11 B2B eCommerce Trends that will Help You Stay Ahead of the Curve

The entire eCommerce industry has witnessed a paradigm shift in recent times and the B2B eCommerce trends are following the lead. From soaring market value to transitions in consumer behavior, and from changing purchase habits to changes in buying journey, the B2B eCommerce landscape has seen massive changes. With all these shifts going on, a question arises as to whether the latest trends are here to stay or is it just a fluke? To better understand the overall B2B eCommerce landscape, let’s look at some of the market predictions.

B2B eCommerce in Numbers

• The global B2B eCommerce market is expected to reach an enormous $13,630 million by 2027 at a CAGR of 8.5% from 2021 through 2027.
• In the US alone, the B2B eCommerce transactions are projected to reach a whopping $1.8 trillion by 2023, accounting for 17% of the total B2B sales in the country.
• Before 2020, the majority of B2B buyers were Baby Boomers and Gen X members. But with the Millennials coming of age, around 73% of the Millennials are involved in the B2B eCommerce industry. These business buyers are looking forward to digital channels to influence their purchasing decisions. This trend will continue as Gen Z will enter the workforce in the coming future.

These stats may not be a surprise in this tech-invested world and probably will serve as a wake-up call for businesses. The B2B businesses have to embrace these changes and continue to adapt to the upcoming trends in the coming future because there is no stopping of the evolution of the B2B eCommerce industry in the coming years. Read further to know why:

B2B eCommerce Trends in 2021 and Beyond 

2020 was the year of change. With worldwide lockdown restrictions, supply chain disruptions, and sudden technological advancements, the B2B industry took a step towards total digitization. Cloud-based integrations, omnichannel commerce, and automation paved the way for a growing B2B eCommerce industry. While global shutdowns battered down traditional trade summits, meetings, and business relationships, eCommerce emerged as an imperative recourse to move forward.

B2B eCommerce gave an easy way to businesses – both to buyers and suppliers, to keep a check on the operations, see stock availability, competitive analysis, manage orders, and more, without moving from the safety of their offices and homes (during quarantine periods). Especially for the suppliers, this was the moment of truth. B2B eCommerce capabilities helped them keep their businesses afloat during the pandemic while allowing them to fulfill their orders even with lean resources.

Even with the restrictions easing up a little around the world, we expect the impact of digitalization on trade relationships and B2B commerce will continue to serve the industry in 2021 and beyond. Hence, to stay ahead of the curve, it is inevitable for businesses to follow the growing B2B eCommerce trends and embrace the ongoing and upcoming changes in the world of B2B commerce.

This is what it all comes down to. It doesn’t matter if you are a newbie in the B2B eCommerce industry or an experienced player. You have to integrate certain trends and technologies with your business model to prevent the risk of falling too far behind. This is the turning point in the history of digital commerce, and hence the right time to re-evaluate your B2B eCommerce website, if you have one, and your sales and marketing strategies. You have to make sure that the buying experience you provide is unlike any other competitor and you give what the buyer needs. Here we have listed a few things to help you gain and keep a competitive edge in the B2B eCommerce market. 

1. Model your B2B eCommerce on the lines of B2C eCommerce

B2B customers yearn for a powerful customer experience like any other B2C eCommerce customer. Same as their B2C counterparts, the B2B eCommerce buyers expect to find the products quickly and without any hassles, to be able to choose from multiple shipment timelines, and be given product recommendations. For starters, you would want an eCommerce platform that gives you the flexibility to choose your store functionalities and enables you to render a flawless B2B buyer experience.

The B2C eCommerce industry is highly developed and can act as a reference point for B2B eCommerce business owners to provide the same levels of service and convenience. You need to look at your brand in terms of what a buyer would be looking for rather than just basic functionalities. Focus on usability. Consider adding basic B2C eCommerce website features like personalized content, quick product search, and more to improve the overall buying experience.

