B2B portal is an electronic trading platform created by a manufacturer (dealer) to interact with customers — legal entities. He “takes over” some of the functions of sales, accounting, legal, marketing, and even quality services. At the same time, it simplifies the ordering process for the customer, removing some of the restrictions.
World statistics contends that B2B online commerce is already valued at $12.2 trillion, which is six times more than online B2C. But this is the global average. In Russia, however, the figures are still far from being so optimistic. Despite widespread automation and the trend towards digitalization in all areas, B2B marketplaces and portals account for an extremely small share in e-commerce.
In today's article, we'll look at why the gap between Russian and global indicators will begin to decrease in the near future.
Why are there few B2B portals in Runet...
... if we are moving towards digitalization?
“Producers need B2B portals to work with partners. And a large percentage of industries in Russia are still managed by managers of the “old generation”. They understand the need for modern technologies and are incorporating them into their infrastructure, but they still trust people more than they trust the Internet.”
Galina
Sales Manager
Another line of resistance is middle management. A middle manager in, say, a sales department knows perfectly well which of his employees are effective and who are “sagging”. But often, for personal reasons, the middle manager does not want this information to be disclosed to management. You won't be able to maintain the status quo with a B2B portal. Therefore, the middle manager will resist the introduction of this technology as long as he has enough strength and influence.
The last line of resistance is the structure of business processes. To launch a B2B portal, business processes must be spelled out, transparent, logical and understandable to all participants. Unfortunately, this is not the case in all organizations.
Another factor is the fear of change. How will customers perceive the innovation? Will they be able to restructure their cooperation and will they move to more “traditional” suppliers?
How justified is this fear?
A client on a B2B portal is not a spherical abstraction in a vacuum, but a completely modern person. He uses the phone and the Internet, orders food delivery, calls a taxi through an app, communicates via messengers, visits online stores and State Services. In general, the “Personal Account” interface on the portal does not frighten him.
Let's say that the client does not understand everything right away. But this obstacle is also easy to overcome. Firstly, by ordering the comprehensive development of the portal, which includes a user-friendly “Personal Account” interface. Secondly, by investing time and resources in training the client. You don't have to go to everyone's office and hold a master class: detailed instructions with screenshots, video instructions or pop-up tips on the site are enough. Zoom training will generally create the effect of being in the office without travel costs.
But for those who adhere to the traditional approach and those who like to communicate with managers — there are also such people — we can offer a transition period.
Minus 9 headaches
1. How to collect analytics when all the information is in pieces of paper?
Everyone needs analytical reports: both the seller and the buyer. The B2B portal will create them independently, collecting the necessary data on purchase/sales, logistics, marketing, and management.
This functionality was implemented in a B2B portal that kt.team developed for a major food producer. One of the results of the implementation was the automatic download of statistics on partners, sales, and claims from one source. Moreover, both in tabular and graphical form. Its customers were also able to analyze their purchases in the current period and compare them with the results of previous months, quarters, and years.
2. How can I manage product information if it is stored in five different databases?
Product information is stored in several places: in accounting, in sales, in logistics, in stock... It is duplicated, does not match, is lost, contradicts itself. On the B2B portal, this information can be viewed, edited and unified through a single interface. An additional tool for managing product information on your own and external sales channels — PIM system.
3. How to deal with document errors if they are unavoidable?
All these “made a mistake”, “looked in the wrong file”, “forgot to look into Spam” haunt any sales (as well as purchasing and supply) manager in scary dreams. While people manually make checklists and documents, take orders and create internal requests, mistakes are here to stay.
In B2B Marketplace's functionality, the human factor is minimized. The processes are automated, documents are generated according to specified templates without the participation of a manager. And the system, as you know, has not yet learned to forget and seal yourself as masterfully as a person.
4. How to avoid misunderstandings between manager and client if they are unpredictable?
Sometimes it's hard to work effectively... personal dislike between the sales manager and the customer. All sorts of things happen: you don't like your voice, your way of speaking, even mistakes in writing are annoying and prevent you from working normally!
There is no interpersonal interaction on the B2B portal. An impartial system connects people and helps them make objective decisions.
5. How to keep in mind ALL prices for ALL customers and not make mistakes?
In the B2B segment, the pricing approach is flexible. Individual performance, seasonality, promotions, customer history and many other factors that you used to have to keep in mind (or calculate in Excel) are taken into account. Mistakes were almost inevitable.
