If someone tells you that your current corporate website can be turned into a B2B portal that will help you significantly improve your company’s productivity in the two main factors: revenue growth and cost savings, and that the portal can be launched in a matter of months with a very reasonable investment, what will be your reaction? Read on to learn how corporations around the world are missing out on an opportunity that could revolutionize the way they run their business.

What is a B2B portal?

A portal is defined as an access point to the World Wide Web. A portal is a combination of web pages, features, and services that become a primary destination for users. The word was first used to describe the sites of popular Internet access providers or search engines such as AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! At a later stage, the word “portal” grew into something larger encompassing business websites, where a corporate portal or business information portal acts as a base for a company’s employees, customers, vendors, and other associates to access to corporate information and web services. A B2B portal is a different type of website with features for conducting electronic business and managing significant parts of corporate business processes.

Benefits of having a B2B portal

Today, B2B portals are not just a fancy idea! They are an absolute necessity for all businesses of any type and size. The advantages of having a quality B2B portal are enormous. The implementation of a true high quality B2B portal could have an immediate impact on the productivity of the company.

revenue growth

Increased revenue from existing customers
Existing customers get quicker and easier access to product information, faster response to their requests, get better customer service, and can buy products online.

Increased revenue from value-added services
Once a B2B portal is established as the main sales channel, the resources saved can be used to create more value-added services for customers. Some of the services that the portal can offer could also be used to generate more value.

Cost savings

Order processing cost

If the B2B portal integrates the supply chain management solution, it will drastically reduce the order processing cost. Studies show that a similar solution can reduce the cost of processing a purchase order from $70 on average to just $6.

Sales and support costs

Automated sales and customer service features built into the solution can reduce overall costs by up to 30 percent.

Inventory holding costs

Clearer visibility and greater predictability through various B2B portal features can help businesses significantly reduce inventory carrying costs.

Other key benefits include:

Low cost of customer acquisition

Building an effective portal brand on the Internet will help attract customers from new sources. The cost of attracting customers through online channels is always cheaper than other traditional methods.

Improve customer service

The ability to have constant interaction with customers through the B2B portal helps companies serve customers better. The B2B portal solution allows you to track the entire order process, from payment to delivery, and provides greater efficiency in customer service.

Reduce supply cycle time

Customers can select products from the B2B portal’s integrated marketplace and submit purchase orders or purchase products directly using the shopping cart. Buyers handle all of their procurement-related correspondence from one consolidated work page, helping them react instantly and reduce document processing time.

Community involvement

Buyers and sellers of the company can create communities around the discussion forum of the B2B portal. This helps to get valuable feedback early, build new partnerships using a community’s networking ability, and spread important information to members easily.

Real-time access to current product information

Current product information is vital to an accurate purchase decision. By updating product content and other information using custom forms as needed, the company can help buyers and other associates make critical decisions promptly.

Control dishonest spending

Consolidated and automated procurement and approval method prevents mavericks from buying from a company.

Main components of a B2B portal

Supply chain management

Supply chain management solutions can offer great value to existing company systems. Implementing these solutions will help achieve an incredibly high return on investment and have a tremendous impact on the company’s business, including: better productivity, faster order processing, increased visibility, elimination of non-conforming or unplanned purchases, etc.

Market

This is the place where businesses can post their products for sale. A sophisticated shopping cart will be integrated into the e-marketplace to automate the purchasing process.

Auction

The electronic auction system can use both English and Dutch auction methods. For added convenience, the auction component can be integrated into the electronic marketplace.

Online auction helps to easily liquidate surplus goods.

Reverse Auction

This solution allows the company to automate eProcurement, where suppliers compete for business in real time online.

Showcase for participants

Each partner of the B2B portal will get a showcase that can reflect the profile of the company, its products, services or other information.

Forum

A Forum or Discussion Board is an organized online interactive message board where participants discuss a set of topics by posting questions, comments and answers.

Internal messaging system

Elaborate Messaging System allows a B2B portal participant to send and receive messages from other participants and from the company. Since the messages do not leave a secure server, participants would not be concerned about sending sensitive information over the Internet.

Classified

The catalog-based bulletin board allows company associates to post important notices in various predefined formats.

Business Directory

This is a list of all registered B2B portal partners either by business category or in alphabetical order. An advanced search tool is incorporated to find a company based on the data provided.

electronic catalog

Electronic Catalog: A hierarchy of product and service categories based on UNSPCS, a global method of classifying products and services that covers the broadest collection of industries and products available today, and is designed to facilitate electronic commerce transactions by provide a common nomenclature independent of geography. system.

Product content addition system

The product addition mechanism based on a user-friendly wizard or simple yet detailed forms allows users to integrate products or services with accurate and up-to-date information.

product notification

The system can generate an alert and email it to a user requesting to report once a particular product or service is added to the e-catalog.

Many other features could be incorporated into an existing B2B portal depending on the requirements, such as: news aggregation via RSS feeds, contact management, electronic journal, press room, document repository, etc.

Time needed to set up

Using off-the-shelf B2B Portal components from a vendor like Rusbiz.com, a medium-sized portal can be built or integrated into an existing website within three to four months.

By developing a B2B portal ahead of your main competitors, you can give your business a significant boost and make your company stand out from the crowd.