Question- Discuss current trends in business-to-business e-commerce.

Ans. 

Current Trends in Business-to-Business e-commerce

Current trends in B2B can be discussed as under-

1. B2B e-Commerce to be double the size of B2C : By 2020 the B2B e- Commerce market was estimated worth $ 1.1 Trillion compared to the B2C market at $480 Billion. Also, 30 percent of today's B2B buyers purchase half of their products online. This is expected to double by 56% in 2017 as B2B sellers will see a significant shift of offline business towards online business.

2. Mobile Commerce (m-Commerce) : It is anticipated that mobile phones will generate 15 percent of e-Commerce sales by 2020 and tablets will generate 33 percent. According to a study, 42% of subjects used a mobile for B2B purchasing process. There has been an impressive growth of 91% over the past two years. The purchase process by mobile devices has increased 22% in the past two years. Sellers are now focusing on creating mobile-friendly websites because 80% of Internet users have smart devices. And according to Forrester, 52% of B2B buyers research products using their smart phones. Mobile devices are very handy, they make the whole process of buying the initial information gathering until final purchase at the best available price.

3. Omni-Channel Engagement : Omni-channel engagement was among the top digital B2B commerce trends in 2016. And that held true in 2017 as well. B2B customers shop from online websites just like individual B2C customers. B2B buyers also expect 'consumer-like-buying' experiences. So regardless of whatever type your customer is, they always expect a seamless experience as soon as their shopping journey begins - from purchasing, sales support, customer care, tracking, and refunds and exchanges in simple words a 360-degree customer service experience. So how do you fulfill these expectations? There are various e-Commerce platforms to help you with this.

4. Global Market : Since e-Commerce is a business that is online, it gives us to the opportunity to reach out to billions of potential international buyers. One research states that B2B organizations operate in an average of 7 languages. Multiple languages, currencies and cultures shape the expectation of customers coming to your site. So try to get into various international markets. Translate your websites to different languages, make the prices available in local currencies, provide options to make of use preferred local payment methods - keeping in mind all the local regulations and in the end provide a great customer experience. A successful example of growth in a global market is China.

5. Smart Personalisation and Customisation : According to a research, 50% of B2B buyers said improved personalization is a key feature for suppliers they want to work with. Customers nowadays want a customised user experience. To provide this kind of experience companies are using machine learning to deliver smart B2B personalization such as by using historical input data to build insights that create a user-centric website. Furthermore, 40% of B2B buyers identified back-end integration with financing, accounting, order management systems or enterprise resource planning systems as another key feature for suppliers to offer.

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