Why Businesses Should Consider B2B Commerce in the Cloud
The Scenario:
A 2017 Forrester study reveals B2B commerce is the fastest growing segment in the ecommerce space. B2B commerce refers to commercial transactions taking place between businesses on digital platforms. The Forrester research posits that manufacturers and wholesalers are key drivers of market growth today.
B2B commerce’s exponential growth faces a major hurdle: its dependence on archaic home-grown systems that support outdated processes and limited sales channels. These systems fail to deliver the enhanced user experience that discerning B2B buyers expect in a major commercial transaction. And now, for the ‘stats’.
The Stats:
56% of B2B buyers expect to make their purchases online
Gartner’s predicts that the digital commerce platform market is growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 15% from 2015 through 2020
B2B eCommerce is twice as big as B2C ecommerce. Forrester predicts that by 2019, the B2B e-Commerce market will be worth $1.1T compared to the B2C market at $480B.
By 2018, Gartner predicts that 40% of B2B digital commerce sites will use price optimization algorithms and configure, price, quote (CPQ) tools to calculate and deliver product pricing dynamically.
Forrester estimates that B2B e-Commerce will top $1.1T and account for 12.1% of all B2B sales by 2020.
The Road Ahead:
Seismic market change is transforming wholesaler business models across all product and service areas. The need of the hour, for manufacturers and wholesalers alike, is to deliver an excellent omnichannel customer experience.
In simple terms, B2B shoppers need a best-in-class shopping experience that delivers account specific pricing and catalogs using a single, unified, storefront. This way, they keep costs under control and serve multiple business models. Commerce Cloud is the way ahead. It is the solution that wholesalers and marketers can use to drive revenue growth, customer experience and complexity management.
A cloud based suite like Oracle Commerce Cloud gives B2B operators access to top notch customer-focused B2B apps like CPQ Cloud, Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud. Commerce cloud opens up the ability for you to connect with your B2B customers on a larger scale. Your customers and your sales team can access your e-commerce site via the internet from any device, and from anywhere.
You also want to ensure that your customer portal is secure. With Commerce Cloud, you are protected even if a natural disaster affects your B2B business. You simply access your information from an alternate location with an Internet connection. This instant access allows your business to continually run round the clock with no disruptions—delivering a great customer experience.
In closing, you can measure the effectiveness of your Cloud Commerce implementation by measuring how your system builds and enhances your company’s core business goals. A cloud-based commerce platform should support your ability to reach those goals, delivering quantifiable business results and limitless scale.
