Take a strategic approach to defining your technology stack.
One of the hottest trends in the pandemic era is B2B eCommerce. Before diving in, make sure you are considering the big picture, so you don't fall victim to the trappings of B2C platforms.
For years, the B2C world has honed their selling to provide mass appeal to a mass audience. B2C is a one-size fits all approach, but your B2B business is unique, and so are your buyers. You need a solution that is flexible and robust enough to support your business model, nurture complex relationships from supply chain to end user and deliver amazing experiences for the buyer.
Shopping carts like Shopify and marketplaces like Amazon are easy out of the box solutions that may fall short of meeting the complexities of a B2B sales environment.
However, before you start to evaluate B2B platforms, there is a critical piece of your technology stack that should be defined first.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
When a business plans to leverage new technologies, the single most important decision might just be the order of deployment.
Often clients start looking for a business management solution after they implement a shopping cart. They spent time and money setting up Shopify, WooCommerce or Square and now they are "ready" to implement an ERP solution for accounting and operations. What they hadn't considered is that whatever ERP solution they choose, they will have to build and maintain a complex interface to keep the data up to date in both systems.
Can it be done? Of course, but how much will it cost to build? To maintain? To upgrade?
Single-stack eCommerce (and everything else)
To manage and grow your business, you need accurate data and real time insights. Data will come from all kinds of places - shopping carts, help desks, website forms, social profiles, 3PLS, and the list goes on. Where the data lives and how you consume it - that's the foundation of your business.
To be competitive in the digital age, you need a single-stack approach to technology. Systems and solutions that are designed to grow as you grow, with extensions to meet your needs when you need them. Without the headache of building and maintaining costly interfaces.
Don’t start with building a new shopping cart, start with building a platform for your data. Start with Business Central.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Business Central is a comprehensive business management solution that connects sales, service, finance and operations teams. To meet the needs of B2B sellers, several third-party solution providers have built robust Apps specifically for the Business Central platform. Depending on your requirements, Admiral can make the right recommendation to meet your specific needs.
The platforms we support offer:
Do more with an integrated solution built to scale up as you grow. Get an enterprise-level platform with the accessible feel of a B2C store, but the power to support super-sized catalogues, volume-based pricing, express ordering and so much more.
To learn more and see a product demonstration, contact us today.
