Joe Cicman, senior analyst, Forrester Research

Buyers want helpful online product content and purchasing features, demands that have many of them preferring manufacturers’ websites, new research from Digital Commerce 360 and Forrester Research Inc. finds.

“Brand manufacturers win buyers with great content,” says Forrester senior analyst Joe Cicman. “Our joint research indicates the top choice for business buying in 2023 is the brand manufacturer’s own site (57%), beating-out Amazon Business at 43%. Why? Both a surprise and a delight: 85% of buyers tell us that the best source for product information is the brand manufacturer’s own site.”

The joint research project also found that 70% of B2B buyers will increase their online purchasing of goods and services in 2023.

Cicman — who will discuss at the EnvisionB2B Conference & Exhibition this month the results of the joint DC360/Forrester suryey and the intersection of online buyer demands and sellers’ ecommerce technology strategies — asserts that sellers must review the functions that address the challenges they face in serving customers, then identify the ecommerce technology platform that covers those w.

McKesson discusses B2B commerce trends

Val DuVernet, senior director of digital strategy and optimization, McKesson

Cicman will speak at EnvisionB2B in a June 21 session to analyze with DC360 the results of the joint research project and discuss digital commerce technology trends with Val DuVernet, senior director of digital strategy and optimization at medical products distributor McKesson.

B2B companies “should examine potential ecommerce solutions to identify which ones cover the specific common functions they most value,” Forrester says in the March 2023 report, “Demystifying the Technical Functions of B2B Commerce Solutions,” written by Cicman with input from other Forrester analysts.

Some of those functions, for example, can include how ecommerce technology manages customer account hierarchies, contract terms and personalized product catalogs for each customer.

Gartner’s Gene Alvarez on technology choices

Gene Alvarez, distinguished vice president and analyst covering digital commerce technology at research and advisory firm Gartner Inc., says B2B companies today have plenty options for deploying ecommerce technology based on their resources and their customers’ demands regarding the online buying experience.

Gene Alvarez, distinguished vice president and analyst, Gartner Inc.

Companies with limited IT resources can opt for software-as-a-service platforms that support customized customer-facing front ends. But businesses with more substantial resources can move up to even more customizable modular and composable MACH platforms with extensive use of microservices, APIs, cloud and headless infrastructure configurations, Alvarez says.

As competition increases in B2B ecommerce, and companies develop new and innovative ways to interact with buyers and make their customers’ jobs easier, it will be crucial for online sellers to operate commerce technology they can modify to keep up with new standards.

“As new innovation comes along, you need to” be able to bring about that new innovation because it will be table stakes within a year,” Alvarez says. “That’s where MACH brings advantages.”

Alvarez will speak on digital technology trends and strategies at EnvisionB2B. He will lead a June 20 panel and workshop on building customer loyalty.

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As a sales executive in the software industry, you understand the difficulties of finalizing complex B2B deals. The hint is in the word complex.  It can be a long and complicated process, stretching over several months or even a year. It requires ongoing exploration to identify potential business opportunities with your prospects. Managing complicated (POCs), navigating procurement processes and RFPs, and dealing with competition further add to the headaches.

Moreover, on the buyer’s side, numerous stakeholders and steps are involved. While B2B deals used to have an average of 5.4 individuals in 2015, it’s now risen to an average of 6 to 10 stakeholders, representing an insane 30% increase. And if that doesn’t have you reaching for the Tylenol, most of these steps and stakeholders are beyond your visibility. According to Gartner, approximately 90% of the sales process occurs without your direct involvement, as prospects engage in research, internal processes, and interactions with other vendors. This lack of insight contributes to longer and more intricate sales cycles.

And have you ever considered the complexity experienced by your prospects? (Hint: It’s often even more challenging.)

The buyer’s experience plays a crucial role. Gartner reports that 77% of buyers find their purchasing process complex or difficult. Additionally, they discovered that prospects who have a good buying experience are three times more likely to opt for larger deals. Prioritizing the customer experience, empowering buyers, and making the buying process more seamless can help you establish trust, differentiate yourself from competitors, shorten sales cycles, and improve conversion rates.

It’s never been more important for you to navigate the intricacies of the deal, gain a better understanding of your prospects, and deliver an exceptional buying experience.

Introducing Digital Sales Rooms
Digital Sales Rooms offer an ideal solution for managing complex B2B deals. These platforms simplify and enhance both the selling and buyer journeys. Picture yourself as an orchestra conductor, where each member represents a different step or stakeholder in the sales process. To ensure harmony and synchronization, Digital Sales Rooms provide unmatched convenience.

They enable you to create customized workspaces tailored to each deal. You can include relevant content, customize the appearance, facilitate communication, manage the next steps, analyze buyer interactions throughout their journey, and offer an engaging experience for buyers. This not only helps in building trust and confidence but also proves vital in successfully closing complex B2B deals.

