How B2B Ecommerce Can Help Improve The Supply Chain Management And Save Costs

A B2B ecommerce takes place when large numbers of buyers and sellers meet at a common virtual market place. Here, both the seller and buyer are business enterprises and not end consumers. A B2B initiative needs a robust infrastructure to support the supply chain process of multiple businesses. A typical supply chain includes activities such as production planning, purchasing, material management, distribution, customer service and sales forecasting. These functions are important to all the entities involved in a B2B ecommerce, whether it is a manufacturer, a wholesaler, a service provider and so on.

The introduction of internet technologies in supply chain has helped businesses in reducing costs, improving data accuracy, streamlining business processes, accelerating business cycles, and enhancing customer service. For instance in the transport sector, shippers, freight forwarders and trucking firms can exchange documents electronically thereby omitting the monetary and time investment required by the traditional document delivery systems.

B2B e-commerce enables businesses to manage the complex movement of products and information between businesses, their suppliers and customers, with more flexibility. E-commerce allows customers to access information on product, prices, delivery orders, shipments, payment of freight bills etc.

With the information available on a B2B ecommerce website, customers get detailed information about the products a company offers and also where they can actually conduct business with the company. Hence, these B2B ecommerce web sites provide a global, self-driven system for customers.

ESS developed a B2B ecommerce system for a client that allowed his suppliers to check the availability and place orders at any time from any place. After implementation of this application the client derived manifold benefits like enhanced sales due to 24*7 access of the system, lower sales cost due non dependence on manual systems like phone or fax, superior customer satisfaction as customers were able to track their order status and view live inventory etc.

With e-commerce companies are taking a substantial step forward by providing customers with a faster and easier way to do business. E-commerce allows users to establish an account and obtain real-time information about their order and due shipments. Facilities to create and submit bills of lading, a cargo order, analyze charges, submit a freight claim, and carry out many other functions can be provided in a B2B ecommerce. In critical cases, E-commerce even allows customers to track shipments to the individual product and perform other supply chain management and decision support functions. All these supply chain functions and transactions performed over a network are secured by encryption.

B2B Ecommerce indirectly helps in building companies’ business and enhancing shareholder value. Thus, adapting to the ecommerce in supply chain can actually accelerate the business growth.