Experts are estimating that the business-to-business (B2B) arena will net an astounding $1.18 trillion annually in the United States by 2021. That’s more than twice what business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce is projected to make. If you want to step into this dynamic and potentially profitable playing field, embrace some ways to appeal to your commercial e-customers.

DON’T FORGET THAT BUSINESSES ARE STILL CUSTOMERS

When you are face-to-face with a person in a physical store or even are interacting online with an individual, it becomes almost second nature to do everything you can to make their customer experience as positive as possible. To that end, you clearly display and explain your products, answer questions, make the payment experience seamless and are available if problems arise. Although companies might seem like anonymous entities, they are as much your customers as single human beings are. Treat them as such, and you will be rewarded with sales and even referrals.

FOCUS ON MAKING YOUR PRODUCT SELECTION CLEAR AND AVAILABLE

The days of paging through printed catalogs to purchase work-related products are over. Today your B2B ecommerce site is where you need to focus your energy in clearly describing and displaying what you are selling. Your information must be detailed, accurate and consistent across all of your listings. If your B2B customers are unable to quickly and easily find what they need on your site, they will do so elsewhere.

SHOW B2B CUSTOMERS THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THEIR DESIRES AND CHALLENGES

People buy things to satisfy a need, and businesses are no different. The more you can demonstrate to your business customers that you understand the specific needs and obstacles they encounter in their particular line of work, the easier it will be to develop a productive and genuine relationship with them. Take steps to let them know that they are more than just an anonymous number by noting their past purchases and recommending related products based on this history.

BE SURE YOUR E-COMMERCE SOLUTION IS UP-TO-DATE

If you want to succeed in selling to today’s businesses, the platform on which you run your operations absolutely needs to be modern. Devote some time to thinking about what your customers need and want. If your current software can’t handle things like price levels and term accounts, for instance, you might find yourself falling behind, failing to efficiently meet customers’ needs and eventually out of the competitive picture. There are numerous e-commerce solutions available to you, so find the cutting-edge system that can work for you now and in the future as you grow.

INTEGRATE YOUR E-COMMERCE SOLUTION WITH YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS

Whatever new e-commerce platform you choose, be sure that it will work well with the back-end solutions that you have already put in place. When you do this right, you can automate many of your day-to-day business tasks such as inventory management and fulfilling orders. Since today’s e-commerce solutions are very powerful and rich in components, don’t fail to take advantage of the ways they can make your job easier.

Clearly, B2B e-commerce is the wave of the future. If you do some preliminary work to ensure that your customer service strategies and software systems are running smoothly, you won’t miss out on the expanded customer base and profits that may well result.