How to simplify B2B Order Placement with Magento for Sales
Last Updated | July 27, 2023
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B2B is a profitable business model, with companies making millions of dollars in annual revenues. However, the optimization requirements for B2B businesses are much different from B2C models. Out of the various optimization aspects which B2B businesses need to consider, a convenient and reassuring checkout process definitely tops the list.
Since the transaction amount concerned with B2B businesses are generally much larger as compared to B2C business models thereby, it’s even more critical to offer customers a seamless and reassuring checkout experience.
This blog will exclusively look at steps to optimize order placement and checkout processes for B2B online businesses to help online merchants achieve more sales and maximize revenues. So, are you ready for this change?
What Is B2B Order Placement?
Order placement has become a common concept among online buyers and sellers. To illustrate, whenever a customer places the order, the order remains effective in a trading session until the order is canceled or fulfilled.
Today, even sizeable B2B transactions are being processed online, which means customers demand a seamless order placement process and a personalized and secure online payment gateway.
Similarly, different complicated and logical factors can impact the customer’s purchasing decisions. For instance, B2B customers negotiate the deal and price points before the order is placed, and since it brings your profit and revenues, streamlining the order placement process is important.
All in all, the order placement method and time depend on the niche of online business. So, this is all about B2B order placement with Magento or other platforms and why it’s important!
What Is The Master Order Placement Process?
It’s pretty evident what the order placement process is, but it’s safe to say that not everyone knows the actual meaning or understands the concept. This lack of understanding often acts as a barrier to organized and smooth business management.
Truth be told, B2B online businesses are tempting and have the capacity to increase the sales volume. So, in the quest of enjoying more sales, various enterprises have switched to online stores, but they didn’t match the needs of B2B customers.
As a result, the B2B businesses didn’t do well. For this reason, we are sharing about master order placement process to ensure your B2B business is progressing in the right direction, and the steps include;
- Registering The B2B Account
Ensure that the B2B registration form is designed precisely and carefully to ensure you get the most information about your customers. Having access to this information will ensure the definition of correct pricing
- Choosing The Products
If a B2B customer is working with you for the first time, they are likely to search, inspect, and note down the product specifications to design the purchasing plan. In addition, they are likely to discuss the products and process.
To ensure customer’s needs are being met, make sure that you showcase the products intuitively and attractively, especially if you are using Magento store (you can also get in touch with Magento web development companies to revive product appearance)
- Signing In
The customers will use their registered account to login and gain information about the products, such as price points and features
- Requesting For The Quote
The B2B customers are likely to participate in negotiation, but it majorly depends on the sales campaign. In the majority of cases, the B2B stores will hide the prices because the final price depends on the customers and order volume. So, negotiation will help set the final price, and the deal will be closed
- Placing The Order
B2B customers tend to come back to the frontend for placing the agreed-upon orders. For the most part, the order values are massive and include products comprising of multiples sizes and colors. As a store owner, you need to reduce convenience to the lowest, so the card abandonment ratios reduce. In simpler words, you need to smoothen and fasten the order processing
- Receiving The Ordered Products
Once the order process is complete, including contact information and payments, the customers will obviously need to wait to get their order. That being said, you need to work with a high-quality logistics company to ensure large order volumes are catered to adequately.
- Reordering
If you deliver the best products, your B2B customer will eventually come back for ordering the second time. In addition, if you have wholesale clients, they are highly likely to reorder the products
What Customers Expect In A B2B Order Website?
Now that you know how the order placement process can be streamlined, it’s essential to understand the customer’s expectations to ensure a personalized customer experience. In the section below, we are sharing common expectations that a customer has for a B2B order process from online platforms, such as;
- Efficient & Straightforward Order Form
If you have wholesale business clients or if they are your target market, it’s needless to say that they will purchase products in bulk, which means there will be an enormous number of products in their cart. That being said, purchasing one product after going through different categories is frustrating, and they might even give up buying from you.
However, you can simply optimize the order placement by creating the order forms because they promise convenient order placement.
In addition, designing a dynamic order form will ensure that the B2B order process is comfortable, convenient, and efficient. With the help of a form, the wholesalers will be able to find out the products from the search box rather than digging into a separate category page.
- Flexibility
When you sell products to another business, it’s needless to say that you will receive never-ending customer requests. When it comes to flexibility, the order placement process must be simple, and making changes should be easier to ensure the customer’s complaints are being handled efficiently.
Secondly, when wholesale customers are likely to buy in bulk, and you need to have a flexible system to ensure they can reorder instantly. Lastly, make sure that the product is displayed precisely and neatly because it can capture more customers.
- Manageability
Wholesalers and relevant businesses often want more control over order management, delivery tracking, history information, pricing, the status of product stocks, and more. So, while optimizing the order placement, this is another feature your customers would want because it will eventually help them launch the marketing and sales campaigns.
- Convenient Dashboard
When your customers are already demanding order management, it’s pretty obvious that they will ask for a convenient interface. That being said, you need to add a convenient dashboard to ensure the order management, order placement, and time is optimized. In addition, make sure that the dashboard offers information about balance, quotes, and orders.
Why Magento B2B Stores Should Simplify Order Placement?
- Improved Customer Services
When you simplify order placement, the customer service will eventually improve. This is because even the sales support will have quicker access to the customer information, which helps them provide better insights into their orders.
