The Hard Truth About B2B eCommerce

Chris Baltusnik is bringing forward Owens Corning, an enterprise manufacturer with B2B eCommerce that has historically been handling commerce with one-to-one sales reps. He has experience in an eCommerce agency and on both the B2C and B2B manufacturer sides. After building a best-in-class eCommerce program at Good Year, Chris has taken his talents to B2B eCommerce and is helping educate the market. We talk all things B2B eCommerce and what it takes to build a best-in-class B2B eCommerce team.

Jay Schneider has spent over a decade in B2B eCommerce on the operating side, software provider side, and agency business side. Jay is now the founder of B2B Squared, which is focused on helping B2B companies gain traction on their B2B eCommerce stores via email marketing and other marketing tactics. Most B2B companies struggle to gain eCommerce adoption, and its just not just a technical problem. We discuss all the problems leading to lack of digital adoption for B2B companies.

We speak with Beth Segovia and Kevin Kazenmayer of TradeCentric on the topic of B2B Connected Commerce. What is Connected Commerce? It means connecting all your commerce channels so that your customers, supplies, and everyone in the supply chain are fully integrated. We discuss how companies that have a strong B2B eCommerce presence and procurement integrations are growing significantly faster than nonconnected companies.

Ben Marks is a legend in the eCommerce space, having been in the space for roughly 20 years. Ben started with the early platforms that you no longer hear about but joined Blue Acorn in the early days of Magento's rise with Blue Acorn. We discussed the evolution of B2B eCommerce from his early days to now, working at a challenger company, Shopware, competing increasingly in the B2B space. We look at what we think will be relevant in the future in B2B eCommerce, and why taking the easy road, may not lead to the best results in the long term.

Lucas Robinson, is the driving force behind WebLife Stores and BudgetMailboxes.com. With over a decade of eCommerce experience, Lucas has transformed WebLife Stores into a thriving hub of creativity and expertise, serving prestigious clients like NBC, MLB, Harvard University, and JP Morgan. From humble beginnings selling a single mailbox in 2005, Lucas has propelled BudgetMailboxes.com to become the leading retailer for large commercial mailboxes in the US. We talk about how they started as a digital-first B2B eCommerce business that is now adding traditional sales methods like account executives to augment eCommerce.

Mark Fitzgerald has been in eCommerce for over two decades. As he progressed in eCommerce he found more and more opportunities in B2B eCommerce. He joined the founder of Pos Supply to help with just that and brought them to 50% plus sales in eCommerce as a business. They now use SuiteCommerce to power eCommerce along with Netsuite on the backend. We discuss all the challenges of getting better adoption for B2B eCommerce.

Diego Terra has been in eCommerce since the early days of Netsuite. He ended up building the best Commerce platform for Netsuite, what is now called SuiteCommerce. His firm SuiteCommerce got acquired by Netsuite and went on to continue building on Netsuite for eCommerce. He has since moved on to starting Hairball, which helps companies leverage tools like Shopify & BigCommerce with an integration to Netsuite. Diego has an immense background in B2B eCommerce, and we discuss all the learnings along the way.

Matt Harris has been working on web projects for nearly three decades. In the early days, eCommerce was the wild west, and there were fewer high-quality platforms from which to choose. Now there are many great platforms, and Matt has focused on B2B eCommerce around Magento, which has been a leading B2B eCommerce platform for over a decade now. We discuss all the challenges that are both technical and cultural in B2B eCommerce.

Alex Back is an e-commerce veteran who co-founded the well-known DTC furniture brand, Apt2B, before a successful exit last year. He is currently building out an exciting new platform called Couch.com that will change the future of AI in the furniture industry and e-commerce in general. We discuss the complexity of furniture eCommerce and how learning to deal with this complexity in eCommerce can lead to better B2B eCommerce results.

Timothy and Isaiah have been doing eCommerce projects for over 30 years combined. After 4 years of running the podcast, we have a pretty good idea of whats coming next for B2B eCommerce. Hear our predictions and ideas about what we believe the future of B2B eCommerce will be like.

Tom Pierce is a highly experienced problem solver with a diverse background that includes military service, pastoral ministry, and application software. Tom has a deep background in ERP implementation and has worked on some of the most sophisticated defense industry manufacturing problems. We discuss the complexity of enterprise software and how it can apply to today's world of B2B eCommerce.

Vladimir Diakonov & Brandon Briggs implement B2B eCommerce solutions across Magento and Shopware at IT Delight. We discuss the many challenges of B2B eCommerce such as scaling product data to large data sets, integrations, and marketing. We also discuss the internal politics that often hinder B2B organizations.

Jason Nyhus spent over 20 years building one of the most successful eCommerce companies in the world, Digital River. He recently joined Shopware as the president of Shopware to expand its presence in the United States. Shopware is gaining traction in B2B eCommerce and has a very strong focus on B2B eCommerce, especially the midmarket. We discuss how technology is advancing and can be used to level up any company in B2B today.

Derek Sewell is the Director of Strategic Accounts and partnerships at dataX.ai, an Enterprise AI / Deep Learning algorithm for solving the most complex data challenges. dataX.ai does some of the most robust product data transformations for large enterprises in the world. They are now a strategic partner of affiliated distributors. We discuss how to optimize and improve product data for better B2B eCommerce and overall growth of B2B businesses.

John Hill is a technology and operations executive with more than 30 years of multi-industry experience spanning retail, distribution, insurance, automotive, pharmaceuticals/biotechnology, software as a service, high technology, and the public sector. At MSC Industrial Supply John Hill is tasked with improving B2B eCommerce for a multi-billion digital operation. MSC Industrial Supply has far more digital adoption than your average B2B business. We dive into whats made them so adept at driving digital Commerce through their own infrastructure.

Paul Vragel has worked in manufacturing his entire career. He founded 4aBetterBusiness 25+ years ago, to assist management teams and employees of manufacturing companies to radically improve their efficiency. By allowing the employees and experts on the ground floor to improve processes, teams can rapidly solve problems. We cover four key elements Paul uses to collaboratively resolve these & other issues: 1) Eliminate fear. 2) Acknowledge that employees are the world’s experts at knowing what they do every day. 3) Quickly capture & visually document the actual processes and interactions across the company (often different than what’s documented or expected). 4) As issues emerge, engage employees and implement change immediately, as practical.

Amit Bhaiya is the founder and CEO at DotcomWeavers. They have been Adobe Commerce (Magento) partners for years and developed a deep niche in the Epicor ERP integration space. Epicor is a difficult ERP to integrate with. However, they have figured out how to make mid-market B2B companies successful with Magento integrated into Epicor and specialize in that space. We talk all things B2B eCommerce and what is causing so many challenges in the industry.

David Bradley has a background in back office software such as ERP and other logistics-related software. He then went on to found Qpilot, which runs the most flexible product subscriptions and repeat delivery programs on the planet. We discuss how recurring deliveries or scheduled deliveries are a massive opportunity for B2B companies to improve their eCommerce experiences.

Jason Somerville is a 20-year eCommerce veteran and Founding Partner at GW Partners. We discuss all the challenges Jason has faced in eCommerce that has evolved from B2C to a more multichannel and B2B eCommerce format. We also discuss the investment landscape for brands and what brands can do to better set themselves up for investment and exit.

Nate Obray has three current roles, President and founder of OBV, CTO of ZAF, and as an advisor at Mobrium. Nate has a technical background but also has ventured into the business side as a founder and operator. Nate has deep experience in logistics, 3PL, and warehouse operations, all of which tie heavily to B2B eCommerce operations. We dive into the complexities of B2B eCommerce operations, especially as they pertain to logistics and technology.