15 Latest B2B eCommerce Trends Relevant to You [Actionble Tips]

Are you looking for the latest B2B eCommerce trends?

Well, you’ve come to the right place because that’s exactly what I’ll be going over in this post.

We’ll be going over eCommerce trends that are relevant to your business to business company. 

After each statistic, I’ll mention some actionable steps you can implement.

So, let’s get straight into this!

1. 34% will invest 30-60 minutes reading content, with 26% spending as long as it takes if the content is engaging. SOURCE

This shows that people are willing to invest a lot of time into consuming content related to a purchase. So make sure you don’t skimp on creating ENGAGING content.

If your content is just bland, people are going to skip it. 

Let’s say you’re creating an instruction manual, don’t just have a wall of text on the page, put some life into it.

Have an instructional diagram showing each part of the process. Create a video explaining the product’s features.

Add some personality into your blog posts, let them know there’s an actual human behind the computer!

What should I do with this statistic?

• Creating engaging content
• Answer objections and questions potential customers will have
• Have lots of multimedia on your pages
• Create easy and engaging instructional guides
• Add personality into your blog posts
• Create explainer videos

2. 60% of respondents said peer reviews/user-generated feedback are the most trustworthy form of content. SOURCE

It’s no secret that people look at reviews before making a purchasing decision. So make sure to include them and make sure the reviews are positive, obviously.

Of course, your customers aren’t stupid, they’re going to know the reviews are biased towards you. So they’re going to look at other places such as directories and Google My Business reviews.

Check out these epic b2b ecommerce marketing strategies

What should I do with this statistic?

• Have positive reviews on the products pages
• Have positive reviews in directories and Google My Business

3. Nearly half of all B2B researchers are millennials. SOURCE

The oldest millennial was born in 1980, so they’re pretty old now. They can very easily be executives and decision makers at a company.

Nearly every single millennial out there has grown up with the internet, so they’re pretty tech-savvy. You don’t need to send them a direct post, email is fine. There’s no need to use the traditional marketing methods on this generation.

Make sure you create your content for millennials. Don’t be afraid of implementing new technologies, millennials are pretty tech savvy.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Create content appealing towards the millennial generation
• Don’t be afraid to implement new technologies to your product/service

4. 81% of non-C-suiters have a say in purchase decisions. SOURCE

C-suite refers to executive level managers within a company. And an overwhelming majority of non-C-suiters have a say in purchasing decisions. So you’re not simply having to influence and win over executives but people below them.

This gives us insight into what kind of marketing strategy you should create. Instead of going straight for the CEO or executive, win over the people below them like the consultants.

When doing outbound campaigns, email the consultant and ask if your service would be of interest to them. Warm them up and have them promote your service. 

The buying cycle will be longer due to this but it may yield higher conversion rates.

Here’s the only B2B eCommerce plan you’ll need.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Go after people below the C-suite level and try to sell to them

5. What type of content do buyers find most useful for tech purchases? SOURCE

53% of respondents said that video was the most useful form of content.

Respondents also mentioned that they were more likely to share video content over any other type.

Video content for B2C is incredibly popular. There’s typically a video to go along with a product that converts well. And that’s for good reason, it shows off the product’s functionality and aesthetics.

So it’s no surprise that it’s doing the best for B2B content. Customers want to see exactly what a product does before they buy.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Create video content explaining your product/service
• Invest in a YouTube channel

6.46% of our respondents said they tended to stick to the sources they knew and trusted for tech B2B. SOURCE

When it comes to tech items and services, it’s not surprising that they can break or be hard to understand. 

When you’ve got a good brand you’re buying from, you want to keep on buying from them, why would you need to risk it if the current items are working well for you?

Unless, people want to try out another option because they’re not happy with the company they’re currently buying from. Maybe they want to try another company because the price is better or they’ve been referred.

If you’re trying to get more customers for your tech company, you should first make it a priority to go after customers that are looking for a solution and are currently not with another company. 

You can do this with SEO. By finding search queries with commercial intent behind them.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Prioritise selling to people looking for a new solution
• Understand that buyer journey is long

7. 53% of those surveyed responded that 3-5 pieces of content was typical before contacting the supplier for tech B2B. SOURCE

Content is what keeps the internet alive, people are constantly consuming content and it’s no different for your customers. They want to learn more about the product/service you offer.

This is especially true for tech B2B products as they can be quite complex. Have content that will answer all the questions and objections a customer might have.

I would recommend sitting down and creating a document listing all the questions and objections a customer might have regarding your product. Giving satisfactory answers to them.

You can create blog posts from the questions and objections your customer will have, giving an in-depth answer. And you can have a F.A.Q section on the product page where you answer those questions concisely.

