In this Q&A article, Karie Daudt, a veteran B2B strategist who is a Director of Commerce Strategy at digital consultancy Perficient, discusses how manufacturers can best take on the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly digital B2B world of commerce.

DC360: What are the top B2B digital commerce trends B2B buyers and sellers should watch closely in 2023 and why?

Daudt: There are many trends that are happening in B2B today that are worth paying attention to in 2023. A hot button right now is the importance of data in B2B and how it will be used relating to specific use cases. We are seeing a big spike in organizations realizing they need to pay closer attention to managing their product data. Many organizations started their digital charge with ecommerce, but never considered the condition of their product data and content. The reality is that product data has a significant impact on SEO, search, personalization and so much more. This is the year to get your product data in order and invest the time and money into putting together a product strategy and investing in a Product Information Management (PIM) solution to support the efforts.

Karie Daudt, Director of Commerce Strategy, digital consultancy Perficient

A second trend we are seeing in the market is that personalization continues to get significant attention in 2023. The big theme for B2B personalization is that quality data drives the personalized experience. In order to drive real personalized experiences, the use of customer data is critical to create segmentation, user roles and identify the experience that is most relevant to the customer.

As I also mentioned above, the importance of product data is critical to drive those research and purchasing journeys in B2B, as more B2B organizations understand that quality product data has a direct impact on on-site search experiences. Before migrating or investing in more AI driven search experiences, B2B organizations should do the best they can to optimize and enrich the data they have and leverage as much of the native search capabilities as possible before taking that next step. It is not that organizations will not see results if they start with AI; it just makes sense to exhaust what you have if at all possible, and then make the next step investment when the time is right.

The third trend I am seeing is expanding into new markets and attracting new customers. When organizations are considering new markets, it is critical to do a market analysis to understand what the opportunity in that market is. Is there enough market opportunity there to support the necessary investment. When asking for investment, you must know what the share of opportunity is and what investment it will take to capture that new share of market. Some market considerations I am seeing is leveraging more third-party marketplaces to sell products. Another trend is to consider becoming a marketplace operator to expand your offering to new customers and fill product gaps with other complementary products. Industry-specific marketplaces are becoming a hot topic, which can include product mixes across manufacturers to target industries more effectively.

DC360: Has B2B ecommerce reached the tipping point where the industry now views digital commerce as mainstream? If so, why?

Daudt: I do believe that B2B ecommerce has reached the tipping point where industry now views it as mainstream. The main reason I believe this to be true is that we are seeing a significant difference in how B2B organizations are approach commerce today versus how they viewed it in the past. While organizations are still looking for the implementation of commerce platforms and solutions, there is a bigger focus on ecommerce strategy versus technology.

DC360: B2B ecommerce is accelerating on multiple levels right now, not the least of which is annual sales growth. In general, where are manufacturers and wholesalers being impacted, and why?

Daudt: As B2B digital commerce continues to grow and expand, manufacturers and distributors must continue to stay in front of their customers. Experience-driven commerce is all about understanding the needs of the customers to make doing business with you better and easier. Organizations must continue to stay out front and address challenges and roadblocks to improve processes. B2B organizations need to consider the current state of what are tables stakes, what is innovative and what are emerging and where they are on the spectrum. Transparency to supply chain is a really hot topic right now, and organizations need to start digging into the possible use cases and what they need to do to address their limitations. Keep moving forward is the message or you risk falling behind.

DC360: What did COVID 19, supply chain woes, labor shortages and inflation teach manufacturers and distributors about digital commerce in 2022? What hard lessons should they have learned, and why?

Daudt: COVID-19 should have taught manufacturers and distributors several things with the first being that they need to have digital sales channels that are easily adaptable, can pivot quickly and can handle a significant influx of traffic.

Having and providing clear visibility to supply chain is no longer an option. Everyone had to deal with supply chain issues during COVID-19, but the ones that were able be transparent of what was available to ship, across multiple warehouse locations and when users could expect product to become available. For many organizations, it might be time to consider an order management solution to support transparency.

DC360: What are the biggest B2B ecommerce challenges facing manufacturers and distributors, and how can they overcome them?

Daudt: One of the biggest challenges facing manufacturers and distributors today is product information quality. Organizations must invest in managing their product data and content, from collecting, standardizing and enriching the information. In order to overcome this challenge is to make product information a priority. For organizations that currently have a Product Information Management (PIM) solution, it is time to make the management and enrichment of the data a priority. B2B organizations that have not invested in a PIM need to make the investment. This is the year to make products a priority.

The second biggest challenge focuses on the ability to provide transparency. While many B2B organizations believe they can solve for this challenge with their ERP, the reality is that it might be time to consider an order management solution to support transparency.

Headless commerce, artificial intelligence and cloud applications are the most talked about new digital applications. Are these must-have or nice to have for sellers?

Daudt: Headless commerce, AI, cloud applications are all great topics and should be things that manufacturers and distributors are thinking about, but based on where they are on their journey. All of these topics require an understanding on the full impact on their organization across people, process and technology.

A perfect example is AI. If your organization has not gotten your data house in order, then adding AI will be a solution that will not be able to give the true benefit of the investment. If you prioritize the product data, content and assets, then adding AI will provide more benefit that doing it the other way.

Headless and Microservices

Pros:

Headless commerce is ideal for B2B organizations that have the unique need to leverage best-in-class API’s and third-party solutions, with support from the internal IT teams that provide agility and boundaries.

Benefits:

Best-in-class, front-end customer experiences​

• Ability to “plug and play” various site components without “sinking the ship”​
• Increased experimentation opportunities​
• Speed and scale​

Cons:

Going full headless can be daunting for technology immature organizations. The recent buzz in the industry is generating interest. But organizations need to look at the full investment, time and internal resources needed to make this successful.

Considerations:

• Large capital investment
• Core IT team changes
• Integrations can be complex and require additional QA testing
• Custom in-house solution

DC 360: What happens if a B2B organization chooses not to make digital commerce a strategic priority?

Daudt: This is my favorite question!

In my opinion, any B2B organization that does not make digital commerce a strategic priority is risking the long-term future of their business. The most important consideration is to do a strategic evaluation of the position to really understand the potential impact of doing nothing versus doing something. I believe that not all B2B organizations have a firm grasp on what digital commerce is. In my mind, digital commerce includes channel partner portals, customer portals, public-facing sites, marketplaces. It can also include areas of your business to digitize product information and data to syndicate to your channel, websites and more.

Every B2B business needs to understand the long-term strategic impact of their decision to not go digital in some way, shape or form.  B2B organizations need to understand what their existing customers want, need and expect before they make those decisions.

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