Episode 88: Magento For B2B eCommerce

The Hard Truth About B2B eCommerce podcast continues this week with an in-house episode welcoming our new guest Peter Jaap Blaakmeer, the founder of Elgentos, to discuss the challenges and best practices of building customized B2B eCommerce experiences on Magento.

Peter Jaap Blaakmeer founded Elgentos about 12 years ago. He has focused on Magento in the Netherlands region which has evolved to become a primarily B2B focused commerce platform. He has dealt with everything from complex ERP integration to change management. Peter works with mid-market manufacturers and distributors to help them scale B2B eCommerce and increase their market share.

Episode 88: Magento For B2B eCommerce

In this episode, co-hosts Isaiah Bollinger, CEO of Trellis, and Timothy Peterson, President & COO of Speir Digital, Inc, are welcoming Peter Jaap Blaakmeer, the founder of Elgentos, to discuss:

• Magento for B2B businesses
• The ins and outs of building Magneto stores
• What’s so fun about B2B eCommerce
• Customized implementations  
• Product configurators for manufacturers
• Challenges that come with complex pricing mechanisms at ERP-centric businesses
• Molding processes around software vs molding software around processes
• The most common problems with legacy systems 
• Integration platforms like Alumio
• Common ERP systems out there
• How to track deals to help sales reps adapt to the eCommerce culture
• European Magento market
• Differences in eCommerce approach of B2B businesses between Europe and the USA
• Success stories of Elgentos’ clients
• Challenges with migrating your online store
• The importance of communication between clients and agencies

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.