A survey of B2B companies with at least 1,000 employees, conducted by Forrester Consulting during the 3rd Qtr 2014 titled “Building The B2B Omni-Channel Commerce Platform Of The Future", determined that B2B buyers expect B2B supplier sites to provide a similar user experience to what they are accustomed to from B2C sites. Top features B2B customers expect when conducting business on B2B sites includes automated pricing options (62%), enhanced site search (60%), product reviews and ratings (58%) and improved personalized...

There once was a time when manufacturing websites were nothing more than a few flat, static pages. And that was OK. As long as the product specs were available and the contact info was up to date, website visitors were content.   Today, however, those same website visitors have higher expectations. They want what B2C websites have, like the bells and whistles that they experience on B2C’s UI/UX-enhanced sites. And they want those features today.   Despite the ever-growing cases of...

Manufacturing in the United States is, to some degree, still the backbone of our nation. Countries around the world aspire to achieve our level of quality and innovation. The rub, however, is that some U.S. manufacturers have been slow to embrace the benefits that come from developing equally innovative eCommerce websites.   When it comes to online interactions with customers and clients, manufacturers are much the same as other retail entities. Their products need to be showcased in the best light...

In a recent study conducted by Forrester, IBM was chosen as the top B2B eCommerce vendor when compared to other major providers. The report, titled “The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q4 2013,” is the first of its kind, evaluating 66 criteria, such as community features, 24x7x365 ordering, real-time customer service, expedited shipping, mobile, integration with back-office systems, fulfillment workflows and inventory management.   “For B2B commerce, IBM comes to market with three core products: Websphere Commerce, Sterling CPQ, and Sterling...

To stay on top of the eCommerce game, webstore owners will need to hone their skills in the upcoming years. They'll have to go to market more aggressively than ever before – and especially so as more competitors enter the online playing field.   To help eCommerce practitioners better prepare for the year ahead, Gartner, the world's leading information technology research agency, studied the key technical, organizational and go-to-market challenges they will face. With its findings, Gartner then created a guide...

At this year’s IRCE in Chicago, Alibaba Group was nestled in a fairly discrete location in a small booth. For a company about to file for an IPO with a potential $100 billion valuation, it was a wonder that the company wasn’t front and center taking up a substantial amount of exhibitor real estate.   Part of the reasoning behind Alibaba’s modest showing at IRCE might have to do with the fact that U.S. companies aren’t as familiar with the company...

Who, what, why, where, when and how serve as the proven foundation behind any good piece of news. As long as all those bases are covered, the general public shouldn’t walk away from an article with unanswered questions.   And the same holds true with a social media marketing plan. Whether a small business is Tweeting or posting content on Facebook or LinkedIn, it’s important to deliver a well-rounded message.   But, for today’s purposes the team here at NetSphere Strategies...

Anyone who’s tried their hand at teaching has quickly learned that there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. No matter the age group or grade level, there’s a veteran teacher somewhere nearby who has perfected the best approach to keeping their students calm, collected and engaged. So when a new teacher is in doubt, it’s probably best to just beg, borrow and steal from education's long-time, sure-fire methods. So is definitely the case when B2B organizations go to market. Instead of...