Tuesday 30th April 2019
There is very little we don’t do from our mobile phones these days and B2B sales should be no different.
Mobile sales already account for 30% of total eCommerce sales and as the workforce continues to change and evolve this number can only increase. Research also indicates that 49% of B2B buyers already use their smartphones to do product research, so why would we not give them the option to order at the same time?
If your still not convinced, here are our top 5 reasons for getting your very own customer app in the app store.
1. Customer convenience
As a wholesale distribution company, you may already have a few ways in which customers can place orders.
Perhaps you have a B2B eCommerce site that accounts for a percentage of incoming orders, but it doesn’t suit everyone to sit down at computer and place their orders so you likely have email and telephone orders still coming in too. Or you may have reps out with customers taking orders too.
So why would you need yet another avenue for orders to come in?
What is important is that the orders come in and that placing the orders is as convenient for your customer as possible.
What your customers all have in common is the likelihood that they have and use their smartphones on a daily if not hourly basis.
Having your branded app on their screens when they do will make ordering from you beyond convenient.
2. Easy and efficient ordering
Taking away location, time and device restrictions makes ordering as convenient as possible for your customers, but having an app that allows your customers to place orders in different ways to suit their needs will keep the orders rolling in.
Being able to easily place orders is paramount for your customers to want to use your app and keep using it.
Features like a fast and easy to navigate catalogue, repeat ordering from order history or favourites, displaying special offers and quick ordering, will help make an app more user-friendly and ultimately increase orders.
3. Better Customer Service
Customers will not always be looking to place orders immediately and may just want to do some product research, check the price or stock levels of a certain item or check their account information.
These are queries that may have normally come into you by phone, taking up the customer’s time and yours unnecessarily. Giving the access to your full digital catalogue from their smartphone and allowing them to search by product name, SKU or categories will help them find exactly what they are looking for.
Live stock levels and customer-specific pricing integrated in real-time from your back-end ERP system along with access to account information like invoices will not only give your customers what they need and when they need it, but will help free up your staff from dealing with these queries over the phone too.
4. Marketing & Communication Opportunities
Keeping in touch with your current customers and keeping them aware of what you do is essential.
A mobile app that offers the ability to display special offers and that gives your customers access to marketing collateral like blogs, videos and social media feeds will help with your overall marketing efforts.
Even the simplicity of your logo on your customer’s mobile screen will keep your business at the forefront of their minds.
5. Choice and Flexibility
Just like in our personal lives B2B buyers are increasingly opting for an omnichannel approach when it comes to placing orders. Mobile is there to supplement rather than replace more traditional buying processes so that customers can use a variety of buying channels to meet a range of needs.
Being able to offer a variety of digital ordering options from eCommerce portals and apps for your customers, mobile ordering for your sales reps, social media selling and more, gives customers and you the flexibility to make and take orders whenever, however and wherever.
If you are looking to get your own branded app in the app store check out PocketShop, the customer ordering app from Aphix Software, and book your no-obligation free demo today
If you are looking to get your own branded app in the app store check out PocketShop, the customer ordering app from Aphix Software, and book your no-obligation free demo today
