B2B Trends to Watch Out for in 2020

People have often pictured what living in the 21st-century would be like? We are already 20 years in and the technological shift is starting to show. It’s getting more visible. Not only the B2B technical trends, but even its buying segment has evolved and changed. Millennials are now powering up the ‘Business to Business’ buying segment by a strong and convincing majority. And with that, the buying process has evolved substantially. The immaculate buying experience is more important than the product you offer today. And that’s the underlying principle behind every new trend or development in the domain of ecommerce. 

Ecommerce has shown great promise over the last decade globally and proved itself to be a profitable road to follow.

The steady ascent of ecommerce

B2B ecommerce market has grown a lot over the last few years. No one expected it to compete with the normal B2C market but no one foresaw it’s potential for monumental growth. The global online business to business market valued over US$12.2 trillion by the end of 2020, which is more than 6 times that of the B2C market (Source). 

The ultimate aim of every business is more productivity with minimum input. And with more productivity, you get more profit. This is one of the biggest reasons why ‘business to business’ online sales are spiking. Real efforts have been made by companies to make a business purchasing process more cost-effective, efficient and quick so that the buyers can easily move on with their daily operations which is more important than just product procurement. Even with rapid growth in B2B ecommerce, it's sales have achieved only a fraction of the potential overall sales, bestowing an opportunity for companies to grow their business via ecommerce.  

Still don’t believe us? Check out some stats and data you might find compelling.

Did you know?  

• Business to business market is growing at a rapid pace. It has surpassed the B2C market regarding the revenue generated via online sales, with a worldwide market value of massive $7.7 trillion, as compared to the $2.3 trillion of B2C (Source). 
• Once they have made a final decision, over 93% of business to business buyers prefer procuring goods online. 
• Not only purchasing but even for researching a product online, 74% of business to business buyers do that.

And this boom covers the entire subset of online commerce, which brings mobile commerce into the fray.

You can see from the above infographic that mobile commerce has shown strong and steady growth in the past few years and is projected to yield a revenue of $3.56 trillion. Since mobile commerce is an organic extension to the tree that is ecommerce, 78% of B2B companies believe that it is the future of their respective industries (Source). 

Mobile commerce is going to drive B2B ecommerce in a big way. And that is why all big companies are adapting to the global environment to sustain their business. Many inventions, developments, discoveries, enhancements are coming into light in the domain of ecommerce, related to technology. The aim is to streamline the business to business purchasing process in a way that it’s:

• Less time-consuming.
• Lesser cost. 
• Smooth checkout flow.
• robust and versatile to handle all kinds of requests.

And to fully capitalize on the latest technological accomplishments, you need to keep up with the world. You need to be in touch with all kinds of trends in every domain, even if it’s remotely related to your business.

Keep up with the trends, stay informed  

Ecommerce can be a sure shot means to the success of any business but it is not magic. You can’t have monumental expectations, you need to be more reasonable in your goals while getting started. To properly utilize the potential of B2B ecommerce, one must keep up with the latest technology trends in ecommerce to provide a better experience to their customers. That’s how business drives its sales up.

While ecommerce grows rapidly, it is important to keep abreast of the latest market and technical developments online. Following are some of the latest technology trends in the dominion of ecommerce you should be aware of if you want to succeed. 

B2B ecommerce trends to check out in 2020

1.Businesses are striving to provide their buyers with a fully personalised buying experience 

UX is a key driver in making sales. Many business to business buyers prefer a personalised shopping experience. Several companies are even incorporating elements like artificial intelligence assistants on their websites to help them with purchasing decisions. Demand for customisation, predictive analytics is growing. Buyers these days prefer personalised product collections. Brands are even going out of their way by providing their users with entirely customised sub stores and checkout processes. All to cater to the buyer's unique needs. Taking care of all such aspects of your ecommerce business provides your buyers with added value and satisfaction. It also boosts your conversions and average order value.

