Technology keeps on evolving in an era where the world is now a global village. The advancement of technology has changed the way businesses operate globally. The wholesale business model is also changing rapidly as time passes.

The new technological means have made B2B eCommerce the new norm for wholesaling. Let’s see how technology has affected wholesale business processes.

Streamlined Management

Technology has changed the way wholesale businesses manage their day-to-day operations. Different tools have streamlined business processes. Let’s study these tools which have become the new norm and streamline your work.

Inventory Management Systems

Inventory management software is a tool that efficiently manages your inventory. It tracks your inventory in the warehouse and helps avoid overstocking or stockouts. It covers inventory flow from product sourcing to sale. A good IMS also forecasts demand for a product to help you make informed purchase decisions. 

IMS prevents the risk of human errors which otherwise can happen while using spreadsheets for inventory management.

The inventory system also notifies you about your high-selling products. It analyzes the current market trends and forecasts future outcomes.

Task Management Tools

Task management software is useful to manage your routine business activities. The functions of a task management system are:

• Scheduling your tasks
• Assigning your tasks to your different team members
• Creating different workspaces for different groups
• Tracking the progress of your tasks
• Prioritizing tasks that you need to accomplish quickly or are of more importance
• Providing reports based on the performance of your teams
• Setting multiple dates for a task if it is repetitive

CRM Softwares

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools help you to manage your relationships with your customers. CRM tools:

• Generate leads
• Store your customer contact information
• Track your interactions with your customers
• Forecast sales
• Provide reports based on data-driven insights

Shipping and Logistics

As the name suggests, Third-Party Logistics (3PL) is the outsourcing of product shipping to a third-party logistics company. Wholesale businesses are making their full use to fulfill orders.

3PL software helps you to save costs such as warehousing and transportation. You can also save the time required in packing and shipping products. You can invest that same amount and time in improving other areas of your business.

Customers want to receive their orders or refunds quickly. The 3PL systems provide quick order fulfillment. These systems also streamline the returns of your orders. Fast order fulfillment and refunds improve your customer retention rate. If a customer is satisfied with your services, they are going to use your services again.

Switch To Online Marketing

Marketing for businesses has changed in recent times. Online marketing has now replaced traditional marketing methods such as print marketing via:

• Brochures
• Magazines
• Pamphlets

The new norm is to promote via digital means such as computers, mobile phones, or different digital platforms. Digital marketing mediums include:

• Blogs
• Emails
• Search engines such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo
• Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
• Video hosting platforms such as YouTube
• Web conferencing platforms

There are endless possibilities for running effective marketing campaigns for your business. Now we’ll explore the different digital marketing techniques for promoting wholesale business.

Content Marketing

Content is an effective way to attract leads and improve conversion rates. You can attract your potential buyers with captivating content. Content can be in many forms such as audible, written, and visual.

You can run audio podcasts to promote your content. Or, you can use good images and videos for effective marketing campaigns. Blogs are also a very powerful promotional medium. Today’s B2B buyers rely on content during their buying process. They read pieces of content to gain information on your product or service.

So, B2B marketers have now switched their focus to creating useful content that educates people. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 86% of marketers have succeeded in creating brand awareness with content marketing.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a very effective form of digital marketing. According to Litmus, email marketing generates an average return on investment (ROI) of $42 per dollar spent.

There are several email marketing tools in the market. These tools automate your email marketing and help segment your leads. Email marketing tools create different email marketing campaigns for different segments of buyers. These tools offer countless email marketing templates and newsletters.

Now, with email marketing automation, these tools automatically send emails to your leads. It saves you time in sending emails to different customers separately. You also save time in preparing email marketing campaigns for your targeted leads.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Search engines are very common for us to search for a specific topic. So, it has become common for wholesale industries to use search engines for marketing purposes.

In a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising model, you pay to display your ad on search engines. You have to pay whenever a visitor clicks on your ad.

