“…B2B companies still lag far behind their B2C brethren in terms of their level of digital maturity and the quality of the customer experience they offer.”
The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q2 2015
Forrester Research said it all: By 2020, U.S ecommerce sales will hit $1.13 trillion. That has to start you thinking about the possibility of integrating your existing Dynamics GP platform with B2B ecommerce. Fortunately, we have obligingly introduced the IES Dynamics GP Ecommerce Manager as an immediate way to capitalize on the ecommerce craze.
Keeping the Customer Satisfied
Customer demand is driving adoption of new best-in-class ecommerce solutions, as B2B companies discard their legacy systems for cloud software integrating sales, marketing, inventory, and business analytics. That’s the idea behind the Microsoft suite of ecommerce and enterprise resource planning tools that were designed to become an end-to-end solution for your business.
True fact: Your customers want you to be Amazon. They’re demanding an Amazon-like online experience, across any digital device. Forrester says they don’t just want merchandise; they want a personalized shopping experience on an agile platform with price and inventory transparency.
In our experience, a solid B2B ecommerce site should have the following core functions:
- Multi-channel touch points along the digital continuum.
- Solutions-based architecture with BI platform integration.
- Experience management options.
- Robust product information management tools.
- Flexibility and integration across a suite of products.
Fortunately, Dynamics GP eCommerce offers these features and more. Dynamics GP eCommerce Manager integrates with Microsoft GP to support product sales. It gives your B2B customers the personalized sales experience they demand while integrating with your business intelligence platform. The beauty of this software is that you can use Dynamics GP eCommerce to sell your products while tracking buying patterns on the back end in Dynamics GP.
Here are eight product features that should give you good reason for integrating Dynamics GP with Dynamics GP eCommerce.
Features include:
- eCatalog inventory designed to take your products online, with a seamless out-of-the-box migration for a quick storefront set up.
- Customer order entry flows back and forth between GP ERP, automatically updating quantity on hand while providing you with access to actionable business analytics.
- Invoice and online payment integration is perfect for either B2B or B2C.
- Secure online checkout where customers can view and pay balances with credit cards, review order history, or track shipping.
- Order notification emails let customers know when their item is shipped.
- Real time shipping with quotes from all major carriers.
- Flash photo galleries and the easy text editor will showcase your products fully.
- Upsell/cross-sell automation including “featured products” and the ability to easily highlight products.
Integrating these platforms can save you money and time in the long run. Instead of managing two separate databases, you will cut maintenance in half.
For example, if you’re a business with a robust product line, do you manually re-key orders into your financial system? How about updating pricing and inventory levels? If the systems aren’t integrated, how can you be certain of the accuracy between your online platform and back office accounting?
The amount of labor saved by integrating the front and back end of the ecommerce process cannot be discounted when time equals money. Eliminating unnecessary manual data entry saves time and money, while the software gives your clients the experience they demand.
To find out more about integrating Dynamics GP with B2B ecommerce, contact the experts at IES today.
