The modern B2B buying process is rarely a straight line.  Think about how you make a major purchase for your business, like a plant manager sourcing new equipment. You wouldn’t just accept the first offer. You’d conduct online research, compare specifications, request quotes, consult with colleagues, and perhaps even attend industry events.

Your B2B customers are no different. Their journey is a complex web of interactions, starting with online searches, progressing through website visits, document downloads, webinars, sales calls, LinkedIn connections, and consultations with internal stakeholders.  If these touchpoints aren’t seamlessly connected, the customer experience suffers, feeling disjointed and inefficient.

This is why the shift from a multichannel approach to a true omnichannel strategy is crucial for B2B ecommerce success.  Many B2B companies already sell across multiple platforms, but a genuine omnichannel approach ensures all these touchpoints work in harmony, creating a unified and informed buying experience. This article will explore the difference and outline how to achieve it through strategic workflow B2B improvements and workflow automation.

Omnichannel vs. Multichannel: It’s All About Integration

Most B2B businesses today operate across a variety of sales channels.  You likely engage with customers through:

• Online Marketplaces
• Your B2B Ecommerce Website
• Social Media (e.g., LinkedIn)
• Direct Mail/Email Campaigns
• Print Catalogs
• Physical Stores or Showrooms
• Direct Sales Representatives

This is multichannel commerce – simply having a presence on various platforms. It’s a necessary starting point, but it’s not the end goal.  The true evolution lies in creating a cohesive omnichannel customer experience.

The key distinction? Integration.

Multichannel often means separate channels operating in silos. Omnichannel, however, connects these channels.  It creates a unified experience where customer data, interactions, and context flow seamlessly across all touchpoints.

Imagine a customer researching a product on your B2B ecommerce site, then contacting a sales representative with questions, and finally visiting a showroom. At each stage, your team has access to the customer’s complete history and prior interactions.  It’s a single, continuous conversation, regardless of the channel used.

Multichannel is about presence. Omnichannel is about knowledge and context. It recognizes that the B2B buying journey isn’t a series of isolated transactions; it’s a relationship built on consistent, informed, and personalized communication.

Why a B2B Omnichannel Approach is Essential

Customer data is paramount in B2B. It’s not just about accumulating numbers; it’s about understanding the complete narrative of your customer’s interactions with your business. It’s about seeing the whole picture, not just isolated fragments.

Consider a customer who repeatedly downloads technical documents for a specific product line but hasn’t made a purchase. In a siloed environment, this crucial information might be overlooked.  However, with an omnichannel view, powered by effective workflow B2B processes, this behavior becomes a clear signal. Perhaps they have unanswered questions or require a custom configuration.  With this visibility, your sales team can proactively offer a consultation, a product demo, or tailored support, moving the customer closer to a purchase decision.

Omnichannel connects these dots. It enables you to move beyond generic outreach and deliver genuinely relevant, personalized engagement.  It demonstrates that you’re not just collecting data; you’re actively listening to your customers. Beyond enhancing customer satisfaction and experience, a well-executed omnichannel strategy, supported by workflow automation, streamlines operations, making them more efficient and effective.  It achieves this by:

• Breaking Down Silos: Ensuring seamless information flow between your website, CRM, sales team, customer service department, and other relevant systems.
• Empowering Your Workforce: Providing your team with the tools and information they need to perform their roles effectively and efficiently.
• Respecting Customer Time: Delivering prompt, accurate, and personalized service, demonstrating that you value their business, ultimately fostering increased customer loyalty.

B2B Omnichannel Strategies: Practical Steps to Implementation

Creating a connected experience requires a deliberate approach, encompassing the right technology, processes, and mindset. Here’s how to bring your B2B omnichannel vision to life:

1. Centralize and Share Customer Data Across All Channels

Data silos are the enemy of omnichannel.  A truly connected experience demands that information flows freely across all touchpoints, creating a unified view of both the customer and your internal operations. This is where a robust, centralized system, and intelligent workflow automation, become critical.

Establish a Single Source of Truth:

While a CRM system is often the ideal central hub for customer-related data in B2B, it’s not the only option. The key is to designate a single system as the authoritative source for specific data types. This could include:

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Best for managing customer interactions, contact information, sales history, and support tickets.
• ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Ideal for managing inventory levels, order fulfillment, and financial data.
• PIM (Product Information Management): The central repository for all product-related data (specifications, descriptions, images, etc.).
• B2B Ecommerce Platform: The source of truth for online orders, customer behavior within your online store, and digital interactions.

The critical principle is to avoid data duplication and conflicting information across multiple systems.  One system should be designated as the “owner” of each data type, and this system should feed that data to other integrated platforms through automated workflows.

Integrate These Essential Systems (At a Minimum):

• Website: Capture browsing activity, downloads, form submissions, and live chat interactions.
• ERP: Connect to real-time inventory data, order history, and customer-specific pricing.
• Marketing Automation: Power personalized email campaigns and nurture sequences based on customer behavior and data.
• B2B Ecommerce Platform: Track online orders, customer browsing behavior, product preferences, and abandoned carts. This is crucial for understanding the online customer journey and personalizing the digital experience.
• CRM: The core of all information.

