For Years, B2B Executives Have Been Comforted by the Myth: “Our Business is Too Complicated to Be Shopped Online,” or “Our Customers Prefer Personal Interaction.”
But That’s No Longer True. Today’s Purchasing Managers — the People Who Are Shopping Online — Grew Up with the Amazon Experience — Seamless, Instant and Transparent — and Now Those Expectations Are Being Brought into Their Buying Process.
This Is Not Just a Preference, It’s a Demand. According to Our Extensive Report: “The Silent Killer in Your Order Book,” Failure to Meet These Demands Does Not Annoy Your Clients, It Gives Them to Competitors.
The Rise of "Silent Churn"
There is a particularly dangerous aspect of the current wholesale customer experience — that unhappy clients do not typically complain about poor service. Instead, they quietly leave for a competitor who provides a better experience.
We refer to this as silent churn. Your clients are not demanding a digital portal so they can shop on-line for themselves, but instead are tolerating the manual processes you have established in order to avoid shopping with someone else who has provided a better online experience.
The Data is Alarming. The global B2B eCommerce trends (US/UK) and emerging Digital Procurement Expectations (UAE) clearly demonstrate that 94% of B2B buyers want a self-serve online experience similar to what is available in B2C. And more alarming still, for VPs of Sales, 80% of B2B buyers state that they would switch vendors if given a better online experience.
Case Study: When the Familiar Becomes Fatal
To Illustrate the Real Risk, Consider the Case of “Acme Supply,” A Mid-Sized Industrial Distributor Discussed in Our Core Findings. Acme was proud of its “High Touch Model” which relied on manual entry and telephone calls.
Acme Lost a Client That Represented 15% of Its Annual Revenue, Not Because of Price, nor Because of Product Quality. Acme Lost the Account Because a Competitor Offered a Digital Portal That Allowed the Client to Manage Reorders 24/7. Acme’s Manual Process, Once Seen as Providing a Service, Had Become a High-Friction Liability. What Was Once Familiar to Acme, Had Become Fatal.
Complexity is Not a Reason to Refuse
Another Common Objection From Leadership Is That Their Product Catalog Is Too Complex to Support an “Amazon-Like” Interface. This is a Misconception.
Modern B2B Commerce Has Been Specifically Designed to Handle Complexity That B2C Sites Do Not, Such as Tiered Pricing, Customer Specific Catalogs, Approval Workflows, and Split Shipping Logic.
When You Implement These Tools, You Prevent Churn. More importantly, when a client logs in and views their specific “Reorder List” with their negotiated prices, changing to a new vendor becomes a very high friction decision.
The Bottom Line: Adapt or Decay
The “Amazon Effect” is not Coming; it Already Exists. In Both Mature Markets such as the US and UK, Where B2B eCommerce Trends Are Most Clearly Demonstrated, and in Emerging Regions Such as the UAE, Where Rapid Digitization of Digital Procurement Expectations Is Taking Place, the Message from Buyers Is Consistent: Make it Easy, Or We Will Go Elsewhere.
You Can No Longer Confuse a Transaction with a Relationship. By Automating the Reorder Process, You Protect Your Base and Free Your Sales Team to Build Relationships Based on Strategy, Rather Than Data Entry.
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