When you want to be everything to everyone, you end up confusing your customers. This stems from a lack of focus, direction, and overall brand identity. This is why choosing a solution with features that are tailored to your needs is important. It should enhance what you already do and help you do it even better. Everyone has different priorities for various business situations. An e-Commerce solution should be an extension of your business; you shouldn’t subject yourself to something cookie cutter when your business is unique. Your e-Commerce solution should have features that help you emphasize your values and what makes your business special, be it your unique brand and design, efficiency in delivery and service, or your awesome product lines and expertise. This blog post will help you make sense of the many features and benefits offered in e-Commerce solutions today. Whatever your business priorities are in e-Commerce, here’s what you need to look for in an ERP (Dynamics NAV Business Central) integrated e-commerce solution. Read More
Is e-fulfillment’s need for speed creating a drag on your business?
Racing to deliver the goods could put you on the fast track to sales tax nexus
Repost from Avalara.com
The Internet has vastly changed the way products move from buyer to seller. One-click ordering. Get it now. Two-day free delivery. The speed and ease of e-Commerce and mobile commerce cover a lot of ground in terms of getting products into customers’ hands quickly. But it’s also rattling the supply chain; putting pressure on merchants, manufacturers, and distributors to deliver the goods, so to speak. DHL, one of the nation’s largest third-party logistics firm, reports that e-fulfillment now represents a third of the company’s business. Read More
Integrating Your ERP and B2B e-Commerce
For a B2B company, its ERP is like its lifeblood. An ERP like Microsoft Dynamics NAV Business Central is the choice for many medium-sized companies because of its flexibility and management features. This is why it makes sense to integrate your B2B e-Commerce solution with your existing NAV Business Central, leveraging your existing investment. With an integrated solution like Nav-to-Net™, complex business processes and interactions are streamlined while being user-friendly and adaptable to numerous situations. The business complexities are handled in the back-end while the front-end webshop is a balance of form and function, customized to meet your customer and industry needs. An integrated solution helps you deliver better customer experience and service. Read More
Be the Millennium Falcon of E-Commerce
Lessons in e-Commerce to be learned from Star Wars
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Many of us are huge Star Wars fans, so we thought of having a little fun and pay homage to this iconic film series by sharing what important lessons and parallels translate to the e-Commerce industry. From understanding the Force to destroying the Death Star to using Jedi mind tricks, we translate it to simple e-Commerce insights and tips you can use. Let us guide you, young padawan.
The One-Time Shopper – How to Keep Them Coming Back
Understanding your customer is an important part of e-Commerce success. In tailoring your sales approach, however, there has to be a balance. We need to be flexible enough to accommodate the variety of shoppers that will come across our webshop; we want to attract as many customers as possible. We should also be strict enough in coming up with our content design and messaging. A surefire way to fail is to try and please everybody. Take an honest look at what who the audience is, both existing and potential, and create a compelling content and sales strategy accordingly.
As an e-Commerce solution provider for Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV, we look not only to our clients for inspiration but their end customers. We want to build solutions that work for both. In this article, we’re going to focus on the One Time Shoppers.
Standing Out in a Saturated E-Commerce Market
Standing out by bringing your business online is not enough; it used to be that being online gave you the leg up. But with technology advancing at such a fast pace, the e-Commerce market is becoming more saturated with more competition than ever. The benefits of being online are clear and everyone wants in. Now the challenge is to stand out by excelling in the industry where a lot of the competition is neck and neck – it comes down to what differentiates you as a company (your unique sales proposition, your target, your strong points) and how you convey that in your e-Commerce site.
Having an e-commerce website doesn’t mean it’s its own entity – it’s an extension of your brand and company. It should also be an extension of your ERP (like Microsoft Dynamics Business Central NAV). Here are some ways you can stand out with an integrated webshop solution. Read More
The Golf Caddy You Didn’t Know You Needed in E-Commerce
Golf is a popular activity in the summer. You may not be a professional golfer, but we can get you feeling (and operating!) like a pro where e-Commerce and Dynamics NAV Business Central is concerned. Whether you are just getting into e-Commerce or are looking to upgrade, choosing the right e-Commerce solution for BC/NAV can be a daunting task. The proper relationship between you and your e-Commerce provider is like that of a professional golfer and his caddy; the e-Commerce solution is the golf bag filled with every golf club you could imagine. It is important to acknowledge the huge significance in selecting the right provider and solution so you can get to where you want to go. Read More
The Many Uses of Exclusions in Configurator
Choosing Medium Dark option
When given the chance to do anything you want, it’s possible to feel plagued with indecision and a lack of direction. In an e-Commerce situation, sometimes too much choice and freedom can result in problems. One such outcome is the overwhelmed customer who ends up not buying anything or having a less than ideal shopping experience on your website. Another possible outcome is the dilemma of the “impossible product”. This is where the customer ends up disappointed because their “perfect” product is in fact, impossible and unavailable. A product configurator, especially with the use of exclusions, can create more meaningful e-Commerce experiences for customers. Read More
Everyone Loves a Coupon!