Empower Buyers, Streamline Decision-Making
Digital Sales Rooms enable buying committees to make faster decisions by reducing obstacles, promoting transparency, and facilitating alignment throughout the sales process. Buying software can be time-consuming, and buyers often have to navigate complex procedures while shuttling between sellers and internal stakeholders. They struggle to find important information buried in emails, spreadsheets, and communication platforms like Slack. None of us are strangers to these difficulties.

Sellers face similar challenges. Just think about the amount of time spent daily searching through archives for past conversations, creating personalized presentations and documents, and responding to repetitive email requests for pricing sheets.

Sales interactions can swiftly become a tangled web.
Sales interactions can quickly become complicated. Digital Sales Rooms change how sellers and buyers work together. They bring together all shared content and communication in one place, making sure nothing gets lost, no matter how long the sales process takes. Instead of long email threads, you can leave comments in the Room to keep everyone updated.

Digital Sales Rooms are a reliable source for past conversations, tasks, and resources. They are a powerful tool for promoting your solution internally and providing a central hub for the entire buying committee to access information easily and quickly. Working with sellers through Digital Sales Rooms gives prospects a unique experience that builds trust and confidence in your partnership.

Work off buyer’s signals with analytics
Digital Sales Rooms offer a VIP experience for each deal and provide valuable insights and analytics to keep you informed. By understanding your buyer’s behavior, intentions, and preferences, you can better understand their needs and take appropriate actions.

The moments when you wonder about a prospect’s level of interest, their progress, the key stakeholders involved, or their responsiveness are no longer. Digital Sales Rooms remove these uncertainties. Since a significant part of the buying process happens in this digital space, you can see all the activities that occur outside of your direct interactions with the prospect.

You won’t let any deals slip through the cracks anymore. Digital Sales Rooms send real-time notifications, allowing you to track how buyers engage and interact within the room throughout their entire journey. When it’s time to review the deal, you’ll have a clear understanding of its status.

Take Control of Next Steps and Timelines
Digital Sales Rooms also simplify the creation of Mutual Action Plans, facilitating faster deal closures. Mutual Action Plans are known to be a key factor in the success of top-performing sales representatives. These plans track agreed-upon milestones and eliminate guesswork and wasted time for both buyers and sellers.

Don’t assume that buyers know how to navigate the buying process with you. Dealing with inexperienced and uncertain buyers is a major challenge for sellers. Instead of depending on internal meetings, constant email follow-ups, and non-collaborative spreadsheets for action plans, Digital Sales Rooms offer an excellent solution to keep everything organized.

Digital Sales Rooms help you establish a clear path to success, monitor progress, and close deals more efficiently. They foster a strong partnership with the buyer committee, promoting alignment and collaboration throughout the process.

Access and Engage with Stakeholders
Digital Sales Rooms facilitate access to all relevant stakeholders involved in the customer journey, both on the buying and selling sides. Remember, deals often require engagement with 6 to 10 decision-makers, each bringing unique perspectives, preferences, and challenges. Therefore, having access to the right stakeholders is crucial.

Collaborating with buyer committees is important, but working together as a team is everything. It’s essential to navigate internal peers and managers to succeed in business.

Digital Sales Rooms help you keep both sides aligned by providing a clear process, action items, and timeline. You don’t have to rely on forwarded email chains anymore. Instead, all members of the buying team can come together in one place: your Digital Sales Room. This central hub allows everyone to access information about your offerings. They can manage action items, have conversations at each step, share files, schedule meetings, and more. This unprecedented access to stakeholders makes it easier to build relationships with each of them.

Conclusion
It’s clear why Digital Sales Rooms are becoming the preferred choice for handling complex B2B deals. We invite you to experience Aligned’s Digital Sales Room. According to Gartner, by 2026, one-third of B2B sales cycles will be managed through Digital Sales Rooms, and by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels.

If you want to improve your complex B2B sales process, Digital Sales Rooms provide an ideal solution. Give them a try and see how they can greatly enhance your B2B selling strategy. It’s as simple as that.

[Gartner] “DSRs will be driving ⅓ of sales processes by 2026

1. [Gartner] “Create a virtual selling experience that enables buyers to drive their journey through the deployment of DSRs”
2. [Gartner] “Ensure that DSRs are comprehensive by evaluating vendors with capabilities that will allow for a completely digital sales process and, at a minimum, capabilities for bidirectional content sharing and collaboration through integration with collaboration and messaging tools.”
3. [Gartner] “Develop a better customer experience for your buyers/customers by understanding the relationship you have with them through the use of analytics such as engagement analysis, conversation intelligence, or emotion AI.”
4. [Gartner] “By 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels.”
5. [Gartner] “By 2025, 60% of B2B sales organizations will transition from experience- and intuition-based selling to data-driven selling, merging their sales process, sales applications, sales data, and sales analytics into a single operational practice.”

