B2B Ecommerce Helps Sales Teams

Many B2B executives believe that e-commerce cannot fit their business. They say, more or less, “E-commerce doesn’t work for us. We use a consultative sales process. Helping customers find the right solution is complex.” But B2B companies that don’t embrace digital will lose opportunities. Increasingly, buyers prefer to research online before speaking to a salesperson. A digitally savvy competitor could disrupt the market and cause large sales decreases for legacy companies, those that do not evolve. Consider taxicabs. Uber has greatly disrupted that industry. Many believed that digital technology did not apply to taxis. They were wrong. To be sure, B2B businesses have complex sales cycles. It’s an e-commerce challenge and an opportunity. A complex sales process is harder (but not impossible) for Amazon to replicate. And e-commerce is an opportunity to demonstrate value. Instead of thinking about how it cannot work, focus on how it can provide a better experience for current and prospective customers.