The B2B eCommerce landscape is undergoing a meteoric rise. Projected to reach a staggering $20.9 trillion by 2024 (Research and Markets), it presents an undeniable opportunity for businesses to expand their reach and unlock new revenue streams. But navigating the complexities of B2B online transactions requires the right tools and strategies to capitalize on this growth.
Enter BSS Commerce’s insightful webinar, “Global B2B Evolution: Expanding Your Business Reach with Shopify Plus.” This event aimed to empower B2B businesses with the knowledge and tools needed to conquer the global eCommerce landscape. Here, we delve into the key takeaways from the webinar, addressing critical questions such as:
- Why is Shopify Plus the platform of choice for B2B enterprises worldwide?
- How to skyrocket order value and fortify customer retention rates?
- How to Acquire High-Value B2B Customers in a Competitive Landscape?
- What are the Secrets to Seamless B2B Expansion Across International Markets?
This blog post delves into the key takeaways from the webinar, equipping you with the knowledge needed to thrive in the ever-evolving B2B eCommerce world. We’ll explore how to leverage Shopify Plus, build a high-performing B2B store, conquer global markets, and implement practical tactics to maximize your B2B eCommerce success.
Event Overview
Table of Contents
On April 24, 2024, BSS Commerce successfully hosted a captivating webinar titled “Global B2B Evolution: Expanding Your Business Reach with Shopify Plus.” The event attracted nearly 80 C-level executives from across the APAC, EU, and US-UK regions, showcasing the growing importance of B2B eCommerce strategies for global expansion.
The agenda featured a dynamic lineup of industry leaders, including:
- Felix Chen (Senior Partner Manager – SEA, Shopify): Exploring the B2B eCommerce landscape and how Shopify Plus’s unique advantages empower businesses for success.
- Emma Nguyen (Chief Operation Officer, BSS Commerce): Unveiling the exclusive process for building high-performing B2B stores on Shopify Plus.
- Michelle Nguyen (Product Owner, UpPromote): Unleashing the power of B2B affiliate marketing for global expansion.
- Matthew McClelland (Technical Partnership Manager, Dotdigital): Uncovering the impact of customer experience (CX) on B2B business growth across Southeast Asia and beyond.
The event culminated in a stimulating panel discussion moderated by Grace Doan (Partnership Manager, BSS Commerce) featuring esteemed guests:
- Dinh Le Dat (Co-founder & Chairman, Antsomi)
- Liz Pham (Product Manager, Qikify)
- Chris Cao (Gempages)
The panel delved into practical use cases for B2B success, including CDP models, checkout page optimization, and storefront setup strategies specifically designed to enhance conversion rates and sales growth.
Now, let’s deep dive into each keynote presentation and panel discussion to unlock the valuable insights they offer for your B2B eCommerce journey!
Keynote 1: Shopify Plus Unique Advantages For B2B Businesses
Kicking off the webinar, Felix Chen, Senior Partner Manager – SEA at Shopify, set the stage by tackling the complexities of the B2B eCommerce landscape.
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Shopify converts up to 36% better than the competition.
Highlighting Shopify’s conversion rate advantage, he pointed out that when comparing similar business models (“like-to-like” samples), Shopify outperforms competitors (Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce) by up to 36%, with an average advantage of 15.2%.
Felix then outlined several common B2B challenges faced by businesses today:
- The increasing demand for customer self-service options, allows B2B customers to place orders and access information independently.
- The need to modernize outdated B2B experiences by integrating eCommerce elements for a smoother and more contemporary experience.
- Ensuring profitability through efficient order management to avoid operational bottlenecks.
Felix then introduced B2B on Shopify, a suite of features designed to address these very issues. Empowering B2B businesses to run and grow their online stores, B2B on Shopify offers functionalities like:
- Staff Permissions for B2B Sales Reps for streamlined order fulfillment access information from one central platform.
- Trade Theme for faster store setup with an out-of-the-box theme designed for wholesale businesses.