* [Gartner] “DSRs are not digital commerce platforms, but they do link to digital commerce to allow customers to complete the buying process digitally if desired.”

FAQs

What is a Digital Sales Room?
A Digital Sales Rooms is a digital platform that offers B2B businesses various tools and features, including document sharing, video conferencing, and collaboration tools.

What are the benefits of using Digital Sales Rooms for B2B deals?
Digital Sales Rooms provide a range of benefits for B2B deals, including:

• Enhanced collaboration and communication,
• Improved efficiency
• Increased security
• Deal insights
• Speeds up sales cycles
• Streamline complex deals

What kind of businesses can benefit from using Digital Sales Rooms?
Any B2B business that conducts sales meetings, negotiations, or deal-making can benefit from using Digital Sales Rooms. This includes businesses in industries such as technology, manufacturing, and more.

Are Digital Sales Rooms secure?
Yes, Digital Sales Rooms are designed with security in mind. They use encryption and other security measures to protect sensitive data and documents shared during the sales process.

Do I need special software to use Digital Sales Rooms?
Most Digital Sales Rooms are web-based, which means you don’t need any special software to use them. You will need an internet connection, a device (such as a laptop or tablet), and a web browser.

How much does it cost to use a Digital Sales Room?
The cost of using Digital Sales Rooms can vary depending on the provider and the features included. Aligned offers a free forever plan as well as some other pricing options, while others require a subscription or a one-time fee.

Can Digital Sales Rooms replace in-person meetings?
While Digital Sales Rooms can be a great alternative to in-person meetings, they may not completely replace them. In some cases, in-person meetings may still be necessary or preferred, depending on the nature of the deal or the preferences of the parties involved.

How do Digital Sales Rooms integrate with existing CRM and other business systems?
Many Digital Sales Rooms are designed to integrate with existing business systems, including CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and other tools. This integration allows for a more streamlined sales process and enables businesses to easily share data and insights across different teams and departments.

What role does AI play in Digital Sales Rooms?
Some Digital Sales Rooms are leveraging AI technology to enhance the sales process. For example, AI-powered chatbots can assist with customer inquiries and help guide prospects through the sales funnel. Additionally, AI can be used to analyze data and identify patterns that can inform sales strategies and improve the overall effectiveness of the sales process.

The post [Sponsored Content] The Next Thing In Sales: The Digital Sales Room appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The report, B2B Ecommerce Technology Trends + EnvisionB2B 2023 Preview, includes several reviews of B2B companies and a preview of the full EnvisionB2B agenda, which features more than 50 speakers and 25 sessions. EnvisionB2B is scheduled for June 20 – 22 at the Hilton Chicago.

Joe Cicman, senior analyst, Forrester Research Inc.

Joe Cicman, senior analyst for B2B digital commerce at Forrester Research, asserts that B2B sellers must review the functions that address the challenges they face in serving customers, then identify the ecommerce technology platform that covers those functions.

At EnvisionB2B 2023 next month, Cicman will refer to findings of a recent joint Forrester and Digital Commerce 360 B2B Digital Buyer study and discuss with Val DuVernet, senior director of digital strategy at pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp., the intersection of online B2B buyer demands and ecommerce technology strategies.

Among the survey’s findings: 70% of B2B buyers will increase their online purchasing of good and services this year, and buyers’ prefer purchasing on manufacturers’ ecommerce sites because of the quality of their product information. Those findings show that B2B sellers must find the right ecommerce technology to offer customers the best buying experience, Cicman says.

B2B companies “should examine potential ecommerce solutions to identify which ones cover the specific common functions they most value,” Forrester says in the March 2023 report, “Demystifying the Technical Functions of B2B Commerce Solutions,” written by Cicman with input from other Forrester analysts.

Some critical functions, for example, can include how ecommerce technology manages customer account hierarchies, contract terms and personalized product catalogs for each customer.

Gene Alvarez, distinguished vice president and analyst, Gartner Inc.

Gene Alvarez, distinguished vice president and analyst covering digital commerce technology at research and advisory firm Gartner Inc., says B2B companies today have plenty options for deploying ecommerce technology based on their resources and their customers’ demands regarding the online buying experience. Alvarez will lead an EnvisionB2B panel discussion and workshop on customer loyalty strategies.

He asserts that, as competition increases in B2B ecommerce and companies develop new and innovative ways to interact with buyers and make their customers’ jobs easier, it will be crucial for online sellers to operate commerce technology they can modify to keep up with new standards.

“As new innovation comes along, you need to” be able to bring about that new innovation because it will be table stakes within a year,” Alvarez says.

Manufacturers and distributors push ahead with ecommerce

Brent Steffen, director of ecommerce, Caterpillar Inc.

“Everything we are doing with digital is about creating integrated and seamless experiences for our customers that help them be more efficient,” says Brent Steffen,  Caterpillar Inc.’s director of ecommerce, who will give a June 21 keynote address about innovation in B2B ecommerce at EnvisionB2B 2023.

