The B2B market has grown immensely in the past few years and such that its compound annual growth rate is expected to be 18.7% in 2021-28. It means the need for your business to switch to an e-commerce platform for wholesale is now more than ever.
B2B eCommerce is effective, efficient, and allows you to connect to your audience on a global level. With the help of a B2 platform, you can attract more customers and might even improve your business productivity. Hence, a lot of wholesale businesses are opting for it and you should too.
The challenge, however, remains the same, how are you going to choose an eCommerce platform that suits your needs? Different options are available today whether in eCommerce or manufacturer representative software and not all of them can work the best for you. In times like this, you should know what factors to consider before you decide.
By being aware of these factors, you give yourself a fair chance to end up making the right decision. Here we will shed some light on a few of these factors that might help you choose a reliable eCommerce platform:
Seemless Setting Up and Genuine Pricing
One of the first things to consider is how easy or difficult it is to set up your eCommerce platform. Ideally, you would want a platform that doesn’t take too much of your time and effort to set up. You can pick any prominent eCommerce platform like Shopify and see how convenient their setting up process is. You should be looking for an eCommerce platform for wholesale similar to this.
Along with this, you must also consider the cost of setting up and the other expenses that follow. Depending on your business size and budget, you should choose the platform which you know is worth it. You don’t have to necessarily spend too much money for a quality eCommerce platform for wholesale. Your goal should be to choose a software that has an easy setup and charges reasonably.
Does it Allow Third-party Integration?
From using commission tracking software to finding more eCommerce solutions to grow your business, you will have to do it all. Therefore, you should also determine if or not your chosen eCommerce platform supports third-party integration. When you integrate your platform with some of the popular tools in the market, you let it grow profoundly.
Some of the common integration needs that might occur in the future include CRM (customer relationship management) integration, web analytics integration, etc. Without support from these third-party tools, your business will fall behind and your competitors might take over easily. So, make sure you check and ask about third-party integration while you are still searching for the right platform.
Don’t Forget to Check Payment Methods
You should also think from a customer's point of view and what would they want. Starting with extensive payment gateways. The more options you give them, the better. Customers prefer carrying out payments safely from the source they trust the most. Your eCommerce platform must let them choose from the payment methods available.
Don’t just think about what payment methods are popular among customers today but also in the times to come. Credit cards, PayPal, and more choices should be there. Much like all the other tips given here, you should prioritize the payment methods as well. This could help you build customers over time for the long run.
Easy-to-Use Admin Panel
Your job as the wholesale business owner is not just limited to setting up the eCommerce platform. This is why you should also aim for a user-friendly platform that can be accessed easily. Admin panel must be less complicated and provide easy navigation for whatever you are working on or what to work on.
The platform must be such that it easily lets you obtain customer data and other reports without consuming too much time. You surely wouldn’t want an eCommerce platform where you have to spend hours trying to understand its mechanism. Besides, you won’t even have that much time to spare which makes it necessary to choose a user-friendly eCommerce platform with an easy-to-use admin panel and more.
Conclusion
The tips that we have listed above aren’t the only factors that help you choose a reliable eCommerce platform for wholesale. You can always consider more and more factors according to your requirements. Make sure whenever you decide to start looking, you have enough time on your hands. These decisions cannot be made haphazardly as they could affect your overall business.
As far as different eCommerce platforms are concerned, MarketTime also has an authentic platform that you could choose. You can visit their website and explore what their eCommerce platform has to offer and what more they have in store for you.
