GOb2b Blogs

The value of global business-to-business eCommerce is predicted to reach over $6.5 trillion dollars by 2020 as customers continue to embrace buying online. Research shows that the behaviour of b2b buyers has fundamentally shifted over the last few years, as an increasing number of tech-savvy millennials lead the way to digitalised procurement. As a result, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors are having to rethink the way they work and how they sell to their customers.

Whether it’s expensive, time-consuming maintenance, an inferior customer experience, or the absence of high performance functionality, there are some key signs that it’s time to upgrade your b2b eCommerce solution. Let’s take a closer look at indicators that signal the need for change…

Manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors considering modernising their b2b eCommerce websites will often use the comparison of return-on-investment when assessing the performance of legacy systems against a new platform. Most of the time, however, the true value of ROI is a challenge to work out because it involves reviewing many variables, rather than the simple calculation of: (revenue from new solution – revenue from legacy solution) x 100 / investment.

Manufacturing firms that have always managed their business-to-business customer-facing sales processes using traditional tools such as phone, fax or email are often reluctant to make the move to online trading. Despite an acceleration in the shift to b2b eCommerce, many of these firms find the idea of adding a digital sales channel worrying or confusing and may lack the understanding or commitment to make integrated eCommerce a business reality.

The recent fall in manufacturing PMI, which combines statistics for output, orders and jobs, reflects the nature of a challenging market for b2b companies. Manufacturers, along with wholesalers and distributors are searching for ways to get ahead of the curve, looking for anything that delivers competitive advantage.

Just like any other internet business, a b2b eCommerce store needs a robust marketing plan in order to realise its potential. Here are a few smart marketing tactics that will help to drive customer traffic and sales for your b2b eCommerce business.

According to Frost and Sullivan, the global b2b eCommerce market is set to hit $6.7 trillion by 2020. Over the last few years, the growth in business-to-business online sales has encouraged a large number of manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers to implement some type of eCommerce technology to meet increasing customer demand.

As the popularity of b2b eCommerce as a preferred sales channel continues to grow at pace, there are still plenty of manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that remain to be convinced of its benefits. This is despite all the evidence suggesting that setting up an online store helps to enhance the customer experience, boost order value, increase margin, cut cost and reduce processing errors.

Recent research on the varied growth rates of b2b eCommerce adoption by distributor and wholesale companies throws up some interesting data. Firstly, it shows that around 65% of these businesses have an online sales channel – and around 40% of their sales were transacted digitally. But the study also shows that the proportion of actual eCommerce sales varies dramatically between companies, with nearly 80% of distributors and wholesalers claiming that eCommerce accounted for less than 25% of total sales.