2. Enhance your Digital Marketing Efforts using the Latest Technology Advancements

The last decade was indeed dedicated to cold calling, collaterals, and trade shows. But not anymore. Physical marketing efforts have phased out now, and digital efforts are the need of the hour. With every B2B buyer conducting approximately twelve searches online before buying from a specific brand, eBooks, blogs, and social media are the new lead generation sources. Hence, businesses are allocating 55% of their total marketing budget to digital efforts to provide a personalized buying experience.

For instance, various businesses are looking towards AI to enable chatbots and search marketing on their B2B eCommerce store. Augmented Reality, AR too, is rapidly becoming a commonly used technology in the domain. By 2022, it is projected that about one-fourth of the enterprises will launch AR, and another 70% of them will experiment with it.

3. Adopt New Payment Methods and Explore Fintech

With the rise of eCommerce mobile apps and B2B marketplaces, it is evident that B2B retailers are pacing towards omnichannel sales approaches. And with this, credit/debit cards are most preferred for online purchases. Also on the rise are the use of mobile wallets. With most buyers belonging to the tech-savvy generation, it is safe to say that this trend is not a passing facade.

In another category, FaaS, Fintech as a Service solution is the ongoing trend. It allows the B2B eCommerce businesses to offer consumer-preferred payment methods globally through single API integration. The best solutions in the market often include multi-currency support and fraud protection with many other features to ease the global B2B eCommerce for both buyers and suppliers.

4. Focus on User Experience for Customer Acquisition and Retention

When we talk about the past decade, online selling was not a core function of B2B websites. Instead, these websites were mainly used as portals to serve the customers and replace customer services executives with online technology. Or else these websites only served as product catalogs. These B2B websites were never aimed at helping to acquire new customers. Mostly, existing customers could place reorders using their term accounts.

But the scenario is very different today. B2B players are acquiring and serving new customers while retaining the old ones via their online presence. They are equipping their B2B eCommerce websites with necessary tools to enable the customers to find, research the product and complete the purchase at the same place. According to Forrester, nearly 74% of B2B buyers have researched at least 50% of their work purchases online. Hence, with the majority of the workforce indulging in B2B eCommerce, the focal point of your B2B eCommerce website should be to focus on the overall user experience and consumer journey.

5. Leverage on the Rise of B2B Marketplaces

Online marketplaces have always dominated the B2C eCommerce industry, accounting for more than half of the global retail sales online. B2B eCommerce sales are following the same trend and are accelerating at an all-time high. About three-quarters of the B2B procurement spending is forecasted to happen via online marketplaces in the next five years. The enterprise marketplaces are on the rise creating a broader ecosystem with new capabilities.

Buyers also prefer B2B marketplaces as it serves as a one-stop solution for them. Hence, they prove to be an opportunity for B2B brands to generate new sources of revenue. Also, these marketplaces can help the B2B suppliers to manage certain aspects of selling like order management and routing, and product catalog management. B2B marketplaces attract new customers and have proven excellent for repeat orders, enabling B2B sellers to generate more revenue.

6. Embrace B2B Mobile Commerce

According to data from Google and BCG, about half of B2B queries are made via smartphones today. According to BCG, this figure is expected to increase to 70% by 2020. Also, mobile phones influence over 40% of the revenue on an average in leading B2B organizations. This data suggests that a mobile-friendly online presence is equally important today as having an online presence at all.

BCG’s research also states that B2B brands who were quick to adapt to mobile commerce saw a significant increase in revenue compared to those still waiting for the train. Also, about 15% of the B2B suppliers are currently using mobile apps to serve their customers. It is not an unknown fact that mobile apps facilitate recurring orders and enhance the overall consumer experience. If you plan to adapt to B2B mobile commerce, why not go for B2B mobile apps?

