How Does a Mobile App Help a B2B Marketplace?

Mobile applications and omnichannel experiences can dramatically improve customer experience for B2C, C2C, B2C, and really any type of interaction. One thing to consider is that users are looking for the most self-service, non-confrontational, high value interaction they can have with your marketplace.

Therefore, the extent that we can enable a seamless, powerful, well-governed interaction with mobile applications and omnichannel improves the breadth and depth of the offering the marketplace can bring.

B2B Apps Improve Bidding Capabilities

In particular, with B2B offerings, a B2B mobile application can vastly improve the customer’s experience especially where they may have more functionality than the website itself.

For example, if the marketplace is offering some form of auction or bidding, the user can set up a notification in the app to notify them when something is in stock. Then they can make a bid on that item right away.

They can also use the app to scan a barcode at an in-person event, or see a picture of the item. This interaction allows sellers and buyers to extend their reach. Users can also receive a notification for if they’re outbid, or if they’ve received a quote request that’s time-sensitive.

Having a notification go to their mobile application can make or break their ability to purchase with your B2B marketplace. If they don't receive the notification in time, they may not be able to make the purchase, as they may have otherwise missed it via traditional means like email.

In addition, having a B2B marketplace application can be particularly helpful for interacting with an augmented reality type of experience. Most B2B purchasers and sellers are going to be quite busy, and they may find that they don't have a lot of downtime in front of the website. They may be traveling or in a meeting, etc., and have their smartphone or a tablet readily available.

Therefore, having the core offerings available on those devices is a game-changer to keep it top of mind, and it’s essential to keep the buyer and seller engaged in the marketplace and facilitate the exchange between them.

To the extent that we can make this consistent and a self-serve operation, we can enable the process to expand and grow naturally. So, having this omnichannel experience for the buyer and seller to interact is a key factor to a successful B2B business.

Discussions via the App’s Messaging System

The buyer may be requesting something that requires a logistics estimate. Maybe it’s an intermodal shipment, or a unique shipment, etc. The seller needs to get a shipping estimate. To have immediate interaction, the buyer and seller can leverage the chat tool within the marketplace application.

Well, it’s easy to do this via mobile or tablet application that links into your eMarketplace. This would be important for the sellers because oftentimes a buyer may initiate a quote request and want to chat about the logistics estimate or some other portion of the sales process.

Notifying the seller and waiting for them to see their email could be frustrating for the buyer. The buyer may be looking to get an answer right away—we don’t want to set the expectation that all sellers will respond immediately, but if we give the seller a mobile/tablet application and make it available to multiple people within the seller’s organization, the odds are that can be a game changer for the value the marketplace brings. Even if there’s a manual process that has to occur, if we can provide a lot of interactivity and immediacy to that interaction, that can differentiate the marketplace and place it above other options.

On the seller side of things, having an omnichannel experience can be critical for an eMarketplace platform. Many sellers have physical brick-and-mortar locations within a marketplace, so they may choose to leverage a point of sale system so that whenever folks are purchasing in the marketplace, they could actually pick up in store.

Although this may not be very common and it may be the exception more than the rule, this could have a big impact for a particular set of buyers in a particular region.

They might want to make purchases online through the website, and check for inventory remotely, but then immediately go pick up the items from the physical location.

Many sellers aren’t going to have the resources to put this infrastructure in place. Therefore, it’s valuable to allow sellers to have point of sale integration as well as location lookup and inventory lookup within your marketplace. This adds value to the seller and to the particular market you’re serving. It can help you capture a niche and penetrate a particular market more rapidly.

Manage Fulfillment with the B2B Phone & Tablet Apps

One of the most key things for B2B marketplaces is making sure that sellers have the ability to upload accurate product data, including pricing and inventory information. It’s also crucial that the data and uploads are easy for them to manage.

With tablet and smartphone applications, the seller can quickly see reports so they can identify trends, manage orders, and deal with fulfillment. They can also easily manage their inventory and pricing.

By enabling them to manage things with additional tools, they can be out on the warehouse floor and use these omnichannel mobile and tablet applications to do fulfillment. You could enable a robust solution with your eCommerce marketplace where the vendors have a major advantage in working with your marketplace versus another.

It’s important to take advantage of not just the traditional dashboard and reporting tools, but also robust capabilities around fulfillment, scanning items, and doing pick-and-pack through your omnichannel application that ties into their vendor dashboard and allows them to complete fulfillment steps.

Whenever there’s a store lookup and a need to make something available for someone to pick up from a store, for example, the marketplace could allow them to complete these workflow steps very easily. There may be a need for refund or return, and having a mobile application can extend the ability of the internal team of the vendor so they can quickly complete these steps of refund, accrediting, or returning items.

• Key Marketplace Considerations
• Filtering and Categorization of Products
• Content Sourcing Practices & Workflows
• Best Buyer Dashboard Features
• Best Cart Features & Workflows
• Best Checkout Workflows & Payment Methods
• Establishing an eMarket - Vendor Portals
• eMarket Success - Vendor Portals
• eMarket Line of Business Integrations – Vendor Portals
• eCommerce Inventory Management – Vendor Portals
• Marketplace Advertising Best Practices – Vendor Portals
• Key Aspects of Split Shipment for eCommerce Marketplace Management
• Split Payment Utility in Marketplace Software
• Considerations for RMAs in eCommerce Marketplace
• How Multistore Platforms Support Global Marketplace
• Design Your Multivendor Marketplace for C2C
• How Is Multi-Vendor Marketplace Software Adapted for B2C?
• Market Development Strategies: B2B, C2C, D2C Cases
• How eCommerce Platforms Support Market Development Managers
• Building an International Marketplace Business Model
• Best Market Penetration Strategy for eMarketplace
• Marketplace Aspects that Improve Market Penetration

• Intro to e-Marketplace Platform
• eMarket Integrations: Products, Categories, & Marketing Content
• eMarket Integrations: Customer Specific Pricing Rules
• eMarket Integrations: Warehousing & Inventory Strategy
• eMarket Integrations: Region-Specific Shipping Process
• Enhance Marketplace eCommerce Checkout Flow
• SSO Benefits for Your e-Marketplace Platform
• e-Marketplace Benefits of Single Sign-On: Case Study
• Benefits of Multi-Factor Authentication in Electronic Marketplaces
• Marketplace Examples: Country-Specific Vendor Portals
• e-Marketplace Platform Example for Buying Groups
• Marketplace Capabilities for Expanding Buying Groups
• Multi-Store & Multi-Vendor Marketplace Management
• Advantages of Multi-Store and Multi-Vendor Platforms
• Challenges for Multi-Store and Multi-Vendor eCommerce
• How Headless CMS Enhances Multi-Vendor eCommerce
• How Can Multi-Vendor eMarketplace Tailor to D2C?
• Key Platform Features to Enhance Market Development
• Ways a Marketplace Platform Improves Market Research
• Marketplace Business Model – Best Detailed Guide
• How Will Market Penetration Help Your Business Grow?
• How Does a Mobile App Help a B2B Marketplace?