One of the most exciting areas of technology today is the use of technology to build platforms for business. With media, companies can connect and significantly reduce costs. In the past year, one of the biggest platforms has been born: the B2B marketplace. The B2B marketplace is a platform that connects buyers and sellers of goods and services in a way that was previously unavailable. Companies often use these platforms to source new suppliers, find new suppliers to partner with and expand their business. They are an excellent way for small businesses to reach a broad audience and earn extra income.
Today's B2B platforms are ushering in a new era of technology-enabled business transformation. Companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have made significant investments in creating these platforms for marketing and selling goods and services. These platforms have brought enormous efficiencies to businesses and have changed the way companies do business.
But not all platforms are the same. Some are designed for simplicity, while others help you select the best supplier for your needs. Defining the best B2B marketplace platform requires two things: Knowing what platform works best for your business and suppliers and then picking the right platform for your needs.
So how can you select a platform before your re-platforming?
Here are some factors to think about before choosing a B2B eCommerce platform
Customer and employee experience of the platform
The user experience is significant and dramatically impacts brand perception and loyalty. When we talk about the user experience, we are talking about the user's experience when interacting with your brand or product and determining how much they want to interact with your brand or product again or whether they want to recommend it to others.
The first step is to decide if the customer and employee experiences are a high enough priority for you to give up your current platform. If you want to transform your sales or the customer experience, you must know how the recent experience compares to what you expect after the change.
A great customer experience will lead to greater long-term loyalty and increase customers' chances to purchase from your company again. As a result, a great experience is critical.
The adaptability of the B2B platform
The second thing you need to think about is the platform's adaptability. Do you need the ability to add new products and services, or will you be able to pull existing products and services from the platform? The more adaptable the platform is, the more likely your suppliers will be able to plug into it, and the more likely you will be able to add new suppliers.
The most important aspect of the customer experience is the ability of your platform to adapt to your changing needs and requirements. If your platform cannot change and evolve as your business needs, it will be challenging to meet the needs of your current customers and build relationships with new customers that will lead to future business. It is essential that you can add new functionality to your platform without spending a significant amount of time on maintenance and make adjustments to the platform without a large amount of downtime for your business. Most platforms today have built-in functionality to keep up with the latest trends in the industry and are constantly making improvements to the platform based on customer feedback.
Cost of the platform
The cost of an eCommerce platform is a tricky topic. While an upfront cost might seem high, the benefits of an eCommerce platform are so overwhelming that small investment is more than worth it.
The upfront cost for a platform is the cost to purchase and obtain all the initial capabilities and resources needed to start setting up and running your business. The recurring cost is the ongoing cost that the platform incurs for your business as it continues to operate, such as hosting fees, upgrades, etc. The regular price can be high, but some platforms offer flexible pricing and payment options to help you save money.
Platform cost matters, but it's not the only factor. For example, eBay has a small, dedicated customer service team, but the price for its platform is still much higher than that of the market leaders: Amazon and Alibaba. Now, eBay also has an extensive customer service team, and it is known for handling customer service exceptionally well, but it costs a lot of money. On the flip side, Amazon Prime offers free, ad-free, two-day shipping for many popular items at a low price, but the more popular the item, the higher the price.
Deployment on a hosting
Hosting providers like Heroku, Google App Engine, or Amazon's AWS infrastructure are all capable of providing hosting solutions. For e-commerce sites that have large databases and complex code, the public cloud is a great fit. You can use the scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of the cloud as your business grows while still maintaining complete control over your data. When you host a website with a cloud provider, you give up some of your independence and power, but you gain several other benefits.
The services and technology offered by a hosting provider are essential considerations. These services can include support for your online store, compliance with industry regulations, secure data transfer, and extensibility of systems and storage space. Before you go, there are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a hosting provider. The hosting service provider should offer 24/7 support, as you may need help in a hurry. The provider should provide round-the-clock customer support so that you can get answers quickly if you have any questions.
Security
The security of eCommerce platforms, in the end, is essential to keep your customers safe. Irrespective of how hard you try to secure your platform, preventative measures are sure to fail at some point. In the worst-case scenario, a data breach could result in customer confidence and trust loss. We believe that the offerings of a hosting provider should include all the core security services, such as anti-virus, anti-malware, forensics, compliance, DDoS protection, Firewall, IDS, IPS, WAF, etc.
When looking for a Cloud-based b2b platform, it is essential to be wary of any offering inadequate security. This is particularly important if you provide confidential data to third parties as your platform 's user base increases. b2b platforms, particularly those that use private clouds or SaaS platforms, are a particular concern from a data security perspective. This is especially true for services that involve storing sensitive, proprietary or classified data.
Conclusion
Once you have selected a b2b e commerce platforms, it is crucial to evaluate your options carefully, consider all the factors, be sure you are prepared for the challenges, and choose the hosting provider best suited to your needs.
So before investing in a new platform, you should carefully evaluate whether it will address your main concerns and needs. This involves identifying what elements of your current platform you want to retain from your previous solution. Ideally, you will maintain the ability to operate your platform as a self-contained entity while also gaining the benefits of added scalability and redundancy.
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