automation to assist you in different ways. It is a cross functional app and allows every stakeholder – distributor, salesperson , B2B Buyer to use it as per access rights. Some of Profitley’s powerful features that help you solve B2B obstacles and include an efficient order management system are provided below.
- Rich Product Catalog: Carrying bulky and/or outdated product catalogues, price lists for order booking makes both retailer (B2B Buyer) as well as salesperson life difficult. Profitley’s catalog capability, let me see and get details of the product including prices, new arrivals, promotions and more easily.
- Management of sales team: Profitley allows you to manage your sales team and efficiently track their performance and targets. You get a detailed report about the weakness, strengths, and opportunities to help you understand each member better.
- Manage orders efficiently: Through Profitley, you can manage your orders right from receiving orders until the final delivery of the goods without any hassle.
- Set discounts globally: To keep your customers happy, you can set centralized discounts globally for your business.
- Efficient retailers management: Easily promote the retailer’s operation by taking orders from licensed customers via an onboarding process. Via this sales rep app, you also get a comprehensive results summary to improve your company profitability
This does not end the exceptional functionalities of Profitley. You can also enjoy additional benefits such as validity management, pricing management, and more. Profitley lets you save time and effort by providing you all the functionalities on one platform.
Irrespective of the business size, Protiley serves various kinds of users and helps take your business to the next level.
With the increased global trend, business needs to evolve too. One of the keys to a successful business is keeping your customers happy by fulfilling their needs. These needs can be easily fulfilled by having reliable B2B order management platforms like Profitely.
Do platforms like Profitely help process orders more quickly?
Platforms like Profitley boost your business’s success by providing all the functionalities in one place. From receiving orders to the product’s final delivery, Profitley enables you to complete and manage the process efficiently.
What is a B2B order?
Online order purchases between companies are defined in B2B eCommerce or business-to-business electronic commerce. Since orders are handled online for wholesalers, retailers, dealers, and other forms of B2B vendors, ordering productivity is increased.
What is order management in the supply chain?
Order management includes integrating multi channel orders with product accounts, data storage, and order handling, including credit card authentication, delivery processes, and returns across the entire fulfillment network.
