The future is now: Technology shaping e-commerce

PROS released a new report "The Future is Now - Technology Shaping E-Commerce". One in five decision makers in B2B companies around the world gets most of their sales from e-commerce. This number will triple in five years.

Despite this, B2B decision makers have seen the potential of e-commerce, with 72% of respondents believing it would be beneficial to them. The main benefits that e-commerce offers are:

• Potential to attract more customers (52%)
• Meeting customer expectations for self-service purchasing (49%)
• Reduced management costs (46%);
• Sales process automation (44%).

E-commerce offers a range of benefits, but also some issues, including:

• Maintaining competitive prices (37%);
• Protecting prices (34%);
• Directing customers to the products they need (33%).

Other issues include enabling personalized offers, maintaining updated pricing, and displaying relevant promotions.

Personalization is a win-win situation. Companies that use this strategy correctly advance the purchasing process efficiently, and consumers also believe that such suppliers can deeply understand their needs. Suppliers who can often predict customer needs can drive higher value, bring better stickiness and loyalty.

The PROS report shows that B2B companies are investing in these areas, but few have actually implemented the technology. For example, while 81% of businesses have invested in dynamic real-time pricing technology, only 39% have implemented one. Similarly, while 8 in 10 have invested in personalized pricing and promotion technology, only half (43%) have implemented it. 83% of companies have invested in technology to unify the buying experience across channels, but only 43% have actually implemented it.

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