Why Pharma Wholesalers Need to Consider B2B E-Commerce
With B2B E-Commerce, the pharma industry is experiencing tremendous growth. Forward-thinking medical and pharmaceutical wholesalers will seek to converge on these two growing trends either by implementing different sales software (visit sites like https://www.phoneburner.com/homepage/predictive-dialer-software for more information), or by embracing a B2B e-commerce solution – and here’s why.
The internet has changed the buying behavior of people. In the last decade, it has also impacted the way customers research and buy goods and services through e-Commerce. And while B2C E-Commerce is now well-rooted into our everyday lives, what every B2B business owner must realize is that changes in the B2C industry have in turn sparked changes in the B2B industry also.
Should you embrace the digital trend?
As a pharmaceutical business, you may be hesitating about moving your business online. Traditionally, the sales channel for the B2B pharma industry was managed by sales representatives who built their customer relationships in person. For this reason, it’s easy to see why many sales professionals initially viewed B2B E-Commerce as a threat to their role as trusted advisors to their customer base.
In today’s pharma marketplace, 74% of B2B buyers research their purchases online, and once they make their final decision, 93% of them go on to complete their purchase online. Hospital procurement managers as well as medical and pharmaceutical distributors are no different than these buyers.
Despite these overwhelming statistics, only 11% of medical supply and pharmaceutical businesses currently offer a B2B E-Commerce option. This presents a huge opportunity for wholesalers to capitalize on the incredible benefits B2B E-Commerce has to offer its business in profits and growth. You can consider to use platforms like Amazon, eBay, Magento, etc., to enhance your global approach. Moreover, you can use aids and tools such as eBay calculator to gather insight on your sales profits, market demand, and net value.
Why You Should Consider a B2B E-commerce Solution?
B2B E-Commerce encompasses a lot more than just an online ordering system. It also allows wholesalers to grow their business. How? By helping them to increase their sales, scale up their business, and improve their services.
- Attract new prospects and penetrate new markets
Medical and pharmaceutical B2B buyers are already buying online. This means that if your business doesn’t have a B2B ordering portal, you’re losing out on the opportunity to tap into a large pool of potential customers not only in your region but worldwide as well. With an E-Commerce solution, you can reach more prospects and establish yourself in new markets – with no brick-and-mortar expenses – simply by making your software available in other languages. To add to this, your B2B portal is open 24/7, all year long, meaning you can receive new orders anytime and from anywhere.
Further, having an e-commerce platform can enable you to gather more relevant data on sales prospects, and make the process more efficient. When you open your business up to the digital world, there are a variety of tools that can help cut down unnecessary work. You can look these up to see how these tools can prove beneficial.
- Enhance business processes and services and improve your operational efficiency
A smart B2B E-commerce software allows you to harness many powerful tools as well as monitor your business cycle more closely and intensively. With an E-commerce solution, you can measure many aspects of your business, including:
- your sales cycle
- your inventory turns
- your sales reps and their customer service effectiveness
- your product mix
Having all this data at hand means that, over time, you’ll be able to control and improve customer satisfaction. Taking your business online also means you can use powerful digital marketing tools (e.g. email marketing, SEO, social media presence etc.) to boost your sales volume and increase average order value. For the uninitiated, digital marketing methods, including email marketing can look daunting, in which case you may want to see this and get a clear picture of how such strategies promote business growth.
- Channel up, then scale up
In 2016, wholesalers who began to sell online reported a 44% increase in revenue. How so? A B2B E-Commerce solution opens up new sales channels for B2B businesses. Tablets and mobile phones are just two of these new channels. In fact, 71% of medical supply distributors with a B2B portal site report that their customers utilize mobile and desktop devices for access. As a result, opening up your online B2B store leads to the opportunity to scale your business and, eventually, will fuel your business’s growth.
Conclusion:
A B2B E-Commerce portal also allows sales reps and customer service agents to focus on improving their services, instead of merely taking and entering orders and contacting clients. Moreover, integrating your website with your ERP can also decrease order errors, improve shipping and inventory processes, and simplify billing.
Are you ready to grow your pharmaceutical business? Book your demo now with Robosol Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
To know more, email us on sales@robosol.com or call us on +44 1277 286299
