If you want to scale your B2B eCommerce business, set yourself up for a highly competitive journey. Your growth story will take place in a $7,432.12 billion market (as of 2022) where many other B2B brands thrive. Technologies are evolving, consumer behaviors are shifting, and establishing brand identity to foster customer trust is something every eCommerce business would yearn for. So how will you handle the fierce competition and ever-changing market dynamics?
A way out is to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to scale your B2B eCommerce business. AI's growth is unprecedented, and it’s expected to be a $1.3 trillion market by 2030. It helps B2B eCommerce businesses streamline inventory management, personalize customer experiences, and boost sales.
AI for B2B eCommerce
Taking your business to new heights can mean witnessing impeccable results in customer acquisition, revenue boosts, and outpacing competitors’ growth. But how can AI help here? What role does it play, and how does it contribute to growth?
Technologies are shaping up to drive your B2B eCommerce business toward massive growth. For example, there are different AI-based tools for predictive analytics, dynamic pricing, last-mile delivery, logistics CRM, etc.
That’s exactly what we’ll discuss in this piece. Let’s explore three key ways your B2B eCommerce business can use AI to scale successfully.
1. Inventory management and demand forecasting
As an eCommerce B2B company, your growth relies on how effectively you handle inventory management. This requires accurate demand forecasting so that you don’t run out of stock during high demands on the one hand and avoid overstocking when the demands are low on the other.
Here, AI can help analyze vast amounts of historical data to predict demand. This will let your inventory team optimize stock levels while reducing operational costs. AI-powered recommendation engines can predict demand by analyzing past records, highest purchase duration, average order value (season-wise), and more. All these lead to better inventory decisions.
In 2023, McKinsey & Company released a report on businesses using AI for inventory management. It suggests a 20% drop in inventory carrying costs and a 50% drop in stockouts.
Let’s also consider an example of a B2B eCommerce company, Grainger, a leader in maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products. They adopted AI-based demand forecasting tools, which resulted in a better inventory turnover rate and higher fill rate.
To start, here’s how to use AI for inventory management and demand forecasting:
- Integrate AI solutions like IBM Watson Supply Chain Insights or Blue Yonder. These tools help analyze historical sales data, market trends, and seasonal fluctuations.
- Optimize your stock levels with tools like SAP Integrated Business Planning or Oracle Demantra. These tools help set optimal stock levels for each product to reduce overstock and stockout situations.
- Monitor and adjust AI predictions using tools like RELEX Solutions or Kinaxis Maestro (formerly RapidResponse) to adjust your inventory strategies based on real-time data.
2. AI for personalized customer experiences
Growing your B2B brand will require building long-term relationships with partners and customers. Perhaps this is why the latest Zendesk survey had 76% of respondents suggesting that they expect personalized experiences, be it account type, status, product recommendations, or engagement.
Today, personalization is a must-have when serving your B2B eCommerce customers. Here, AI leverages the power of recommendation engines and predictive analytics. With fast analysis of past data and customer information, you can share tailored product suggestions and pricing, run campaigns for B2B advertising, or even provide custom support solutions. This sort of personalization can enhance customer journeys, drive sales, and build loyalty.
A McKinsey study found that businesses that offer personalization generate 40% more revenue than those that don't. A prime example is Alibaba, which uses AI to provide personalized product recommendations. This results in significant revenue growth and improved customer loyalty.
Here are some actionable steps to start providing tailored customer experience using AI:
- Use AI for personalized recommendations by integrating tools like Salesforce Einstein or Dynamic Yield. They analyze customer behavior and purchase history so that you can design personalized product recommendations. In turn, this enhances customers’ shopping experience and increases the likelihood of repeat purchases.
- Create tailored marketing campaigns with AI platforms such as Marketo Engage or HubSpot. Use it to segment your customer base and create personalized marketing campaigns that connect with different customer groups.
- Finally, use AI for chatbots and virtual assistants with tools like Drift and Intercom to provide real-time, personalized assistance to customers. You can design custom answers to their queries and guide them through the purchase process to improve their satisfaction.
3. Redefine your pricing strategies with dynamic pricing
A fast-paced B2B eCommerce industry demands adopting its pace. One way to reflect this changing pace is through pricing. Your competitors may run lucrative offers and attractive discounts, or the market price points may change. All these would require adopting a dynamic pricing policy. AI can be the ace up your sleeve when choosing this route.
What role does AI play in pricing? Well, it provides the way out for dynamic pricing that analyzes market trends, competitor pricing, and customer behavior in real-time. Accordingly, smart AI algorithms can adjust prices to keep your B2B eCommerce highly competitive while maximizing profitability.
A McKinsey report mentions that it’s possible to boost revenue by 5% to 10% by implementing dynamic pricing. This growth occurs because customers perceive prices better on highly competitive items. A notable example is Amazon, which implemented dynamic pricing in an eCommerce space to witness a boost in profits by 25%.
Set your B2B eCommerce brand to implement dynamic pricing successfully by following these actionable tips:
- Use AI-powered dynamic pricing tools like Prisync, Dynamic Pricing by Omnia, or BlackCurve. These will analyze market data and automatically adjust prices in real time. Yet, it ensures your prices in the given market remain competitive enough to maximize profits.
- Analyze customer behavior using Salesforce Einstein Analytics, Google Analytics with AI integration, or Adobe Analytics. This will reflect your customers’ behavior and purchase patterns by factoring in their peak shopping times, customer loyalty, and product demand.
- Implement A/B testing to determine which of the two pricing strategies is best. Thus, you can identify and optimize the most effective pricing models for better performance. This is not a set-and-forget tactic; it requires you to regularly test different pricing strategies using A/B testing and AI-driven analytics.
Conclusion
Scaling your B2B eCommerce business with AI is not just a strategic advantage. Today, it’s a necessity, especially in a fiercely competitive market. So, if you want to take your B2B eCommerce business a notch above the rest, it’s time to use AI for different processes.
As mentioned, AI for B2B eCommerce can help with inventory management, demand forecasting, personalized customer experiences, and dynamic pricing. These would all enhance efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
The real-world examples and data we mentioned serve as a testament to the fast-growing eCommerce space. Competitors may outperform your growth if you are not geared to match the pace of the AI-powered world.
Hence, this is the time you start using AI to unlock the full potential of your B2B eCommerce business by following the aforementioned tips.
Published July 23, 2024
