B2B industrial marketing with a B2C approach
Recently, B2B industrial marketing has seen a trend to incorporate B2C tactics. Manufacturers are employing a business-to-consumer (B2C) model. This transition enhances or replaces the traditional business-to-business (B2B) practice of selling product through dealers. If you think this model will be effective for your company you will need to plan the transition carefully. For example, to sell direct to the end-user, you’ll need an eCommerce platform that will support both B2B and B2C customers. The platform will need to provide online secure payments, order fulfillment, package tracking, and customer service interactions. Keep in mind, it will benefit operations to have software that offers full access to transactions for sales and fulfillment tracking. The benefits of incorporating business-to-consumer methods include:
Higher profits than strictly B2B industrial marketing
By eliminating the dealer network associated with B2B industrial marketing, the OEM now receives the total retail price instead of the wholesale price for products.
Get the product to market quicker
Instead of the traditional distribution sales cycle, manufacturers can offer product directly to the end-user speeding the sales cycle.
Better brand management over B2B industrial marketing
A B2C method takes the risk of dealers not following brand guidelines. It also lessens it being lost among competing brands a distributor may carry.
Tighter price control
Traditional B2B industrial marketing limits price control because dealers may not adhere to pricing you have set.
Improved customer data
B2B industrial marketing rarely lends itself to selling to the end-user. With B2C techniques, you forego the distribution layer and sell direct to the customer. This lets the OEM collect data on customer satisfaction to provide better products and relationships, leading to higher sales.
Pappy
About the Author
Paul Kowalski (or Pappy as he is called around the office) spent over two decades working at other agencies before opening Conach Marketing Group in 2008. The early part of his career was working with Fortune 500 clients at different agencies. However, working with smaller clients was his preference. This choice was because of the impact on a client’s business growth and forming closer, personal relationships.
About Conach
When he was creating Conach, his goal was to bring those Fortune 500 strategies along with years of B2B marketing experience to small business marketing clients. As a result of focusing on business-to-business marketing, Conach specializes in construction marketing, financial marketing, and industrial marketing. Even though we are in Mid-Michigan, Conach provides marketing services to clients across the country.
For more information, visit conachmarketing.com or contact us or call 989.401.3202.