E-Commerce is for Everyone!
Tags: Ecommerce, B2B, B2c, Online Shopping, Digital Transformation

by, Sajith K G, Founder,CEO ISPG

The growth of large e-commerce players has had a huge impact on the retail market and has forced the entire industry to practically change the way it interacts and sells to the customers.

Technologies once considered novelties wiped out entire industries. They remind us of a very famous song of the 90s, ‘Objects in rear view mirror may appear closer than they are’. Somewhere it was a prediction in disguise. Most businesses that disappeared from the face of business world, were victims of their overconfidence about their domains

The growth of large e-commerce players has had a huge impact on the retail market and has forced the entire industry to practically change the way it interacts and sells to the customers.

While the world hails the growth and success of e-commerce business, barring a few organizations, Indian industry is still in a wait and watch mode. Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling hard to match the technologically progressive new-age e-commerce players entering the market.

The very business considered a passé a decade back is responsible for the ‘Retail Apocalypse’. That sums up B2C, what about B2B?

Though B2B was a slow starter, it is expected to overtake B2C in terms of business. Sales ﬁgures of worldwide B2B e-commerce are already in trillions of dollars, and continual growth is expected. to Frost & Sullivan, Global B2B e- commerce market is expected to reach

$6.7 Trillion by 2020. Volume of online B2B sales will be twice that of B2C. Some of the major trends in B2B e-commerce imitate those of B2C. B2B buyers have come to expect the same 24/7 research and purchase capability that is prevalent in consumer online retail shopping, and B2B sellers are responding.

A report from Frost & Sullivan estimated business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce transactions would reach $6.7 trillion by 2020. It will be twice as B2C.

So is B2B all about online selling?

Customers expect that same personalized experience that a Sales representative provides, although through streamlined digital channels. The only way to capture their attention and secure a part of their wallet is through a unique and personalized retail-like experience.

Businesses need to evolve with the customer, because if they don’t they are bound to become ‘IRRELEVANT’ OR ‘BORING’, labels which can mean death for any business.

Apart from a great sales channel, e-commerce can be effectively and efﬁciently utilized as distribution channel

Over the next few years e-commerce is expected to replace the aging EDI(Electronic Data Interchange) systems across the world. If you are a OEM supplier, you will be expected to integrate your systems.

In B2Bi you will integrate your customer-facing e-commerce systems with internal systems, with an eventual integration with ERP.

Many organizations are experimenting using e-commerce solutions for after- sales-service. This can signiﬁcantly reduce the layers between the company and its customers.

How to achieve eCommerce Transformation?

Using e-commerce technologies to produce game-changing business innovations which disrupt existing industry norms or create whole new ones, is no simple task.

01. Legacy Systems

02. Poor IT Culture

03 .Channel Conﬂicts

04 .Lack of Knowledge

05 .Unclear Objectives

06 .No Support from Top Management

07 .Tech Integration Challenges

08.Change Management Issues

09.No Infrastructure

There are weighty obstacles faced by the companies which get on the transformation journey. Many of these include technological issues, like retiring legacy applications, consolidating databases, and integrating applications using APIs. Companies will need to integrate their e-commerce systems with back-end supply chain software and customer relationship management systems.

Common challenge faced is maintaining client relationship. Technology can make you less ‘people’ centric, at least initially. This needs to be handled by implementing robust follow-up strategy

– apart from measures such as integrating CRM. Another common challenge is shipping, which is where the systems of shipping service provider come into the picture, and a strategy to manage that is crucial.

The biggest challenge lies in handling change management issues and corporate culture, these often make it challenging to convert digital transformation efforts into business opportunities which harvest proﬁtable results.

A company needs to integrate and connect assets (businesses, staff, divisions, and technologies) to eradicate barriers that hinder the seamless working of physical and digital worlds. Alliance at multiple levels (staff, technologies, and processes) is an essential step for digital transformation to ensue.

Simply put, Digital transformation means reimagining the ways to bring together people, processes, and data, to create value for your consumers and sustain a competitive advantage in a digital-ﬁrst world.