When it comes to selling online, B2B organizations have to adapt to changing customer expectations driven by trends such as smartphone usage, social media, and the consumerization of IT according to the 2013 Ecommerce Report from Intershop.
Respondents in a survey of 400 B2B companies agreed that the world of B2B commerce is undergoing a radical transformation, and B2C trends are reflected in the B2B environment. Half of the B2B companies surveyed said it’s difficult to provide intuitive and user-friendly interfaces. Yet nearly half (49%) agree that bringing customers from offline to online could result in a higher bottom line.
Nearly all (96%) companies indicated they are facing challenges. Half find it difficult to provide intuitive and user-friendly interfaces for multiple touch points such as B2B online stores and mobile apps. A similar number (48%) say it is difficult to manage complex organizational structures such as different user roles, multiple business models, multiple commerce touch points, and multiple data domains.
One big challenge is how this change is driven by multiple factors, from customer demand and expectations (81%) to developing technologies (74%) to the fact that business buyers engage through various offline and online touch points with their peers and use multiple information sources to make decisions (73%).
Almost half (49%) agreed that bringing business buyers from offline to online could result in a higher overall bottom line -- 44% expected higher average basket values, and 43% said bringing buyers online could result in more return customers and higher brand loyalty.
Jochen Moll, Member and Spokesman of the Board of Management at Intershop, said in the report that complexity can lead to opportunity.
“Organizations that can develop their B2B commerce channels now and offer a consumer-like approach will be well placed to capture market share,” Moll said. “They will need to understand how to manage the complexities around their new channels, but the effort will pay off.”
Of the 400 B2B companies surveyed in Europe and the U.S., 92% already sell online and the remaining 8% will do so in the future. Almost one quarter of these companies (23%) are planning to increase the percentage they sell online by a further 40% or more.
When it comes to the features their customers expect, intuitive search and navigation are the most important by more than three quarters (77%) of B2B organizations, followed by online order approval (75%), self-service account management (74%), category and product pages (73%), and online store analytics/monitoring in real time (72%).
Most organizations (70%) realize the importance of search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Nearly two thirds (63%) are trying to encourage ranking or scoring of their organizations’ products on social media sites.
Intershop’s 2012 Ecommerce Report revealed that conquering mobile commerce was the top business challenge facing B2C retailers. In the near future, mobile channels will gain in importance in B2B too. When asked what new touch points organizations plan to use in the next 12 months, online marketplaces (25%), mobile apps (24%) and mobile stores (22%) were the most popular choices.
Of the companies that say mobile commerce will be important in the next 12 months, 65% of them plan to create a mobile-optimized store version that allows business buyers to see products, to purchase, to access their account profile, and to track orders.
More than half (56%) plan to create a mobile app that allows business buyers to see products, to negotiate the price, to click and buy, and to track orders. The findings from the survey underline that the transformation of B2B commerce is hitting a tipping point in 2013. The pressure in B2B is to cope with a large number of challenges and fast changing expectations, both from inside and outside their business: Integrating processes and systems, providing consistent cross-channel experiences and embracing mobile and social media, to name but a few.
“B2C has become the test ground for B2B companies to understand how ecommerce technologies can support their sales strategies,” Moll said. “After all, every B2B customer is also a B2C customer so if you want to understand the future of B2B, that is where to look. Interestingly, there is a noticeable disparity between countries in terms of how sophisticated their B2B ecommerce strategy is. Ecommerce really is a global market place and B2B organizations need to raise their game to meet the highest benchmark.”
The study includes 120 interviews in the U.S. and 60 in each of the following countries: U.K., France, Germany, and Nordics while 40 were conducted in Benelux.