The Transformation of the digital landscape in B2B

We just launched our 7th report about the insights and future trends in B2B Digital commerce.????

Don't miss out on valuable insights from more than 920 B2B decision makers in the Nordic. Some examples from the report ??

?? 2 or 3 B2B companies expect online sales growth in the coming 3 years

?? Transforming your company is a win win for you and your customers

?? The 3 top reasons for doing B2B e-commerce is Internal efficiency, drive sales and user experience

?? Ready to get more insights? Let’s dig into the results of our report “Digital Commerce in B2B 2023”.

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Time to take action ????♀?????

Exploring the opportunities of digital sales has become a no-brainer for most Nordic B2B companies.

The change is here, and it is not stopping.

Some companies have fully digitalized their sales processes, others are just getting started on their journey.

Digitalizing sales is a clear win-win proposition. The driving force to get started is mostly internal efficiency, but the result is often a customer satisfaction.

More companies than before are working to understanding their customer’s journey.

Despite the recession, 72% intend to continue their investments in digital sales. 13% say they will accelerate.?

Digital maturity is high. We expect a great buying experience both as consumers and as professionals. By 2024 one of four will be generation Z…

So time to…

…take action.

Get informed. Learn from others.

The respondents gave their top tips for B2B companies that haven’t yet started or just started their digital transformation.

One of the tips was to secure digital skills and relevant partnerships. Or as one of the respondents put it:

So let’s get some good advises from experts in the field. ??????

This week I asked 3 experts within Digital commerce in the Nordics to give their comments and interpretations of the report’s findings.

Let's dive in and meet them! ??

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Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi, I'm Sara Johansson, a B2B expert with lots of experience from Payments. I am one of the co-founders at Briqpay , where our mission is “changing B2B ecommerce”.

?? I am passionate about optimizing the B2B checkout experiences through data-driven insights, user-centric strategies, and innovative technologies to drive conversion, enhance customer satisfaction, and minimize risk exposure.

How do you view the transformation of B2B digital commerce?

The ongoing revolution in B2B digital commerce demands a delicate equilibrium between digital and physical sales. While the traditional approach retains its relevance today, the possibility of digital commerce eventually surpassing it should not be underestimated. Consequently, crafting a robust digital strategy and positioning oneself at the forefront becomes paramount, safeguarding against the perils of lagging behind the industry's evolving landscape.

After reading the report, what is your take and comments?

From what we can see from the report, it is more common that the larger companies continuously map the customer journey and that the small and medium-sized companies do not work as actively with this.

In a world where digitization is moving forward at breakneck speed, e-commerce will soon be the main sales channel for most companies and the customer journey is such an important parameter that it should be followed up by everyone, regardless of size.

What tips do you want to give to decision makers in B2B for future success in their digital transformation?

Ask yourself - What is the first thing the customer encounters on your site???How easy is it to make the first purchase? Do you need to create an account and if so how long does it take before it is granted? Can the customer easily navigate among products and/or prices without having to create an account?

How many steps are there from homepage to purchase? And if you shopped with you as a private person, would you as a consumer have been satisfied with the experience you offer?

Describe the future for Digital Commerce in B2B in one word.

Opportunities. ??

If you have questions for?Sara , you can find her here on LinkedIn.

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Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi, I'm Patrik Muller, e-commerce expert at Nets .

I love to talk about retail, ecommerce and payments.

Besides that, I love to cook and listen to funk from the 70′s! ????

How do you view the transformation of B2B digital commerce?

The pace of the transformation is insane. We are at a point where many have been traveling down the digital road for a while. At the same time, a lot of companies are just about to leave the starting blocks. If you don’t have a real plan for your transformation, you are in dire straits. I cannot think of anyone who has done the transformation who hasn’t seen advantages. Rather, what I hear is that it should have been done earlier.

After reading the report, what is your takes from the report?

It is quite clear that B2B sellers as a collective have a long way to go.

Although the understanding and use of e-commerce has increased, many struggle with digitizing their sales operations. For example, only 52% actively collect and use data to develop their digital channels. Among the B2B companies that do not yet sell digitally, it is mainly because they do not understand how to transfer the personal sales process to a digital one.

At the same time, it is quite clear that those who have introduced e-commerce experience many positive effects. Better customer service, happier customers, more sales, stronger branding to name a few. ??