PPC ad appears on top of the search engine. It features a link to your website homepage and different pages of your website.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the organic process of building links to your website. The purpose is to rank your website on top of the search engine. You use backlinks, keywords, meta tags, and title tags in the SEO process.

SEO is an effective marketing method to promote wholesale businesses. According to Smart Insights research, 60% of B2B marketers use search engine optimization.

SEO is beneficial for your B2B eCommerce website as it:

• Increases your brand awareness
• Improves your conversion rate
• Provides analytics of visitor behavior on your website

Social Media Marketing

Social media is a very powerful tool today. People promote their businesses to a wider audience. They can easily generate leads with social media platforms. These platforms boost your marketing campaigns by charging you a fee. These spread your campaigns and help expand your business reach.

Now, let’s see how you can promote your wholesale business with top social media platforms.

Facebook

You can build a business page on Facebook. It establishes an online presence of your business on Facebook. You can share images and articles of your products or different industry-related information on your pages.

Facebook pages let you create marketing campaigns for different audiences. You can segment your audience by creating custom audiences. You can then boost your campaigns targeted at these audiences.

Instagram

Instagram is a very popular photo and video-sharing social media platform. Create mesmerizing campaigns on Instagram to reach a wider audience. You can promote your products or content with stories on Instagram. You can also view the analytics of visitors on your business profile. These metrics provide you with details on top trending content.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social networking platform for businesses and job seekers. It is the most effective business networking platform for (B2B) marketing according to 79% of B2B marketers.

You can promote your company page on LinkedIn by boosting your posts and content. You can optimize your content and run ads targeted at business professionals.

Your marketing campaigns can reach maximum people with LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager. LinkedIn also lets you view performance reports of your marketing campaigns. This helps you to make important marketing decisions.

LinkedIn also assists your sales representatives in recommending qualified leads for your business. You can save and manage your prospects with this service. It enhances your sales process.

Webinars

The webinar is a combination of the words, web, and seminar. We can define it as an online seminar that hosts events or training sessions. Large groups of participants attend these webinars from their digital devices.

Webinars have replaced the traditional trade show process. You can easily promote your products or services from your home or office. You do not need to undertake journeys for promotion in trade shows. You can show your products and communicate with people via webinars.

Growth of Wholesale Marketplaces

Online wholesale marketplaces are becoming very popular nowadays, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions. Now, wholesalers are able to run their businesses easily by selling products online. Last year, B2B marketplaces generated cumulative sales of $56.5 billion according to Digital Commerce 360.

Wholesale marketplaces streamline your business operations by:

• Connecting you with a large pool of suppliers and retailers
• Providing you best options to negotiate prices with your buyers
• Managing payments and refunds
• Fulfilling your orders

Some of the popular wholesale marketplaces in the US are:

SeeBiz

SeeBiz is an all-in-one wholesaling ecosystem that introduced a one-of-a-kind social networking platform for businesses. Manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers can share their products and post content on newsfeeds.

Other benefits to sellers on SeeBiz include:

• Promotion of your business on Google Ads
• Feature your new business with an introductory video
• Showcase your business on the homepage of the marketplace
• Assembling your products and catalog in a professional storefront
• Optimization of your online store
• Revamp your product images

Amazon Business

Amazon launched its B2B marketplace in 2015. Amazon Business has experienced significant growth in recent years due to its features such as:

• Customization of prices for business buyers
• Negotiation of quantity discounts with buyers
• Observation of sales analytics from registered customers and customers by industry

Faire

Faire is a fast-growing wholesale marketplace. It aims to promote small businesses in Europe and North America. Faire provides benefits to sellers such as:

• Tracking customer data
• Promoting your business with emails
• Providing analytics about your business performance
• Communicating with retailers in a professional messaging platform

Conclusion

Wholesalers are now taking a different approach to running their businesses. Now with advancing technology, wholesalers can promote their businesses easily and smoothly manage operations.