Across the manufacturing industry, B2B buyers have demanded more: more orders filled, more payment options, more product information, more tracking, and (critically) more transparency.
In our recent B2B buyer report, we outlined the frustrations that buyers have with B2B ecommerce; 91% of buyers experience errors that prevent them from completing online orders. One third of all online orders contain errors. These frustrations evolve into bottlenecks, preventing manufacturing businesses from delivering consistent e-commerce experiences that drive buyer loyalty and increase sales.
Manufacturers can solve these bottlenecks through choosing the right e-commerce platform. An effective e-commerce solution eliminates order errors, increases transparency, and provides the customer experience that buyers are searching for.
But what does this look like in practice? Let’s take a look at how choosing the right e-commerce solution can enhance the customer experience for buyers in the manufacturing space by examining two companies, Palfinger and Contiweb, after implementing e-commerce with Sana Commerce Cloud.
Meet Palfinger and Contiweb
Palfinger is an international technology and mechanical engineering company, renowned as a world leader in innovative crane and lifting solutions.
Contiweb is a global leader in the development, production, sales and support of web-fed auxiliaries. Both of these manufacturing companies partnered with Sana Commerce to drive enhanced customer experiences throughout the B2B buying journey.
Palfinger had several challenges they wished to solve. First, they wanted to figure out how to weave their complex distribution network into a user-friendly e-commerce experience without losing the essence of efficiency and reliability. Additionally, they had prioritized enhancing user and business partner management in their internal system PALDESK, recognizing its critical role in accurate user identification and permissions allocation. It was essential for them to have a system that could swiftly recognize user roles and permissions upon entry into PALDESK.
Contiweb came to Sana Commerce with a lofty goal: to create a one-stop-shop for customers called MyContiweb, which would provide 24/7 support for their global customer base and streamline the buying process.
Sana Commerce partnered with both manufacturing companies to create e-commerce solutions that enhanced the customer journey, resulting in increased adoption and higher online ordering rates.
Here’s what they did:
Put the customer first by giving them a first-class customer portal
Forget about flying coach, customers want to be in first class. For customer portals, that means providing a personalized customer experience that offers:
Customized account personas with unique permissions levels
Customer catalogs with relevant SKUs
Accurate payment terms and customizable payment options
Access to orders and invoices, past and present
Up-to-date tracking and stock levels
These customer portals should offer a unified experience, allowing customers to access offline orders and online orders – all in one portal. What good is an online portal if you can’t access any of the invoices that you placed in person?
When it came to helping Contiweb build out their customer portal, Sana Commerce provided an elegant solution to the complexities of online B2B Commerce by natively integrating with Contiweb’s SAP ERP.
This native integration (without middleware) meant that data could be synced in real-time, providing up-to-date stock and order information. For customers, this meant they could access their invoices, see accurate stock, and track orders all through their customer portals.
For Palfinger, it was critical that their ecommerce experience sync with their internal system Paldesk, so that user information (such as customer roles and access levels) would be accurate. Sana Commerce provided an e-commerce solution that ensured each customer profile had the same permissions on the web store as they had on Paldesk – without any manual data entry required.
Uncover what B2B buyers today are seeking
Read the B2B Buyer report
Be transparent
For B2B buyers, transparency is key. Buyers don’t want to be surprised by price changes, they want to know where there order is and when it will arrive – they essentially want WISIWYG: what you see is what you get.
Palfinger specifically wanted to improve customer transparency through two measures: parts identification and streamlined multi-level distribution management.
Sana Commerce Cloud created efficiency through automation – automatically syncing parts information from PALFINGER’s internal systems to the web store. Furthermore, Sana Commerce Cloud enabled Palfinger to provide real-time pricing, discount updates, inventory levels, and order status to customers, improving transparency.
Another standout feature was the implementation of an automatic information ordering system tailored to their multi-level distribution model. This addressed the complexity of managing the flow of parts and equipment through various distribution layers. By automating the ordering process, PALFINGER ensured timely delivery and enhanced transparency across its global network of distributors, service partners, and end customers.
Don’t throw your customers into the deep end
Manufacturing companies that successfully enhanced their customer experience through e-commerce, like Palfinger, didn’t simply flip an on-switch, say “e-commerce is open,” and throw the customers into the deep-end.
Palfinger specifically used training sessions and demonstrations to onboard their customers and partners. This collaborative process has resulted in
80% web store adoption rate
200% increase in user accounts
Significant reduction in customer service emails.
To drive it home even further, 85% of their customers acknowledged advantages provided by this e-commerce platform.
Contiweb has similarly seen significant benefit from onboarding their user base. Now, 23% of spare parts orders go through their web store, while online sales account for 16% of their spare parts gross revenue – up significantly from before their e-commerce transformation.
Sana Commerce gives customers a first-class e-commerce experience
In the manufacturing sphere, B2B customers want it all: they want a seamless e-commerce experience with their predetermined pricing structure, accurate stock levels, order history, payment options, complex order options – and they’re tired of order errors holding them back.
To us, these customer demands and frustrations stem from one central tenet: increased transparency. Customers want to know how much something costs, where it is, when it will arrive, and they want a guarantee that it’ll be the product they ordered – accurate down to the minutiae.
