Key aspects of a market leading B2B eCommerce platform: Pladur Online

What type of businesses do you usually associate with eCommerce?

Your first thought may be apparel & fashion retailers, or companies like Amazon who sell consumer goods online. There’s no doubt that eCommerce has built up a niche with B2C brands, i.e. companies who sell goods directly to consumers.However, B2B brands need eCommerce just as much as consumer stores, and represent some of the most successful online businesses. 

In this post we’re featuring Pladur, a leader in the Spanish construction landscape. We will be highlighting the key aspects of its online store, demonstrating why B2B brands need a high performing e-commerce platform just as much as consumer stores.

 

Store within a store: Distributor Empowerment 

The integration of Pladur's distributors is an important part of its e-commerce strategy. Each distributor is essentially handed the keys to its own storefront, equipped with the ability to:

• Manage and customize their respective catalogs
• Specify different price rules for customer profiles based on purchase history
• Initiate their own online sales & marketing campaigns

With the above, the distributors have full control of the sales process. They have the freedom and flexibility to make decisions as to which and how Pladur products are pushed to their respective customer base.

Distributor store selection based on customer location

 

B2C-like Buying Experience

Pladur’s online store is designed with the intention of providing a B2C-like buying experience. A significant number of B2B buyers are now expressing the need for seamless web navigation and an effortless search experience. They also demand a consistent, personalized experience across devices. Just like in the case of B2C, buyers in the B2B world often discover products in one device and end up purchasing it on another device. 

Hence it was important for Pladur that its e-commerce is able to provide a hassle-free, omni-device buying experience, with the customer’s interests in mind.

 

Real-time Online Catalog Management

Pladur’s e-commerce can be described as an online marketplace that enables Pladur, its distributors and customers to access synchronized product information at any time. The addition of browsing features such as search filters, product reviews and stock level information further enhances the customer’s shopping experience. 

An important factor to this real-time execution is the integration of logistics and warehouse management systems to the e-commerce platform.

 

Purchase Flexibility

Some of Pladur’s customers may want to process a large volume order at one go, while others may prefer to purchase smaller quantities on a more frequent, periodic basis. Some purchases may be just a single product type and straightforward in nature, while others can consist of multiple distinct items, requiring buyers to carefully read technical specifications before deciding on the right product to buy. The point is that there is a large variety of products and purchase profiles to consider.

Therefore it was important for Pladur and its distributors to provide its customers with total purchasing flexibility. Pladur’s online store allowed registered customers to set up and save favourite purchases, making repeated purchases easier. In addition, Pladur’s eCommerce platform allows customers to specify orders in different measurements and quantities, such as pallets, weight in kg, size in square metre, etc.

The flexibility of the purchase experience extends throughout Pladur’s online store, also taking into consideration the payment preferences of different B2B customers.

 

The Power of Data Analytics

With the data-driven capabilities provided by Elastic Stack, Pladur is able to access vital business insights of its eCommerce. Pladur and its distributors can accurately measure the performance of their sales and marketing initiatives. 

Pladur is able to make better business decisions by having full visibility of analytics describing customer behaviour and their purchasing habits.

 

Starting a B2B eCommerce store

Want to know more about how to start a B2B eCommerce in 2021? We’ve previously talked about the key aspects of starting a B2B eCommerce project, so be sure to check out the article on this topic.

Alternatively, you can reach out to us at hello@orienteed.com or through our contact form, and our experts will contact you to arrange a free consultation.