First things first, B2B e-commerce should represent more than 17% of global B2B turnover by 2023 (Forrester Study). B2B brands must boost their online sales if they want to be competitive. Here are the 7 e-commerce trends in 2022.
In 2025, purchasing decisions in the B2B sector will, in 75% of cases, be taken by Millennials . B2C experiences during their personal purchases influence B2B transactions in their professional life. As the B2B buyer evolves, the business sales process must respond their needs.
A Gen X (1965 – 1980) customer is likely to prefer the experience offered by a sales engineer while Gen Y (1980 – 2000) expects to receive this personalized and streamlined experience over digital channels. More and more B2B customers ask to buy products digitally.
On the other hand, B2B customers perform more in-depth research on the brand and its products before getting in touch with a sales representative. According to a Forrester study, 74% of B2B buyers say they search online for at least half of their business purchases. It is, therefore, logical that a company's website strives to offer a meaningful experience to its B2B customers. Considering that wholesalers' customers are the same people who buy personal items online, offering them a B2C-like shopping experience can help achieve this goal.
In addition, it remains essential to favor the user experience (UX) and the user interface (UI) that allow its customers to quickly find what they are looking for. Because many B2B consumers already know exactly what they need.
Accenture research shows that 50% of B2B customers consider personalizing their experience a must-have feature when researching suppliers.
The customer experience management market is expected to reach $16.9 billion by 2026 according to a study by Markets and Markets. B2B customers want to access to an experience that is as personalized as B2C customers.
In order to fully personalize B2B shopping experiences, companies need to take advantage of customer data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Global traffic on the internet via smartphones exceeded browsing via computers in 2020, i.e. 57% on mobiles. To date, BCG's research found that 80% of B2B buyers are using mobile at work (excluding phone calls), and more than 60% report that mobile played a significant role in a recent buy.
BCG’s study shows that brands that are quick to adopt the mobile see increased revenue on this channel compared to those who did not.
The reason is simple. A mobile app helps speed up recurring orders. Sales representatives can synchronize sales with the company's solution-linked mobile app. Companies must offer responsive experiences to improve their sales process and increase their revenue.
In 2021, most B2B e-commerce transactions involved solutions that automated payments, making them more convenient for both parties. It's no wonder this is an e-commerce trend in 2022.
Offering a wide choice of payment methods is essential for B2B e-commerce. Here is an exhaustive list of B2B payment methods:
B2B e-commerce channels increasingly integrate payment service providers (PSPs) like Webhelp, Lemonway, MangoPay or Stripe.
In an environment where inflation is pushing businesses to make tough decisions, competitive pricing has never been more important. Real-time pricing gives suppliers the power to manage and adjust prices. It also helps compare prices for customers across all channels. This allows you to be more competitive in terms of price and builds customer loyalty.
Real-time pricing allows B2B companies to provide consistent and personalized pricing to customers. But to achieve this, companies need to understand customer behavior throughout the buying journey. Therefore, this trend will be more relevant if it is combined with the personalization of the e-commerce site.
As said before, the B2B e-commerce sector is growing. Sales reps have a relatively small market to choose their technology from.
B2B requirements are tough to meet and not every platform does it well enough
Some B2B sellers are turning to third-party applications to complement their e-commerce platform and to manage order processing, inventory synchronization or financial transactions.
However, when going this route, an integration provider becomes necessary to connect these different systems and ensure efficient business management.
Integration providers focus on providing pre-built connectors to sync data and automate critical processes between ecommerce platforms and back-end systems like an ERP/Accounting, POS, or 3PL to increase operational efficiency and eliminate costly data processing errors.
57% of B2B leaders said e-commerce integration was a top technology need. They defined ecommerce integration as integrating backend technology for managing operations like inventory and customer orders with their ecommerce platform.
According to Forrester, global sales made on a marketplace should approach 70% by 2022.
At the same time, B2B sales through websites and online marketplaces are accelerating and posting record growth. Only 6% of B2B customers currently do not use online marketplaces and 75% of B2B purchases are expected to be made through them in the next five years according to Digital Commerce 360 .
Marketplaces are a new business model that create larger ecosystems. They offer new features and generate new revenue streams for brands. These marketplaces save time and money as they serve as a one-stop-shop for B2B buyers.
One of the biggest benefits of B2B marketplaces is that they can attract new active audiences. In addition to generate more sales, they are also an opportunity to reach global markets and to test new products. Uppler offers marketplace , e-commerce and e-procurement solutions to meet different market needs while integrating the most advanced functionalities on the market.
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