Study Summarizes Challenges and Best Practices of B2B Marketing

Almost half of manufacturers indicated in a recent survey that ecommerce will be their primary channel for receiving customer orders by 2020.

"State of Digital Commerce Report," conducted by Cloudcraze, indicated that manufacturers realize that customers are looking for the same experience from the business-to-business (B2B) brands as they are receiving in their personal lives with business-to-consumer (B2C) brands. They expect customized ordering capabilities, personalized product recommendations, rich content, peer reviews and user-friendly sites, as are the norm for B2C sites.

However, many manufacturers still struggle to implement these best practices, reporting problems with scaling to meet market needs, delivering custom pricing and promotions, and getting a holistic view of customers. CloudCraze’s "2016 State of Digital Commerce Report" identifies major pain points for manufacturers:
• About 9 in 10 manufacturers experience some frequency of inaccuracies in customer orders, with nearly half saying they often or always do (48%)
• About 9 in ten manufacturers also believe that increasing the level of engagement with customers would at least somewhat benefit their companies.
• Despite the  need for supply chain efficiency in this industry, 75% of manufacturers say their supply chains are only somewhat transparent.

Click here to download a PDF version of the "2016 State of Digital Commerce Report" to learn the challenges, pain points, and opportunities for growth across B2B and B2C markets.