2. Focus on improved B2B ecommerce customer support 

Customer support and service is a very important area a business can focus on to avoid losing customers. Buyers appreciate personalized, immediate customer service from their sellers when needed. And if these sellers live up to their expectations, then the buyers reward them with their loyalty and spreading the good word of mouth. Customers need help in a lot of areas while shopping like product info, specifications, related products, payment info, etc. With an automated flow of virtual assistance, this job can be made much easier.

3. Rise of omnichannel sales

The inception of B2B ecommerce has driven the omnichannel business practices in a big way. Omni Channel selling involves setting an influential brand footprint managing separate channels, other than your online store or physical presence. Besides your website, online sales channels may include social media, online marketplaces, and telephone-sales.

Buyers currently are more inclined towards a brand with a substantial socio-cultural reach. Their reach can vary on multiple social media platforms and streaming services like YouTube. Almost every brand uses social media to develop brand awareness, and there's a good chance that your competition is doing the same. 2020 will see companies improve their connection with the audience on social media continuously. No matter how many channels you try to exploit, remember that you give your customers a faithful buying experience.

4. The steady emergence of niche marketplaces 

Online marketplaces will continue to engage business to business sellers and buyers in 2020. They can be very beneficial for the sellers who are new in the market. It requires no investment in advance on marketing or intermediaries. Instead of reputed marketplaces like Amazon, niche platforms are expected to give a more tailor-made exposure and more candid buying experience. Regular marketplaces like Amazon exist to serve multiple segments. Still, niche marketplaces can help your B2B ecommerce business stand out in the market as such buying environment provide specialized buying services, expert product reviews, better details about the services, etc.

5. Progressive Web Applications for better mobile shopping experience

Most of you already know of PWAs. They provide a native app-like experience on mobile devices on browsers. PWAs are going to be a massive trend in 2020. Progressive Web Applications load like regular pages but give faster and convincing UX that extend the abilities of native apps. Anyone can access a PWA at an instant with a URL. You don't even have to download it from the Play Store or the App Store. PWA's can be used offline too. PWAs have handy tons of features. E.g. Push notifications to continually engage with the consumer, or background updates without bothering the user.

6. AR and VR are going to play a big role in B2B ecommerce sales 

Many B2C brands are incorporating VR and AR display ads to attract more customers by providing a new experience which may seem inspiring and immersive. In B2B buying, the experience doesn't matter that much as it does in B2C. Business to business buyers prefers a straightforward, quick and authentic buying process. Hence, the most effective way of implementing AR/VR can be to help buyers practically try and identify the correct products quickly and easily. It can come in especially beneficial when someone is buying intricate accessories, spare parts or custom layouts/blueprints, etc.

B2B ecommerce with StoreHippo 

Business to business buyers needs more options and multiple value-added services for a smooth buying experience. StoreHippo’s ecommerce platform can help a business like yours to flourish online by arming your business with the latest tools. Considering the emerging technical trends, StoreHippo has developed it’s platform in a way which enables it to double as a B2B ecommerce platform as well as a B2C ecommerce platform.

StoreHippo is equipped to deliver your customers a superior and personalised buying experience while incorporating the latest technology on the go. With a loaded spectrum of features, powerful enough to power an enterprise, StoreHippo is here to provide its users with a cutting edge turnkey solution to its users.

Some highlights of our platform…

StoreHippo is loaded with beneficial features like

• Multi-Seller
• Multilingual
• Mobile-Responsive PWAs for your store
• Integrated Logistics
• Multi-Store
• Free SSL Security
• Easy to use, Extensible Backend
• And many more…....

Conclusion

B2B ecommerce will grow throughout 2020 and even more in the following years. Providing your customers with an omnichannel experience would become necessary along with effective customer engagement. Incorporating the latest and appropriate technology in your platform to provide enhanced buying experience is the key differentiator between successful and struggling players in the market. 

StoreHippo digitizes your online store and transforms your entire business into something unbeatable.

But don’t just take our word for it. Sign up for our trial version and find out yourself how we stand out.