The new B2B growth equation is all about shifting your focus to the customer. It’s no longer about selling them what you have, it’s about understanding their needs and helping them find the right solutions.
This means that you need to be proactive in your approach and always be looking for ways to improve your customer experience. Keep an open mind and be willing to experiment with new technologies and strategies.
The key to success is staying ahead of the curve and embracing change. Let’s see some key equations that help you stay top on the Ladder of Growth.
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#1 Digital Brand Building is the Bedrock
Keep in mind that your B2B buyers are looking for a partner, not just a product. By taking the time to understand their needs and provide them with valuable content, you can create a lasting relationship that will make your brand stand out from the competition. In order to build trust with these buyers, it is essential to have a strong online presence that showcases your expertise and thought leadership. That means by investing in an eCommerce platform, businesses may make significant financial savings.
Your UVP should be based on a deep understanding of your target buyer’s needs. This means going beyond basic demographic information and understanding their specific pain points, goals, and challenges. Once you have this insight, you can craft a message that resonates with them and sets your brand apart.
Without a solid foundation of market recognition and trust in your brand, your sales and marketing team will struggle to convert prospects into closed agreements even if they are able to engage them.
Read more: Top 8 B2B eCommerce Trends to Watch in 2022
What Can You Do to Improve Brand Value & Visibility?
There is something buyers want, and you need to keep up with the demands of your customers-omnichannel visibility. Well, how can you achieve that?
Digitization is the buzzword.
However, are you doing it the right way?
Selling models, however, are still firmly rooted in the offline environment at this time. Company websites still include extensive and complicated navigation paths that amount to nothing more than online brochures, which make it difficult for customers to make purchases.
It’s high time to prioritize the capabilities necessary to produce experiences similar to those of B2C brands, including personalized service and simple purchases across platforms and devices.
And for that, you need the right technology support- to bring unified omnichannel support across devices to amp up your team to work towards a similar goal and to give your customers a unified experience accessing different channels to ensure a seamless shopping journey.
Achieving this omnichannel flexibility seems like a daunting task if you’re still crawling on the legacy platform. Get your hands on the latest integration technology to see how automated data sync helps you become visible across channels & devices.
#2 B2B Marketplaces will Grow Like Never Before
B2C marketplaces engage customers with their convenience, abundance of options, lack of crowds, ease of pricing comparison, simplicity of returns, and increased level of control over the experience they provide.
In the post-pandemic world, B2B buyers and sellers are similarly seeking the same level of marketplace interaction. It is expected that by 2023, at least 70% of marketplaces will support B2B transactions.
However, the average order value is considerably greater in B2B transactions (AOVs). So it is harder to monitor and regulate these in a B2B environment without a proper security and close monitoring.
How Can You Win in B2B Marketplaces?
B2B marketplaces include a variety of facets that, when effectively managed, can make competing in the market for corporate purchases and sales easier.
B2B customers should have an easy-to-use interface, a quick and efficient purchasing process, cost-effectiveness, and security.
Effective discounts, quick application for bulk orders, the option to change the purchase, and allowing different payment forms like bank transfers, scheduled payments, etc. are a few of the particular elements that should be included in the majority of marketplaces.
Every large and small provider can be found at B2B Marketplace. Customers will thus find it more convenient if they are gathered together at one location.
Recommended Reading: B2B Sales Process Framework
#3 Customer Experience (CX) Will Take Center Stage
The way you define customer journey can make or break a deal.
According to McKinsey & Company, while B2C companies’ typical customer experience scores fall between 65% and 85%, B2B companies average less than 50%.
Customer experience has grown in importance as a result of the plethora of competitors rising in the market. Customers easily migrate to other service providers if they are unable to deliver a superior customer experience, which will result in immediate earnings losses and subpar client retention strategies.
The day when customer experience was solely significant in B2C markets has long since passed. B2B clients today are increasingly looking for the same level of transactional simplicity and experience as consumers, including omnichannel capabilities. The secret to perfecting the B2B customer experience is to design each procedure around the demands of your clients. Each phase, from the sales cycle to offering the greatest UI/UX to offering post-launch assistance, is crucial for onboarding a customer and maintaining them for a longer length of time.
What Do You need to Bring a Stellar Customer Experience?
