Many businesses, especially fashion and apparel wholesalers, are looking at ecommerce options as part of their 2021 recovery plan. We decided to take a look at NuORDER versus Cloudfy: the results are interesting.
According to McKinsey, business-to-business (B2B) companies now see digital experiences as more important to their customers than traditional sales interactions, so making the right choice is important.
What is NuORDER?
The Los Angeles-based NuORDER wholesale ecommerce platform has been available since 2011. It offers a collaborative wholesale process, where buyers can browse products, visually plan their selections and make their purchases in real-time.
The company has just announced a US $45million round of funding for product and engineering development to move forward as an ecommerce platform provider.
Recently, it has launched NuORDER Now as a complimentary service for businesses creating post-coronavirus online catalogs. NuORDER also offers a virtual showroom that simulates the tradeshow or in-person sales experience, and facilitates B2B payments for major credit cards.
What is Cloudfy?
Privately owned, Cloudfy was launched as an ecommerce platform in 2010. From the outset it was designed specifically to meet the needs of B2B companies. It offers a full range of B2B functionality and has at least two major updates every year.
Integrations with major business systems are available out-of-the-box and a powerful application programming interface (API) supports customization, along with flat file integration options.
Existing wholesale customers can login and buy products at client-specific prices at any time and orders can be synchronized with inventory in real time across your enterprise systems.
What fashion and apparel ecommerce needs
Let’s take a look at how NuORDER and Cloudfy compare for some of the key ecommerce requirements for the fashion and apparel sector.
Transparency As more business transactions move online buyers want to have confidence that they are making good choices. With trade shows cancelled and showrooms closed it’s not easy to get to know brands or to review product quality.
More than four out of ten buyers say that clear pricing on ecommerce sites is important, making it their top priority. Providing transparent pricing alongside clear and useful product information and a quality user journey will deliver competitive advantages.
- NuORDER You can build your own line-sheets and catalogs. They can be customized according to season and other product details, so you can tailor what information is displayed. You can set up different pricing, discounts and languages by customer group or location and send buyers pre-filled shopping carts by season.
- Cloudfy The intuitive dashboard and in-built functionality make it easy to manage large product catalogs, and integration with your business systems will provide near real-time views of stock levels. You can provide multiple price lists, price points, tiers, and currencies and up-to-date information about all transactions. Since not all customers are the same, there’s also a ‘request for quote’ option where you can manage the workflow with an easy final step to checkout when everything is confirmed.
Personalization Buyers want and expect their online purchasing to be data-driven and tailored to their needs to match their personal online shopping experiences. A third of B2B buyers will choose suppliers that enable them to place, pay for, track and return orders online. Artificial intelligence (AI), predictive search, customized product catalogs and one-click reordering need to be on the list of ecommerce features your business offers. You could see up to 20% increase in sales by offering a personalized experience.
- NuORDER Custom linesheets and catalogs enable buyers to build personalized sets of products. NuORDER’s new visual merchandising tool Whiteboarding is designed to help brands sell collections through interactive displays to make static linesheets into engaging visuals.
- Cloudfy There are powerful personalization options available from tailored recommendations and promotions on the home page to completely bespoke menus on login for corporate accounts, catalogs and pricing.
Marketplaces Buyers can discover a wider range of suppliers on marketplaces, especially those that focus specifically on their sector. Looking at its activity in healthcare, Amazon takes this trend very seriously. Many businesses are seeing marketplaces as a major B2B opportunity.
- NuORDER Over 3,000 brands and 500,000 retailers are connected in its marketplace to make appointments and process orders. It has a search function for potential partners based on location, category and similarity of branding. In the virtual showroom retailers can view 360 degree images and videos, shop by look, and buy using shoppable hotspots.
- Cloudfy New streamlined connections between marketplaces and suppliers have the potential to transform ecommerce. Marketplace connections have already been developed for businesses that are looking for new transactional approaches. Cloudfy’s ‘build once and share’ approach to creating and testing connectors for major retailers is already proving popular.
Order fulfillment More than 9 out of 10 buyers expect the same level of service for their B2B purchases as they receive from their online retail experiences. Multiple delivery addresses, same day delivery and easy returns are all options you need to consider.
- NuORDER You can create and share your product catalog and linesheets with NuORDER Now and process up to ten orders. The EZ order functionality allows you to send buyers email links to place orders with single-click options to view, copy, edit, cancel and download. Real-time reports are available, and integrations include NetSuite, AS400 and QuickBooks.
- Cloudfy You can create a full end-to-end process through integration with your warehouse, logistics and distribution systems to manage deliveries and returns. With Cloudfy’s delivery configuration feature, drop shipping and custom packaging can be offered. You can automatically handle shipping charges based on variables like weight, volume, destination, handling requirements, purchase-specific surcharges and insurance.
Payment options The payment process needs to be as easy as possible. Buyers are looking for options that fit with their business operations, so you need to be able to cater for everything from paper purchase orders to online trade credit. The more flexible you can be, the more online conversions you will make.
With the uptake of e-payment options accelerating it is important to understand your buyers’ preferences, the opportunities offered through new payment methods, and the security risks you face.
- NuORDER Partnered with WePay, credit card click-to-purchase and pay later options are available for immediate or pre-booked order payments. Wholesalers can add shipping charges, take partial and multiple payments per order, and create basic .csv reports.
- Cloudfy Out-of-the-box connections are included with leading business, payment, logistics and distribution systems to streamline processes. They include mSeller for mobile ordering and Authorize.Net, Opayo, PayPal, PayPoint, Klarna and Ingenico for payments. Cloudfy Punchout also allows you to offer a complete workflow within your clients’ own procurement system before the order is confirmed.
Customer experience Buyers are willing to pay more for excellent customer service. Making it easy to find your site, to navigate around it, and to complete purchases, will help to acquire and retain loyal customers and brand ambassadors. Research found that customers who felt the information received from suppliers helped them to make their purchases were 2.8 times more likely to say purchasing was easy, and three times more likely to buy more with less regret.
- NuORDER Brands can interactively showcase their lines using the Media Gallery with images and videos and buyers can purchase directly from the gallery.
- Cloudfy One of Cloudfy’s most popular features is Page Designer which gives you control of everything from full-screen dynamic banners and contemporary tiled box designs on your home page to navigation and social proof. All pages are fast and responsive, and you can easily analyze journeys and make improvements from the intuitive dashboard. For buyers who make their repeat purchases on the move, there’s also Cloudfy App Commerce.
Conclusion
NuORDER’s digital showrooms are an attractive way to showcase products and a workable alternative to sales visits and trade shows, but ultimately the lack of customization makes it fall short of the mark. Fashion and apparel (and many other business sectors) are now looking to take control of their own B2B ecommerce journeys with a powerful bespoke platform.
To find out how Cloudfy could meet your tailored B2B ecommerce needs, book a free demonstration today.