- Enhanced B2B Discounts for fostering loyalty
- Partial Payments for managing complex transactions.
By leveraging these exclusive features, businesses can overcome these B2B eCommerce challenges and unlock significant growth potential.
Keynote 2: Build Your Exclusive B2B Store With Shopify Plus
Following Felix Chen’s insightful presentation, Emma Nguyen, Chief Operation Officer at BSS Commerce, took the stage to unveil their exclusive process for crafting high-performing B2B stores on Shopify Plus.
Her presentation offered valuable methods to optimize your B2B eCommerce experience:
- B2B Theme Customization: Emma highlighted the importance of tailoring your theme to fit B2B needs. This includes features like a list view on collections for easier browsing, enabling “add to cart” functionality directly from product listing pages (PLPs), and displaying the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for reference.
- Metafields: Emma introduced the concept of metafields, custom data points you can store for companies, locations, and products. This empowers businesses to create powerful workflows, such as accepting pre-orders, managing out-of-stock items, and enforcing credit limits.
- Leveraging the App & Partner Ecosystem: Shopify Plus boasts a vast and robust app and partner ecosystem. Emma emphasized the ability to integrate various apps to enhance your B2B store in multiple ways; these include running affiliate marketing programs, fostering a superior customer experience, improving checkout conversion rates, and connecting your store with critical business systems like ERPs, PIMs, and WMS solutions.
Finally, Emma showcased real-world success stories by presenting compelling use cases from B2B businesses thriving with Shopify Plus. These included a footwear manufacturer, a video game accessory wholesaler, and an instrument wholesale distributor.
Keynote 3: Unleash Your Brands Going Global With B2B Affiliate Marketing
Continuing the momentum, Michelle Nguyen, Product Owner at UpPromote, took center stage to explore the power of B2B affiliate marketing as a strategy for global expansion.
According to Nielsen, a staggering 88% of consumers have been influenced to buy a product based on an influencer’s recommendation.
This highlights the immense power of affiliate marketing in today’s consumer landscape. Further bolstering this point:
TrustPulse data reveals that affiliate marketing drives roughly 16% of eCommerce sales in the US and Canada.
To illustrate the potential of B2B affiliate marketing, Michelle showcased successful examples from industry giants like Amazon and Southeast Asia’s leading eCommerce platform, Shopee, alongside Salehoo, another prominent player. These examples underscored the wide-ranging adoption of affiliate marketing strategies within the B2B landscape.
Following these compelling examples, Michelle dove deeper into effective strategies for B2B affiliate marketing in the context of global expansion. Her key takeaways included:
- Localized Affiliate Programs
- Diverse Partner Networks
- Performance-Based Incentives
- Cultural Sensitivity & Customization
- Performance Monitoring & Adjustment
- Comprehensive Training & Support
By implementing these effective B2B affiliate marketing strategies, businesses can unlock significant growth potential as they expand their reach into new global markets.
Keynote 4: Discover How Customer Experience Drives B2B Business Growth
Following the exploration of B2B affiliate marketing, Matthew McClelland, Technical Partnership Manager at Dotdigital, took the stage to emphasize the critical role of customer experience (CX) in driving B2B business growth across Southeast Asia and beyond.
Matthew outlined a compelling framework – the 5 Pillars of the B2B Lifecycle – designed to optimize the B2B customer journey:
1. Capture Valuable Data: The foundation of a successful B2B CX strategy lies in collecting valuable customer data. Understanding your audience’s needs and preferences allows for targeted communication and personalized experiences.
2. Personalize Your Content:
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87% of marketers consider data to be their company’s most underutilized resource.
This highlights the importance of leveraging customer data to personalize content and interactions, fostering stronger relationships and driving engagement.
3. Drive Relevant Messages: By tailoring your messaging to resonate with individual customer needs, you can significantly enhance campaign effectiveness. Moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach allows you to deliver messages that are truly relevant and valuable to each B2B customer.