With corporate roots going back to 1873 and annual sales of more than $6 billion, Konica Minolta Inc. is well known as a global manufacturer and marketer of digital imaging products used in corporate and institutional facilities worldwide.

But the company is ready to reach and engage more customers more often, which is why it’s forging into B2B ecommerce.

Velinda Cox, vice president of ecommerce, Konica Minolta

“We are in a position of transition, change and transformation,” says Velinda Cox, senior vice president of ecommerce at Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., in Ramsey, New Jersey, where she is spearheading the global company’s ecommerce strategy. Cox will give a June 22 EnvisionB2B keynote address on developing a new strategy for digital ecommerce and a supportive technology ecosystem.

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Christopher Schutts, CEO, Logik.io

The company will expand its market strategy with $16 million in a Series A funding round, Logik.io announced today.

“Many B2B companies struggle to deliver the low-touch consumerized experiences customers demand today,” co-founder and CEO Christopher Shutts said. “But the businesses who are leading their industries understand that no matter how complex your products are, buyers seek out businesses who make it simple to find, configure, and augment purchases across any channel.”

Logik.io’s clients include Keysight Technologies and Club Car

Logik says its Commerce Logic Engine technology is designed to help B2B buyers find and configure complex products and services from manufacturers, SaaS software providers and service companies. Logik’s customer base includes electric testing equipment manufacturer Keysight Technologies and Club Car, a maker of golf carts and utility vehicles.

The $16 million funding was led by Emergence Capital and joined by ServiceNow Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. Logik.io has now raised a total $26 million since Schutts and Logik.io chairman Godard Abel co-founded the company in 2021. Santi Subotovsky, general partner at Emergence Capital, will join the Logik.io board.

Prior to Logik.io, Schutts and Abel co-founded BigMachines, a configure-price-quote software provider they sold in 2013 to Oracle Corp., which renamed it Oracle CPQ.

Abel also developed Steelbrick, a CPQ software firm now part of Salesforce Inc. In addition, Abel is co-founder and CEO of G2.com, an AI- and ChatGTP-backed online information resource for business software.

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Most manufacturers (53%) have achieved “full adoption” of cloud-based data platforms, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and connected services. Meanwhile, just over a third (35%) have fully adopted scanning and intelligent data capture (OCR), says PwC in a new survey from 300 supply chain executives.

Manufacturers still on their way to more digital supply chain processes

But adoption of digital technologies that help drive predictive insights or cross-enterprise efficiency are in the early stages. Just one in four (24%) manufacturers have applied artificial intelligence to their supply chains, according to our survey. Even fewer have adopted blockchain (18%), robotics/robotic process automation (RPA) (16%) and augmented reality (14%).

“Given the relatively lean adoption rates of these technologies, manufacturers expect to make investments to increase them,” PwC says. “Nearly three-quarters (73%) report that they plan to make investments in AI/ML, robotics/RPA and blockchain over the next two years.”

But as the economy continues to soften and cut back on their spending, some manufacturing companies may slow how much they will spend on digital supply chain applications. For example, nearly half (47%) cite budget constraints as the top challenge of digitizing their supply chains, followed by insufficient capabilities of supply chain hardware and software systems (31%) and a misalignment of supply chain goals and the business’ overall strategic goals (31%).

“Despite some success in adopting digital technologies — and plans to invest in areas that are lagging — many manufacturers are encountering systemic obstacles and other challenges in getting the most out of digitizing the supply chain,” PwC days. For example, few tools yield “out of the box” benefits, requiring more time and digital know-how to make an impact.”

More Charts & Data Stories

Check back soon for more Charts & Data Stories, like our weekly B2B infographics. We add new content regularly. 

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Emily Newton

Many new ChatGPT supply chain applications are emerging as generative AI becomes more advanced. So how can industry professionals utilize this technology effectively? They can use ChatGPT in several critical ways, primarily communication and automation.

1. Supply Chain Customer Service

Customer service is one of the most promising applications for ChatGPT in the supply chain. The natural language processing capabilities of ChatGPT are among the most advanced ever developed for popular use. This makes it an ideal tool for navigating the complex communication required in customer service tasks.

Any developer can integrate ChatGPT into their apps today using OpenAI’s official API for the algorithm. ChatGPT’s language processing skills can be applied to any customer-facing application in the supply chain, whether B2B or B2C. For example, a supplier could create a ChatGPT app for its manufacturing customers to track shipments of materials and resources.

2. Translation and International Relations

Succeeding in today’s supply chain requires working closely with partners worldwide. Unfortunately, language barriers make this challenging, potentially hindering organization and efficiency. Luckily, translation is a great way to use ChatGPT in the supply chain.

Research shows that users don’t need to specify the source language of a text passage for ChatGPT to translate it successfully. The algorithm can autonomously detect the source language and translate it in seconds.

