Whether it’s in the blogosphere, at conferences, or on social media, we’re hearing a lot this year about the growth of B2B e-commerce. B2B sales are moving online, and that has profound implications for both the B2B industry and the e-commerce solutions industry.
To facilitate discussion and education of professionals in our industry, we interviewed nine experts on the emerging trends in B2B e-commerce. We asked some pointed questions, and we got an array of intelligent, informative answers.
The comments from four of those experts are presented here in Part 2 of this blog; comments from the other five appeared in Part 1, which appeared here earlier this week.
Here are the questions we asked:
- How might an e-commerce model streamline the world of B2B sales?
- What types of innovation would you like to see in B2B e-commerce functionality?
- Where does a professional sales staff fit into a B2B e-commerce business plan?
- How can B2B e-commerce managers encourage their customer base to transition from phone orders to web orders?
Sam Bayer – CEO & co-founder, Corevist
How might an e-commerce model streamline the world of B2B sales?
How has e-commerce streamlined the buying of books, clothing, jewelry, electronic equipment and beauty products? It has removed the need to walk to a store, speak to a person or do either only when businesses are open. B2B e-commerce will have the exact same benefits. Only the impact on the economy will be much larger because the flow of B2B products around the world far exceeds the volume of B2C sales.
What types of innovation would you like to see in B2B e-commerce functionality?
We don’t need any more innovation in B2B e-commerce functionality than we already have. We already have way more than the vast majority of B2B companies can take advantage of. The real innovation that we need is to figure out a way to make B2B e-commerce websites quicker to implement and more affordable. Frankly, the vast majority of B2B e-commerce transactions are still phone/fax and email. FAXES in 2016! Corevist is focused on disrupting the B2B e-commerce technology space by innovating on the adoption of these projects without sacrificing functionality.
Where does a professional sales staff fit into a B2B e-commerce business plan?
Either on the bus or they become extinct. If your value as a salesperson is delivering information that is easily available on a website and accessible via a smartphone, than your days are numbered. Salespeople need to reinvent themselves to not sell products but to help their customers become more successful from a business perspective. Websites will replace transactions but it’s a lot harder for them to offer advice. That’s where salespeople should evolve.
How can B2B e-commerce managers encourage their customer base to transition from phone orders to web orders?
By making it easier to do business on the website than it is by speaking to a human being for routine transactions. You can promote by offering discounts to kick-start traffic on the website, but at the end of the day, if life isn’t better for your customers on the website, they won’t use.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Bayer received his PhD in chemistry at age 23. Career highlights include connecting IBM to a new market segment (laboratory information management systems), introducing the first B2B e-commerce website for SAP® manufacturers, and launching Corevist, which focuses on the convergence of cloud-delivered services and the consumerization of B2B e-commerce. Connect with Dr. Bayer on Twitter.
Brian Massey – Co-founder, Conversion Sciences
How might an e-commerce model streamline the world of B2B sales?
You can easily streamline your B2B sales by NOT implementing a B2B e-commerce model. Your competitors will take care of the orders for you!
In a recent Conversion Sciences webinar, Jeff Philipp noted research showing:
- 74% of B2B buyers prefer to buy through a website
- 93% of B2B buyers prefer to execute a buy the moment they find what they are looking for.
A B2B e-commerce site can be expected to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty while reducing the cost of selling. This means higher margins and more repeat business, a powerful combination.
What types of innovation would you like to see in B2B e-commerce functionality?
Unfortunately, the e-commerce innovation that B2B companies lack is having an e-commerce offering. According to Forrester’s Peter Sheldon, only 25% of all B2B companies sell online today. This is an opportunity.
However, there are some challenges unique to B2B e-commerce. Blue Fish Development Group CEO Jeff Philipp summarized 13 of them on our webinar. Here are seven of the most common:
- Highly complex, customizable products
- Importance of delivery dates and ordering backlog
- Complicate pricing formulas
- Complex sales tax issues
- Multiple buyer accounts and multiple locations
- Shipping options can be complex
- Integration with backend systems
Watch the on-demand Lab Coat Lessons webinar for all thirteen.
Where does a professional sales staff fit into a B2B e-commerce business plan?
Without proper project management, Sales can be an obstacle to B2B e-commerce efforts. They may see the site as a threat. In truth, a B2B e-commerce site works well as a sales support platform. The site may actually increase phone calls for visitors that prefer the interaction of a salesperson. It is not unusual for the B2B e-commerce site to be the choice of returning customers, while the sales team continues to excel at landing new customers’ first orders.
How can B2B e-commerce managers encourage their customer base to transition from phone orders to web orders?
In the words of Peter Sheldon, a former e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research who is now vice president of strategy at Magento Commerce, “Buyers are way ahead of the sellers.” Making the e-commerce site known to phone callers will be all that it takes to get customers to switch. A larger and larger portion of new customers will be looking for the e-commerce site first. In almost every industry, the fastest-growing segment of online traffic is mobile.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Massey founded the website optimization company Conversion Sciences in 2007. He is a bestselling author (“Your Customer Creation Equation: Unexpected Website Formulas of The Conversion Scientist”), computer programmer, and entrepreneur. He has written for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, the Content Marketing Institute, and others. Connect with Brian on Twitter.
