Let’s face it. Real e-commerce opportunities are emerging in the digital landscape of 2016. B2B e-commerce is currently twice the size of that of B2C, and in the U.S. alone, B2B e-commerce is expected to reach $1.3 trillion in sales by the end of 2020. B2B companies are rapidly establishing and scaling e-commerce, but increasingly, B2B buyers expect a B2C-like shopping experience.
Buyers who purchase B2B goods have already been exposed to B2C selling at home. And they prefer to buy the things needed for work in the same manner they purchase things for themselves. But what does this mean for your field sales force? View this SlideShare presentation to understand the growing trends in B2B e-commerce and how they are similar, and different, to that of B2C.
14. “B2B buyers today not only prefer to research online, but they also prefer
to buy online. Nearly 75% indicate that buying from a website is
more convenient than buying from a sales representative
when purchasing products or services for work.”
– Andy Hoar, B2B analyst, Forrester Inc.
As customer interactions fragment across devices, services must perform reliably across an expanding interface landscape that includes PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and, increasingly, TVs, cars, wearables, and physical venues. To maintain relevance and credibility with the connected consumer, CX pros must build experiences that are:
Polymorphic. Making experiences that blend multiple devices into a singular experience is now table stakes (see Figure 5). Amazon's Dash Buttons let you reorder household products using small Wi-Fi-enabled buttons that customers can stick anywhere. Pressing the button places an order with Amazon and sends a confirmation message on your phone. Jawbone's UP24 wristband tracks wearers' movement and sleep and passes the information to wearers' smartphone, allowing them to view their activity and access specialized apps for tracking weight, mapping bike rides, and more. (see endnote 25) Smart kitchen scale Drop guides users through recipes step by step, informing them via an iPad app when they have added the right amount of each ingredient.
Persistent. Designing experiences that remember a customer's prior interactions and let her resume those tasks on different devices at different times is a mark of application maturity. Amazon Kindle, Microsoft Office 365, and Netflix let customers pick up reading, editing, or viewing content on another device. Apple, though, is raising the bar for this kind of performance with its release of Continuity, — context-aware technology that enables customers to begin an email on their iPhone and finish it on their Mac or initiate phone calls on their iPhone by clicking a phone number on their Mac (see Figure 6).
Manufacturer or Distributor $500M-$5B
Complex products, custom catalogs & pricing
Global requirements
Goal to integrate online and offline channels, content and commerce
Seeking rapid TTM and ROI
Quick poll – show of hands
Who here is a B2B marketing/business professional?
Who here is B2C?
B2B e-commerce – that’s one we’re all familiar with. A brand sells a product online, direct to consumer.
B2B e-commerce – that’s a lot different. The brand sells to a retail or distributor channel. That’s supplemented with a field sales force. And the channel sells to the consumer.
B2B e-commerce – that’s one we’re all familiar with. A brand sells a product online, direct to consumer.
B2B e-commerce – that’s a lot different. The brand sells to a retail or distributor channel. That’s supplemented with a field sales force. And the channel sells to the consumer.
Customer end-user v. Buyer end user: for yourself or gift (Amazon gift wrapping) pick unusual products; procurement person is typically buying, but not for themselves. If for the business, not the only one using it. Emphasis changes-product benefits/marketing and imagery versus business application, ease of transaction, etc.
Customer Acquisition v. Customer Retention B2C: advertising through Amazon B2B: slide 5 Andy Hoar quote (chart) competing with Amazon on a sale you might lose
Consumer ecosystem v Business ecosystem: bringing in contacts from social/traditional channels, email marketing and customer facing websites. Business ecosystem-dealing with operations and might have customer facing website, but people purchasing will have to go through a log-in and deal with ERP systems (punch-out). More than a website, find your best channel to get customers to your e-commerce channel. What do you have to deploy to reach these purchasers? Customized deployment for each B2B customer.
Punchout Diagram
Single sales v Bulk Sales: one-to-many v. many-to-one (phone example)
Assortment Same v Segmented Assortment: Amazon users sees same search results. Segmented assortment has different customers see different pricing, with different people in each organization seeing different things. (office supplies and lawn mowers)
Same Pricing/Payment Terms v Negotiated Pricing & Terms: Amazon checkout-different shipping options, extent of different pricing options. (Harry Potter novel) Negotiated pricing and terms-this is when people prefer to work with sales rep because they can get discount and receive different pricing/terms. (printers for office)
Standard payments v Advanced Payment Options: Amazon check out cart with PayPal and credit cards; PL3 level credit cards with all kinds of other information, lines of credit and direct wire transfer/ERP integrations
No Approvals v Approval Process: One button check out on Amazon. On B2B could have approvals on both sides-sales rep needs approval from manager to give discount at certain amount. Procurement needs to give approval to a buyer to make a purchase.
B2B Buyers want simple, fast, and convenient purchasing channels. Their expectations are already set by Amazon and other key B2C experiences. This means that the Sales Rep as order taker is an endangered species. However, this presents an opportunity to remove routine tasks from the sales force and create true consultants. Consultants focus on higher dollar, more profitable, and valuable opportunities.
https://www.forrester.com/report/The+Clash+Of+The+Partner+Channel+And+eCommerce/-/E-RES119186#figure1
https://www.forrester.com/report/Death+Of+A+B2B+Salesman/-/E-RES122288
Transcends the transaction
B2B e-commerce organizations need to design experiences that internalize and deliver value-added buying experiences that go above and beyond the transaction.
A great resource site: E-commerce & B2B put together a list of some of the B2B players who are deploying e-commerce incredibly well, and we agree.
GRAINGER:
-one of the first to do it in the U.S.
-SEARCH AND NAV: search results on Google are not only listing Grainger as one of the first hits, but clicking on the link takes buyers directly to the product within Grainger’s sites.
-PRODUCT DETAIL: great descriptions, specs, variety of images as well as contract pricing, model #, shipping weight and country of origin keep the B2B customer in mind. Also show related products as well as product variations to easily compare different products.
B2B e-commerce sites don’t have to be boring. Ferguson has fresh, modern looking content while still keeping functionality at the top of the list.
Further down the page, they define which businesses are their niche.
Navigation is top notch: flyover menus appear with relevant suggestions and type ahead features match product and other content on the site.
E-Commerce & B2B calls out this example as best in show for Ferguson’s design of its individual product detail pages. We love the contemporary, clean, easy to use functionality, and each product is full of important spec information so the buyer knows their purchase is correct. Again, related products and other featured collections appear as suggestions at the bottom.
Our last example is one for B2C e-commerce, and it’s our very own client, Hunter Fan.
Right away on the home page, consumers know the product and how to find it. There’s options to search the most recent collection or view new products. The top navigation is simple, and provides a clear call to action for consumers.
After clicking into the ceiling fan option, customers can easily target their results based on specific fan features. If a consumer isn’t sure on what they want, Ntara has created a “Match My Style” and “Match My Space” where consumers can answer all types of personal questions that yield a fan to best fit their needs. The web design also includes specific product imagery so that the web visitor is enticed to scroll down the page for specific product offerings before leaving the page.
Multiple images: in-room, product feature imagery, and video show a clear visual of product to consumer.
Even show products coming soon-stay up to date in real time with PIM. Product specs are clear, with room use recommendations, related accessory products and downloadable manual guides.
Dedicated product support page with detailed information for customer use.