Introduction:

The B2B industry, specifically for distributors and manufacturers, has long relied on eCommerce initiatives to increase sales order automation and self-serve customer options. However, the adoption rate of eCommerce in these verticals remains at a mere 5% of sales volume. Furthermore, with over 75% of customer orders transacted via email, sales teams are burdened with converting these orders into sales orders in their ERP systems, leaving little time for crucial tasks like customer acquisition, upselling, and cross-selling.

The average cost of processing a sales order is $21, and most distributors waste valuable resources on order taking rather than order managing. This blog explores the challenges distributors face and how an innovative AI solution automates order conversion, saves time, increases efficiency, and revolutionizes the B2B order entry process.

Boost your sales team's productivity by over 80% with automated Sales Order Entry and Non-Stock sourcing automation.

Challenges Faced by Distributors:

There are two specific reasons why B2B eCommerce adoption is in the lower single digits.

Emails with no part numbers: Most distributors’ customers prefer to send their orders via emails in plain English and industry jargon, with or without part numbers. Others, who use a centralized buying or an ERP, would rather send a Purchase order as an attachment than first create a PO in their system and then come into the distributor’s eCommerce portal and repeat the same process.
Non-Stocks: Most customers’ orders have a mix of products that the distributor keeps in stock, and sells but does not stock. For a customer, an eCommerce website will only allow them to fulfill products in stock and has a “call for price” or “call for availability” for non-stocks.

As a customer, both of the above challenges create tremendous friction in sharing their demand; hence, they gravitate towards traditional means, i.e., emails and phone calls.

Traditional OCR technologies are the current solutions for converting customer orders into ERP systems. However, these technologies require the customer order to be perfect, often failing to understand plain English, industry jargon, or orders without part numbers. This limitation forces sales teams to spend their valuable time manually converting these orders, which hinders efficiency and prevents them from focusing on more strategic tasks.

Revalgo’s Innovative AI Solution

Our groundbreaking AI platform addresses these challenges by automating the order conversion process using the following key differentiators:

- Building Orders Like a Salesperson: Revalgo’s proprietary AI platform creates an order in the ERP just like a salesperson would; replicate their thinking and understanding of customers’ preferences for brand, discounts, price, and availability. This ensures that the order is built to fulfill the customer’s demands.
- No Part Number Required: Unlike traditional OCR technologies, our platform doesn’t require a part number from the customer to convert the order, making it easier for customers to place orders even if the orders are part of an email conversation or thread. For customers who prefer sending attachments (PDF, Excel, Image, Handwritten), no mapping of PDFs, which saves weeks on customer onboarding, and no re-mapping when customers change their formats.
- Market Basket Analysis: Our AI solution considers the entire market basket, assuming any missing dimensions or quantities based on the market basket information. This feature enhances the accuracy and efficiency of the order conversion process.
- Sourcing Non-Stock Products: We are the only platform that sources non-stock products from the customer’s order and the distributor’s choice of suppliers or manufacturers. This capability further streamlines the order entry process and increases customer satisfaction.
- True Omnichannel Experience: Revalgo’s non-invasive SaaS platform can monitor your emails, text messages, phone calls and even your web chatbots to provide a universal experience regardless of how your customers choose to interact with you, i.e., offer the same level of service your customers expect from your sales teams.

The Impact

By utilizing our innovative AI solution, distributors can save an average salesperson over half their day, making the organization over 60% more efficient. As a result, sales teams can now focus on higher-value tasks such as customer acquisition, upselling, and cross-selling, ultimately driving revenue growth and improving customer satisfaction.

In Conclusion

The B2B industry is overdue for a transformation in the Sales Order Management process, and our AI-driven solution provides the much-needed revolution. By automating the order conversion process with our advanced AI platform, distributors can save time, increase efficiency, and revolutionize the order management landscape, improving customer satisfaction and increasing revenues and margins.

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