Elan Sherbill – Corporate Blogger, cleverbridge
How might an e-commerce model streamline the world of B2B sales?
Even simple payment functionality goes a long way toward improving B2B customer experiences. Offering business buyers the ability to research and then pay for their items entirely online saves time and money for both sellers and buyers. The biggest boon for sellers is that digital shopping experiences increases overall revenue and lets them focus on building better products.
What types of innovation would you like to see in B2B e-commerce functionality?
There needs to be a bigger focus on global markets. Most organizations are so focused on their existing customer base that they ignore millions of dollars from cross-border shoppers who are simply not afforded the chance to buy from them. This is because these organizations do not offer localized customer experiences that make it possible for international buyers to conveniently pay for goods or services online.
If businesses truly want to leverage digital shopping experiences for B2B buyers, they have to make sure they are offering all customers products in local currencies, at prices the local market can bear. It also means providing customers the option to use preferred local payment methods and ensuring that the entire customer experience complies with local regulations so far as issues like taxation, privacy and security are concerned.
Where does a professional sales staff fit into a B2B e-commerce business plan?
With digital B2B customer experiences, sales teams are going to have to pivot from order takers to expert consultants. The shopping experience is going to be increasingly self-managed on the buyer’s end. That doesn’t mean you abandon loyal employees. Digital shopping removes a lot of the face-to-face touchpoints between customers and businesses, so you still need a highly trained sales staff who understand their customers’ pain points and who helps them understand how to drive better business outcomes with the tools they sell.
How can B2B e-commerce managers encourage their customer base to transition from phone orders to web orders?
I honestly don’t think it’s going to take much encouragement. Every B2B customer is also an individual consumer who shops online at least once a month (if not more frequently), and they have high expectations for digital customer experiences. Business buyers want to be able to pay for their orders as conveniently as they do when they’re shopping on Amazon. And it’s not just about the payments. B2B customers want to self-manage all their customer account information, including upgrading and downgrading plans, adding and removing licenses, or updating payment information.
Think about your own shopping preferences. You don’t like taking time out of your busy schedule to make a phone call to renew your order when you could easily accomplish the same thing with a few clicks or swipes. And neither do your customers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elan Sherbill is a corporate blogger at cleverbridge—a global subscription billing provider that helps companies build long-term customer relationships and grow recurring revenue streams. You can connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Gareth Daine – Co-Founder, Content Sleuth
1. How might an e-commerce model streamline the world of B2B sales?
Well, according to Forbes, the B2B e-commerce market will be worth $1.7 trillion by 2020, so, I’m not sure it’s a case of e-commerce streamlining B2B sales, as it appears it’s already in full swing. Look at Alibaba as a B2B e-commerce marketplace. While it’s had its fair share of problems and controversy, it’s hugely successful.
Look at Littlewoods (the Shop Direct Group), who used to run catalogue services, but now are solely based online. The benefits to the business are huge. They save overheads in many areas, can automate a lot of the process, and it allows them to funnel those investments into expanding the model.
Whenever anyone comes to purchase products and services, whether businesses or not, usually, their first port of call is the Internet. This presents huge opportunities for B2B businesses, as providing their products and services via an online (usually account-locked) platform, like Magento, for example, allows them to offer the convenience of online ordering and user account management, as well as features such as re-ordering, back-ordering and such.
Customers find these types of conveniences extremely helpful, and it helps them speed up their ordering, dispatching and delivery processes, helping them save time and money.
2. What types of innovation would you like to see in B2B e-commerce functionality?
I would love to see some solid innovation in drop-shipping functionality and connections with marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and Alibaba. A sort of Software-as-a- Service (SaaS) model would be great, where companies can sign up, and the service provider would handle the rest. Could be big money in something like that, especially if they linked in with suppliers, and provided checks.
3. Where does a professional sales staff fit into a B2B e-commerce business plan?
Obviously, digital marketing and social media are key, but professional sales staff of the old-school variety still have their place. Contacting current and prospective companies to offer a streamlined service, perhaps offering discounted prices for onboarding on to the online platform.
4. How can B2B e-commerce managers encourage their customer base to transition from phone orders to web orders?
As mentioned above, offering discount pricing for online orders and account management, web-only incentives to entice customers to use the online model, a great user experience by making it simple, fast and straightforward to use. Take the headaches out of the process by automating as much as possible. There are many benefits, including re-ordering previous orders, backordering, easy account management, fast ordering, etc.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gareth is a seasoned software engineer with over 19 years’ experience in the industry. He specializes in e-commerce design and development. He is also the co-founder of Content Sleuth, a new social media automation tool for content marketers. You can find Content Sleuth on Twitter, or read their in-depth, actionable tips for social media marketing.
George Anderson is lead content writer for 216digital Inc., a firm that designs and develop e-commerce sites and provides search marketing services. A version of this article first appeared on the 216digital blog as B2B Ecommerce Trends.