Usability Tips for a Wholesale Web Store
The wholesale web store is practically a B2B e-commerce site. Clients are normally other businesses so user-friendliness is not what was associated with such a web identity. The problem is the modern B2B buyers are busy so they do now prefer the web stores that are really easy to navigate through. This is especially the case since there are so many available options. The best wholesale dropshippers adapted and they did make important usability changes for the web stores they have. Here are some tips to help improve the wholesale web store.
Adding A Personal Touch
In B2B e-commerce the personal touch is quite important as customers end up feeling more special and the efficiency of the business model is increased. Having a buying experience that is customized is not just about relevant product recommendations. It is also about establishing and managing a dynamic ongoing relationship with all the customers. The idea is to make it really easy to create an account where order histories are tracked, product views are customized and payments are viewed.
Content Is Very Important
In the wholesale industry content is vital since the buyer will be interested in receiving the appropriate documentation and information to support the buying process. That is not at all surprising since there is a responsibility to buy the right items, sometimes products that are highly technical (like the construction materials). Now the wholesale dropshipper has to offer online pricing data, technical information, blog posts, product brochures and whitepapers. All content can be offered in different ways like visual images, interactive brochures, technical manuals and videos.
Easy Buying
The wholesale store needs to make it really easy for a user to make a purchase because the buyer does not want to wait a long time and then figure out how the really complex navigational scheme works. The information that is necessary should be found with a really minimum effort in a very short period of time.
The most important design element is the menu bar. This is how most people will navigate through the store. The menu bar should have a logical and clear structure. A B2B product catalog will be very complex so the site should also offer proper search functionality with advanced features. Filters are particularly effective.
Appearance Matters
Those that remember the early days of wholesale websites like Alibaba will tell you the design was horrible. This is no longer acceptable. Appearance in all storefronts will attract the buyers. The design should be clean, simple and light, as much as it is possible. Corporate identity should be consistent across website sections when looking at images, menus, buttons and all tabs as they need to follow similar structures.
Loading Times
Last but not least, you need to be 100% sure the loading time is as low as it could be for all potentially interested buyers. Since time is an important commodity these days, when the sites load too slowly it is a certainty that problems are going to appear. People will just leave and look for someone else.