ChatGPT’s performance is also on par or better than most digital translation tools available today. The fact that it can process natural language, including advanced technical terminology, gives it a major advantage over competitors. Its accessibility makes it ideal for supply chain applications, which rely on quick turnaround times and clear communication.

Using ChatGPT for translation can strengthen collaboration with international supply chain partners, improving efficiency and organization for everyone involved.

3. Automating Business Tasks

Businesses can use ChatGPT in the supply chain to automate various everyday tasks. For example, it can summarize a sales report, extract the highlights from a spreadsheet or draft an email. These tasks might seem small, but they help supply chain professionals work more efficiently.

ChatGPT can even be helpful for complex logistics tasks. AI is already making advances in logistics. For example, algorithms can automate order processing and help managers identify important insights in their data. This could include tasks like analyzing a list of suppliers to find those with the best rates or assessing various packaging options for the most cost-effective solution.

ChatGPT takes existing applications for AI in robotic process automation a step further. Advanced natural language processing helps it handle more complex content and user requests. Even integrating it into a larger automated system could improve performance.

4. Personalized Employee Training

ChatGPT is a great tool for improving employee training. This is especially helpful today since many supply chain businesses are adapting to new technologies and grappling with labor shortages. Surveys show 57% of supply chain leaders report hiring and retaining employees as their top challenge. Additionally, 41% have issues upskilling or reskilling existing workers.

Supply chain businesses can help alleviate these challenges by integrating ChatGPT into their training programs. It can serve as a multipurpose assistant for trainees by answering questions, explaining complex topics, and creating practice tests and flashcards. Employees can use ChatGPT to get a personalized training experience catered to their needs and learning styles.

Some trainees might quickly grasp a new technology, while others will want more time to explore definitions, technical terminology and other background information. ChatGPT can serve various training approaches, making it a versatile tool for providing more efficient employee training.

5. Data Analysis and Visualization

Data analysis and visualization is a lesser-known application for ChatGPT in the supply chain. Most people think of it as a language-specific AI, but it can also process numerical data.

Rapid and accessible data analysis tools are vital today. Data-driven insights and decisions are a cornerstone of Industry 4.0, which is rapidly reshaping the supply chain. ChatGPT makes basic AI analytics quick and straightforward. Anyone can paste a set of unstructured information into ChatGPT and ask it to summarize or organize it into a table.

Automating this task allows supply chain employees to have a more efficient workflow and leverage data more easily. ChatGPT can’t do complex data analytics yet, but it can handle many basic processes that are helpful for quickly getting an overview of a data set.

6. Idea Generation

Idea generation is a unique application for ChatGPT in the supply chain. Businesses need creative solutions to new challenges as things become more complex. Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT can be surprisingly helpful in the brainstorming process.

An AI might pinpoint unconventional solutions or ideas a human would not have considered. ChatGPT’s suggestions may not always be usable or feasible, but they provide a unique perspective that can spark creativity among team members.

Potential Drawbacks of ChatGPT

ChatGPT may be a powerful tool for certain applications, but it isn’t perfect. Business leaders should know about the drawbacks and challenges of adopting ChatGPT.

For example, ChatGPT has been known to give users inaccurate or completely made-up information. The AI’s language processing skills allow it to convey this false data convincingly, making it challenging to detect accuracy at a glance. Some groups, such as the coding help site Stack Overflow, are even banning ChatGPT due to the spread of misinformation.

This broadcast ofmisinformation is a huge problem in applications where users may be poorly equipped to verify that ChatGPT’s generated text is accurate. For example, using the AI for translating could lead to confusion if ChatGPT misunderstands the input or output language. Similarly, a new employee using ChatGPT for job training might learn incorrect information due to answer errors.

These issues may improve with time. The latest version of ChatGPT, GPT-4, is reportedly 40% more likely to give factual data, according to developer OpenAI. However, it will likely take years for ChatGPT to become a reliable source of information. Even then, there is always a chance the AI could “hallucinate” incorrect conclusions from the given data. ChatGPT’s output should always be fact-checked.

Adopting ChatGPT in the Supply Chain

There are many ways to use ChatGPT in the supply chain today, ranging from translation to employee training to logistics automation. Businesses can improve efficiency and productivity by integrating it into their workflows. OpenAI offers an API any developer can use to build ChatGPT into their app or website. In the years ahead, more supply chain applications will likely emerge as the technology advances.

About the author:

Emily Newton is an industrial writer reporting on how technology disrupts industrial sectors. She’s also the editor-in-chief of Revolutionized, covering innovations in industry, construction, and more.

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Randy Altschuler, CEO, Xometry Inc.

For the quarter ended March 31, Xometry posted total revenue of $105.3 million, up 26% from $83.67 million in the same period last year. Revenue for the company’s manufacturing services marketplace grew by 35% to $86.68 million from $64.14 million in the first quarter of 2022, as the number of active buyers grew 46% to 44,716 buyers and the number of suppliers increased 11% to 7,621 sellers.