Sometimes simple solutions are the best, and when it comes to digital marketing, coupons are a proven way of influencing sales and attracting new business. When used effectively, they can expand the market place and provide a steady stream of new customers and sales. Coupons are measurable and can be tracked by the rate of redemption so it’s simple to review which coupon promotions have been effective as part of an overall marketing strategy.
Advanced coupons management is certainly an indication of a robust e-commerce platform. This adds further value when the setup and management of coupons seamlessly align with your ERP (MS Dynamics NAV Business Central) business process. There are many ways Nav-to-Net™, e-commerce for Dynamics NAV/BC, coupons can be created and they can apply to either all website products or a specific set of goods like a category or single item. Depending on the promotion you are running, the coupon can be made available for one-time use or repetitive usage, with auto expiry dates. Read More
Changing Business Landscape for B2B e-Commerce
Understanding the trends in business and technology in both B2B and B2C e-Commerce can help us to craft better strategies and more valuable experiences for everyone. E-Commerce is becoming increasingly common and expected for B2B as they desire to grow. As a result, ERP and e-Commerce platforms have to continually evolve for companies to stay competitive. Some trends that have emerged are the growing presence of millennials, advanced technology (in the form of automated personalization, B2B-specific features, ease of use, improved integration, just to name a few), and blending B2C e-Commerce characteristics with a traditionally B2B-style webshop.
Customer expectations are at an all-time high, especially in the B2B sector. With more customer demands, there is an increased need for those in B2B e-Commerce to evaluate the trends and adopt more customer-centric approaches. B2C has taken great strides in user experience and B2B companies would do well to use some of those elements to propel themselves forward. Customers have grown accustomed to the ease and convenience that some B2C webshops offer and find themselves wanting the same in B2B websites.
What lessons from B2C can we apply to B2B?
Some of the most important takeaways from B2C e-Commerce is their ability to understand their customers and their behavior, anticipating their needs, and adapting quickly to trends and patterns. One of the ways B2C is doing this right now is embracing the “millennial” culture. Millennials have had an impact on the retail and e-Commerce model as they spend plenty of time online and use social media while shifting easily to brick and mortar if need be. They’re resourceful when it comes to looking for deals and expect a lot from digital and brick and mortar shopping experiences.
Understanding the Customer
As a society, we’re becoming more tech-savvy, becoming proficient with smartphones, tablets, and apps – we also have the desire to take the business online and out and about. Customers can now make purchases anywhere with their device of choice. Salespeople are learning to adapt to the mobilization trend by using technology that allows them to access relevant information online or through centralized systems out in the field. Taking a cue from B2C regarding this mobile trend, we recognize the need for feature-rich e-Commerce solutions with comprehensive content management. For B2B e-Commerce, this means that sales tools and vital customer data will be easily available to sales agents in the field. Nav-to-Net™ is built with Responsive Design to address the mobile trend in the e-Commerce industry.
Customers Have New Habits
In this day and age, we have developed technology-oriented working habits as well as some unique consumer habits, especially when online. We browse a little more freely with the plethora of options and resources at our fingertips, we use social media, and we revel in the freedom online shopping gives us. In e-Commerce, there is overall demand for ease and convenience, no matter what kind of device we choose to use. Lots of factors that play into how these habits came about, but it can be boiled down to this; customers want simplicity. It’s really as simple as wanting what they want, how and when they want it. It’s up to us as an e-Commerce business to anticipate those needs and create solutions that meet or even exceed those needs.
Technology is Key with Simplifying
Understanding the differences between the complexities of B2B and B2C and identifying gaps and areas that can stand some modification is important. The one thing in common is that customers always want things to be quick, easy, and painless. It may be hard to think of simplicity in a B2B environment when there are so many components to manage. While B2C can seem comparatively simpler being “click and buy”, it’s worth remembering that each situation comes with its own unique intricacies. The goal of today’s e-Commerce technology is to simplify and optimize all business processes including item management, order taking, checkout processes, and more, no matter the industry.
B2B has several parts that need to be addressed; this could include dealers, suppliers, vendors, and a variety of business processes that sometimes differ depending on the account, customer, or even country. The focus of B2B e-Commerce is building valuable long term business relationships with clients while selling a large amount of inventory. The decision process is also a lot more complicated for a typical B2B customer. The goal of e-Commerce technology is to make the complexity of B2B simple, even amidst the many core features, functionalities, and processes you require to run your e-Commerce business smoothly and efficiently.
Customized e-Commerce solutions integrated with your Microsoft Dynamics NAV is key. Nav-to-Net™ B2B is an integrated e-Commerce suite that combines all business elements and your webshop so you will operate efficiently. Take advantage of B2B-specific features like custom product lists and online sales quotes just to name a few! Click below for more information: