It is no secret that digital development is advancing rapidly; competition is intensifying both locally and globally, the range of services and solutions is becoming more diversified, while customer requirements are increasing. At the same time, however, the possibilities also increase; entering new markets and competing with the established giants is much easier today than 20 years ago. But what does it take to be successful in such a complex landscape?
Common to most industries and players - whether it is B2C or B2B - is the ability to be fast and flexible in what you offer to the market.
- Companies that have historically built their business on the personal meeting also have realized the importance of digitizing their business, both to streamline their processes and to meet requirements for availability and self-service from mature customers, says Ludvig Block, CPO at Litium.
Important to choose the right supplier
However, achieving a fast time-to-market and the flexibility required can be easier said than done. Companies who want to invest in a platform should, however, have several factors in mind when choosing a supplier, says Ludvig.
- Most important is to make sure that there are no restrictions in the platform, which unfortunately is often the case. For example, it can be difficult to adapt your e-commerce for different countries, currencies or VAT groups. It can decrease conversion not to be able to offer the payment methods that are popular in a certain local market or that the platform does not scale with good performance when many people visit the site. It is also important to focus on clear product information that can lead to increased conversion and attention through targeted SEO.
One aspect that differs between B2C and B2B is how to work with the customer experience. Where B2C players get a good exchange on prioritizing a 360 degrees experience in everything from brand and product information to delivery time and cost, B2B should primarily focus on a really good digital customer service, with various options for self-service for increased customer satisfaction and efficiency.
- Investing in a customer portal, which can also act as a collaboration area between the companies, can lead to great added value, especially in the B2B scenario, Ludvig states.
Independent, modular platform
To support the customers customer in the transformation, Litium offers a comprehensive, cloud-based e-commerce platform, with built-in PIM and CMS as well as complete integration with, for example, Microsoft's ERP system, which provides valuable synergy effects. The platform is delivered with many ready-made functions but is completely modular and can be expanded and connected to other systems according to the company's needs, in collaboration with Litium's large partner network.
- Avoiding spending large sums on separate systems and on integrating them means a significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO). As you scale up and grow, you can easily start to take advantage of the flexible, pre-integrated functions and save many working hours. However, if you prefer to run headless and only use our powerful APIs, it works as well. All in all, it is an extremely flexible and fast approach. Litium's platform also has a scalability that can meet the most demanding high-season periods, such as Black Friday, without losing performance and customer experience.
A comprehensive toolbox
Ludvig emphasizes that Litium's platform is also already connected to most major international payment providers and has the capacity to handle different currencies for different markets, which enables total flexibility in the choice of payment method.
- All modules work seamlessly with each other, and the result is a comprehensive toolbox for both B2B and B2C, where each company picks the best parts to compose the solution that meets their needs and strategy, he concludes.
Last week we wrote about our new concept; Litium Commerce cloud, a scalable solution that makes it easy to grow. If you have questions or want to know more, please contact us at curious@litium.com or read more on our homepage, www.litium.com