In addition, the company narrowed its net loss in the first quarter to $18.34 million, compared with $20.12 million in the year-earlier quarter.

“The continuing shift to digital is inevitable, and as the leading two-sided marketplace, Xometry’s asset-light digital marketplace creates efficiencies and value for buyers and suppliers alike,” CEO Randy Altschuler told analysts. “Artificial intelligence is at the heart of Xometry, generating prices for buyers and suppliers across a range of on-demand manufacturing processes.”

Xometry continues to build out its marketplace services and inventory, he said.

“In Q1, we added more than three dozen materials and finishes, including galvanized steel, stainless steel, and custom CNC materials,” Altschuler told analysts. “Additionally, we launched instant quotes for parts with multiple finishes. We also launched a new quick-turn injection molding service for quotes in as fast as two hours and parts in as little as five business days.

“For U.S. buyers, we introduced a new domestic economy shipping option, which offers lower pricing and longer lead times than the standard shipping option, but with higher pricing than our traditional offshore economy option. We are pleased with the adoption of the domestic economy.”

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IBT Industrial Solutions — an industrial products distributor for factories and warehouses in such industries as manufacturing, food processing, packaging, bottling, and power generation — realized the need to deliver more personalized online buying experiences to its customers after it launched a B2B ecommerce site two years ago.

Carin Sampson, vice president, human resources and marketing, IBT Industrial Solutions

IBT learned that its online customers fall into two distinct categories: legacy customers who transitioned to digital purchasing and digital-first customers who have long preferred the online channel and started doing business with IBT after its website launched. Each customer segment has its own needs when it comes to ecommerce and uses the company’s website differently when purchasing.

For example, legacy customers will search for products ranging from industrial motors and metalworking tools to safety equipment and janitorial supplies by part numbers. In contrast, digital-first customers will search by keywords.

Helping customers manage their overall buying process

At the same time, legacy customers tend to view IBT’s website as a self-service purchasing tool, but digital-first customers expect the site to help them better manage their overall buying processes. The latter often want to reorder products in one click and access and print past orders and invoices.

But IBT realized it developed its ecommerce site primarily to service the needs of its legacy customers, which led to lower conversions rates and sales among digital-first buyers.

“Our site was set up to support legacy customers, which is why we did not have as much success with digital-first customers,” says Carin Sampson, who leads IBT’s ecommerce strategy in her role as vice president of human resources and marketing. “We had a group of beta testers that we tailored the site to, but we didn’t turn the lessons learned from that group into something more scalable for a broader audience.”

IBT worked with digital agency Xngage to deploy and modify its new ecommerce site on software from Optimizely.

IBT generates about $200 million in sales annually through its ecommerce site. Since launching the site, it has started a personalization strategy that makes its site search more dynamic, leveraging buyers’ online purchasing behavior for product recommendations and personalized videos and marketing messages.

To improve its site search, IBT is looking at adding artificial intelligence capabilities that predict a customer’s keyword search term, then displays relevant results. This capability is expected to reduce friction during search and the purchasing experience.

Applying AI to personalized videos

On the product recommendations side, IBT plans to begin leveraging past customer purchasing data to recommend relevant products and brands. The company is also looking at applications that will allow it to track a newer buyer’s behavior on the site to make product recommendations, as opposed to relying on the buyer’s past online purchasing history, which may be thin or nonexistent.

The idea for adding personalized videos grew from research IBT conducted into how artificial intelligence can improve personalization.

“AI is something I follow, and there are lot of innovative ways it is being used — and personalized videos are one of them,” Sampson says. “There are companies that produce personalized videos using AI, and our aim is to explore this space and experiment with how we can use personalized videos to engage customers.”

Key to making its personalization strategy work will be integrating new personalization engines and tools to its ecommerce platform. As part of its personalization strategy, IBT is upgrading its enterprise resource planning system to help improve data flow between the ERP software and IBT’s ecommerce platform.

“Our legacy ERP predates APIs, and that’s where the complexity with integration comes in,” says Sampson, who adds the company’s ecommerce platform integrates easily with its product information management (PIM) system. “For us, it’s about the tech stack, not one app.”

Making the buyer’s job easier

Once IBT completely installs its new ERP system, Sampson says the company will be able to make relevant product recommendations for each customer, whatever their interests.

In addition, IBT is looking to add predictive analytics to forecast what products customers are likely to buy, helping IBT to achieve the right balance in its catalog. The company has more than 2 million SKUs in its ERP system.

“Right now, we can get data on what a customer buys and how often, but we can’t predict what they are likely to buy,” Sampson says. “That is a capability we want to pull into the personalization mix.”

Having predictive capabilities will also open the door for IBT to proactively reach out to customers. For example, the distributor plans to use customer purchasing histories to identify products that are regularly reordered and at what intervals, so it can send reminders to customers when the time to place a reorder is approaching.

