More than half of all US sales from manufacturers and distributors, wholesalers and business to business (B2B) goods and merchandise providers were made digitally in 2022. This was an 18% growth, compared to 2022.

B2B ecommerce alone is expected to account for 17% of B2B sales in the US by 2022 and
by 2023 it's expected to be worth $1.8trillion of sales.

However, at the outset of 2022 the united states B2B sector was anticipating a slowdown in sales. A combination of continuing trade wars and slower economic growth worldwide were expected to have an effect. Despite these concerns, ecommerce growth was likely to continue more quickly compared to sector as a whole.

This was prior to the coronavirus pandemic became predominant, causing many businesses to lessen their operations.

What role will B2B ecommerce participate in the US once we anticipate recovery?

US B2B ecommerce – looking forward

Measures to handle the coronavirus pandemic will result in permanent alterations in the B2B landscape for many businesses. Forward looking B2B companies are looking to innovation and ecommerce to bring them through.

In the first quarter of 2022 many B2B sellers saw ecommerce sales growing, but the pandemic brought about unpredictable rises and falls. Many companies are expecting sales at the end of 2022 to plateau or show a downturn. With no precedents, it is not easy to know how you can respond.

Some businesses are now beginning to build their post-coronavirus strategy according to new approaches to technology, marketing and operations.

Building blocks for B2B ecommerce growth

The speed of development in B2B ecommerce has accelerated throughout the coronavirus pandemic. However, many companies were unprepared for that dramatic changes in the marketplace. There is an urgent need to implement a strong infrastructure to carry on operating efficiently online in the future.

A recent report (April 2022) discovered that nearly half of B2B purchases now occur on the internet and that lots of businesses are leaving traditional sales representatives in favor of ecommerce. There's been a significant transfer of buying behavior, using the number of people buying from salespeople dropping from 44% prior to the coronavirus pandemic to just 16%.

Identifying opportunities – productivity will help businesses to manage their margins and improve profitability. B2B buyers are turning to online procurement to make business purchasing more cost-effective and efficient and to speed up the shopping process.

This is among the reasons why the function from the sales representative is evolving. Buyers want to research and evaluate their options quickly online; they'll simply want to speak to someone from your sales team when they can add value or simplify the procedure.

Equipping profits professionals to respond to bespoke and technical requests quickly and with confidence provides you with a competitive advantage. Which means that they must have accurate and reliable systems and processes. They'll need to see everything your buyers can see online and have access to all of your back-office business tools as well. This makes integration of the enterprise systems as well as your ecommerce platform a priority for future growth.

Easy purchasing
– online buyer/seller networks and e-procurement are increasing quickly in the US B2B marketplace. Although still the dominant approach to B2B purchasing, utilization of traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) is slowing.

Increasingly buyers are looking for automation and procurement integration with as many suppliers as you possibly can. Businesses that meet this requirement will be well enroute to establishing long-term relationships.

Solutions may include punchout catalogs, purchase order automation and electronic invoicing, for instance.

Easy payments
– the immediate implications of the coronavirus pandemic resulted in many companies saw employees working at home the very first time. To keep things running smoothly new ways to provide quotations and invoices and also to accept payments were needed in many cases.

Now that these principles are established, businesses can harness these new and flexible approaches to give buyers an easier, more retail-like experience.

Learning from data – new relationships between buyers and sellers are proving itself to be both adapt to changing market conditions. Self-service and business to consumer (B2C) like experiences will further change buying behavior and provide new data-rich resources that can be turned into actionable insights using artificial intelligence.

Data-driven decisions will be more important than ever within the post-coronavirus world. While marketplaces will still play an important part, companies that connect directly with their customers will benefit from deeper insights into their behavior that will be invaluable in building long term relationships, both online and offline.

Taking charge of your B2B ecommerce growth

Research suggests companies already planning how you can capture market share once we get over coronavirus are more likely to succeed in the longer-term. Agility and a concentrate on customer value and support will give you a competitive advantage.

For B2B firms that have recognized the strength of ecommerce as a foundation for growth, Cloudfy provides a complete out-of-the-box solution and seamless integration with leading business systems. For specialist requirements, there's a powerful application programming interface for simple customization. As a software as a service (SaaS) solution within the cloud there's no need for major capital investment and with regular updates, you will stay at the forefront of the latest ecommerce developments.

Find out how Cloudfy might help your manufacturing, wholesale, importing or distribution business to develop. Book a totally free demonstration.