- Ownership
When there is no seamless system, the customer will have no choice but to call customer support to ask for order progress. On the other hand, if you give them access to a streamlined order placement dashboard, the customers will be able to see their order progress through a portal. For instance, they will be able to check the inventory, determine the order status, and check the account status without bugging customer support.
- No Manual Entries
With a simplified order placement process, the customers won’t have to keep reentering the information, hence no need for manual entries. What’s best is that even your sales team won’t have to enter the data manually. When the entries are automated, the chances of errors will also be removed because the centralized data will be available. Consequently, it will reduce the chances of errors, eliminate data loss, and enhance data protection.
- Cost Reduction
Each penny matters for a business, which means one mistake in an order will increase costs. That being said, simplifying the order placement will ensure that order placement is correct and other processes are accurate as well. As a result, the customers will receive what they ordered, so you don’t have to bear the costs of late or incorrect orders.
- Improved Data Control
When your employees keep adding the data manually, they are likely to make errors, and it’s natural, which means you need to be highly vigilant. With the implementation of simplified order placement systems, the data control will improve, and the chances of data errors will reduce.
- Validation Of Prices
With the implementation of order placement systems, you will be able to compare different purchase orders and their prices to make sure every price is validated. In addition, you will be able to see if there are any discrepancies in the data and that information is correct.
- Quick Shipping
When it comes down to simple order processing, the businesses will be able to send the orders to the warehouse without any re-keys. To illustrate, it will improve efficiency, eventually reducing warehouse costs and chances of errors and improving shipping time. Even more, both parties will be able to track the order.
- Remote Order Processing
With well-designed and intuitive dashboards, the customers will be able to process the information and orders, irrespective of the location.
What Are The Best Features For A Magento 2 Order Placement?
- Product Inventory
Adding the product inventory will ensure that your customers don’t end up placing orders for an out-of-stock item. In addition, you should try to maintain a reliable inventory of products to ensure you can meet the customer’s needs.
- Quick Order Method
Adding the quick order method will help customers add various products to the cart, minimizing the need to switch between product categories and pages. In addition, the customers will be able to check out the product details, edit the inventory quantity, and make other changes
- Order Importing
The wholesalers, tend to manage the orders through excel sheets. To be honest, it is frustrating to add the product title and related information to the sheet, which is why adding the order importing feature will ease the customer’s experience. With the order importing feature, the customers will be able to upload the order documents and process them to the checkout stage
- Access To Order History
When customers place an order, they want to check and track their orders. That being said, add the feature that allows the customers to check out the order history
- Optimize The Order Fulfillment
Ensure that you don’t ignore your customers, specifically when they have paid for the order. For this purpose, you need to design the fulfillment strategy that will help quicken up shipping, reduce costs, and gain a satisfied customer base
- Reordering
Repeat orders are common in B2B businesses, and it can even impact the success factor of the business. So, make sure that you add the reordering feature for your customers
If you adhere to these said features, it’s needless to say that you will have access to effective business outcomes. In addition, these features can be enjoyed with Magento to Shopify Migration as well, but the order placement process will be different.
That being said, it doesn’t matter if you have a Shopify store or a Shopify store, add these features with the order placement system and watch the positive outcomes!
What Are The Best Magento 2 Order Extensions To Serve B2B Order Placement?
- Wholesale Fast Order
This extension is designed and offered by Bsscommerce and has become an apt choice for B2B businesses without compromising on professional features. This extension is available with a user-friendly interface that allows the customers to order a large number of products at once.
It allows the users to add blocks to the cart page to skip adding product details and jump right to the cart. We like this extension because it can work with various product types (it doesn’t work with bundle products). It can calculate the total amount, quicken up the order processing, and show pop-ups about the product information and specifications.
- Quick Order For Magento 2
This extension is designed by Amasty and is known to simplify the order processing and buying process. The buying process will be seamless, and they can add various SKUs, export the order lists through CSV, and search products through product names. It’s a highly intuitive extension and helps validate the products. The B2B customers can place mass orders, and the order processing will be quick.
Even more, it will allow the admins to customize the URLs, user interface, and limitations related to customer groups. Moreover, the product catalog design will be enhanced, and the out-of-stock products will automatically be excluded from the store.
- Magento Quick Order
This extension is designed by Mageplaza and has become a fine combination of efficiency and convenience. This extension is suitable for bulk ordering which makes it suitable for your wholesale customers. The extension allows the customers to add products to the cart, and the checkout process will be way more convenient. The best thing about this extension is that it eliminates the chances of cart abandonment.
Some of the best features include instant product search, bulk orders, and order page will be optimized. In addition, the users will be to select the product details and check out the product details in one place (subtotal, SKU, and images).
- Quick Order Magento 2
This extension is designed and offered by DCKAP and is a fine choice for B2B customers where businesses have to deal with bulk products. It delivers a highly efficient ordering system, and customers will be able to add various products at one time.
The customers no longer need to go through different product categories to find one product. The users will be able to add products in dynamic rows, promising better visibility.
Final Words
Simplifying the B2B order placement in Magento stores will improve business profitability. It can optimize the order process and increase the chances of reordering, and various Magento B2B extension development companies have launched extensions to optimize your current Magento 2 store. So, do simplify order placement and watch your sales spike up like never before!