Here are some KPIs you should be tracking for your business.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Create content answering questions and objections
• Make it easy to contact you

8. 37% of respondents are spending more time on research for tech B2B. SOURCE

The internet has allowed consumers to be more empowered with their buying decisions. They can see what others are saying about your product and dive deeper into the product.

So make sure you clean up your online presence. Look at your Google reviews, see how you’re performing in local directories. If there are any bad reviews, try and get them removed by contacting the platform and giving them a valid reason.

If you’re unable to get rid of these bad reviews, try getting lots more reviews to overwhelm the bad ones. So customers will over-look it.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Create helpful content for your target audience
• Clean up your online reputation by getting rid of bad reviews and having lots of positive reviews

9. B2B buyers make around 12 online searches when looking for brands or businesses to make their purchases.

This shows you how empowered buyers are these days. They won’t buy from you straight away. Instead, they’ll do their research and find out more about the product/service you offer and see if it’s for them.

The customer will also find out more about your brand, so make sure your online reputation is positive. You don’t want negative results coming up when someone searches for your brand on Google.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Make sure your online reputation shows you in a positive light

10. The five most important factors for B2B buyers:

Evaluating solutions providers were: features or functionalities (73%), pricing (72%), reviews (59%), deployment time or ease of use (56%), and the provider’s ability to solve a pain point (47%). (Demand Gen, 2020) SOURCE

Your customers are still going to put the features and functionalities of your product first when looking to make a purchasing decision.

BUT…

This is only by a tiny margin of 1%. The price you place on your product will have a massive impact on the buying decision. So it needs to be competitive. 

A lot of people will be looking at reviews before buying a product, which shouldn’t be a surprise since we all do this before making a purchase online.

The delivery time and ease of use will be another important factor for buyers. This is something that many B2B eCommerce stores tend to skip over. So make sure to emphasize how easy it is to use your product or the ease of use for your service.

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What should I do with this statistic?

• Make sure your product/service has all the necessary features and functionalities
• Make sure your pricing is competitive
• Emphasise that your product is easy to use

11. 86% of buyers often feel overwhelmed when given more than ten types of sales content 

While 42% feel overwhelmed when given more than five. (Showpad, 2018)

This is called ‘decision fatigue’. When presented with lots of options, a decision will not be made or be delayed.

The same goes for content. Have one particular type of content you’ll send to prospects.

For example, let’s say you’re a pump manufacturer and you send your prospect a big guide on 10 different types of pumps. They’re not going to know where to start and will probably leave it for later (never).

Find out what type of product they’re interested in and then send them content regarding that.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Don’t overwhelm your prospects with too much information

12. 48% of B2B buyers rely on vendor websites when doing research for purchase decisions and doing ROI analysis. (DemandBase, 2020)

So there’s the good news and the bad news…

The good news is, nearly half the people will be staying on your website to do their research. So you can be biased towards your business.

The bad news is, you’re probably going to have to spend a lot of time publishing that content.

So make sure you have enough content for a user to be satisfied with the research they’ve done and are now confident to make a buying decision. Make sure you give them a way to analyse their return on investment when doing business with you.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Create content answering questions and objections
• Explain how the customer can calculate the ROI using your product

13. 53% of B2B buyers use social media as a resource during the buying process. (Martech Today, 2020)

Your social media is like a testimonial. They’re going on social media to see if you’ve got any social proof. 

Social proof can come in various forms…

First, make sure your social media page isn’t a ghost town. Make sure you’ve got likes and people following you. You don’t have to have millions of followers, a couple hundred at least.

Have people saying positive things about your product in your posts. Make sure you’re answering the questions people send you.

Make sure your brand aligns with everything you have online.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Be active on social media
• Have likes and followers
• Answer any questions

14. 25% of millennial B2B buyers (now the largest purchasing demographic) rely on search when doing research at the beginning of the buying process. (Foleon, 2020)

What happens when people have a question on a topic? 

They Google it.

And that’s what a lot of your customers are doing, searching online regarding the products/service you offer.

Make sure to list queries that you believe customers will search on Google. Then create blog posts around each query. 

You can also use a tool like Answer The Public to find what questions your customers are searching.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Create blog posts on queries related to your business so you can rank on Google search

15. 80% of B2B buyers use mobile phones at various points of the buying process. (Magento Commerce, 2019)

This shows that an overwhelming majority of your buyers are on mobile devices. So make sure your website is mobile friendly.

Make sure the website is fast loading, has an easy to read font and automatically adapts to any screen size.

What should I do with this statistic?

• Optimise your website for mobile devices