The worldwide B2B eCommerce wholesale market was estimated to be worth $14.9 trillion in 2020, more than five times the size of the B2C market. Furthermore, according to Forrester, B2B eCommerce will represent 17% of all B2B sales in the U.S. by 2023, totaling $1.8 trillion.
It goes without saying that B2B ecommerce is expanding.
Business-to-business electronic commerce, or B2B eCommerce, is the sale of products or services through online commercial transactions. Because orders are executed digitally, wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors, and other types of B2B sellers benefit from increased buying efficiency and effectiveness.
In the past, B2B companies were sluggish to adopt eCommerce. Just before the pandemic, 9% of all B2B product sales in the U.S. were made through an eCommerce website, according to an eMarker report.
But as more millennials enter the B2B market and the pandemic serves as a catalyst for change, buyer expectations are rising more quickly than ever, and B2B businesses need to keep up.
Cold calling, offline marketing, and manual, paper-based transactions are all going out of style. Customers expect these same experiences from B2B merchants and grow more irritated with those who don’t deliver them, just as the B2C market is continually developing and digitizing.
In fact, a buyer’s direct or indirect customer experience influences 80% of B2B purchasing decisions, and 87% of B2B buyers would pay more for a supplier with a superior eCommerce portal and experience, up from 81% in 2020 and 74% in 2019.
B2B merchants are left to interpret the requirements of the contemporary B2B buyer in the middle of a changing environment. However, if your B2B company is shackled by outdated technology, going digital could seem overwhelming. This tutorial will lead you through the fundamentals of B2B eCommerce, including marketing advice, common misconceptions, benefits of having a B2B platform, and some useful examples from our own BigCommerce B2B merchants, to help you start modernizing your B2B business.