As part of the SAP Wholesale Distribution team, I had the pleasure of helping host our China Innovation Days event last week in Walldorf, Germany. Many technology innovations were showcased, but none generated more interest and conversation than E-Commerce.
According to attendees, the Chinese ecommerce industry is fuelled by a myriad of factors, but much of its explosive growth is attributed to the unique landscape in itself. The market value of e-commerce is largely derived from the weak offline retail sector, and online retail has provided consumers with a much needed alternative way of shopping.
Chinese consumers are experiencing a growth in disposable income and are increasingly relying on mobile devices, which have changed the way they shop. Consumers expect an engaging shopping experience and want to enjoy the full brand experience, which fosters loyalty and long-lasting purchasing relationships.
The explosive growth in China, a country that is set to become the world’s largest online retail market, is powered by China’s 302 million online shoppers who choose not to battle crowds, traffic and smog, which make shopping an uncomfortable experience.
As a result of the increased level of consumer activity, the e-commerce landscape for Wholesale Distribution is undergoing a massive amount of change including:
- Distributor’s customers are expecting the same (easy) experience in business as they experience in their personal
on-line shopping - With market boundaries fading, manufacturers are selling directly to consumers.
- New connections are increasing non-stock inventories, and competition from smaller distributors.
- More demanding customers are driving product information online, and product extensions with predictive analytics.
- Evolving prices are increasing online shopping.
- Distributors today are seeing inconsistent user experiences, differing views of customers across devices and channels, and
increased data and process complexities.
That’s where e-commerce technology in Wholesale comes in – to help distributors enable their business strategies. Innovative Distributors are using e-Commerce technology to enable business strategies for:
- Real Time Digital Catalogs
- Self Service Order Processing
- Integrated and Synced Channels
- Manufacturer Data Maintenance
- Expanded Non-Stock Products
Distributors are in desperate need a single platform to meet their e-commerce requirements. They need a solution with a complete view of the business, a consistent user experience, and efficient management of data and process complexity.
Distributors can benefit from a single view of data across channels, improved reliability with better quality data, increased sales with sophisticated merchandising, as well as an enhanced omni-channel customer experience. This results in lower sales expenses, reduced inventory and support costs, faster time to value, improved customer satisfaction, and ultimately, higher profitability.
Additionally, distributors can experience higher average order values by bundling add-on services and guided selling and a reduction in average cost of customer service calls via online self-service and cross channel integration.
To find out how the SAP hybris B2B Commerce solution can provide your customers with a multichannel shopping experience as advanced as the Web’s best consumer sites, click here.
You will discover how to maximize conversion and revenue with best-in-class search and navigation, advanced personalization to deliver targeted content, self-service and online order management tools, customer-specific catalogs and pricing, and multichannel support.
How will you delight your next generation of customers and effectively compete in the marketplace? Partner with SAP in your e-Commerce journey to turn the Internet into a profitable sales and interaction channel.
