- Omnichannel commerce as driver of digitalization of commerce
- New system landscapes and combined ecosystems bring integration challenges
Jena, Germany, 2015-10-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Organizations are reaping significant benefits from their digital B2B commerce strategies, but the fast-paced success has come at a price. This is the key finding from the Intershop 2015 E-Commerce Report, launched today, which explores the major shift currently taking place in B2B commerce.
The survey of 400 e-commerce decision makers, conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne, revealed that 97% of organizations have felt an impact due to changes in their B2B channels. Online-driven, omni-channel transformation is changing the way B2B brands connect with, engage and retain customers. On the other hand, digitalization demands the ongoing integration of supply chain and demand chain leading to more cross-linked processes, companies and businesses. All of which has ramifications for the wider digital enterprise.
Overall, respondents expect their organization’s digital platforms to grow by 13% in the next two years. Almost all (98%) respondents expect that their sector will benefit from the digitalisation of business, and the same proportion (98%) see opportunities from the digitalisation of business in general.
Yet, many are daunted by challenges as they build out the next phase of their B2B e-commerce business – especially when it comes to enabling an interconnected digital enterprise infrastructure. Most respondents (91%) expect to encounter challenges when growing their digital platform. The integration of IT systems into the B2B commerce landscape is viewed as a primary goal for the next three years. The vast majority of organizations (94%) still needs to integrate at least one IT system into their B2B commerce landscape, while they are also looking to incorporate an increasing number of business processes within their B2B e-commerce platform. The research also showed that B2B e-commerce teams are under intense scrutiny, with 99% of those surveyed saying that their organization measures B2B commerce success.
“While B2B e-commerce offers huge growth opportunities, it is very much a race of the fittest,“ commented Dr. Jochen Wiechen, CEO of Intershop. “For many organizations, delivering highly relevant and contextual experiences to their B2B buyers requires a radical rethink of their business structures, and a new dimension of automating processes along supply and demand chain. Those organizations able to re-engineer their offering fast and effectively will successfully deliver against today’s buyer expectations. Those that lag behind, however, risk losing out.”
Further key findings include:
- 97% of respondents’ organizations have felt impact due to changes of their B2B channels – and that’s driving a greater need for more integrated business processes and greater collaboration between functional teams
- In the next two years, respondents expect their organization’s digital platforms to grow by 13% – and that’s driving a parallel evolution of the e-commerce ecosystem from today’s web shop to a more complex and comprehensive customer engagement platform
- Almost all (99%) of those surveyed state their organization measures their digital B2B commerce success – principally customer satisfaction (65%), revenue growth (64%), average order value (48%) and spend-per-customer (47%). This demonstrates the expectation for business results
- Most respondents (91%) report their organization will encounter challenges when growing their digital platform – and that the integration of IT systems into the digital B2B commerce landscape is viewed as a primary goal for the next three years
- Technical faults (47%), low initial digital B2B sales (44%) and issues integrating digital and offline channels (44%) were the challenges most likely to be expected when setting up digital B2B channels.
- Almost all (98%) respondents expect that their sector will benefit from the digitalization of business, and the same proportion (98%) see opportunities from the digitalization of business – clearly, slipping behind represents a significant risk for those organizations that lack the vision or capability to evolve.
“It is great to see how many of the organizations we surveyed have embraced digital enablement. This capability is not only driving sales, but also helping them to enhance the good old fashioned face-to-face conversations that take place between key account managers and buyers and influencers,“ Dr. Jochen Wiechen continued. “On the other hand, digitalization is clearly rewriting the rules of competition. This means organizations are facing ever greater pressure to integrate their e-commerce operations directly into the business infrastructure. If they want to compete successfully, they will need to achieve true digital transformation.”
About the 2015 E-Commerce Report
Intershop commissioned independent research consultancy Vanson Bourne to survey 400 B2B decision-makers with responsibility for e-commerce in the UK, US, France, Germany, the Nordics and Benelux. The survey, conducted in June 2015, covered B2B organizations that had over €5 million online revenue and included a B2B element to their business. Participants were selected from organizations located in six geographic regions: the UK (60), the US (120), Germany (60), France (60), the Nordics (60) and Benelux (40).
The full Intershop E-Commerce Report can be downloaded from the Intershop website www.intershop.com/e-commerce-report .
About Intershop
Intershop Communications AG (founded in Germany 1992; Prime Standard: ISH2) is the leading independent provider of omni-channel commerce solutions. Intershop offers high-performance packaged software for internet sales, complemented by all necessary services. Intershop also acts as a business process outsourcing provider, covering all aspects of online retailing up to fulfillment. Around the globe more than 300 enterprise customers, including HP, BMW, Bosch, and Deutsche Telekom run Intershop solutions. Intershop is headquartered in Jena, Germany, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. More information about Intershop can be found online at www.intershop.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial and operational performance of Intershop. Actual events or performance may differ materially from those contained or implied in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could lead to such difference could include, among other things: Intershop’s limited operating history, the unpredictability of future revenues and expenses and potential fluctuations in revenues and operating results, significant dependence on large single customer deals, consumer trends, the level of competition, seasonality, risks related to electronic security, possible governmental regulation, and general economic conditions.
Intershop Public Relations
Heide Rausch
Phone: +49 3641 50-1000
Fax: +49 3641 50-1309
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