B2B buyer expectations continue to rise to the point that the gap between what’s expected and what's actually delivered by B2B organizations is wider than ever before. Discover what customers are looking for in 2024 and beyond as the foundation for your eCommerce strategy.
In 2023, McKinsey stated that “The consumerization of B2B buying appears nearly complete.” While we at commercetools — and many others — predicted this behavioral shift in B2B buyers, customer expectations evolved faster in the last 12 months than anticipated. Consumer-grade experiences, such as personalization and omnichannel interactions, are now top-of-mind.
If there’s one takeaway from last year, it’s the widening gap between what buyers want and what most B2B organizations can actually deliver. Factors in this equation include a harsh economic climate in which many companies saw sluggish growth (if any growth at all) and, as a result, tight technology budgets. Accelerating digital maturity hasn’t been a top priority for many organizations to meet even the most basic needs of B2B buyers, from finding the right product online to providing accurate inventory information.
While the promise of omnichannel, personalization and easy-to-use eCommerce to meet B2B buyer expectations hasn’t become a reality for most B2B firms just yet, focusing on “customer centricity” is how manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers can stand out from the crowd. After all, “Truly customer-obsessed enterprises grew 1.6 times faster than their less mature peers,” revealed Joe Cicman, Principal Analyst for B2B Commerce, Forrester Research.
In 2024, customer centricity will be the North Star for practitioners to balance long- and short-term goals, effectively closing the gap between what’s expected and what’s delivered in B2B commerce. As Chris Batusnik, eCommerce Transformation and Operations Leader at Owens Corning, mentioned, “Understand your customer, understand what your customer wants, understand their buying habits, and be there to support that.”
Achieving this starts with understanding how the B2B buyer is evolving and the expectations they’re setting for B2B commerce. Explore our jam-packed insights in a shiny infographic to help you in this journey!
Start turning trends into action! Get all the insights on the evolution of the B2B commerce market in our white paper Pivotal Trends and Predictions in B2B Digital Commerce in 2024.
Manuela Marques Tchoe is a Content Writer at commercetools. She was a Content and Product Marketing Director at conversational commerce provider tyntec. She has written content in partnership with Facebook, Rakuten Viber and other social media platforms.
