Industrial brands have faced a shift in buyer behavior due to the pandemic's changes. A recent study found that the pandemic caused 80% of American consumers to change the way they shop for goods, and 43% moved from in-person shopping to making purchases online. These changes push businesses to reassess the future of their B2B operations to adhere to the emerging post-pandemic marketplace. In response to the shift from in-person sales to digital self-serve interactions, industrial product companies are undergoing a digital transformation. To help move business dealings online to predominantly e-commerce operations, they are enlisting the help of advanced technology solutions.
As industrial brands make this change to offer the digital sales model requested by purchasers, they quickly realize how beneficial this switch is to overall operations. Solutions that utilize artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and machine learning (ML) help companies in the industrial product sector transform their B2B tactics by streamlining supply chain workflows and increasing e-commerce sales.
By utilizing an innovative tech platform to push the bulk of existing consumer sales process online, companies can expect to have the support of experts who will help with the complex systems involved in moving operations from in-person to a leading e-commerce marketplace like Amazon. Tech solutions can help solve any challenges industrial product companies may run into as they try to deal with the constant, intricate changes of online marketplaces. As a result, this helps promote a better employee experience because staff can concentrate on producing a quality product rather than dealing with time-consuming administrative items that can now be dealt with digitally.
Equipping your company with a digital platform that smoothly moves operations online helps launch wholesale products on leading online marketplaces like Amazon Business, allowing your company to get a piece of the e-commerce giant’s sales revenue, which is expected to increase by at least 24% over the next year. Furthermore, housing your products online puts the control of processing repeat orders in the purchaser's hands. It also streamlines communication between the company and the consumer, reducing the potential for human error. Additionally, purchasers can easily view the company’s entire inventory when placing orders online, prompting them to try new items.
A robust AI and ML platform can help businesses navigate complex marketplaces and increase profitability through a myriad of capabilities, such as:
- real-time b2b sales tracking to give credit to reps in specific sales territories;
- track product pricing along with the 3P sellers of your product;
- monitor any disruptions across a multitude of online sales channels;
- utilizing advanced accounting and auditing automation tools to prevent costly chargebacks;
- optimizing Amazon advertising spend; providing insight on updates to marketing materials;
- leveraging real-time pricing intelligence to maximize profit potential;
- providing a detailed mapping system to follow purchaser patterns and behaviors;
- and monitoring a company’s supply source to ensure it meets the demands of B2B consumers.
These digitalized marketing capabilities exist to help increase a company’s online presence and set them up to be the next superstar company on leading online marketplaces like Amazon. Industrial product companies are currently poised to become dominant forces in the e-commerce sector as long as they partner with digital sales platforms to take their SEO and content optimization to the next level.