The B2B portal automatically calculates prices not only for each customer, but also for each order. Current commercial offers and the logic of offering and not providing discounts have already been added to his memory. Managers do not need “manual” intervention in each order — and, accordingly, there will be no billing errors.
6. How to take orders outside of business hours and not have a 24-hour sales team?
In a “global village” (hello McLuhan), working with clients “nine to six” will not work. Even in B2B, people want to order when it's convenient for them, not when your head office is ready for it. This is especially true for businesses that operate across multiple time zones.
The order may arrive at 3 am at the customer's time or at midnight at your time, or maybe at the height of a business day. And in any case, it will be logged into the system and processed.
7. How to spend less on salespeople and sell more?
Sales representatives and managers have been participants in the shuttle race between the client and their own office for many years. They used litres of gasoline and thousands of man-hours collecting orders and delivering documents. The business owner, in turn, had to spend time on all these visits, sometimes taking it away from clients or important management tasks.
Now you don't have to send sales representatives or negotiate via email to place an order. The client will log in to the “Personal Account” himself from a computer, tablet, smartphone, collect an order, and print out the invoice that the system has generated for him. And all this at a convenient time for him.
The maximum that remains on the conscience of sales representatives is to bring the ordered goods and pick up the closing documents. Which, you see, requires much less time and cost.
8. How to track kickbacks and get rid of their source?
More than 30% of logistics decisions are based on kickbacks. Of course, no one keeps official statistics, but “everyone knows everything”. The financial losses that the organization incurs as a result affect the cost of the product.
It is good if the company has its own logistics unit and its own transport. And if third-party organizations deliver, it is likely that the manager chooses a particular contractor for personal gain.
The B2B portal allows you to track the logic of the decisions of logistics managers. And ask them questions: why does delivery through Company B when A's price is 20% lower? Perhaps it's about the quality of delivery — and then the manager will be able to confirm his choice with claim statistics. Or maybe it's because Company B financially encourages the manager to make the “right” decisions.
9. How not to miss deadlines when working with claims?
One of the most pressing business topics. During delivery, a piece of the sink broke off/the metal part bent /did the pasta break into crumbs? This is an absolutely standard situation for any business whose customers are located in another city or region of Russia. Unfortunately, our roads are not ideal, and movers can “screw it up”.
The customer files a claim, to which the supplier is obliged to respond as soon as possible. Otherwise, penalties and reputational consequences.
A large company, a manufacturer of building materials, decided to pay special attention to this aspect. And a separate module for dealing with claims has been added to the functionality of the B2B portal. Claims generation was automated: hints and expanding lists made it possible to fill in the required fields quickly and without errors. The business process, responsible persons, control points, and notifications have been spelled out. As a result, the number of overdue claims fell to zero, and thanks to analytics, it was possible to track the sources of claims and review them.
Are there any risks?
There are always risks. There is no technology or innovation that is 100% smoothly implemented and is not subject to the “human factor”.
From experience of KT.Team we have identified two main risk groups.
1. Don't foresee everything at the first stage.
Companies that do not have prescribed business processes and that have no idea how to translate “manual” work into electronic format are especially vulnerable to this risk.
“We are trying to protect our customers from this risk. The B2B portal development team must include a business analyst who collects requirements and processes before a software product is created. We have considerable experience working on similar products, including very large ones (as for Saint-Gobain and Norgau, for example). We know what they burned themselves on and what they liked, and we've put together a step-by-step plan to help you get ready to develop a B2B portal. In addition, our team has experience in various fields, and we can offer solutions from personal experience.”
Galina
Sales Manager
2. Mistakes at first is also an inevitable part of the implementation process. Until employees and customers are used to working through a B2B portal and have not studied the functionality, they will be mistaken. Therefore, it is especially important for an IT company, in addition to development, to provide a sensible and understandable description of how and what works and where to click to get the desired result. The “intuitive interface” and high-quality B2B portal design are, of course, great. But a clear instruction reduces the risk of errors significantly.
Instead of a resume
Digitalization cannot be stopped: business automation will take on more and more functions every year. Therefore, it is pointless to wait for the trend to pass and everything returns to “traditional schemes”. We need to ride the wave today so that we can keep up with the market tomorrow and not be left without customers.
Or maybe global trends in Russia won't take root and B2B portals will remain rare, and all issues will still be resolved by phone and email? What do you think?
