Writing product descriptions for B2B buyers

A product description for B2B buyers is the reverse of one written for shoppers: facts first, story second. An importer, a distributor or a retail chain buyer reads a description to answer one question: does this product fit my shelf, my warehouse and my paperwork. This piece is for the people who will write those descriptions at Color of Vietnam, and for partners who want to know what they will receive when they ask about a product.

How a B2B buyer scans a description

Professional buyers do not read from top to bottom. They scan for a few things in a familiar order:

• What the product is, which category, which brand.
• Pack configuration: net weight per unit, units per case, case dimensions and weight, cases per pallet.
• Ingredients and allergens.
• Shelf life and storage conditions.
• Certificates held by the production site and the documents that come with them.
• Minimum order quantity and lead time.

If one of the six is missing, the buyer writes an email, and every email costs a day. A good description is one that produces no emails asking for more.

Facts first, and facts that match

Every figure in a B2B description comes from the approved spec sheet, never from memory. That sounds obvious, but the most common error in a B2B description is a units per case figure that differs from the one on the case label. The buyer notices, and from then on doubts every other number.

So with us a B2B description is not a separate document. It is one way of presenting the spec sheet, plus a few introductory sentences. When the spec sheet changes, the description changes the same day.

The brand story: short and in its place

After the facts, buyers still want to know why the product sells. That part is short, two to four sentences, and answers three things: who eats it, when, and what makes it different. No adjectives stacked on adjectives. The difference has to be something visible on the pack, such as the Ô ăn quan game on a Let's PLAY jar, or Vietnamese cashew leading the ingredient list of a Natural & Healthy bar.

B2B buyers resell to consumers. They need one sentence they can reuse on a shelf strip or a product page. Write that sentence for them.

An example: rewriting the Maize Ball jar

An early description of the Let's PLAY Maize Ball jar opened with three sentences about childhood joy before reaching the ingredients, and had no line about units per case. We rewrote it in this frame:

• First line: product name, brand, category, jar format.
• Specification block: net weight, jars per case, case dimensions, shelf life, storage in a cool dry place. One fact per line, taken from the spec sheet.
• Ingredients: in label order, corn first, allergen line directly below.
• Certificates: our partner facilities hold ISO 22000:2018, Halal certification from HCA recognised by JAKIM, and US FDA food facility registration. Documents on request.
• Three sentences on the brand: a corn snack for when the family sits down together; the Ô ăn quan board is printed on the jar label and the snacks are the playing pieces; one jar is one game.
• Last line: minimum order quantity and lead time discussed per order.

The new version is shorter than the old one. But the three most common questions that used to come back, about jars per case, shelf life and certificates, no longer need to be asked.

Mistakes to avoid

• Adjectives in place of figures: instead of stays crunchy, state the shelf life and storage conditions.
• Vague certificates: name the standard, the issuing body, and say that the certificate belongs to the production site.
• A general delivery promise for every order.
• One language only. For a company preparing for export, the description needs an English version written for international readers, not translated line by line.
• No version date. The buyer needs to know whether this description is still current.

Writing B2B descriptions is a skill that both our marketing and our R&D colleagues use every week. If you want to learn it, the Marketing Leader and Fresher Product R&D (FMCG) roles in Hanoi are open on the Careers page. If you are a buyer who would like a description in exactly this frame for any of our twenty products, contact us.