Digital catalogs for your B2B
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 4:11 am
After finding the platform you'd like to use, the next step is to create a digital catalog to showcase your products and inventory. The basic requirements your product catalog should meet are clearly defined descriptions, images, and pricing. That said, you obviously want to commit to more than just the bare minimum when displaying your brand online.
Relevant data and statistics from the digital catalogue
69% of B2Bs say they expect to stop printing a catalogue within five years (b2xpartners), meaning the majority of sales are already leaning towards prioritising the self-service model – but why? After reviewing statistics from a manufacturing email database list variety of studies, the most important factor appears to be accessibility to information. A Gartner Buyer Enablement for B2B study revealed that 77% of buyers in the B2B market found their online purchasing complex or difficult, adding that 95% of buyer groups need to reconsider purchases as new information becomes available.
We typically relate this information to B2C consumers, but it also happens to be a typical experience within purchasing managers. There is always uncertainty within transactions, and since the Internet can provide a wealth of knowledge about anything, a competitive catalogue will need to be present and adequately informed to keep customers on the page.
To that point, 60% of shoppers would like “enhanced search” as a feature , meaning they want faster and more efficient ways to get to the products they’re interested in and achieve a broad overview of their products with ease. This is largely due to the personalization features we talked about above. Our software allows for customization for this purpose, and if you have questions about how you can further create a unique, individually-driven experience, please reach out to our on-site support.
Final thoughts on digital catalogues
Yes, the overall aesthetics of digital catalogues are still important, but with increasing competition, it becomes necessary to offer valuable information and resources to help. Digital catalogues must do more than just present, they must also direct and guide their visitors through their channels and towards a safe purchase.
The best-performing digital catalogs use design choices that align closely with a recognizable brand identity, use active promotions or custom coupons to drive conversions for related/affiliate products, use category filters for more focused product groupings, and allow for ERP integration to ensure accurate information and inventory changes are met with automatic site updates on the backend. To learn more about this tool, visit our related blog, The Advantages of Digital Product Catalogs .
The order management system behind it all
Finally, the last piece that makes all of this work and confuses, is the order management system, or more specifically, the order entry software . Now, since this is too overlooked a feature to necessarily have any unique data or statistics that we can apply to it, as the studies cover general trends rather than technical applications.
However, this is still arguably the most important tool you can rely on as a supplier. Your choice in order entry software will determine your productivity, speed, and efficiency within sales. Everything else in your e-commerce operation has to respond to your order management system and the pace at which it responds.
Our order management system allows real-time access to data pulled directly from your accounting or ERP software and, as mentioned above, the ability to customize your price lists and invoices. This software will grow as fast as your business does, allowing for unlimited leads/customers and boasting 99% uptime.
Relevant data and statistics from the digital catalogue
69% of B2Bs say they expect to stop printing a catalogue within five years (b2xpartners), meaning the majority of sales are already leaning towards prioritising the self-service model – but why? After reviewing statistics from a manufacturing email database list variety of studies, the most important factor appears to be accessibility to information. A Gartner Buyer Enablement for B2B study revealed that 77% of buyers in the B2B market found their online purchasing complex or difficult, adding that 95% of buyer groups need to reconsider purchases as new information becomes available.
We typically relate this information to B2C consumers, but it also happens to be a typical experience within purchasing managers. There is always uncertainty within transactions, and since the Internet can provide a wealth of knowledge about anything, a competitive catalogue will need to be present and adequately informed to keep customers on the page.
To that point, 60% of shoppers would like “enhanced search” as a feature , meaning they want faster and more efficient ways to get to the products they’re interested in and achieve a broad overview of their products with ease. This is largely due to the personalization features we talked about above. Our software allows for customization for this purpose, and if you have questions about how you can further create a unique, individually-driven experience, please reach out to our on-site support.
Final thoughts on digital catalogues
Yes, the overall aesthetics of digital catalogues are still important, but with increasing competition, it becomes necessary to offer valuable information and resources to help. Digital catalogues must do more than just present, they must also direct and guide their visitors through their channels and towards a safe purchase.
The best-performing digital catalogs use design choices that align closely with a recognizable brand identity, use active promotions or custom coupons to drive conversions for related/affiliate products, use category filters for more focused product groupings, and allow for ERP integration to ensure accurate information and inventory changes are met with automatic site updates on the backend. To learn more about this tool, visit our related blog, The Advantages of Digital Product Catalogs .
The order management system behind it all
Finally, the last piece that makes all of this work and confuses, is the order management system, or more specifically, the order entry software . Now, since this is too overlooked a feature to necessarily have any unique data or statistics that we can apply to it, as the studies cover general trends rather than technical applications.
However, this is still arguably the most important tool you can rely on as a supplier. Your choice in order entry software will determine your productivity, speed, and efficiency within sales. Everything else in your e-commerce operation has to respond to your order management system and the pace at which it responds.
Our order management system allows real-time access to data pulled directly from your accounting or ERP software and, as mentioned above, the ability to customize your price lists and invoices. This software will grow as fast as your business does, allowing for unlimited leads/customers and boasting 99% uptime.