Major Shift of B2b Ecommerce Industry in 2021
Due to covid19, the B2B ecommerce took a phenomenal shift to online with increasing numbers. B2B ecommerce means Business to Business electronic commerce in which businesses sell and buy goods and services through online portals.
In the era of this topsy turvy, the only concern B2B buyers and sellers have is rapid growth with safety, which will be clear from the below changes.
- The online marketplace is booming: Covid 19 has boomed the opportunity of an online marketplace for B2B ecommerce. It is a great way for businesses to sell and buy with more options. Due to the huge shift in the way of e-commerce, nearly 8 out of every 10 buyers of B2B are present in the online marketplace. This number is increasing. Some examples of the online marketplace are Amazon, eBay, Google, Alibaba.com, etc.
If you are in B2B ecommerce, then an online marketplace for you is a great way to find targeted businesses with a wide number of options.
- Mobile apps- a need of the hour: How many apps do you have on your mobile phone? Well, a lot, right? This is the whole point. Imagine you work in a company which provides sewing machine parts, now you have to go for delivery but you find parts are not enough. What will you do? Definitely, open your app and just click, the parts will be delivered to your home. How convenient is this!!
- Social media – you can’t miss this: 3.5 billion people are active users of social media platforms. Are you still thinking? This is a ‘ you can’t miss me’ tool.
Platforms for B2B e-commerce in 2021 are:
It has approx. 740 million users in around 200 countries. It is a more professional and business-oriented social media platform. LinkedIn is an amazing way to connect with the business you want and to do ecommerce with.
Daily active users of Twitter are nearly 192 million and 63% of them are between 35 and 65 – ”a big number”.
One tweet can go viral among the vast audience for your B2B e-commerce.
What to say about it? Everyone has an account over there. It is as common as Gmail id nowadays especially after the pandemic.
It is also an upgraded way to spread your business and to do B2B e-commerce. Mark Zuckerberg has built the fire weapon for B2B buyers and sellers to connect and do e-commerce while sitting on their couch.
YouTube
We can spend hours over here. It is an ocean of content where you need to be present. This place is growing like yoga after this pandemic. Businesses are providing content about their business not only that but growing by doing e-commerce with other businesses.
- Buyer-centric: This is a drastic change that took place in 2021 B2B e-commerce. Products and services are buyer-centric. Buyers can have multiple options and unlimited information and details about the product. This opens up this opportunity for the B2B e-commerce sellers to provide better content on online websites to grow the business faster.
The more convenient B2B buyer will feel the more business will grow in 2021.
- Services should be highlighted: The selling process is different in B2B than B2C because of the different needs of B2B buyers. Giving value-added services in B2B during sales can make you stand out and apart from other sellers. So services should be highlighted and value-added.
- Adding value to your client: Now it is a need for B2B e-commerce platforms to add something extra to their users. It should not work as a one-time shop but focus on building long relationships.
- Online payment: Payment has been a significant and basic as well as essential part of B2B e-commerce. Due to the pandemic, the business has shifted online means a wide range of users will do online transactions. For that reason, invoice payment needs to change and new payment options should open.
- Re-sell & Re-buy: A great opportunity that appears for B2B sellers is that they can offer second-hand or used products for sale. Most of the customers who are interested in this niche will not go anywhere else but remain to one seller. Through this, their relationship will grow stronger.
- Using subscription services: Applying for a subscription service helps to take some benefits without actually any cost. Providing subscription services to the user will help B2B e-commerce sellers to build strong relationships and trust with the user. Users will get benefits like consultancy and answers to their product-related questions.
- Data analytics – user behaviour: Data analytics of users will provide information about the experience of the user. All those user insights from data can help the B2B e-commerce seller to achieve the goal. This data analytics will help the B2B seller to understand the behaviour of the user so that sellers can decide the goal and can provide the required experience to the user to achieve the end product.
- Artificial Intelligence: The future is AI and everything is surrounded by data. Why is data important? Well, because it will provide them with detailed information about the user. Not only this but also, deciding, planning, and acting upon a goal for the B2B e-commerce seller will be easier when the statistics or data will be available.
- Search Engine Optimization: SEO is the key to grow faster for any website. It is what decides the ranking or the chances of appearing in the top result when the B2B buyer will search-related products and services that you provide.
It will decide whether B2B e-commerce buyers will be able to reach you or not, so make websites SEO optimized.
To sum up all, the pandemic has taken the physical ways to the next top level. To grow in 2021, it is important to develop your online presence. And, 77 Million makes your platform buyer-centric, which means providing all convenience that is possible on online platforms to B2B buyers. We know sales are significantly dependent on the content. And, we prioritize our buyers. Hence, we form strong and trustworthy relationships in B2B e-commerce. We exactly know the power of that “one-click” and we make it worthwhile.
About Author
Arif Khan
