A business model is one that everyone has their own opinion. For some, it is a combination of choices on how you operate a business, whereas others see it as how a business functions. However, another group says it comprises certain elements, including resources, processes, and customer value propositions.
Notwithstanding your view, every business needs a business model to run effectively. More importantly, your B2B eCommerce business also needs such a model to run successfully. For eCommerce businesses, there are three essential business models that are proven successful. In this article, we will explore the masses, customer relationship, and hybrid model.
Masses Business Model
The Masses business models function excellently with B2b businesses with a vast product catalog that also wants to reach many customers. The model depends on digital marketing instead of a sales team. B2B companies that use this model mainly sell non-specific and general items that any customer can buy.
Therefore, to ensure customers return to make purchases, the model utilities various strategies, including loyalty programs and email marketing. For the model to be successful when using for your eCommerce business, you need to have a well-competitive price, and your websites must be optimized for search engines.
Customer-Relationship focused Model
The model emphasizes personal customer relationships. Here, the sales team is an essential part of the business as it helps nurture customer relationships and answer any questions in their journey to make a purchase. Businesses that sell products and services in a personalized or specialized niche utilizes this model. The eCommerce platform makes it easier to create a personalized experience for every customer, display every item related to what they have already purchased. Furthermore, it also shows a specific pricing system and integrates with CRM and ERP systems to provide a personalized customer experience.
Hybrid Business Model
You can see this model as the middleman between the customer-relationship-focused model and the masses model. It includes a mixture of selling from an extensive online product catalog to server buyers and selling personalized products. This business allows buyers to buy directly from their website while giving them access to a specific niche. An essential aspect of this model is customer segmentation and integration with ERP and CRM.
Conclusion
Although business-to-customer businesses, investments, and brands have gotten massive attention since the introduction of the internet, business-to-business eCommerce businesses are here to stay. While their growth might be slow, it will certainly minimize the influence and dominance of the B2C market.
Nevertheless, while everything seems promising for the B2B market, the solution is pretty complex. Frequently, it requires a mindset change of the people handling these small and medium-sized businesses. Additionally, these businesses make up a more significant part of the industry in every country.
When choosing a particular model for your B2B eCommerce business, you need to find one that perfectly suits your business and website. However, whatever model you decide fits your eCommerce business, remember to optimize your website.
After choosing your business model, it is essentials to find the right B2B eCommerce platform to start building your website. With each platform and model, there will be a variety of tools available to assist you. For example, inventory management, automation tools, marketing apps, etc.
If you’re a BigCommerce merchant, 2 apps Atom8 and BackOrder are recommended to help your business. Atom8 automates repetitive tasks on the platform, while BackOrder prevents revenue loss due to zero inventory. The link of the two apps’ introduction here:
Atom8 helps you automate repetitive tasks to save hours of working.
With BackOrder, zero inventory will no longer be a problem.
