Electronic Commerce (Charles River Media Networking/Security)

The Supplier’s Perspective

Arguably, the number one reason that suppliers have been reluctant to take advantage of B2B e-commerce is that although electronic trading offers clear, easy-to-understand benefits for buyers, the value proposition for suppliers has been much less clear. Suppliers must look at the e-commerce landscape as it relates to their own business ecosystem and their ongoing efforts to drive maximum revenue and benefits. And, all suppliers have different types of customers who must be served through some combination of traditional and electronic methods. In addition, e-commerce systems must integrate with and take advantage of existing internal systems (see Figure 25.2)^[1]. Finally, electronic channels must offer suppliers the ability to differentiate themselves and expose their business value to their customers in order to compete effectively.

Figure 25.2: The supplier’s perspective.

From the supplier’s perspective, a technology investment must fulfill a number of objectives that are common to companies of every size and complexity:

• It must make measurable impact on the supplier’s business through:

  • Increased revenue

  • Increased efficiency

  • Lower costs of doing business

  • Increased agility

  • Improved customer service and satisfaction

• It must allow suppliers to differentiate themselves and compete more effectively by providing:

  • The ability to expose the supplier’s full value proposition and brand in electronic form

  • Lower cost and faster acquisition of new customers

  • Increased business from existing customers

• It must leverage the existing strengths and investments of the supplier through:

  • The ability to enhance and complement existing business processes

  • The ability to enhance and complement existing technology investments (ERP, supply chain, CRM, logistics, collaboration, etc.)

  • The ability to increase overall business intelligence and decision-making abilities^[1]