With 95% of the purchases projected to be online by 2040, VARs are witnessing a strong trend of online purchases in the B2B segment. It is, therefore, imperative that they should go for a B2B eCommerce software that suits their business model covering most of the challenges that VAR business has.
Top Features to Look at Before Choosing an eCommerce Platform for VARs
An eCommerce platform for resellers should address the common pain points like pricing, payments, market management, technical support, branding, etc. So, here are a few must-have features to build a VARs eCommerce store regardless of the size of your business.
1. Easy-to-start eCommerce store
The foundation of an online business is the eCommerce store where the VARs connect with the customers and display their products. Now, most of the VARs want to go the no-code way. Popular eCommerce platforms offer drag and drop features, ready templates, and rich functionalities.
2. Responsive design and mobile-friendly site
So how to avoid this fatal snap judgment in the future? Choose a platform with a conversion-driven, responsive design that adjusts fairly based on the pixel width of the website. A site that doesn’t align with mobile screens can be a big put-off. Mobile responsiveness is a must in the age of smartphones.
3. Security
An eCommerce website is a treasure trove for hackers because it’s a hub of personal and financial data. It’s important to find a host and platform combination that offers complete protection from prevalent cybersecurity crimes like malware and SQL injections.
4. Customer support
Even the best software solutions experience technical glitches at times and the best self-explanatory steps demand assistance. What if it happens with the eCommerce platform that you choose? It is a loss of business.
Customer support steers you smoothly through these rare situations. Make sure your eCommerce platform offers customer service that’s approachable at your fingertips before and after the setting up of your eCommerce store.
5. Integration with distributors
B2B business is a lot more complex than B2C. It has a large, complex quotation process that involves customer-specific pricing and contracts. What saves your time and resources is an integrated B2B eCommerce solution that facilitates an automated distribution process. This integration can help the reseller track all his wholesale networks, assembly segments, and financial commitments, all in one place.
6. Full access to the distributor catalog
How tedious would it be to manually select and upload a complex product? It will require a lot of manual effort to process a single order.
Direct access to the respective distributor catalog enabling data transfer using FTP or XML integrations saves time and helps VARs focus more on important business functions.
7. Electronic order placement
Imagine having a platform that allows you to order your products with just a single click. It would do wonders by saving all the recording and maintenance hassles a reseller once had to go through.
So, choose a platform that replaces traditional order placement techniques with modern, electronic order placement. This way, VARs can get rid of redundant errors, augment the order processing time and build an impressive brand image.
8. Real-time pricing and availability
Resellers have the daunting task of maximizing profit while also keeping the customers happy. This is where real-time pricing and availability make it easy for VARs.
Resellers can draw comparisons, make adjustments to the store prices and control the overall distribution process at all times. They don’t need to contact the distributors every time for an updated price list and can maintain accurate store data as it appears on the distributor catalog.
9. Rich content
Businesses need to trigger user responses within seconds because of diminishing attention spans. And that is possible only when there’s rich content on the eCommerce website. Amazon research indicates that rich product marketing content can result in a 3–10% increase in sales. This prevents the extra decision-making process on the part of users and allows them to learn everything about the product in detail and make an informed decision.
10. Integrations
Integration is the heart of an eCommerce website. For efficient business operation, the platform must be integrated with software that allows lead nurturing, capturing, quick purchase order creation, and transaction in a single window. That’s where CRM, sales quoting and PunchOut software have a role to play.
1. CRM
The CRM solution aids resellers in capturing new leads, managing contacts, and automating various tasks from one place.
That’s how valuable CRM technology is to a business!
2. Sales quoting software
The sales quoting software allows VARs to create customized quotes and a wide variety of personalized templates to choose from. It also facilitates dynamic pricing, where the resellers maintain an accurate stock price list as per the product catalogs. You and your customers experience a smart and efficient quotation process that makes your B2B sales quotes stay ahead of the competition.
3. PunchOut Catalog
A PunchOut enables the buyer to access the suppliers’ website through its procurement application. They can ‘PunchOut’ from their procurement systems like Ariba, Coupa, etc instead of the traditional process.
They can configure and customize the product according to the pricing, terms, etc and avoid all the operational inefficiencies. This offers greater control, visibility, enhanced data transmission, and order accuracy over the whole procurement process.
11. Dropshipping
The eCommerce platform must be connected to distributors that offer dropshipping facility to make the B2B sales process quick and instant. All VARs need to do is to maintain distributor connections and moderate orders from their website. The resellers won’t have to incur any upfront costs of a warehouse, packaging, or shipping.
On top of that, there’s no need to build a workspace as all the orders will be processed by the distributor. This provides resellers the flexibility to focus on important operations and offer a seamless shopping experience.
12. Multiple payment options
It’s not a good feeling to lose a customer after successfully moving them to the sales funnel up until the complex checkout where they get confused and leave the cart.
So having a good bunch of all trending payment methods available at the checkout is highly recommended and a smart online business way. It prevents downtime errors and fills the gap in case one gateway fails to load.
Closing Phrase
VAR business is challenging in its ways. From a basic eCommerce site to a complete business solution, these features make it possible for resellers to create an interactive, conversion-oriented, robust eCommerce experience.
With VARStreet, you can build a VAR eCommerce store in no time with modern features to empower your business with robust systems and a competitive edge.
