In our previous article we discussed the characteristics of Electronic Retail Commerce. In this article we will explain why Wholesale Electronic Commerce has very different characteristics and what aspects should be taken into account when using the Internet for this type of marketing.
To begin we can say that in Electronic Commerce Retail a credit line is not normally managed, that is, the typical thing is that a client buys one or several products in a timely manner and makes their immediate payment, without there being a recurrence in said type purchase by the same customer.
In Wholesale Electronic Commerce, the client repeatedly places orders and credit lines are handled for payments. These payments are not normally made with credit cards but rather through deposits or bank transfers. In this case, the customer is no longer the end user but is typically a reseller or a channel for marketing the products to the market. This is why this type of Electronic Commerce is known as Business to Business (or B2B for Business to Business).
The Wholesale Electronic Commerce is ideal for manufacturing companies or manufacturers, importing companies or wholesale distributors that sell their products to other companies that will be the ones that deliver them to the client or final consumer.
When it is sold wholesale, there are characteristics of this marketing model that imply that the Electronic Commerce platform is different from the concept of the typical Virtual Store of Electronic Retail Commerce.
Let's talk first about the catalogs and how the orders are placed.
A wholesale buyer usually knows the codes or models of the products they buy recurrently, which is why they would lose a lot of time if they had to sequentially browse an online catalog through their categories and sub-categories to select the products. Instead, you should have a search engine where you can quickly select typical values related to the desired products, which act as filters for the results (eg models, brands, codes, sizes, colors, etc.). These results should be shown in a list that presents columns with data such as wholesale prices, units by type of packaging, a reference image, discounts, among others,in such a way that only the quantities are added and the desired products are marked to be immediately transferred to the shopping cart that will constitute the order to be placed.
For the generation of fast orders, multiple options must be available in addition to the one already described. The second is the placement of the product codes in quick code forms such that when clicking, the list is generated where the quantities will be placed and added to the order immediately. The third way is the generation of order templates that can be named and reused later (eg typical monthly orders per product line), placing the desired quantities and adding the products to the cart with a simple click. Finally, it should be possible to import flat files of products that have low inventories in the client's inventory and that can be generated directly by their administrative system.
In addition to the generation of orders, when working with the largest, it is normal that there are multiple simultaneous orders to be dispatched to a client, for which reason this will require being able to see reports of the status of said orders to know when they have been processed and if the deliveries will be total or partial depending on stocks.
On the other hand, in addition to the actual marketing (sales), in Wholesale Electronic Commerce it is essential to have the administrative interfaces that allow the client to be informed (in real time) of his Account Statement, providing details such as invoice numbers, related orders, payments made, pending payments, amounts, among others.
In turn, in order to reduce delinquencies, it is important that the client have access to the aging reports of the documents owed (invoices and debit notes), including details such as the amounts owed at 30 days, from 30 to 60 days, from 60 to 90 days and with more than 90 days. This is very useful when giving early payment discount incentives.
Another very useful tool in Wholesale Electronic Commerce is having an interface for confirming payments. In this case, the customer can confirm a payment involving multiple due documents. This is why you must be able to relate multiple invoices and debit notes with the deposit or transfer made, also attaching the details of the withholdings that you have applied (VAT, ISLR) and your supporting documents (upload of digitized files of the withholding documents).
These features of Wholesale Electronic Commerce cannot function properly if there is no real-time connection to the Administrative System (or ERP for Enterprise Resource Planning), so special detail must be taken into account when implementing connectivity between both systems.
Once the administrative system is interconnected with the Wholesale Electronic Commerce system, it is possible, for example, to block orders from customers who have exceeded their credit limit and who have a predetermined number of delinquent days.
Another primary function is to be able to issue circulars to wholesale customers to inform them about events of interest to them, such as new offers, collective vacation dates, price increases, etc.
In addition to the management of Wholesale Electronic Commerce by customers directly, it is very important that the platform has the possibility that its sellers can enter orders on behalf of said customers when they visit them or when they are placed through of a call center or order taking center by phone.
As you can see, Wholesale Electronic Commerce has advanced characteristics typical of this marketing model, so if your company is a manufacturer, importer or wholesale distributor, you must ensure that your supplier of Wholesale Electronic Commerce platform has this specialized technology and the experience and knowledge necessary to assist you on the successful path of your Internet business.
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