“Customers care about convenience and proactive service, whether it be a reminder to reorder a product or predictive maintenance,” says Sampson. “Providing convenience makes the customer’s job easier.”

Steady increases in ecommerce sales

Overall, ecommerce sales for the company are showing steady growth. During the first few months of 2023, ecommerce sales grew about 20% compared with the same period a year earlier. This growth comes after ecommerce sales more than doubled in 2022 over 2021.

“The growth through our digital channel is outpacing growth in traditional sales channels,” Sampson says.

Another area where IBT is improving the buying experience is by reducing the number of products in its online catalog in favor of higher-quality products buyers want.

“Initially, we focused on quantity, but we have found we would have benefitted more with a ‘less is more’ approach first,” Sampson says. “Having built our site for existing customers, we now know we need to provide features that appeal to digital-first customers if we are to build strong relationships with them.”

Carin Sampson, vice president of human resources and marketing, IBT Industrial Solutions, will speak at the EnvisionB2B 2023 Conference & Exhibition on integrating ERP and ecommerce technology and building resilient supply chains.

Peter Lucas is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy.

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The old world of ecommerce technology is shifting away from legacy monolithic platforms limited in adaptability and scalability, and designed primarily for transaction processing.

Instead, ecommerce platform technology is entering into a new development and implementation area utilizing new applications such as headless commerce, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics. Called by various names such as connected commerce, composable commerce, and Ecommerce 3.0, today’s cutting-edge ecommerce platform technology supports more customizable ecommerce sites and an integrated B2B buying experience with transactions that can occur anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

BigCommerce releases an updated B2B Edition

Lance Owide, B2B general manager, BigCommerce

For ecommerce technology provider BigCommerce, its latest release of B2B Edition — a suite of B2B ecommerce applications for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers — features a new array of tools and applications that include Multi-Storefront (MSF) compatibility, headless support and a brand new buyer portal.

“With B2B Edition, B2B brands can create buying experiences that help them sell more, convert at a higher rate, and influence repeat purchasing and loyalty,” says BigCommerce B2B general manager Lance Owide.

The updated B2B Edition, which BigCommerce announced this week, offers several updated tools, features and functions, including:

• Customized purchasing from a single back-end user experience based on a buyer’s specific region, industry vertical and purchasing needs.
• Purchases with preset price and shopping lists that buyers can configure price and quote (CPQ).
• Easier reordering such as by company or user and with the ability for users to view past company orders, quotes and lists in one place and upload orders in bulk with a quick order pad feature.
• Enhanced storefront integrations with any BigCommerce Stencil storefront, or any headless platform connected to BigCommerce such as CMS platforms.
• An enhanced mobile-friendly buyer portal.

Launching multiple online storefronts

With MSF, organizations can launch and manage multiple storefronts from a single BigCommerce back-end across brands, geographies, and/or customer segments, the company says. The updated buyer portal also automates many administrative tasks, such as managing orders, quotes, and workflows, BigCommerce says.

“B2B brands can create buying experiences that help them sell more, convert at a higher rate, and influence repeat purchasing and loyalty,” Owide says.

BigCommerce also released its first-quarter earnings. For the quarter ended March 31, revenue totaled $71.8 million, up 9% from $66.05 million in the year-earlier quarter. Net loss was $22.1 million, compared to $37.0 million in the first quarter of 2022.

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Melanie Cochran, vice president, Hawkins HVAC Distributors Inc.

And in an uncommon approach in its industry, it’s stepping up its digital ecommerce technology and operations to implement that growth strategy.

“In general, HVAC is a little behind the curve in digital transformation,” says Melanie Cochran, vice president of operations, whose family has roots going back decades in the HVAC industry.

The industry is not without ecommerce expertise, as shown by Watsco Inc., a multibillion-dollar national distributor that for years has racked up steady ecommerce sales at a high percentage of its total revenue. But for legions of smaller HVAC distributors that serve local or regional markets, ecommerce is still an opportunity to explore, Cochran says.

In her company’s core market of North and South Carolina and parts of Georgia, she adds, Hawkins is determined to stand out with a digital commerce strategy that complements the Charlotte, North Carolina-based distributor’s industry experience to bring exceptional value in the buying experience to its dealer network, she says.

“We know our industry is lagging in ecommerce, but we know it’s going to come on, and we want to be part of that,” Cochran says. “We want to be a leader of that change.”

Taking that leading ecommerce position rides on how well Hawkins convinces many of its customers to get on board with online purchasing — and on how well it upgrades the online customer buying experience on HawkinsHVAC.com to win over those customers.

Hawkins is off to a promising start as it sets up long-term growth online.

Relaunching a more personalized ecommerce site

The company relaunched its website, at HawkinsHVAC.com, in the fall of 2021, replacing a legacy site with a new level of personalized content and an online buying experience that Hawkins figures it needs to engage online customers.

