In 2021, sales with B2B eCommerce software are projected to reach an astounding $1.2 trillion. That’s an increase from $889 billion in 2017.
In the wake of COVID-19, where only 20% of B2B buyers want to return to in-person sales, this quick-fire B2B eCommerce growth looks to continue further on, reaching those sectors where field-sales have dominated the market, such as biotech.
Manufacturers and wholesalers of the most complex and configurable products face a huge challenge: How do they sell their products online when technical expertise is absolutely essential, and there is a huge number of options for customers to pick from?
Keep reading to find out how the digital leaders selling the most complex products handle B2B eCommerce and how you can bring it into effect. In this article, we look at:
How, with 3D ecommerce rendering technology, you can sell a vast catalog of complex, customizable goods online.
How, through a visual CPQ solution, you enable your non-technical buyers to configure, price, and quote technical products, without the actual help of sales or engineering teams.
How, through the help of omnichannel retailing, you can easily integrate B2B eCommerce with the other sales channels (including sales reps) for providing a regular, cross-channel buying experience.
How 3D product rendering makes it effortless to sell catalogs of complex, customizable products online
What exactly is 3D Product Rendering?
3D product rendering is using the product rendering software for the creation of computer-generated and photorealistic product images. This 3D image can be viewed from absolutely any angle, and then can be used in the place of traditional product photography on your B2B eCommerce site.
You can also use an all-in-one 3D product rendering option like Blender for the purpose of rendering and modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, motion tracking, and animation among a lot more. Do you know what’s best? It’s open-source and completely free.
Why 3D product renderings are better than product photography for B2B commerce?
Is 3D product rendering the right choice for every B2B eCommerce business? If you are selling limited and simple products which can be easily photographed, then traditional product photography is cheaper and much more manageable.
However, if you are selling complex, customizable products, and then you also want the potential to extend your product offering over the duration of time, then 3D product rendering will actually be the game-changer you have been looking for.
These are some of the benefits of 3D product rendering:
If you manufacture a large number of configurable products, then creating 3D product renderings can be quicker and much more cost-effective than actually carrying a large-scale photo shoot.
The moment your initial renderings get created, changing colors, dimensions, and also the addition and removal of parts can get done within a couple of clicks. Customers can easily design their products to the exact specifications and then see what they will look like in real-life, boosting the conversion rates.
Manufacture-to-order companies can extend their product catalogs for a very low marginal cost as they don’t need to physically manufacture their products to photograph them.
You can easily provide your customers with multiple angles and details that you can’t normally achieve with traditional photography.
3D product renderings are digitally very versatile. They can be animated and made pretty interactive. They can also be viewed in virtual reality simulations or laid onto the real world with the help of augmented reality for a truly immersive purchase experience in conjunction with a visual product configurator, as we have discussed below.
Visual CPQ makes the configuration of complex products quick, easy, and accurate What is visual CPQ?
CPQ stands for “configure, price, and quote.” It is the software that results in the simplification and automation of complex product configurations, calculation of prices, and even auto-generation of quotes.
Most of the CPQ solutions are text-loaded. They are great for being used by sales reps behind the scenes, saving a lot of time, eliminating errors, and reducing sales cycles too. From a B2B eCommerce perspective though, they hold a pretty limited value.
Because today’s B2B buyer does not have time to answer endless questions and filter through a huge number of options – they want instant resolution. And that’s exactly what visual CPQ solutions, with 3D product configurators, provide.
3D product configurators provide a streamlined, immersive B2B customer experience
A 3D product configurator is essentially a visual interface that allows the users to interact with and then configure the products in real-time. Users can easily add or remove parts, change their colors and dimensions, and also upgrade the features with a few intuitive clicks.
One of the most powerful features of a robust 3D product configurator is that you can embed it into your B2B eCommerce site for customers to use independently. Customers get a deep understanding of every single available option, enabling them to make their purchase with a lot of confidence.
If non-technical buyers assembling very technical, and customizable products find a recipe for disaster, don’t get tensed. CPQ product rules (logic built into the back-end of the configurator) ensure that every single product is perfectly optimized from an engineering standpoint.
Omnichannel retailing blends business to business e-commerce with tried-and-tested sales methods
B2B eCommerce is quickly becoming the preferred channel for modern buyers. But what today’s buyer looks for, is flexibility and convenience. They look for a seamless buying experience irrespective of when and where they start or end their customer journey, and the touchpoints they interact with along this path.
The more complex and high-value the purchase is, the more likely a buyer is to leverage a number of channels and get in touch with a sales rep, whether in-person, on Zoom, or even through a live chat with a service like Intercom or Drift. 86% of customers expect you to “know them” as they keep switching from channel to channel. Don’t waste their time by asking them to retell their story time and again, re-enter the information, or stay satisfied with inefficient login pages.
Omnichannel retailing means the unification of your data and processes across each and every channel. As the “whole” is more than the sum of its parts, it needs the breaking down of silos, with also blending the physical and digital worlds, putting your customer at the core of everything that you do.
With omnichannel retailing, B2Bs can achieve:
The huge growth in sales: omnichannel customers spend 4% more in-store and 10% more online. Cross-channel cohesion: sales reps benefit by using the same B2B eCommerce tools as their customers Lower costs: automation relaxes the pressure on sales and support teams. Newer avenues for earning: every new channel provides an opportunity to cater to new customer segments. Better customer experience: buyers get the flexibility and convenience they expect, improving customer satisfaction and the subsequent retention in the process. Enhanced data collection and analysis: monitoring customers as they move between channels generates a 360 view of behavior and preferences, informing the product development and also bring an improvement in marketing ROI through personalization.
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