Will B2B Digital Commerce Emerge from the Dark Ages?

According to Forrester, the B2B e-commerce market in the U.S. will be worth more than $3 trillion by 2027, with an 11% compound annual growth rate. Even so, just 13% of B2B decision-makers think of eCommerce as a primary revenue source. Seems like a massive opportunity is being ignored. What’s the disconnect?

In my recent article, B2B Commerce is B.S., I explored some of the reasons why B2B commerce seems to be stuck in the dark ages. I believe that even though the buying process may be complex, the digital storefront doesn’t have to be. The good news is that procurement teams seem to be laser-focused on modernization coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half of procurement executives think that complex systems and multi-step processes make their buying process inefficient, and 95% believe there’s room for optimizing their processes.

Will this finally be the year B2B digital buying goes mainstream?

B2B buying trends are mirroring consumer habits

Research from McKinsey shows that B2B buying trends are closely following consumer trendlines. It makes sense, because B2B buyers demand a similar digital experience to what they’re getting in their personal lives. In 2017, only about 20 percent of industrial companies preferred digital interactions and purchases. Today, that percentage is around 67 percent. The number of channels B2B buyers use to interact with suppliers has also doubled between 2016 and today.

Buyers are interacting with digital channels like the supplier’s website, web chat, online procurement portals, mobile apps, and more. For example, many B2B companies are taking advantage of Amazon Business Marketplace as both a distribution channel and a way to save money by capitalizing on their committed spend with AWS. These companies are meeting the buyer where they are today, while taking advantage of existing partnerships.

In fact, the very argument that many suppliers use to avoid the digital elephant in the room, the complexity of the buying process, may be driving buyers to explore content on a number of channels. I recently spoke to a company that canceled their contract with a vendor because the vendor took away their Slack channel for interaction — talk about B2B digital maturity and misreading the room. Isn’t it about time that B2B suppliers and sellers revamped their digital presence to meet the needs of these modern buyers?

Optimizing B2B digital commerce for simplicity

Here are few straightforward ways to optimize B2B digital commerce channels, which can make a major difference with buyers:

• Provide Buyers with Self-Education Tools: Buyers want to browse product catalogs, read descriptions, and understand their purchases. Many B2B commerce sites fail to offer this. It's not complicated but it’s often overlooked.
• Support and Accelerate the Sales Motion: Make transactions smoother, whether buyers need custom configurations or specific parts. The commerce site should simplify the buying process and minimize order errors, even with salespeople involved. Digital invoicing is one practical place to start.
• Enable Fast Rollout of Digital Catalogs and Storefronts: For multi-store implementations or diverse channel partners, B2B sellers need to quickly create unique catalogs. These should support negotiated pricing, geo-specific availability, and channel needs. Sellers should also be able to roll out branded storefronts across multiple sites.
• Leverage Composable Commerce Systems: A composable commerce system can integrate with top B2B tools like CPQ or punch-out solutions. This flexibility supports bulk ordering, recurring purchases, flexible payments, personalized pricing, restricted access, real-time inventory updates, and other custom needs.

In short, all trends are pointing toward massive B2B digital commerce growth. Like regular consumers, B2B buyers read and explore content on a variety of digital channels. It’s time that B2B sellers caught up with what buyers want and accelerate their digital purchasing potential with a better commerce experience.

Try an Elastic Path free trial to see one of our fast-to-launch commerce sites in action.