7. Adapt to Customer Personalization as the New Mantra

It is indeed a universal truth in the retail world that customers yearn for personalization, personalized content, relevant product recommendations, relevant offers and discounts, and whatnot. The customer experience management market is hence expected to double to $14.9 billion by 2025. B2B customers are no different. They want the same impressive experience as B2C buyers get. And the brands understand this.

B2B retailers can leverage customer data and insights, AI, and machine learning to render a fully personalized experience to B2B buyers. There are three primary objectives to keep in mind to drive B2B personalization. Businesses need to show their customers that buying from them is relatively easy and uncomplicated. You can make their jobs better by rendering an efficient purchasing process. And finally, personalization needs to drive further engagement to acquire new customers and reduce the churn rate.

8. Incorporate Customer Loyalty Programs for Customer Retention

Time had gone when customer loyalty programs were just exclusive to the B2C space. But same as other customer experiences, the B2B buyers are bound to expect more from B2B vendors. Also, loyalty programs can enhance the brand presence, facilitate new customer acquisition and give opportunities to cross-sell and upsell. Usually, customer loyalty programs can fall into three broad categories: transaction-based discounts, reward programs, and referral rewards.

Similar to the B2C landscape, transaction-based discounts are for the customers to join the loyalty program. On the other hand, the referral-based loyalty program offers a bonus to the customer each time they refer the business to a new customer. In some cases, the new customer also gets a reward. This is very popular among businesses. And the traditional rewards program might be the tiered rewards or threshold rewards program that some B2Bs use. Customers earn rewards each time they make a purchase, making it a successful rewards program as it pushes the customers to make purchases frequently.

9. Integrate Systems to Enable Multi-Channel Selling

There is no doubt that the B2B eCommerce market is growing at an exponential rate. But they have a small pool of technology to choose from. Not every platform can meet the complex requirements of a B2B eCommerce business. Hence, some B2B vendors buy expensive and large eCommerce platforms with expensive customizations, while others will look for multiple vendors to do the job. Some of the B2B vendors even will choose third-party applications and integrate them with their eCommerce platforms to manage orders, synchronize the inventory and manage financial transactions.

More than half of B2B executives have claimed that e-commerce integration was their top technological priority. eCommerce integration is necessary to tie up the backend technology for operations like inventory and order management to the eCommerce platform. Hence, investing in an integration technology is the need of the hour to solve complex ERP and back-office needs.

10. Facilitate Fast B2B Order Fulfillment

A fast and efficient fulfillment process is what helps you stay ahead of the curve in a cut-throat competition. Millennials are attracted to this demand. They yearn for B2B retailers to provide quick shipping options similar to the B2C landscape. With the ever-growing customer expectations, a streamlined order fulfillment process can appeal to any B2B buyer.

You can turn to order management software to help you manage orders across various sales platforms, manage centralized information and data and reduce the supply chain complexity. Third-party fulfillment is another option to get things moving. This is a great option to look into if your B2B business is scaling rapidly and your current fulfillment costs are soaring.

11. Leverage Composabe Commerce or Headless Commerce

Composable commerce, also known as Headless Commerce, is the future of eCommerce using interchangeable applications and solutions. It also involves merging various components of eCommerce to produce a service to meet particular consumer needs. In this case, APIs integrate multiple applications to streamline and customize the eCommerce experience.

Headless commerce holds much value for a tech-driven B2B organization with ample resources to support a custom solution. The first step is to check your existing tech stack and its functionalities. You need to ensure that your solution provides the proper functionality for your own B2B business and your B2B buyers. Composable commerce helps you achieve that.

B2B business trends are increasingly turning to digital commerce in the wake of the global pandemic. Instead of relying on lengthy personal sales cycles, B2B businesses are pivoting towards more straightforward and self-service online purchases. Digital transformation is what it takes for companies to adapt to the customers’ ever-growing digitally-based demands. If you need any help to start your digital transformation journey or help to scale your B2B business to newer heights, download a free copy of the eBook, B2B eCommerce – A Digital Scalability Guide.