ADVERTISEMENT

Study: Majority Of B2B Companies Have E-Commerce Initiatives

Published: January 4, 2016

With buyers becoming more attracted to consumer-styled purchases within the B2B marketplace, a recent study from Accenture Interactive shows that more than half (59%) of B2B companies report that one-third of their customers place orders online. Research shows that 86% of respondents work for a company that offers customers an option to make online purchases.

The study, Channel Shift: Measuring B2B Efforts To Shift Customers Online, surveyed 50 B2B digital and E-commerce professionals across a wide range of industries, to analyze the purchasing channels B2B organizations offer buyers, tactics leveraged to promote the option for buyers to buy online and the overall results E-commerce can bring to a B2B company’s bottom line.

While more B2B organizations have E-commerce initiatives, it still has not had a massive impact on overall revenue. Half of the respondents noted that their company receives less than 10% of their revenue from online sales. Only 19% note that more than half of their revenue comes from online transactions.

Also, 64% of respondents noted that their long-term customers’ resistance to change was their top hurdle for driving more online sales. Other notable challenges include:

Get the latest B2B Marketing News & Trends delivered directly to your inbox!
  • Inconsistent use of online buying options (54%);
  • Unprepared sales teams for online sales, sales resistance (42%);
  • The customer’s security concerns (38%); and
  • Complex websites make online purchases difficult (36%).

“As the ease and convenience of the B2C E-commerce experience wins over B2B buyers, the adoption of seamless online B2B buying is steadily reaching a tipping point,” said Bob Barr, Managing Director for Accenture Interactive. “The study found that the maturity of B2B E-commerce platforms correlates directly with having substantially higher sales.”

Click here to view the complete report.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
B2B Marketing Exchange
B2B Marketing Exchange East
Campaign Optimization Series
dgr event bii
Strategy & Planning Series