4 Simple Reasons Your B2B eCommerce Website Needs a Redesign B2B eCommerce has seen a 40 percent growth in the last four years, and this rapid expansion of online enterprise procurement will only continue to rise at a faster and faster rate. Here are four simple facts that will convince you to invest in building an industry-leading B2B eCommerce website to improve digital processes. B2B eCommerce Buyers Want a B2C Experience SVP of Acquity Group, Robert Barr, says that "buyers are consuming content and shopping on a wide array of devices on consumer retail sites and they’ve come to expect the same experience in their business purchasing.” According to Internet Retailer, 71 percent of respondents to a recent B2B procurement study said they would shop more online if it were easier and more convenient to browse and make B2B purchases on supplier websites. 71 percent also said they would be willing to leave existing suppliers for competitors who offer similar pricing but a more user-friendly eCommerce website for browsing for and purchasing products. This trend is due to B2B buyers increasingly expecting a purchasing experience similar to what they get on B2C-oriented sites. SVP of Acquity Group, Robert Barr, says that "buyers are consuming content and shopping on a wide array of devices on consumer retail sites, and they’ve come to expect the same experience in their business purchasing.” People like to use tools that make their jobs easier and discard the ones that don't. The same principle applies to enterprise procurement websites. The B2B Market is HUGE With Very Little eCommerce Competition...for Now In the US alone, the B2B eCommerce market was over $559 billion in 2013, more than twice the size of the B2C electronic commerce market. However, only a paltry 25% of B2B companies have built an eCommerce website! Furthermore, a significant portion of B2B websites that have been built are outdated and easily surpassed in quality, efficiency, and functionality. If you're an enterprise business without an eCommerce website, you have a GIGANTIC, $600 BILLION opportunity. This is your chance to adapt early to this change in B2B purchasing behavior to have an advantage over competitors. Why should you act now instead of waiting? Change is coming sooner than you think. Amazon recently launched its own B2B eCommerce website across 14 verticals. Don't become the Blockbuster of enterprise procurement companies. These Common Excuses for Refusing to Adapt to B2B eCommerce No Longer Apply With current B2B website design, pricing specific to each individual customer can be shown when that individual visits your website. One thing that B2B companies commonly refer to when deciding not to build an eCommerce website is that "my customers don't use eCommerce websites or the internet to make purchases." Believe it or not, the biggest adopters of eCommerce are internet users between the ages of 35 and 64. Another common dismissal is that the e procurement model is complicated and diverse to provide a seamless eCommerce website purchasing experience. However, a well-designed B2B eCommerce website can handle customer-specific pricing for every customer or individual contract. The best part is that with the right eCommerce platform, competitive pricing specific to each customer who visits your online procurement portal can be automated! No tedious data entry is required. Enterprise eCommerce Websites Drive Revenue, Efficiency, and Growth Having a business-to-business eCommerce sales portal allows your organization to grow in multiple ways. First, you can attract new customers through digital channels. Your purchasers spend a lot of time online, and if you show them an easier, faster, cheaper way for them to buy, they'll leave your competition in droves. Next, eCommerce procurement sites also allow for increased revenue through larger order sizes through cross-selling and upselling opportunities. Furthermore, the data you can gather to glean insight into your customers online is far superior and cheaper than offline channels. This allows you to find unvoiced buyer pain points, reduce purchase friction, and build a more personalized customer experience. Finally, countless integrations between the standard line of business systems and your enterprise eCommerce website eliminate the need for data entry. This also gives you access to all your data on one convenient and easy-to-use enterprise eCommerce platform. Conclusion: Adapt to Online Website Procurement or Fail Suddenly Like it or not, these trends are here to stay. Blockbuster is a famous example of a well-established company that refused to adapt to online trends and died spectacularly. The same thing will happen to B2B companies that choose to ignore the rising eCommerce tide.