Setting up a crisis-proof B2B e-commerce platform

Apr 08, 2020
  • sales, marketing and service
  • retail
  • SAP

Due to the corona crisis, B2C webstores are witnessing an unprecedented surge in demand – with some barely able to keep up. A lot of B2B companies were completely taken by surprise, however. Many don’t have any form of webshop yet, relying instead on in-person customer meetings. With the sales team currently stuck at home, a digital storefront has become indispensable. Based on the Shopify platform, delaware has developed a fast e-commerce approach that enables B2B companies to reach customers online.  

“As soon as we started realizing the extent of the impact that COVID-19 would have on B2B companies in particular, we started looking for ways we could help,” explains Christoph Bogaert, head of the Customer Experience team at delaware. “We quickly realized that what they needed was some form of e-commerce platform that could help them reach customers remotely. After looking into various e-commerce-as-a-service tools, we decided that Shopify was the best solution in the current situation.”

Creating a digital storefront in a day

Shopify is known for its ease of use, fast implementation, clean design and flexibility. Mainly aimed at small businesses, the platform is democratically priced as well, at $29 per month. “The current circumstances make Shopify a very attractive option for any business, including B2B companies with complex products,” says Christoph. “It’s cheap, it’s fast, and most importantly: it grows along with your needs. What’s more, if products have client-specific prices, we can add a contact button that puts them directly in touch with their sales representatives. In other words: there are a lot of customization options And if those don’t suffice, there’s always the possibility to switch to other solutions, like SAP Commerce, Optimizely Commerce, or Virto.”

Commerce as a service: a worry-free experience

Christoph and his team have set up a high-speed plan to help businesses get started as quickly as possible with Shopify: “A business can simply send us an Excel file with their products and some pictures and we’ll set up their storefront. In less than a day, they can go live with a simple online webshop.”

But there’s more. Christoph: “Our team can take care of the entire management of the platform through our ‘commerce-as-a-service’ model. In this approach, we perform all the necessary services and updates, upload Excel files with new products and take care of all other business for a fixed monthly fee. You could say it’s like Netflix for digital stores!”

delaware store: commerce as a service with shopify

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