graphic-ecommerce-b2b-global
Source: Statista
Gartner, a leading international market research consultancy, predicted this year that the e-commerce market in B2B sectors would be worth 1 trillion dollars, which is twice that of the B2C market.
In the specific case of Spain, the #IABEcommerce2019 study by the IAB reveals that 71% of Spanish Internet users purchased online last year , with convenience (practicality, time saving, comfort, etc.) being the main driver of online purchasing decisions, followed by offer, before price.
That is to say, e-commerce or online commerce is not only intended for B2C businesses, or in other words, businesses that sell directly to the end customer and not to other companies, but is more than recommended and necessary for B2B companies.
Before delving into the keys to ecommerce for B2B companies, let's demystify some beliefs.
Misconceptions about e-commerce for B2B companies
Many managers and directors of companies, especially in the industrial sector, have some false beliefs regarding B2B e-commerce, ranging from the complex technologies they associate with being used in their construction, to the low effectiveness of these digital tools.
1. “My product or service can only be sold physically”
The work of salespeople is key in B2B companies, but as we see from market data, for years there has been a large migration of audiences towards digital channels.
In fact, according to Gartner, only 17% of the new B2B buyer's purchasing physician phone number list time is spent meeting with suppliers, while 27% of the time is spent browsing online and forming their own opinion and learning about the product/service they are considering.
2. “Online shoppers are just millennials”
This is another widespread belief in the world of e-commerce that we are going to address: if we refer to the latest analysis by the IAB, in Spain, we have the following age ranges among online buyers:
30% are between 45-54 years old
The next group is people between 35 and 44 years old, who make up 26% of online shoppers. Some millennials fall into this range.
Buyers under 34 years old represent 19% of the total.
Therefore, we can say that the average age of the Spanish buyer is 41 years old . What's more, the buyer who is a millennial today is the buyer of tomorrow for any brand.
3. “Having an online business is expensive and complicated on a technological level”
False. Today, the world of technology and the different platforms used in the development of e-commerce offer a multitude of flexible options from price to functionality. In fact, if we analyse the level of personalisation and business intelligence that can be extracted from an e-commerce platform for a brand, we are talking about a profitable investment that allows savings in internal costs, time, improves sales results and the degree of customer loyalty.
In this way, compliance errors in B2B are usually exponentially greater than those associated with B2C, due to the nature of the type and quantities of products ordered. These errors, for example, could lead to trucks being loaded with products that are not the correct ones. An e-commerce allows us to synchronize the ERP, CRM or any internal management platform with our internal applications and improve business efficiency.
Benefits and keys to e-commerce for B2B companies
Below, we will explain the keys to e-commerce for B2B companies and why having a well-developed e-commerce platform is so important today:
1. Hyper-personalized and immediate attention
Customers are ready and willing to embrace the B2C conveniences of online shopping. According to The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce , nearly half (49%) of B2B customers prefer to make work-related purchases through a website and 72% want self-service access to an account to manage their own orders.
Ecommerce has more possibilities for personalization than ever before, thanks to, for example, online chats, omnichannel communication options and other near-instant direct connections with customers.
However, because many B2B customers are still used to browsing a catalogue, we will need to continually educate them on how to use our digital channels. This can be achieved by providing always-accessible collateral, such as FAQs, guides, and inbound marketing campaigns on our site, through ads, and email marketing . There should always be a learning period where the sales or customer service team is on hand to answer questions and help customers understand and adopt the new process, so that we can provide our customer with completely personalized attention.
Online shoppers benefit because, thanks to orders placed through an e-commerce site, they can manage their own time and administer their account through our portal.
2. Get ahead of the competition
One of the main reasons why more and more companies are creating their own online stores is to get ahead of their competitors. At the beginning of 2016, very few B2B companies had their own ecommerce site. Many brands identified this window of opportunity and took action in the hope of being one of the first movers in their industries.
The current situation we are experiencing makes the massive migration of audiences that we talked about at the beginning and the need to digitalize our services more pressing. The good news is that this window of opportunity still remains, especially in sectors such as distribution and manufacturing, where companies have historically been slow to adopt new digital strategies. According to research conducted by McKinsey, innovative business strategies tend to offer higher returns than risk-averse strategies, such that those companies that adopt digital strategies earlier increase their revenues almost twice as much as companies that lag behind their competitors on a digital level.
