Episode 018
Omnichannel in B2B: the challenge of consistent sales channels
How to keep prices, stock levels and customer experience consistent across the online store, sales reps and other channels.
Multichannel and omnichannel sound similar, but they’re not the same thing. Michał Zabielski breaks down the difference and points to where B2B consistency most often breaks.
Multichannel or omnichannel?
Multichannel means several independent sales channels running side by side. Omnichannel stitches them into one coherent ecosystem, a customer browses on a phone, finalises the order on a desktop, and picks it up in person, with the experience staying identical at every touchpoint. In B2B that extends to sales reps too: the offer presented online and the one presented in a meeting have to match.
Where consistency breaks most often
- Pricing: B2B pricing depends on customer segment and order volume, so an online/offline price mismatch shows up faster than in B2C.
- Real-time data: stock, order status, and pricing need to sync in both directions, not just flow one-way from the ERP to the platform.
- Sales rep resistance: when the sales team routes around the B2B platform, they undermine the very consistency the company is trying to build.
Zabielski warns against adopting omnichannel just because it’s fashionable, it should be a strategic, deliberate decision, rolled out in phases where channels genuinely need to overlap, not everywhere at once.
Wondering whether your B2B sales channels actually talk to each other? Write to Endora, let’s find out together.
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