44% B2B retailers agree bringing buyers online is profitable could result in more return customers and higher brand loyalty
When it comes to selling online,B2B retailers have to adapt to changing customer expectations, driven by trends such as smartphone usage, social media and the consumerisation of IT, according to the 2013 E-commerce Report from Intershop. Across the board, respondents in a survey of 400 B2B companies, of which 75% of the respondents were from the automotive, high-tech manufacturing, retail, pharmaceutical, and telecoms sectors, agreed that the world of B2B commerce is evolving fast, and B2C trends are reflected in the B2B environment.
B2B commerce is changing and there are on average eight different drivers of this change within an organization. 82% of respondents cite either customer demands and expectations as a main driver followed by corporate revenue and market share growth initiatives (80%). Other significant drivers (at least gaining a 70% response rate of higher) included competitor activity and performance, that business buyers are engaging through various offline and online touch points with their peers and are using multiple information sources to make decisions. Mobile device usage was also a key driver.
Three in five (60%) of retail respondents believe that B2B commerce is shifting from offline to online and self-service and 55% feel B2B commerce should adopt B2C best-practices to optimize purchasing experiences. 48% replied that the internal organization has to adapt to meet new online goals.
Despite this significant shift to online commerce, just under half of respondents (46%) say it is difficult to bring customers from offline to online self-service. Yet, there are significant benefits in doing so. B2B retailers agreed it could result in more return customers and higher brand loyalty (44%) and drive offline sales online (44%).
The B2B retailers who currently sell online B2B products or services (97%) plan to increase the percentage they sell online, on average by 34%.
The vast majority of organizations in the B2B retail sector are facing challenges (97%). For just over half (54%), providing intuitive and user-friendly interfaces for multiple touch points present the biggest challenge. This is followed closely (48%) by the challenge of delivering responsive and flexible customer service to respond quickly to any customer request. Managing complex organizational structures such as different user roles and simplifying handling of returns and inventory tie at44% for another problem B2B retailers face.
However, interestingly more than four fifths of B2B retailers understood the importance of intuitive search and navigation (82%). Other features customer expect included self-service account management (79%),category and product pages (76%),search engine optimization and search engine marketing (76%). 74% felt online store analytics and monitoring these in real-time was an important feature.
Jochen Moll, Member and Spokesman of the Board of Management at Intershop explains, “Where there is complexity, there is also opportunity. Organizations that can develop their B2B commerce channels now and offer a consumer-like approach will be well placed to capture market share. They will need to understand how to manage the complexities around their new channels, but the effort will pay off.”
Of the 97% of retailers that say mobile commerce will be important in the next 12 months, a total of 72% are planning to create a mobile-optimized store version that allows business buyers to see products, to purchase, to access their account profile and to track orders and 58% plan to create a mobile app that allows business buyers to see products, to negotiate the price, to click and buy and to track orders.