4. Amplify Your Reach: Matthew emphasized the importance of expanding your reach through various channels. This might involve exploring social media marketing, email automation, or even targeted advertising strategies to connect with potential and existing customers across multiple touchpoints.
5. Refire and Go Again: A customer journey is rarely linear. Matthew stressed the importance of continuously monitoring and analyzing customer data to refine your approach. By iterating and adapting your strategies based on insights gleaned from data, you can ensure ongoing optimization of the B2B customer experience.
By implementing these 5 Pillars of the B2B Lifecycle, businesses can cultivate stronger customer relationships, drive loyalty, and ultimately achieve significant growth in the B2B eCommerce landscape.
Panel Discussion: Unveiling Practical B2B eCommerce Strategies
The insightful webinar culminated in a stimulating panel discussion moderated by Ms. Grace Doan (Partnership Manager, BSS Commerce). Esteemed guests, Dinh Le Dat (Co-founder & Chairman, Antsomi), Chris Cao (Gempages), and Liz Pham (Product Manager, Qikify) shared invaluable insights on maximizing B2B eCommerce success.
Mr. Dinh Le Dat championed the power of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs). He emphasized that B2B success goes beyond the initial sale. By leveraging CDPs to capture and analyze customer data throughout the lifecycle, businesses can understand customer behavior, optimize product usage, and ultimately prevent churn. Mr. Le Dat stressed the importance of capturing data across the entire customer journey, from initial touchpoints to post-purchase engagement.
Shifting gears, Chris Cao from Gempages focused on boosting storefront conversion rates and Average Order Value (AOV).
80% of Gempages’ customers reported increased sales after implementing best practices – Chris Cao
By optimizing landing pages and user experience, businesses can create an environment that encourages higher conversion rates and ultimately leads customers to purchase more.
Finally, Liz Pham of Qikify delved into the highly requested topic of checkout page customization. She identified three key areas for optimization:
- Checkout Validation: Liz explained how to set up rules to ensure orders meet specific requirements, such as minimum/maximum B2B product quantities, location-based order limits, or credit restrictions.
- Customizing Payment & Delivery Methods: Leveraging Shopify checkout extensibility allows B2B businesses to tailor the checkout experience for their audience. This includes renaming, showing, or hiding specific payment and delivery options based on whether the customer is B2C or B2B.
- Customizing Promotions: B2B merchants can leverage customized promotions to incentivize purchases. This may involve offering targeted discounts, free shipping thresholds, or exclusive B2B offers directly on the checkout page.
Conclusion
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our captivating webinar, “Global B2B Evolution: Expanding Your Business Reach with Shopify Plus.” Your presence and engagement made the event a resounding success.
We also extend our deepest gratitude to our valued partners who helped us craft this informative session:
Platinum Partner
Diamond Partner
Media Partner
Their support and collaboration were instrumental in bringing you this insightful exploration of B2B eCommerce strategies.
We hope you found the webinar valuable and are equipped with actionable takeaways to propel your B2B eCommerce journey to global success!
This successful webinar signifies BSS Commerce’s unwavering commitment to empowering B2B businesses with the knowledge, tools, and strategies needed to thrive in the ever-evolving eCommerce landscape. We are dedicated to fostering a collaborative community and providing valuable resources to help you navigate the exciting world of B2B eCommerce.
Want To Revisit The Valuable Insights From The Webinar?
Click here to access the recording and individual keynote presentations from our esteemed speakers. Don’t miss this opportunity to delve deeper into the strategies and tools discussed during the event.
Ready To Unlock The Power Of B2B eCommerce With Shopify Plus?
Our team of B2B eCommerce experts at BSS Commerce is here to help you take your online store to the next level. Contact us today to discuss your specific needs and explore how our Shopify Plus development services can empower you to achieve your business goals.
We look forward to partnering with you on your B2B eCommerce journey!
