B2B e-Commerce Site Maintenance - Road Mapping

In this five-part series, I’m addressing the most frequently-faced pitfalls of B2B e-Commerce website maintenance, and providing insight to how you can foresee and forestall their impacts.  There are all kinds of posts on the internet about how important it is to have a B2B e-commerce site, and how to choose the right one.  But what do you need to know once you choose a solution and implement it?

Today’s Topic: Road Mapping

It’s relatively easy today to select a B2B e-Commerce solution and implement it, and many brands look at this as a “one and done” project.  In today’s e-Commerce landscape, more attention is needed to how your site - and your business’ digital transformation - will evolve over time.  Here are a few examples of road mapping that’s needed once your site is in place.

• Digitization of existing assets.  If you’ve recently implemented a new B2B site, your product assets (images, technology stories, icons, etc) are likely optimized for print, and you don’t have additional hires in place to take up the production of digital assets for wholesale e-Commerce.  If you have a consumer site, you may have resources dedicated to digital production already, but they are on a different calendar and pulling that process forward by 6-8 months is a big ask.  You’ll need a plan for converting existing resources to support your new B2B site over time.

• Expansion to new types of digital assets.  Your B2B site may be able to support 3D, 360, and video content.  Your customers will be better served in their buying process, and your sales reps will find it easier to sell, when you can provide accurate and detailed visuals.  You’ll want to identify priority products, as well as which digital asset formats will be best for displaying them, and then define a timeline for getting there.

• Development of new selling processes.  Your sales reps will need to be intimately familiar with the features of your new site, and how they can be incorporated into a sales presentation.  What training will you focus on first, and how will you continually increase knowledge and performance?

• Budget for additional site features/functions.  Perhaps your B2B solution doesn’t fully support your sales programs out of the box, or your data feeds don’t currently include elements that would make product search or customer segmentation easier.  An annual budget targeted toward development of new site features and solutions, as well as unforeseen required fixes, is needed to keep things running smoothly and improve selling and order automation.

• Vision of the future.  What additional tools are available now, or being developed, that could further enhance the online presentation of your brand?  3D showrooms, online sales presentation tools, and PIM solutions are all examples of existing technology applications that can broaden your B2B landscape, further digital transformation, and automate and increase sales.  How would you prioritize your needs, and work these solutions into a 5-year plan?

You can see that a “once and done” approach to your B2B e-Commerce solution will ultimately leave you behind the pack.  Additionally, without a planned budget for needed improvements you may find yourself in crisis after crisis with your Finance department, trying to find a way to juggle competing expense priorities on the fly.  Annual road mapping will reduce the impact of unforeseen issues, and continually improve your online presence to maintain your brand’s healthy standing and increase sales.