Mobile app ordering is gaining momentum in the B2B commerce. The growth of retailer ordering app looks never-ending, as the mobile industry has been ever-growing for the past 2 decades. Additionally, B2B e-Commerce has just started to grow very rapidly in India so the opportunities for enterprises are huge.
According to research, 49% of B2B buyers globally are using their mobiles for product buying research. As the world has been moving toward mobile-friendliness for the past few years, B2B mobile commerce (also known as m-Commerce) is constantly rising. Particularly, millennials are driving the need for mobile app ordering options, this trend is only set to continue. In this blog, we’re going to look at some of the key ways your business might benefit from an increase in retailer mobile ordering. If you haven’t already implemented a mobile point-of-contact, the points outlined here should give you that final push.
Mobiles are already the most convenient gadget for everyone. It is naturally convenient to order or re-order using a device in your hand. In addition to the convenience of time and location, mobile also offer features like barcode scanning, one-click ordering, and easy mobile payment options. Considering millennials are very important target segment in future, retailer mobile app features must be targeting buying habits from all over the internet. 86% B2B suppliers already believe that a multi-channel approach will take them toward long-term success. The demand for technology that caters to a range of buying habits, allows for the customization of ordering preferences, and offers the ability to buy at the point-of-intent (whether that’s after closing time on the shop floor or whilst taking inventory) is prompting suppliers to design feature-rich, omni-channel sales.
Upto 70% of retailers use their mobile devices for buying research purposes. Hence, an increased mobile marketing is natural. Mobile marketing like WhatsApp, SMS or Push is just one-step toward better growth. Offering a retailer mobile app can allow brands to customise unique offers for each retailer and checking drop-off points in the buyer journey. If for instance, data analytics shows that retailers are putting together an order for a new product, but falling short of hitting the actual "buy" button, it’s then possible to communicate specific offer or scheme to convert into order for retailer.
Retailer mobile app integration with backend system like ERP is growing rapidly, as most people are realising the importance of mobile app. Also, with technological advancements, mobile apps are becoming easier to use. As a device, mobiles are already the first choice for finding the products. Also, these integrations help in better user experience on mobile at the buyer’s end, as platform integration is able to provide all the historical purchase and preference data to retailer app.
This has been a big pain point for brands and manufacturers to communicate and engage with their retailers who have been buying frequently from them and want to keep themselves updated with latest brand schemes and offers. Retailer mobile app solves this problem and primarily used for communication between brand and retailers. Using this convenience, brands can add several communication options to their retailer app. Push notifications or WhatsApp can help in keeping the buyers updated about the new promotions, offers, schemes, personalised deals, reminders for reordering, reordering-exclusive offers, new stock updates, and many more.
Mobile commerce has been taken as a threat by sales reps, but no technology can substitute a personal touch of human-to-human interaction in wholesale commerce. Rather, m-Commerce complements the work of sales reps by automatising robotic, data-entry type tasks and giving more time and opportunity to the sales reps to work on building better relationships with the retailers on the behalf of the brand. Online retailer app is just another buying channel for retailers with varying needs. Most customers abandon their cart after adding products because the last step of payment is most crucial for them. Hence, the payment step must give them assurance that they are buying the products at the right price and through the right payment channels. As large quantities and payments are involved in B2B e-Commerce, sales reps are very helpful in making the wholesale customers comfortable on a personal level.
We are putting efforts in making the technology onboarding very convenient, cost-effective, and easy to use for brands and manufacturers. If you have any questions regarding m-Commerce or in general B2B e-Commerce, we would love to hear from you. Also, feel free to ask for a free trial of our B2B ordering software.