Accelerate the client experience and purchasing procedures
How can you make the B2B customer experience quicker? Here are some of our top CX guidelines:
- Provide your customers rapid access to what they need right at the time they need it. To do this, build an online chat box that provides round-the-clock assistance.
- Self-serving functionality is the new norm. This way, you can also free up the time of your sales and service staff by allowing them to concentrate on providing timely replies. And ensuring meaningful conversations that foster relationships.
- Sync the technology you use, such as your eCommerce platform, ERP, payment and delivery providers, PIM system, and more, with the help of an integration tool. Make sure all of your technology works together seamlessly to give customers a quick and easy experience, from ordering and delivery to billing and returns.
#4 Ever-Growing Technology Trends
It’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through 2022. But as we look ahead to 2023, there are a few trends that we think will be top-of-mind for businesses. Here are the seven we see as most important:
1. Artificial intelligence (AI) will play an even bigger role in B2B business.
2. The internet of things (IoT) will become even more ubiquitous, with more devices being connected to the network.
3. Blockchain technology will continue to evolve and become more widespread.
4. Chatbots will become more sophisticated and be used for a wider range of tasks.
5. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will become more commonplace in business settings.
Relevant Reading: eCommerce Development for Distributors: Preparing For Best Results
How to Scale Up in this Ever Growing Technology Landscape?
It has become very crucial to invest in the B2B landscape. B2B players are investing in AI, VR, Big Data, and social media to personalize the purchase experience as new-age technology transforms the eCommerce environment.
Here are the five essential techniques you need to choose the appropriate technology stack:
- Create technology road plans that strategically target the investments required to transform their current businesses into new digital ones.
- Create a cutting-edge technological environment to facilitate the quick creation of innovative solutions. And train your employees to discover new opportunities.
- Restructure data governance and strategy to make sure that data are trustworthy, available, and continually improved to increase their value.
- Drive swift changes in the operating model with a persistent focus on obtaining strategic value from technology.
#5 Big Data will Pave the Way for Personalization
Thanks to big data analytics in B2B eCommerce! If utilized in the right way, B2B businesses can easily get knowledge about their consumers, sales processes, orders, stocks, and more. Unlocking potential for cross-selling clients is one of the ultimate aims of developing a successful big data B2B sales ecosystem. When it comes to sales, information is power, and the more salespeople know about their current and future consumers, the more equipped they are to provide goods and services that satisfy their demands. For salespeople to manually go through historical customer information to uncover links, it would take much too long.
However, the struggle with data is unending. Businesses are finding it challenging to get the appropriate data to the appropriate people at the appropriate time as the volume of data being accessed or stored rises, and the window for acquiring crucial information shrinks. The two hardest components of data management for businesses today are clearly quality and speed of information delivery.
Data integration is, therefore, the newest hack.
Today, all companies employ data integration. Data must be secure, managed, processed, accessible, and agile. Data underpins everything we do personally and underpins businesses’ capacity to provide us with goods and services.
Big data integration is the process of working together with people, processes, vendors, and technology to gather, reunite, and improve the use of data that comes from different sources to enhance decision-making. A unified platform for data centralization is crucial to make maximum use of the data.
How Can You Bring Unified Data Experience Across the Organization?
The most pressing data-related issues that businesses currently face can be mitigated with a comprehensive technological strategy backed by solid rules and processes. Cloud-based integration platforms are now beneficial for many organizations.
Over 80% of enterprise Business Operations leaders say data integration critical to ongoing operations.
These integrators help you make the best use of data by automating bidirectional data sync. Thus, you don’t need to struggle manually over data. The integrated platform will help you connect your existing systems, ensuring your data is available everywhere, consistently, by eliminating duplication and errors.
Similar Reading: 7 Ways Distributors Can Boost Profitability: By Simplifying Their Commerce
Set Your Road Map for 2023 & Plan Ahead
Streamlining your 2023 strategy should start right now. Well, it’s really important to know what works and What may not. Are you looking for a new-age technology stack and eCommerce solution to grow your business?
Well, then, DCKAP is the right platform for you. Get in touch with us to get personalized tech stack improvement from our eCommerce solution providers.
And Join us for DCKAP Summit 2022 this October 28 to gain practical insights into growth strategies & upcoming challenges to rise ahead of the competition.
