The new report comes from Elastic Path – “Solving the B2B Commerce Puzzle”. The report identifies discrepancies between expectations and reality when it comes to B2B customer experience.
As an example, almost half (45 percent) of B2B sellers have lost a customer due to the quality of their commerce experience. Following on from this, 82 percent of B2B respondents agree that if they do not improve the commerce experience in the next year, they will see a negative impact on customer retention. Overall, B2B vendors can see the size of a deal drink by 20 per cent if buyers are not fully satisfied with their experience.
This is not least because B2B buyers are consumers as well, and many companies expect a consumer-like experience when purchasing. B2B companies will miss out on revenue if they do not offer a quality experience – a consumer-level experience – for business buyers.
It also stands that new business could be affected. Here 80 percent of respondents agree that if they do not improve the commerce experience in the next year, they will see a negative impact on customer acquisition.
According to John Bruno, VP of Product Management at Elastic Path: “In the B2B spaces, it’s either innovate or die. B2B commerce is due for a revolution. B2C commerce tools do not work for B2B businesses, and they never will.”
In terms of where the biggest threat is coming from there is one e-commerce giant that looms large on the horizon and with this 52 percent of B2B sellers believe Amazon business poses a threat to their companies.
However, this state of affairs can improve and there are signs that the industry in general is improving. The report finds that 91 percent of businesses executives surveyed agree that their companies’ leadership is investing enough money and resources into improving the digital customer experience.
Despite this, there remain concerns that the investments most businesses are making just are not necessarily the right ones. Even where the right decisions are made, a negative consequence of implementing a digital transformation process is that jobs will change, and many jobs will disappear. In this context, 57 percent of executives state that the digitization of commerce will cause their companies to decrease the number of salespeople they employ.
