As a small to midmarket distributor, it can be tedious and even overwhelming to find the right eCommerce solution to fit your business needs. It’s understandable. You’re not a digital commerce expert; you’re a B2B professional whose specialty is the products you sell for the industries you serve. It’s like saying I should know how to fix the engine in my car just because I use it to drive from one place to another. While you can’t be an expert at everything, including eCommerce, you should have a basic understanding of what it can do for you and how it works. That way, when you compare the different eCommerce solutions out there, you’ll have an easier time choosing the best product for you.
At Unilog, we know most distributors are not proficient in computer programming, nor should they be. That’s the beauty of our platform; it’s designed for B2B companies to be managed by B2B companies – not special programmers or third-party tech companies. It includes user-friendly tools for businesses to manage all their site content, while still providing the advanced features and functionality needed to run a successful online sales channel. Our eCommerce solution has the right balance of usability and functionality, making it a popular choice among distributors.
Wondering if our eCommerce platform has what you need for your business? I’m confident it does, and here are six key reasons why Unilog is the right partner for you:
Reason #1 – We enable you to easily change content on your website
Stale content, a lack of images, and outdated information do little to attract and engage site visitors. And yet businesses continue to offer less than stellar site content because of the hassle and complexity involved in making changes to their pages. We’ve solved this problem by integrating a user-friendly content management system (CMS) tool into our eCommerce platform. It features a simple user interface with drag-and-drop features that enables your staff to deploy and manage new website content without having to use HTML coding.
Our CMS tool lets you control all the content that displays on your site, including landing pages, banner ads, events, online forms, blog content, images, and more. Any changes or additions you make are displayed in real time, so you can tweak and manipulate the content until you are ready to make it live.
Reason #2 – We offer better integration to your ERP
It’s an absolute necessity to connect your ERP system with your eCommerce site. Without that tight integration, your site can’t access important information from your ERP such as customer data, historical transactions, or the latest product pricing and availability. We’ve completed hundreds of successful eCommerce integrations with a host of popular ERPs, as well as other important business applications including customer relationship management (CRM) systems, payment gateways, shipping carriers, and more. And, if you’re using a legacy ERP system or built a custom ERP, we developed a middleware solution called CP Broker that sends real-time data across your systems without having to invest in a new ERP.
We also utilize a number of APIs (application programming interfaces) to connect all these systems so that updates are displayed instantaneous across your applications and sales channels. I recently discussed how ERP integration and APIs play an important role in a businesses’ synchronicity in a blog post titled, A Successful B2B eCommerce Site Needs ERP Integration. It’s a good read so I suggest you check it out.
Reason #3 – We give you more B2B functionality
A standard eCommerce site won’t cut it for your customers. B2B buyers have different needs than consumer customers – from online RFQs, quick order pads and a self-service account portal to invoice payment options and multi-level approval workflows. Out of the box, our platform comes with all these commerce capabilities and more. Plus, we offer modules you can add to your site such as punchout catalogs, advanced site analytics, and a mobile app that mirrors your site experience.
Along with all the B2B-specific web tools they need, buyers also want a digital experience that mimics a B2C website. Convenient features like advanced onsite search, filter and sort tools, saved carts, and one-click reorders make online browsing and product ordering easy and efficient through your site.
Reason #4 – We provide product data services
Product content can set a business apart from the competition. When you provide robust content like product descriptions, features and attributes, multiple product images, spec sheets, and manuals, your site gets noticed by search engines and B2B buyers. Great content better informs buyers and builds their trust in your products and your company.
Enriched content is also what sets Unilog apart from our competition. We’re the only eCommerce providers to offer in-house data enrichment services. We are experts at capturing the latest product information and transforming it into rich content that attracts buyers and converts searches to sales. Whether you need better product data, a new taxonomy structure, or want to increase the size of your online product catalog, we can help.
Reason #5 – We include a built-in PIM which enables omnichannel selling
A PIM (product information management) is not a nice-to-have tool, it’s absolutely vital to running a successful digital branch. Why? Because the PIM powers your website (or sites) and mobile commerce app, and provides all the product content you display on your digital channels. It acts as a central repository for all your data, so whenever you make an update in your PIM, it feeds the information to your other channels in real time.
A PIM serves many purposes:
- Establishes and houses product data and content to provide a single source of truth
- Continually enriches and governs product data to keep it clean, uniform, and up to date
- Shares reliable data with your enterprise systems, channel partners, and the marketplace
- Saves time and resources with its automated processes, validations, and conversions
- Provides a consistent, omnichannel user experience
But don’t confuse a PIM with an ERP system. A PIM does so much more than feed data to your eCommerce site; it integrates all the channels of your business to deliver consistent, quality product experiences at an enterprise level.
We include a dedicated PIM tool with our eCommerce platform to ensure your site and your business run smoothly. To learn more about a PIM – and how it differs from your ERP – check out this short video I recorded on the topic: What is a PIM & Why Should Distributors and Wholesalers Care?
Reason #6 – Our all-in-one solution is affordable
The Unilog eCommerce platform has all the functionality and performance as many of the big-name eCommerce providers out there, but without the hefty price tag. Our Software as a Service (SaaS) offering is hosted in the Google Cloud, which means you don’t have any clunky on-premise equipment to manage. What you do get is the assurance of high-speed computing and the reliability of a strong connection with little to no downtime.
With a lower cost to maintain, better security, improved availability/redundancy, and SaaS-based pricing, our eCommerce solution gives you incredible bang for your buck.
Partner with us today
I think of Unilog as the decathlete of track and field. We’re an all-around great competitor with a winning combination of technology, usability, and performance. In fact, we earned high accolades in the just-released 2021 Paradigm B2B Combine that evaluated digital commerce solutions for midmarket B2B companies. Eleven companies were evaluated and awarded gold, bronze, and silver medal distinctions based on their scores in 10 criteria categories. For the third year in a row, Unilog earned the most gold medals in their evaluation; this year we won gold in the following categories:
- Ability to Execute
- Customer Service & Support
- Total Cost of Ownership
- Content & Data Management
- Sales & Channel Enablement
We also silvered in three categories: Vision & Strategy, Integrations, Operations and Infrastructure, and Transaction Management. We’re honored that our platform continues to be recognized as a leader in serving midmarket B2B companies.
I’ve given you six reasons why you should work with us, now see for yourself how we can help your business grow sales, reduce costs, and provide a great customer experience. Contact us to schedule a complimentary demo of our award-winning eCommerce solution. Our digital commerce experts will also be happy to answer your implementation questions and walk you through all our software and services.