Just like the Internet has revolutionised the way in which consumers make purchases, it is also changing the way in which business-to-business (B2B) buying is conducted. As this process takes hold, those organisations which invest in delivering a superior consumer experience can command premiums of up to 30% on the price of their goods and services, says Peter Drube, country MD at Avanade South Africa.
That’s made clear in Avanade global survey: B2B is the New B2C. It shows the sales process is shifting out of the control of the seller as enterprise buyers begin to mimic consumer shopping behaviours.
With this shift, the value of the customer experience is now more important than the cost to business and IT decision-makers.
But what characterises consumer shopping behaviours? It’s the things which are second nature to many of us: searching the Internet for customer reviews or price comparisons, learning about products through social networks, receiving targeted offers on our smartphones, participating in loyalty programs and using our gadgets to customise and buy products online.
This transformation of retail is one of the best-documented technology trends of our time. But what has largely escaped the notice of technology watchers is how quickly this trend is making its way from the business-to-consumer (B2C) world and into B2B buying patterns.
The research by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com), an independent research firm, surveyed 1,000 C-level executives, business unit leaders and IT decision makers in 19 countries, including South Africa, to learn what impact the ‘consumerisation’ movement is having on sales processes and buying patterns in the enterprise.
What it found is that mobile and social technology is disrupting traditional relationships between businesses and their B2B customers. Enterprise buyers increasingly make purchasing decisions for their companies in much the same way that they shop for themselves.
For example:
* 61% said reviews on third-party Web sites, feedback in social media channels and word-of-mouth feedback from peers and partners is more important than the information they receive from a company’s sales force
* Above 40% said they have contributed product reviews to third-party Web sites and nearly a third have posted comments on social media channels
The bottom line is that the customer experience has emerged as a significant factor in B2B commerce. This is an observation which has an impact on another bottom line: the one on the balance sheet.
Customer service – and experience – is still king
That’s because for many enterprise buyers, the quality of the customer experience already carries as much – or more – weight than price. Among the business leaders surveyed, 56% reported that they paid more in the previous six months for a product or service because it offered a better customer experience than a lower-cost option.
Just how much more these buyers are prepared to pay is nothing less than remarkable. A better experience translates to a premium of 30. Creating, delivering and maintaining a superior customer experience represents a considerable opportunity for companies to achieve the competitive edge and better margins.
Many companies already recognise the potential value of this opportunity and are responding accordingly; four out of five companies surveyed have changed at least one business process to improve customer interaction.
What’s more, the focus falls on the same technologies driving the transformation of retail commerce:
* 55% have invested in mobile devices;
* 54% have invested in social media; and
* 53% have invested in mobile applications.
But as B2B becomes more like B2C, the real key to success lies in empowering employees in much the same way that they are empowered as consumers – by giving them the ability to take the lead on reinventing relationships with customers through smaller, more entrepreneurial internal efforts.