Example: A customer places an order through your B2B ecommerce platform. This action should automatically update inventory levels in your ERP, trigger relevant workflows in your marketing automation system (e.g., sending a confirmation email and initiating post-purchase follow-up), and be immediately visible to the sales representative preparing for a follow-up call.

Implement Robust Data Governance Policies:

Even the best system and the cleanest data are useless if data quality is poor.  Establish clear data governance policies to ensure your data is:

• Accurate: Prioritize accuracy, especially for critical product information.
• Complete: Ensure all required attributes are filled out for every product.
• Consistent: Standardize measurements, units, and naming conventions.
• Clear: Use plain language that any buyer can understand, avoiding technical jargon.
• Contextualized: Adapt your data to the specific needs of different buyer personas.

Empower Your Team with Data Training:

Technology is only a tool; your team needs the skills to use it effectively.  Invest in comprehensive training that covers:

• CRM Proficiency: Ensure everyone can navigate the system, access data, and understand its features.
• Data Interpretation: Teach your team to analyze data, identify trends, and draw actionable insights.
• Data Governance Adherence: Reinforce the importance of following established policies and procedures.

2. Digitally Enable Your Sales Team with B2B Ecommerce

“Digitally enabling sales” goes far beyond providing laptops. It’s about equipping your sales representatives with the tools and information they need to thrive in a world where the customer journey spans multiple channels. It’s about creating a seamless blend of human interaction and digital capabilities – the core of hybrid sales.

The Rise of Hybrid:

B2B buying has fundamentally shifted. While in 2017, only about 20% of industrial companies preferred digital interactions, today, that number is closer to 67%.  However, this doesn’t eliminate the need for human interaction, especially for complex or high-value purchases.

This is where hybrid sales excels. McKinsey research shows that hybrid sales can drive up to 50% more revenue, and 85% of companies expect it to be the most common sales role within three years. Your B2B ecommerce platform is the key to enabling this hybrid approach. It acts as the support system for your sales reps, providing:

• Instant Access to Information: Sales reps can access product specifications, real-time inventory, customer-specific pricing, and complete purchase history – all from their tablet or mobile device, whether they’re on-site or on the phone. This eliminates delays and empowers them to provide accurate answers instantly.
• Streamlined Processes: Your B2B ecommerce platform can automate time-consuming tasks like quote generation, credit checks, and order processing. This frees up sales reps to focus on building relationships and driving higher-value sales. Workflow automation plays a crucial role here, automating tasks like order approvals and notifications.
• Collaborative Workspace: The platform can become a shared space for reps and customers to collaborate on orders, configure products, and discuss options, all within a unified environment.

By using your B2B ecommerce platform as the foundation of your sales enablement strategy, you empower your sales team to be true partners to your customers, regardless of how they choose to interact.

3. Proactively Manage Channel Conflict

Omnichannel strategies can inadvertently create conflict between your direct sales team, your B2B ecommerce channel, distributors, and other partners.  When customers can engage and purchase through multiple touchpoints, questions arise:

• Who “owns” the customer?
• Who receives credit for the sale?
• How do you ensure channels complement each other rather than compete?

How to Get It Right

1. Define Clear Rules of Engagement:

Sales teams and channel partners need to understand precisely how digital channels fit into their roles.  One approach is to assign ownership rules based on industry, region, or account type.

For example: If a lead originates from an online form, does it go to a dedicated B2B ecommerce team, or is it assigned to a field sales representative? If a customer places an order online but requires additional configuration, who handles it?  A structured approach ensures no one feels excluded from the sales process.

Manufacturers selling through distributors can avoid conflict by routing online inquiries to the nearest distributor instead of fulfilling them directly. This keeps partners engaged and ensures that digital channels enhance, rather than bypass, existing relationships.

2. Align Incentives to Eliminate Conflict:

If the sales team loses commission when customers purchase online, they will actively discourage digital adoption.  The solution?  Compensation models that reward collaboration, not competition.

Consider these incentive structures:

• Shared Credit Models: Give sales representatives commission on online orders from their assigned customers.
• Blended Quotas: Set sales targets that incorporate both digital and offline sales.
• Distributor-Friendly Programs: Offer price parity or exclusive incentives to prevent undercutting.

For example, a manufacturer expanding its B2B ecommerce presence while maintaining distributor relationships could implement a profit-sharing model. Distributor partners would receive a percentage of revenue from online sales within their territory. This eliminates friction and encourages distributors to actively promote the digital platform.

Achieving Omnichannel Success in B2B

B2B buyers expect more than just choices; they expect consistency and efficiency. The challenge is to ensure that every customer touchpoint works together seamlessly to support how customers research, evaluate, and purchase.

Omnichannel marketing requires more than just connecting systems. It demands creating a seamless customer experience across all channels, where your sales team is empowered with real-time insights, customers never have to repeat themselves, and workflow automation streamlines processes.

The companies that simplify the B2B buying experience – while maintaining the depth of expertise and personalized service that customers rely on – will gain a significant competitive advantage.

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Ready to transform your B2B ecommerce strategy and embrace the power of omnichannel? Contact ekino Vietnam today to explore how OroCommerce, a leading B2B ecommerce platform, can help you build a connected, customer-centric, and automated buying experience.