Like any other business, sales and marketing are the heart of VAR business. In the digital age, these functions have become even more critical as new benchmarks are created for customers’ expectations almost every day. Sales and marketing have evolved from traditional ways to unified customer experience and omnichannel presence.
To create a successful eCommerce strategy for your VAR business model and drive revenue growth, you need to understand how sales and marketing trends are shaping the future of VARs. This blog post will give you an overview of 10 essential trends that will impact your business in the coming years. Read on to learn more…
Table of Contents
- 1. B2B Buyers Are Becoming Smarter
- 2. VARs As Strategic Partners For Their Customers
- 3. Moving Towards Resellers eCommerce Platform
- 4. Consumers Are Staying Loyal To Their Favorite Brands
- 5. The Right Branding
- 6. Effective Lead Generation
- 7. It’s All Over the Social Media
- 8. AI Will Be A Key Selling Tool in the Years to Come
- All in All
1. B2B Buyers Are Becoming Smarter
According to a survey conducted in 2021, 87 percent of B2B buyers identified new suppliers online, while only 78 percent of the professionals surveyed did the same before the pandemic broke out.
As technology and data analysis become more sophisticated, buyers are gaining more insight into investment decisions. With an increased focus on ROI, procurement departments are becoming savvier buyers – and that has significant implications for VARs.
These days, procurement teams are increasingly conducting online searches and reviewing product comparisons. This means that your VAR eCommerce business needs to develop strong online assets that enable you to attract attention and drive sales.
Most importantly, your online efforts must be designed to appeal to B2B buyers who are highly trained and accustomed to making data-driven decisions. These buyers are increasingly using social networks, forums, and review sites to find new vendors. That means your VAR business has to be active on these sites and optimize your presence.
2. VARs As Strategic Partners For Their Customers
The rise of B2B brands means that VARs may find it increasingly difficult to sell to their customers. But with brands taking center stage, VARs can position themselves as strategic partners for their customers.
That’s because brands are more likely to use VARs that provide other services in addition to product sales. Consequently, your VAR online business may be able to secure more partnerships and grow your revenue.
This increased demand for additional services is partly due to the fact that customers are demanding more from their suppliers. They’re looking for VARs that can offer a single source of expertise, not just product sales. Consequently, VARs that can provide a range of value-added services are more likely to win business.
3. Moving Towards Resellers eCommerce Platform
B2B shopping behavior is shifting more towards the online platforms.
In fact, recent research shows that on average, 67% of purchases for multiple industrial manufacturing and pack-and-ship industries were influenced by digital.
So, if you are an IT VAR, you need to rely on a stable platform with specific B2B eCommerce features for IT resellers to generate more revenue.
With the rise of B2B brands, IT resellers will find it increasingly difficult to compete against these high-profile vendors. In order to survive and thrive, you’ll need to invest in a scalable eCommerce platform for IT & office supplies VARs.
A scalable IT VAR eCommerce software will enable you to handle high volumes of traffic, products, and orders. With scalable solutions, you’ll be able to cope with spikes in demand. And while you can perform a basic eCommerce strategy on a low-cost platform, you’ll need a scalable solution to grow your business.
That’s because you’ll probably want to expand your service offerings to include other products and services.
4. Consumers Are Staying Loyal To Their Favorite Brands
Research says, 80% of B2B buyers stay loyal to the sellers based on customer experience.
It highlights how brands such as Nike, Apple, and Amazon are dominating the eCommerce landscape and appealing to consumers with personalized services.
What does this mean for VARs-
- Consumers are becoming even more loyal to their favorite brands.
- They’ll continue to invest in these brands and buy their products online.
- Consumers are less likely to try new products.
- You can serve your customers with their favorite brands and generate more sales.
Consequently, you will have to be more strategic about which products you promote. You’ll need to focus on the products that your regular customers need rather than stocking your inventory with impulse buys.
5. The Right Branding
In the highly competitive B2B landscape, VARs should begin to develop their branding strategies as early as possible. Ideally, you should start investing in branding when you develop your business plan. This is particularly important if you serve large enterprises. The C-suite expects clear branding from the vendors they work with.
6. Effective Lead Generation
Even if you can break through and land customers, you can’t sell to them if you don’t know who they are. And with brands taking center stage and enterprises becoming more demanding, VARs need to adopt a strategic approach to generating leads.
As the B2B eCommerce landscape changes, VARs will have to generate more leads. This means that you should re-examine your lead-generation strategy. Think about how you can generate more and diverse leads without saturating your current customer base.
7. It’s All Over the Social Media
83% of B2B marketers use social media for advertising. In terms of success rate, this number is next to search engines.
Finally, as B2B buyers become savvier, VARs need to focus more on social media marketing. Social media marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to attract leads and drive sales.
That’s because social media channels provide a great way to nurture leads and build trust with potential customers. You can do this by posting engaging content on your social media channels. This includes images and videos, as well as posts that link the content to your eCommerce store.
8. AI Will Be A Key Selling Tool in the Years to Come
Artificial intelligence (AI) will become increasingly important in the sales process. In 2021, the market for artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing was estimated at 15.84 billion U.S. dollars. The source projected that the value would increase to more than 107.5 billion by 2028.
AI is enabling VARs to take a highly personalized approach to selling. With AI-driven automation and intelligent data analysis, sales teams can segment their leads and tailor messages to each group.
You can also use AI to generate targeted content for their websites and social media channels. This personalized approach to selling will dramatically increase VARs’ ability to generate leads and close sales.
All in All
With sales and marketing trends constantly changing, there are certain elements that will impact the reseller eCommerce space in the coming years.
If you want to learn more about the latest sales and marketing trends, you should be aware of these trends that are shaping the future of VARs, and how you can capitalize on them.
When it comes to B2B eCommerce, your customers want a solution that combines product sales and other services. That’s why it’s important for VARs to invest in a versatile and well- managed eCommerce store with VAR ERP software.
Versatile eCommerce and ERP solutions will enable you to offer additional value-added services and optimize your business performance. A well-managed eCommerce solution will also help you generate increased revenue and increase market share.