Hawkins HVAC Distributors’ Charlotte, North Carolina, corporate office.

The privately held company doesn’t publicize sales figures. But Cochran notes that, after launching the new site at the tail end of that year’s peak selling season with 5,000 available SKUs, Hawkins quickly got to 7% to 8% of total sales online, with an average order value of over $1,400 for a mix of HVAC equipment, replacement parts, and supplies.

“For the first year, that was pretty strong for us,” Cochran says.

More significant, however, is that most of the buyers placing the online orders are from Hawkins’s largest customers — a market segment where the distributor is planning on strong sales growth over the long term.

Cochran notes that her company’s ecommerce volume continues to increase, and, over the longer term, Hawkins expects ecommerce to account for about 25% of sales. “Ecommerce is not a huge channel yet for us, but we expect it to be,” she says.

To drive growth, Hawkins has deployed a digital commerce technology platform offering multiple improvements over the prior website, including:

• Product catalogs offering personalized product pricing and selection for each dealer.
• Letting dealers search on multiple product attributes to find exactly what they need.
• Enabling dealers to find the nearest Hawkins distribution branch location when they want to pick up products.
• Educational online content designed to help buyers determine which products suit their job site needs.
• The ability to more easily build new customer-serving features.

Hawkins is operating its new ecommerce system on Amla Commerce Inc.’s Znode headless commerce technology platform, which uses an extensive system of APIs (application programming interfaces) to share data between three independent components: the customer-facing online interface, the ecommerce engine, and the enterprise resource planning system. Hawkins retained Xngage, a B2B digital commerce services firm, to implement the Znode platform and integrate it with the distributor’s related technology systems.

In addition to the Znode ecommerce platform and customer-facing website, Hawkins’s digital technology infrastructure includes:

• Infor CloudSuite Distribution enterprise resource planning software.
• AD product information management (PIM), from the AD (Affiliated Distributors) distributors’ organization, as well as a built-in Znode PIM.
• Billtrust invoice management, which lets HVAC dealers on HawkinsHVAC.com link to Billtrust to view and manage their Hawkins invoices.

The new platform, Cochran says, was a good fit to integrate with the distribution company’s digital technology ecosystem, helping to provide the kind of personalized buying experience its dealers want. For example, the API-driven headless configuration enables Hawkins to modify the customer-facing interface without also having to redo the software in the ecommerce engine or the back-end business operations software in the ERP system.

At first, Hawkins was wary of relying on APIs

The commerce platform uses APIs to transfer information between the Infor ERP, the AD PIM (which uses EnterWorks PIM software) and the Znode ecommerce platform, providing ecommerce customers with such information as up-to-date product descriptions, the location of available inventory by distribution center, and order status.

At first, Hawkins was wary of going with a new ecommerce platform that relied heavily on APIs, as is the case with Znode.

“We were nervous about that because with our original ecommerce platform, one of the main issues we had was speed and lag time,” Cochran says, adding, “The folks we were using at the time were blaming that [slow] speed on APIs, so we were nervous about having another system that was built off of APIs.”

But she adds that Znode, which Hawkins came to know through Xngage and AD, has so far proved to be an effective platform for building digital commerce. AD is an organization that serves as a buying group for its membership of independent distributors.

Quick-order forms and online inventory management

In addition to providing personalized product catalogs and pricing, Hawkins is also developing online features and promotions to improve the online buying experience and generate more sales. For example, returning customers can use a quick-order feature to reorder parts by simply inserting the Hawkins part identification numbers and the needed quantity, then clicking Add to Cart.

When one new large customer wanted to start placing orders with its own system of parts numbers, Hawkins was able customize its product data management to accommodate the customer.

“So that customer can log onto our website and not only see their pricing and our inventory levels, but they can also search for products with the numbers they already know,” Cochran says.

Going forward, she adds, Hawkins will look into further adding to its customers’ online buying experience, features that would appeal to large customers in a market extending far beyond its current base in the Carolinas.

Building an ecommerce-based replenishment system

One project on the drawing boards is building an ecommerce-based system to replenish the HVAC parts and supplies inventory that dealers keep on their service trucks and in storerooms. By scanning products as they use them on customer service calls, dealers and their technicians will be able to trigger online orders to maintain a minimum level of on-hand inventory. Another version of this replenishment system would let dealers review their updated on-hand inventory status at the end of each day or week, then click to place an order based on that status plus any additional products they need to satisfy large orders known to be coming in from dealers.

In addition, the internet-based electronic inventory management system would also track parts and supplies usage by individual technicians, helping contractors to better control inventory and view the performance of individual workers, Cochran says.

Such reordering and inventory-management and -visibility features may be common among large B2B companies in industries such as maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products. Among HVAC distributors, however, it’s far from a common strategy, she says.

But that void presents an opportunity for Hawkins to stand out.

“One of our goals is really to just be innovative in this industry,” Cochran says.

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