Manufacturers and distributors entering and growing in business-to-business e-commerce face multiple decisions regarding technology and strategies—including choosing the right mix of technology from the right vendors—Forrester Research Inc. says in a report released today, “It Takes a Village to Deliver World-Class B2B Commerce.”

But one thing many companies may overlook is being aware of global competition and opportunities. “No B2B businesses today are competing exclusively with home-market-only competitors,” says the report, which was authored by Andy Hoar, vice president and principal analyst for B2B e-commerce, along with other Forrester analysts.

Forrester, citing figures from a survey of online business buyers it conducted in conjunction with B2BecNews in the second quarter of this year, notes that only 16% of B2B companies do not sell internationally. “As such, B2B companies now require e-commerce technology platforms that enable them to merchandise and sell products and services domestically and globally,” the report says. “This means that B2B pros must focus on developing systems that can handle issues like localized languages and payments, and monitoring global shipments.”

The study also makes several other recommendations to help manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers build and operate an optimal e-commerce operation. It recommends, for example, that companies design an RFP, or request for proposals, that requires e-commerce technology vendors to address their specific technology requirements early in their presentations, enabling a potential buyer to quickly evaluate the vendor’s technology applications and services.

Forrester also recommends following up on such RFPs by requiring vendors to go beyond just showing a list of their e-commerce technology platform’s features and functions and comparing that list to what rival vendors offer. Instead, it suggests prospective technology buyers require vendors to show evidence of how their technology applications have met the needs of companies with similar requirements. “Neither side-by-side feature comparisons nor weighted scoring models,” Forrester says, “focus enough on the key issue inherent in an evaluation: ‘How is this platform going to perform for us?’”

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