What will 2024 bring for B2B commerce?
In the one year since the publication of the inaugural edition of this report, scores of B2B organizations have made incredible progress in digitizing commerce prompted by the ever-increasing (and muchtalked-about) shift in customer expectations. Indeed, omnichannel, personalization and frictionless experiences have topped the agenda of B2B practitioners and dominated the headlines in B2B commerce.
After all, Gartner predicts that a staggering 80% of sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels as early as 2025. Compare this to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when an estimated 60% of B2B companies had either zero or limited eCommerce capabilities. In a span of a few years, the B2B commerce sector has experienced an almost 180-degree change. That’s huge!
However, not everything is rosy in the brave new world of B2B commerce. Despite manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors digitizing rapidly to align with customer expectations, meeting these expectations remains an ever-shifting target. If there’s one lesson from 2023, 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. While many companies have taken steps into digitization, accelerating digital maturity hasn’t been a top priority for a plethora of organizations as a way to meet even the most basic needs of B2B buyers, from finding the right product online to providing accurate inventory information.
