Can Amazon be a good first step in B2B Ecommerce?
Brian Beck
B2B Ecommerce and Amazon Business Expert | Enables B2B companies to drive explosive growth from Ecommerce and Amazon | Managing Partner, Enceiba | Co-Founder, Master B2B community of B2B Ecommerce executives
Is Amazon a good first step for B2B companies to tackle Ecommerce? Or are companies better off starting their own Ecommerce right out of the gate?
Here’s an interesting stat for you:?
B2B Ecommerce is expected to hit $1.8 trillion by 2023, but that is only going to make up about 17 percent of all B2B sales. (source: Forrester )
That’s shockingly lopsided. But when you talk to executives at B2B firms, you hear the same thing over and over.
“It’s too expensive.”?
“It takes too long.”
“We’re doing just fine with things as they are.”
At least they’re right about two of these points. Building and deploying Ecommerce operation can often be very expensive and take a long time to get going. Ecommerce websites can cost a significant amount of money to build from the ground up. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to developing an Ecommerce operation. To properly develop and launch an Ecommerce website, firms need to:
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It’s a daunting task, to be sure. But doing the easy thing isn’t always doing the smart thing. As almost anyone (except some of these executives apparently) will tell you, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how B2B buyers conduct business .
That’s why, in my view, building an Amazon presence is an excellent first step to building a firm’s Ecommerce muscles. Think about it:
It turns out that selling on Amazon builds an organization’s Ecommerce muscle and knowledge base in a way that requires less time, investment, and risk than developing an in-house operation. It allows organizations to tackle data challenges, digital merchandising, and other essential Ecommerce skills in a more controlled, step-by-step manner. What’s more, by selling through Amazon first, organizations can take a crawl-walk-run approach to Ecommerce, with Amazon serving as a first step in a long-term Ecommerce strategy.
(Side note: It’s important to understand that I’m strictly talking about taking the Seller Central, or 3P, approach vs. the traditional 1P (Vendor Central) or wholesale approach. There are many reasons why 3P is more advantageous for most B2B companies, so check out this article I wrote if you want to better understand the differences.)
So, how does Amazon help B2B firms grow their digital muscle? There are essentially four ways. ?
Finally, it’s essential to understand that setting up an Amazon presence takes a fraction of the amount of time needed to set up a full-scale Ecommerce operations. By using Amazon as your first step into B2B Ecommerce, you’ll be getting your organization used to doing all the things you’ll need to do in a homegrown operation. Use that time wisely and you’ll get more out of it than a growing sales channel; you develop the organization muscle to build, deploy, and deliver on a digital shopping experience that’s entirely your own.
If you’re ready to take the plunge into Amazon, or if you have a few questions, I’m here to help! At my firm Enceiba, all we focus on is helping B2B companies succeed on Amazon.?Feel free to message me here or contact me by email at [email protected] . I’m happy to listen to your challenges and help you think through a strategy that will ensure your Ecommerce success.
GTM Expert! Founder/CEO Full Throttle Falato Leads - 25 years of Enterprise Sales Experience - Lead Generation and Recruiting Automation, US Air Force Veteran, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Muay Thai, Saxophonist
5 个月Brian, thanks for sharing!
Senior Global Marketing Director @ Pamarco | Strategic & Operational Marketing, New Business Development, Jesus Christ Disciple
10 个月I'm curious to hear Brian's or anyone else's opinion on utilizing Amazon Business for B2B e-commerce versus Alibaba. Pros? Cons?
Operativer Gesch?ftsführer und Berater B2B-E-Commerce
2 年Brian Beck Trying out the entry into marketplaces and platforms as a further sales channel parallel to one's own B2B online shop and to promote one's own offering with a certain (partial) assortment. First build up a B2B online shop and enable e-commerce processes in the company (customer access) and then try out on which B2B platforms (industry) and with which assortment the entry is economically possible (fees, margin) and where the customers are in the first place (ask existing customers). One hypothesis is to acquire new B2B customers via platforms and develop them via direct customer access (email marketing, incentive systems, etc.). Another hypothesis - for a few leading companies - is that building their own niche marketplace is promising. Amazonisation will certainly develop at different speeds and to different degrees in view of specialisation (spare parts in special machine construction, etc.,) and service orientation (configuration), i.e. for general core needs and simple products more than for complex products from the marginal needs. It is important to keep an eye on whether a sales-relevant dependence on a platform is developing and how much data you still get about your customers.
Co-founder, Fleetroot | Last mile focused entrepreneur
2 年Thanks for sharing Brian Beck
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2 年Amazon provides sellers with the ability to have a very successful first experience. It is instant exposure to millions of buyers. This gives a new seller the ability to focus in on developing the technique for optimizing their campaign so that they can determine the most effective strategy moving forward. There is no downside to starting on Amazon.