I find myself recognizing the confusion that emerges between the lines in the responses from the B2B companies. 10-15 years ago, there were many chain stores that reasoned in a similar way. Excessive focus on the part of the business that they fully mastered and a great deal of doubt about what role e-commerce would play based on their existing organization.

What tips do you want to give to decision makers in B2B for future success in their digital transformation?

It is still the early days so it’s not too late yet. For most, it is a journey that will take years rather than months, so patience is a virtue.

Look at how ecommerce is done within B2C and copy that experience as much as possible. We are the same person no matter if we are sitting on our office chair at work or lounging on our sofas at home. The patterns that we are used to when doing B2C shopping work well also in a B2B setting.

Embrace the digital customer journey and don’t always think about the ROI on every investment you need to do to make it work. Sometimes the ROI is that you will still be in business five years from now. ??

Describe the future for Digital Commerce in B2B in one word.

Understandingthecustomer! (Cheated a bit there, sorry ??)

If you have questions for?Patrik , you can find him here on LinkedIn.

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Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m Joakim L??v, I work at Columbus (one of Litium’s global partners) in the digital space of international B2B. I have a long background in e-commerce, UX design & management.

In my daily work I provide C-level support on how to build, operate and continuously improve an online presence.

?? My passion is adding value to organizations, users and society, preferably by increasing effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Wood- and metalworking is also a passion, together with experiencing nature, and life-long learning.

How do you view the transformation of B2B digital commerce?

Most B2B companies go through a similar transformation, albeit from different starting points, at different speed and using different solutions, in turn highly determined by the mindset of one or a few internal leaders. From a top-view perspective, this transformation process is fairly static over time, whilst the details therein are very different now compared to 10 years ago and will be very different 10 years from now.

Digital commerce itself transforms, making what to aim for a moving target, both short- and long term, superimposed by the movement of your customers, partners and competitors. How B2B commerce will transform is very difficult to foresee. At this point-in-time, the practical application of AI has just passed a tipping point, making it practically applicable by also the moderately mature B2B companies, with a significant impact on what B2B digital commerce now looks like.

Basically, you need to setup your operations in way that allows for short cycles of idea generation, realization and integration, roll-out, improvement and eventually discontinuation. Parts of what to do next year can probably not be specified already now, but you can be certain you will need resources and a budget for it.

After reading the report, what is your takes from the report?

Nordic B2B companies continue to grow their digital commerce investment budget, solution and service capability, staff concentration, and most importantly their business results. There’s a fairly large variation between company size and type of industry.

Overall, the report confirms what has been evident for quite some time –?a large majority of B2B companies use digital channels to

1. enable sales,
2. process orders and/or
3. increase service levels and customer satisfaction.?

Large parts of the report cover the organizational and operational capabilities necessary to be successful, as well as why digital commerce and its variations are important, together how to best progress.

I did an extensive review of the report that you find here .

What tips do you want to give to decision makers in B2B for future success in their digital transformation?

1?? Establish a mentality where opportunities and benefits of digital commerce are in focus rather than obstacles, risks and costs. Also, don’t over-analyze – there are probably already proven solutions and ways-of-working you can implement immediately, with high likelihood of success.

2?? Create a roadmap and base it on your overall strategy, level of digital maturity, the competition, market variations etc. Aim for a steady and continuous pace in solution development and customer/user onboarding.

3?? Secure access to necessary skills and resources. Use external partners as a buffer and internalize new skill-sets step-wise. Create cross-functional processes and collaborations as soon as possible (digital transformation is never isolated to a single department).

Describe the future for Digital Commerce in B2B in one word.

Omnipresent. ??

If you have questions for?Joakim , you can find him here on LinkedIn.

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?

I'm pretty excited about the future for B2B digital Commerce. What about you?

That’s it for this time.

See you again in 2 weeks.

Cheers ??

Malin

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???Work with Litium

Whenever you're ready there's 3 ways Litium can help you:?

1. We help B2B companies scale their business and build revenue growth with our platform for digital commerce.?
2. We’re keen to build a community around B2B commerce, to share our knowledge and insights. Join our tribe and share your ideas and learnings!??
3. Crafters of commerce. We work with a B2B expert network, our ecosystem of partners and advisers have extensive knowledge and experience in digital transformation.

Reach out if you want to discuss your opportunities:?[email protected] ?or?[email protected]