Food & beverage (F&B) companies can realize great benefits through B2B ecommerce. Efficiency is a top priority when products have limited shelf lives, competition is high and margins are tight. With stringent compliance and regulatory requirements, the right B2B ecommerce solution helps you meet the F&B sector’s unique challenges.
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Speed and accuracy are essential in the F&B sector. Challenges from spoilage to compliance and stringent margins make effective and reliable sales processes vital.
You already know most consumer ecommerce platforms don’t have the features needed for business to business (B2B) F&B sales. With Cloudfy’s cloud based B2B ecommerce solution for the F&B sector you can easily manage around-the-clock ordering for multiple locations.
Cloudfy is purpose designed for complex high volume sales and helps you simplify your operations and reduce your costs. Your customers can easily order what they want, when they need to, with clear information about pricing and deliveries. With a sales rep app and customer ordering app included, you’re ready for anytime, anywhere sales.
Just one of Cloudfy’s many bespoke features is serialized licence number management. Cloudfy allows you to easily assign unique licence numbers to your wholesale orders for simplified tracking, returns and recalls.
You can simplify your order-to-cash (O2C) processes, reduce administration and be ready to scale your operations as your business grows.
B2B ecommerce features purpose designed for the F&B sector
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) features improve your B2B ecommerce site’s search engine rankings, helping you attract new customers. They might include easily customized page titles and descriptions, and keywords for each page and product on your site. Along with well-structured pages and links containing relevant keywords you’ll help customers find you online.
Easy user interface
Your customers will buy online if it saves them time so easy site navigation, helpful searches and simple reordering are key requirements. With early to late opening hours, around the clock self-service is ideal in the F&B sector. Your customers can manage their payments, returns, and back orders at convenient times. All their accounting records are at their fingertips and they can easily download copy invoices and account statements. Your B2B ecommerce site can automatically create tailored order lists based on their purchasing history.
For multi-site businesses centralized ordering with multiple delivery addresses simplifies everything. Advanced account and order management features support separate locations and accounts along with delegated purchasing with central spending control. Separate buyer accounts with their own order lists provide flexibility, easy reporting and analysis. Alternatively, if requirements change, global updates can be made to all lists.
Back office support
Manual data entry slows down processes and can introduce errors. Connecting your B2B ecommerce portal with accounting, warehouse management and order processing systems improves processes. Tried and tested integration with your enterprise (ERP) systems provides a complete view of your business operations.
Product information
Effective product information management (PIM) allows you to create customer specific catalogs and to restrict order quantities or product combinations. This is especially important if you have a large product catalog. You can establish exclusivity deals and hide products according to your customer’s profile.
Bespoke promotions
No two customers are the same, so your promotions must be personalized to meet their needs. Advanced marketing features give you flexibility to run promotions based on pricing, selected rewards, or custom bundles, for example. With access to detailed reports, you can easily evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches.
Real time reporting
Tight F&B profit margins demand fast and effective reporting. If supply costs increase, it’s essential to calculate the impact on revenue quickly and update pricing. Your customers also need to calculate their own margins before placing their orders. Easy to use calculators can update recommended retail prices (RRP) or provide a picture of gross profit based on sale prices.
You can improve visibility throughout the supply chain with accurate and reliable inventory information. Color coding can show when stocks are running low to help your customers manage their orders and avoid delays. You can also provide ‘back in stock’ notifications.
Delivery options
Making sure your customers receive their orders when they need them is critical. Delivery configuration features allow you to show delivery days by location and latest order times. You can also include options for third-party premium deliveries for urgent orders on weekends or Bank Holidays, for example.
EDI and PunchOut
For your larger customers you can streamline purchasing with electronic data interchange (EDI). You can even create their own bespoke PunchOut catalogs to simplify their internal procurement and approval processes. Your customers can also place their orders using Excel spreadsheets or their own favorites lists. No matter how orders are placed, you can manage them all seamlessly within your own business systems.
D2C sales
If your current business model is exclusively B2B your ecommerce platform offers opportunities to explore direct to consumer (D2C) sales. This could provide a new revenue stream to complement your existing trade-only channels, helping you diversify your sources of income. With the right B2B ecommerce platform you don’t have to launch an additional website or add to your IT overheads. You can explore new consumer-focused markets quickly and cost effectively.
Book a free Cloudfy demonstration today to discover the power of a purpose designed B2B ecommerce platform for your F&B operations.
