B2B Commerce Has Moved to the Top of the Digital Agenda - Are You Gearing up for Digital B2B?

Solteq Plc (Nordic) is one of our trusted Business Partners and our friends there have recently produced some really good content on the future of B2B commerce. For your convenience, I have made a short summary of their article and eBook to share with you here. I am also available for more in depth discussions if you are interested. Just reach out!

B2B markets identified as major source of revenue growth

Many industries have identified B2B markets as a major source of revenue growth. In fact, B2B online customer touchpoints and interactions are seen as top development challenge in 2022 (Digital Commerce 360), ahead of data management, and supply chain.

When browsing research and blog content from leading industry analysts like Forrester, McKinsey, Gartner, and more, few topics have gotten as much attention this year than business-to-business (B2B) and its digital future. This reflects the broad commercial interest and market potential that B2B and its digitization bring buyers and sellers of company products and services.

This is further highlighted by investments in B2B digital commerce solutions and platform providers to meet and drive market demand.

The more digitally mature a company is, the better its performance is along two key indicators: TRS (Total Returns to Shareholders) and revenue growth. Though most companies across industries have ventured into the digital space on some level, less than one in ten are highly mature, and these are the companies reaping digital’s largest benefits according to McKinsey Digital.

Customers often ask where to start their digitalization of B2B. There is not one single recipe for that. Rather we would like to share our broader view on the topic.

The eBook by Solteq (Plc) helps you gear up for digital B2B by addressing:

• its trends and drivers
• a definition of what it is
• how to approach it.

The benefits when moving B2B commerce from traditional to digital environments are seen in all key business performance areas:

• Revenue growth
• Cost saving
• Improved experiences – for customers as well as for employees.

_{The B2B Customer Lifecycle and Selected Use Cases Areas}

When we discuss this transition with our own HCL customers, we observe that the B2B digitalization interest is shared by both pure B2B players as well as those with a hybrid B2C-B2B business approach. This is also something, that Solteq observes in their report when they define the difference between Pure B2B and Hybrid B2C-B2B companies:

• Pure B2B:

Businesses with an exclusive B2B business model (for example wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors) that look towards stronger digitalization of their existing customer interactions and processes.

• Hybrid B2C-B2B:

Businesses that may have an established consumer e-commerce solution (for example retailers) and now look towards upgrading their B2B commerce to the same level of digitalization – or expanding their existing B2C commercial scope into the B2B space by leveraging digital capabilities.

B2B digital commerce growth is generally believed to outperform that of B2C. One reason for this is that the B2B market value potential is estimated at two to three times the size of B2C. Also, B2C is already mature and more saturated in terms of business implementation and user adoption of digital solutions.

However, B2B digitalization is not only about revenue growth. It is about strengthening the customer relationship and experience. And, currently particularly important, it is a major source for increased operational efficiency and cost saving.

Get access to the full story at https://www.solteq.com/en/blog/b2b-digitalization-moved-top-of-the-agenda and download the eBook at https://www.solteq.com/en/campaign/gearing-up-for-digital-b2b