What the Rise of B2B E-Commerce Means for Printers

E-commerce is currently transitioning from an optional value-add service for B2B providers to the default method for ordering. Over the past several years, the print industry has encountered an increased demand from customers of all types to support not just online ordering but other technological conveniences. This is the new normal, not just for B2C, but for B2B commerce as well.

Let’s look at this topic from three angles to try to fully understand what it means for print providers moving forward. We’ll cover:

1. The Facts: What is the current state of e-commerce trends regarding B2B partnerships.
2. The Why: What are the causes and primary motivators of these trends.
3. The Action: What are the takeaways and action steps that print providers can take given these trends.

The Facts

There are many outdated ideas that have held on about e-commerce and business-to-business sales. These misconceptions have persisted despite how rapidly the industry landscape has shifted, particularly in the past few years.

The state of things now is that we are in an online world and customers of all types expect easy-access, self-service, 24/7 ordering capabilities. That is the new minimum standard for doing business, regardless of whether you are B2C or B2B.

Here are some facts that back this new standard up:

1. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of B2B businesses are offering e-commerce options to their customers.
2. Delivery times are shortening. Before COVID, UPS had an average transit time of 2.96 days. That went up to 4.96 by the end of 2020. But by the end of 2021 it had gone down to faster than pre-COVID times at 2 to 2.35 days on average.
3. Around 42% of B2B customers use their mobile devices as part of the purchasing process, according to a report by Google.

Just about every norm of the way business is done has been uprooted, challenged, or transformed in recent years due to a convergence of catalytic factors: COVID, technological developments, cultural and generational shifts. One consequence of all of this is that B2B e-commerce is taking on trends that traditionally were associated with B2C: short-run orders, lightening fast turnaround times, personalization, and customer self-service, etc.

The shift in the business-to-business sphere from analog to digital has gone from steady escalation to a full on flood. Buyers have demanded it and sellers have responded. What that has led to is now, for the first time, B2B companies are more likely to offer e-commerce channels than traditional selling. This trend continued even as vaccine availability enabled face-to-face meetings to start up again. 

The takeaways is this: the facts all point to e-commerce being the new norm for B2B just as much as B2C. For print providers, this means two things:

1. If you don’t already have a strong solution like a modern web-to-print platform to offer your B2B clients, you are behind and the time is now to catch up.
2. If you already offer a solution, that doesn’t mean you can rest easy. Because the baseline has risen, you need to go further with value-add services and modern solutions to marketing problems if you want to rise above the competition. 

The Why

It’s great to have the facts but that only covers the surface of this phenomenon of the big B2B shift. The fact is, B2B and B2C are inexorably linked. But why? Well, in a sense it is simple: The people shopping online for their clothes, books, and electronics are the same people who are making purchases on behalf of their business. The trends and changing realities of how people shop for consumer goods inevitably effect B2B companies. Everyone is now used to a certain level of convenience when it comes to getting the products they need. This expectation has been and will continue to expand into the purchases people make while working.

As mobile devices continue to take a larger share of the consumer technology pie, and as the internet becomes more ubiquitous throughout the business world, these trends will only continue. Technological advances such as the rise of big data and cloud-based services for every type of consumer-business interaction are pushing all industries towards the “always-online” model. 

Another factor to consider is the generational angle. Millennials are a generation that grew up in the internet-age so it only makes sense for millennial B2B buyers to want their B2B sellers to match their level of tech-savvy. B2C sites recognize this and are constantly optimizing their websites across desktop, tablet, and mobile. This should be no different for B2B sites.

Finally, the other big factor in this shift is the simple fact that online solutions like web-to-print save B2B customers a lot of time and money. These solutions solve pain points that can’t be solve with analog channels of sales. Web-to-print and marketing asset management solutions go further than online ordering. Updating account settings and profile information, checking on the status of orders, learning more about the products that are available; all of this and more is possible on the best B2C shopping sites. Users except to be able to do and access as many functionalities as they could want. 

Web to print also brings data to clients that give them more control and power to makes better business decisions. allow B2B customers to do 

It’s the ability that tools like Web-to-Print and MIS systems give printers to track everything from inventory to demand to sales and more. Smart platforms record data on every process involved in a printer’s business and give life to that data in the form of analysis tools. Businesses can then use these tools to adapt and improve. Up-to-date, always-on access to useful information is the goal.

The Action

Knowing HOW B2B e-commerce is growing and WHY is one thing; knowing what to do to capitalize on this rise is another. Luckily, the answer is fairly straightforward: take your e-commerce strategy seriously and go above the expected for your clients. 

This means if you are in the market for a web-to-print solution, spend time finding a solution that isn’t just enough for right now, but has staying power. 

If you have a solution but it’s starting to show its age, don’t underestimate the long term ramifications. Start planning now for how you will keep your e-commerce offering fresh, modern, and in line with B2C standards as much as possible.

And if you do have a modern solution that can deliver great user experience, B2C-like responsiveness, smart data usage, and the like, make sure to keep your customer educated on what you can offer them. Don’t leave money on the table by neglecting to use your solution to its fullest potential. 

When it comes to taking cues from the B2C e-commerce landscape, there are three important considerations:

1. User Experience
2. Information Transparency 
3. Mobile Responsiveness

User Experience

Customer experience hasn’t historically been a top priority for most of those in the print industry. In the old era, your goal as a printer was to deliver high-quality printed goods at competitive prices and speeds. Everything else was of secondary concern. Now, things are different. Modern print buyers want to work with solution providers that can keep up with their fast and tech-driven pace. They want on-demand, fully connected services that are intuitive, comprehensive, and self-serviced.

Is it really that important to care about the experience of a mobile website user as a B2B producer? Probably more than you think. Smartphones and other mobile devices are not siloed from the work environment. An increasingly large portion of the population integrates their phone into their working life to some degree. And that means B2B companies need to consider that when choosing or creating their ordering platform.

Information Transparency

B2B sellers can learn from this. Give your users as much information and capability as possible on your platform. For print jobs, this can look like visibility into inventory levels, shipment options, and lead times.

On a site-level, make sure navigation is simple and clear. Give users immediate feedback when they place orders with confirmation emails. Whenever possible, lean on the side of self-service functionality. Search is a huge part of this. Make it as easy to find the products on your store as possible. A strong search function can do wonders for increasing user satisfaction. And greater user satisfaction leads to more orders.

Mobile Responsiveness

Even if purchases are ultimately made on a desktop, a seamless mobile experience is essential. Mobile optimization should be considered a component of a comprehensive effort to meet the varied needs of all types of customers and orders. A flexible platform is a powerful platform. 

The Big Picture

B2B buyers have changed their habits and as a result, print providers must adapt. The digital transformation has already occurred. Now, the key to growth is to not just be online but be better than everyone else online. This means taking cues from B2C and how e-commerce has evolved as a whole. The process of doing this can be challenging, but with the right strategy, your web to print solution can be the tool you need to rise with the tide.