Episode 78: How To Leverage Retail In B2B eCommerce

The Hard Truth About B2B eCommerce podcast continues by welcoming a special guest Tim Swindle, CEO of Paddle Smash, onto the show to discuss the best practices of launching a new product and how to build sustainable relationships with retailers and distributors.

Tim Swindle is the CEO of Paddle Smash, a new CPG company. He previously exited a software company another CPG company he founded. Tim has extensive experience leveraging retail and using B2B sales to grow a business. We discuss the mix that retail plays in business and how to properly mix retail, eCommerce, and other channels. We believe a mix of channels is best and using eCommerce to facilitate those channels can be extremely effective and a huge competitive advantage.

Episode 78: How To Leverage Retail In B2B eCommerce

In this episode, co-hosts Isaiah Bollinger, CEO of Trellis, and Timothy Peterson, President & COO of Speir Digital, Inc, are welcoming Tim Swindle, CEO and co-founder of Paddle Smash, a new CPG company, to discuss:

• The hard truth about launching your brand
• Tech vs non tech businesses
• The importance of market research before launching a new product
• How to find your niche in software business
• Founder fatigue 
• Pure DTC vs wholesale retail
• Establishing yourself as a brand
• How to get a retailer on board
• Relationships with retailers and distributors
• The importance of omnichannel communication for DTC brands
• Marketing vs tech parts of building your e-commerce brand
• How to understand your business growth 
• The importance of inventory and why starting small might be a good idea for long-term success
• Human component in eCommerce and why it is crucial
• How order management automation helps sales focus on building relationships with customers.
• Differences between B2B and B2C businesses
• How to find the right mix for your business

This podcast’s origin story

Podcasts are still a relatively new medium for content, but just because they are new doesn’t mean they lack power. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Podcasts have a unique ability to reach people on their time, whenever it is convenient for them – a way that previously did not majorly exist. Podcast listeners can take the information wherever they go and absorb it as they see fit. And that’s exactly what we are looking to do here. We want to reach a new audience of B2B eCommerce enthusiasts.

This podcast is all about B2B eCommerce. B2B is a different breed of eCommerce and it needs a different breed of Podcast. We get into the nitty-gritty of integrations, adoption, platforms, data and so much more regarding what makes B2B difficult to make successful for eCommerce!

We noticed that a few B2C podcasts exist on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but nothing designed for the B2B eCommerce community. B2B and B2C eCommerce have a lot of overlap, but even more differences. Each has a different set of requirements and customer demands that impact project scope. Let’s call a spade a spade. B2B is harder, more complicated, and harder to market. But it is also a bigger piece of the pie. The eCommerce B2B roadmap to success is not as cut and dry as B2C and that’s why we have started this podcast.

B2C platforms like Magento and Shopify have large communities that support and have done the entre-level work of most projects. The same community does not exist for B2B, but we are starting to build it. The ecosystem may not be as mature, but as experts in the space, we hope this podcast will help some people wake up and reevaluate their online sales strategy.

The first podcast examines major trends around B2B eCommerce as well as answering all of the above questions.  Take a listen for yourself and let us know what you think!

We will be posting new episodes with special guests weekly. You can listen on our dedicated podcast website and download the podcast on all major channels: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro, Castbox, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, Listen Notes, and RSS Feed.