How to publish components online as a manufacturer

BtoB e-commerce is a key challenge for the industry of the future. If your industrial components are not yet available on your website or through an e-shop, you are losing a lot of visibility on the market and the more time passes, the more you will lose!

According to a study conducted by the Federation of e-commerce and distance selling: e-commerce sites already represent nearly 18% of sales between professionals.

And according to a study by Forrester*, the BtoB e-commerce market will be worth 1 billion dollars and is set to represent 12% of all BtoB sales by 2020 in the USA.

The importance of publishing your products online is obvious today, but you still need to know how to do it.

*An independent company that provides its customers with market research on the impact of technology in the business world.

Solution n°1: Publish your product catalog in an online library

An online library is a site that references all your products. You benefit from the classification and profile of the site in question as regards your products. You also get seen by the library’ visitors.

Indeed, the products present on your website can even have URL links directing people to this site, allowing you to take full advantage of its good e-reputation. This can also be beneficial from an SEO point of view.

Using the online library, design professionals can download CAD models of your products and in doing so, obtain detailed technical information about your products.

By downloading CAD models of your products in the format of their choice, designers can quickly identify whether your product can be integrated into their design project.
It is a simple and effective solution for designers and manufacturers alike.

This solution has several strong points that allow manufacturers of industrial components to:

• be seen by their target audience,
• display their products with a 3D viewer,
• benefit from technical support,
• communicate their contact details so that users of their products can send requests for quotes,
• compete with manufacturers in a similar category to their own already present on the platform.

The strong point of this solution is that it is very simple to implement.

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Solution n°2: Enrich your website with your CAD models

This second solution can be considered as complementing the first. In other words, you can have your components online in a shared library as well as on your own website.

This solution is used by the majority of manufacturers but few of them publish all the information needed by their end customers on their website.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of actions to implement in order to optimize your e-shop: 

1- Offer a complete view of your product

• An attractive picture

Offering a 3D picture of your product allows BtoB customers to quickly visualize the product and decide whether it could be suitable for their design project.

A 3D picture is also the most suitable format for showing technical specifications.

• Technical documentation

In addition to the technical details shown on the website, the technical data sheets for your products must be available in PDF format.

• The characteristics and dimensions of your products

The more information you give your customers about your products, the easier it will be for them to determine whether it is the product they should buy.

2- Provide a direct ordering space

You can boost your sales greatly by providing a space where visitors only have to enter the reference of the product, the quantity desired and put it/them in their basket!

Generally, the direct ordering space is located at the top of the page so as to be immediately visible by the customer.

Visitors who use these types of tools are generally people who have already come to your site with the intention of buying. They therefore have no time to waste visiting other pages on your site.

3- Provide multi-criteria filters

Size, diameter, height, width, brand, color, material etc. are all criteria that can be decisive and, above all, that can waste the potential buyer’s time if he/she must note down all the characteristics of the products they are interested at the same time.

The more you can fine-tune your product searches, the more useful your e-shop will be to your visitors.

4- Propose products similar to those being consulted

This marketing technique makes it possible to generate additional sales to those already in progress.

The products offered on the product sheet must complement those already being bought.

For example, if you are looking to buy a sink, you may also be interested in the siphon and the faucet that goes with it.

Solution n° 3: Present your products with your mobile application

According to a recent survey of TraceParts’ online library users,

Some 37% of design professionals regularly use a smartphone or tablet to search for suppliers..

This means that design professionals are no exception to the mobile trend. Even if their main working tool remains the desktop computer, or the infamous paper catalog, you cannot completely close the door on mobile technology.

In BtoC, having a mobile app is crucial, and in BtoB the idea is slowly becoming common practice.

Applications are more practical and easier to use for showing word or pdf documents. They are also increasingly user-friendly and can be a great way for showcasing your products during a trade show or business meeting.

Conclusion

So, where are you at in terms of putting your industrial components online?

Several solutions are available, on a case-by-case basis.

Download the guide and you will see how to:

Téléchargez le guide et vous verrez comment :

• Put your component catalog online quickly and easily
• Increase your visibility among our community of 17.4 million engineers and designers
• Collect qualified leads

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