In India, B2B eCommerce is like Oxygen for the dying breed of wholesalers and traders. It’s time for them to forget their traditional methods and adopt the B2B model, to sustain and grow in the global eCommerce market. By switching to B2B, they will have the luxury of governing business across India – the world’s largest consumer market – instead of limiting themselves to a small portion of the country.

B2B: Cost-Effective Strategy : Over the last few years, there is enough proof that B2B model offers an incredible cost-effective strategy, no matter the size of the business. This is why traditional traders and wholesalers need to adopt B2B model which will help them reduce operation costs and expand their business.

Avoiding Human Errors : Using traditional methods, Indian wholesalers are still manually handling orders through phone calls, e-mail and fax. When clients call, it requires manual entry which could lead to human error and possibility of missing the order. Also, this process takes twice as long because customer has to input an order.

But by switching to B2B eCommerce portal, traditional sellers can allow customers to place their own orders and free up customer service agents for other important duties. By switching to B2B, they can also maintain multiple price books and target customers with promotions, hot deals and content. This way, they can create an optimal B2B buying environment.

In 2014, a report by Chitrangana.com revealed that 69% of B2B companies will stop publishing print catalogues within the next five years. By doing this, they can switch to mobile-friendly versions that can accesses easily on tablets or smartphones.

Smarter Purchasing  : There are many more reasons why traditional wholesalers should switch to B2B. They can have more control over inventory and avoid bulk purchases. They can avoid dealing with high quantity and invoice value, and instead be smarter with their purchasing. They no longer need to stockpile products.

“With GST implementation, wholesalers can also target wide customer base across the country and expand their business. With no additional tax, they can target major business growth. By switching to B2B, they can also optimize shipping and logistics. Since India has the world’s largest consumer market, B2B model is a golden ticket for wholesalers to expand their business and target new regions in the country.” said Navin Surya, Senior eCommerce Mentor at Chitrangana.com

Build Roadmap to eCommerce : If wholesalers feel it is too expensive to switch to B2B, they can simply replicate the codebase of other models. This is the most inexpensive and fastest option. After doing this, eCommerce managers can gain feedback from wholesalers and then build a roadmap for building a new B2B eCommerce platform.

The time is right for traditional Indian wholesalers and traders to ditch the old methods and adopt the B2B model. It is the only way for them to sustain their business and compete with new players.