Manufacturing Buyer Enablement begins with a reshaping of behaviors
I think we can all agree that buying behaviors and expectations have evolved over the years thanks to the highly personalized experience B2C shoppers get when making purchases. As a rule, customers want the highly personalized B2C-like buying experience they have grown accustomed to in their everyday life… but now they want it when in their B2B experience as well.
Whenever I speak with a customer or prospects– digital transformation is always at the forefront of the conversation. We talk about the digitalization of internal processes, how to become more operationally efficient, how to speed up sales, improve or protect margins, etc. Some of our largest customers would talk about digital commerce, but consider it “phase two” or say, “we’re not there yet.” However, they always know they will need to get there.
The current economic state has changed one thing about these conversations: Virtually all customers and prospects now talk about digital commerce. They inquire about ways to increase their web presence, leveraging digital investments, extending sales tools to other channels, and how to simplify their selling processes. They need to make it easier for their customers to buy their products for both standard and highly customized.
Anyone reading this from the industry knows that traditionally the buying experience for these types of products is high-touch, very complicated, and often times disjointed. Partner that with recent economic uncertainty, social distancing practices, and unease about travel– there’s a new sense of urgency to digitalize quickly!
Disrupting the traditional manufacturing buyer enablement maybe the next step for many
In an increasingly competitive market paired with all the uncertainty, it’s created a demand to re-imagine a B2B buying experience that completely transforms the way customers are buying the complex products you manufacture.
The leaders in your industries, and many of our customers, are already using or planning to use disruptive technologies to meet the demands of customers that are conducting business across channels, with a focus on buyer enablement online.
While there was a movement of your buyers to online channels prior to the pandemic, I started seeing a huge acceleration earlier this year as travel halted and more of our daily business was conducted digitally. All our customer concerns and curiosities about how to meet the moment were validated when Accenture released an updated report on the industry.
According to new research from Accenture, the new normal has 74% of industrial buyers researching at least half their purchases online. This stat is clear proof that your customers are rapidly moving from offline to online interactions. By 2025, the same study reports 20% of all industrial manufacturing purchases will take place online.
Additionally, as millennials come into purchasing power, they are already accustomed to a B2C-like experience when they buy. I simply cannot imagine a scenario, pandemic accelerated or not, where younger generations purchasing primarily in any other way than primarily through online self-service channels.
Whether you call it digital commerce, eCommerce, omnichannel— leaders in your industries are already exploring and implementing a customer empowered digital commerce experience. If you are expecting to be a leader in your industry, you MUST invest in a buyer enabled digital commerce experience that meets the needs of customers today and ensures continuous future growth.
To learn more about what this can look like for leading manufacturers, reach out to us today and schedule your demo!