Transforming B2B: How to improve your commerce performance

The B2B landscape is changing fast. Three years ago, 60% of top B2B companies had little to no ecommerce capabilities. Today, over 65% of these companies offer their customers the ability to buy online. What's driving the big change? In this article, we'll explore the emerging expectations transforming the future of B2B commerce - and take a deeper look at where companies should focus their efforts first.

Emerging expectations are changing B2B commerce

Digitally-native millennials now make up a large portion of the workforce, and their expectations are changing the B2B landscape. Change is not only desired; it's expected, with 74% of millennial B2B buyers switching vendors in favour of ones that offer consumer-like experiences.

B2C-like experiences for B2B-specific needs

“73% of B2B buyers want a personalized B2C-like experience”

B2B customers expect the same journey they're used to as consumers. From intuitive product catalogues to easy search options, shopping lists and personalised recommendations - top B2B companies can differentiate themselves by selectively choosing features that best suit their customers' B2B-specific needs.

The need for personalisation

Many legacy B2B companies were built on highly personalised one-to-one sales experiences. Today's challenge lies in transferring this experience to the digital era. AI-powered customer analytics tools can identify and track customers' interests, offering personalised shopping experiences that mimic the one-to-one experiences.

Buyers expect a seamless journey across multiple channels

"72% of B2B buyers are eager to purchase across channels"

B2B companies must thoughtfully consider the buyer journey across multiple touchpoints and ensure they deliver a consistent experience. Companies that master the omnichannel experience will reap the rewards: B2B mobile ordering has increased by 250% since 2020 - a colossal shift in buyer behaviour.

What should B2B companies focus on first?

It takes work to keep up with a constantly changing market. Forward-thinking B2B companies must focus their efforts strategically. But where should they start? Take a deeper look at the opportunities and ideas shared by our experts and partners at commercetools – the world's leading composable commerce solution built on MACH principles:

1. Consider composable ecommerce

Those looking to reduce complexity and utilise emerging buyer behaviour should consider switching to composable commerce. Thanks to its API-first and cloud-native properties, composable commerce offers B2B businesses the ability to modernise their backend and transform the buyer experience at their own pace - and budget.

2. Prioritise product discovery

Overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of choice offered by B2B companies, many buyers are searching online to find what they need instead. B2B companies should prioritise discoverability if they're to win new customers and reach growth targets.

3. Gather quality data

By understanding buyer behaviour across the digital journey, B2B companies can improve their experience, tailoring it to reflect their product interests. Modular and API-first solutions - plus flexible data models - can break silos and unlock cross-selling opportunities, enabling top B2B companies to outperform their competitors.

4. Shift sales towards strategy

Ecommerce solutions help sales teams focus on what matters most. Instead of being weighed down by manual, repetitive tasks such as filling out quotes or processing orders by email, ecommerce solutions can support sales teams by shifting the workload and enabling sales reps to focus on building relationships.

5. Grow in-house execution

To accelerate innovation, top B2B companies are giving marketers and product managers the ability to execute more freely. No-code solutions, also known as business tooling, means anyone can manage webshops, implement important updates and make the technology decisions needed to stay ahead of an ever-changing market.

6. Redesign B2B customer experiences

To appease a new generation of B2B buyers, top companies are focusing on B2C-like experiences. Whether boosting website performance and increasing mobile responsiveness or delivering personalised experiences across multiple touchpoints - B2B companies can benefit significantly by redesigning the user experience.

How can modern technology solutions aid transformation?

Historically there have been few ecommerce solutions for the B2B market. It's no wonder B2B have been slower to own the digital space than their B2C counterparts. Thankfully new technologies are emerging - ones that can keep pace with complex B2B commerce needs.

Cloud-native architecture

Cloud-native architecture frees B2B organisations from costly on-premise IT-infrastructure. Instead, these companies can leverage the flexibility, auto-scaling capabilities and resilience offered by cloud-native architectures.

Composable commerce

Composable commerce gives B2B businesses the ability to plug and play the components of their choosing - 'composing' them into a custom solution that builds incredible experiences. These components can be easily changed, updated or replaced - making it easy to experiment with tools such as a search bar, shopping lists or checkout options.

Flexible data management

Modern data management goes hand-in-hand with stellar customer experiences. Yet most B2B companies rely on outdated data management solutions - with 84% of B2B suppliers failing to provide accurate information about their products. Shedding legacy data management platforms in favour of newer flexible data models means B2B businesses can improve the shopping experience by calculating quantities and discounts, suggesting alternative products if items are out of stock, and personalising the customer experience.

Agile ways of working

Less of a technology and more of a mindset, 'being agile' means breaking down large complex tasks into smaller, more achievable ones - enabling companies to react quickly and keep up with change. Not only is it easier to manage, this way of working means teams are faster to iterate, test and innovate with less upfront investments.

Are you looking to transform your B2B commerce operations? We help brands sell more online with next-generation strategies, experiences and tech solutions. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to modernise an existing platform, we have the ecommerce expertise to support you - whatever stage you're in.