B2B E-COMMERCE TRENDS

Each year, the trends we identify in e-commerce are indicative of how the world around us is evolving. Technology continues to add convenience to our lives, to streamline once-manual tasks, and to give us new ways to communicate, learn, shop, and interact. While some technologies take time to infiltrate our routines, others become staples in every home in the blink of an eye. Enterprises like Google have become such an essential part of how we use the web that "to Google it" has become synonymous with, and even replaced the phrase “to search online.” Amazon has cornered the market so successfully that they capitalize on more than 50% of all online product searches.

The B2B world is being rocked by the sheer volume of millennials entering and managing decision-making in the industry. Now more than ever, we are seeing B2B buyers getting younger. Three-quarters of millennials are involved in even running the decision-making process for B2B purchases for their organizations. This translates to a much larger percentage of online purchases, and to buyers who expect these transactions to be as convenient and reliable as the rest of their digitally enhanced lives. Millennials are digital natives, and their reliance on and preference for digital channels is disrupting B2B commerce as we know it.

Furthermore, the rise of voice search is skyrocketing. We’ve been eyeing voice search and voice-enabled technology for some time now, waiting for the moment when it becomes the new go-to way to search and place orders. That time is now. We’re living in a new phase of digitally enabled evolution, and voice is becoming a major component of this next step. These days, we live and work with technology engrained in the way we do things i.e. our mobile phones are rarely out of sight or out of our hands, our corporate jobs revolve around a desktop, many of us are already dependent on voice-enabled home assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home to play music, set reminders, send messages, or even place re-orders for low-in-stock items. What this means is that we’ve already done the legwork i.e. the stage is set for voice functionality to really take hold. We’ve now reached a point in the digitization of our lives where the rise of voice search and voice ordering is not just likely it’s inevitable.

As digital demands continue to change and markets get more competitive, businesses are merging or working together to more easily serve their customers. This means we’ll see a larger number of online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, but also a larger number of brands selling online beyond their own web store. But these mergers and relationships with resellers also come with complications which means they may mean a new e-commerce front-end or new brand name, which requires one to manage and integrate logistical processes on the back-end. Right now, before online marketplaces really begin to encroach on dedicated web stores territory, it’s time to be aware of and be prepared for what it will take to actively embrace online marketplaces in B2B. Moreover, the competitive pressure against other brands and marketplaces today is already forcing businesses to take a more holistic approach to success i.e. they have to think not just about their digital presence, but also digital performance, service, design, integration, and more. We can no longer isolate the most important thing needed to do well in e-commerce or as a business. Organizations will have to step up their game and prepare for a new wave of collaboration as online marketplaces become the new normal.

With progressive web apps in 2020, there will be an elimination of the obstacles in the buyer journey for customers who browse and purchase across multiple channels, and will begin to treat cross-channel purchasing like one cohesive flow, rather than distinct behaviors that we need to connect and unify. In short, we’ll see more B2B businesses thinking more end-to-end when it comes to digital, and ultimately eliminating siloed approaches altogether.