The Next Industrial Revolution: How E-Commerce is Transforming B2B

Forrester Research estimates that cross-border B2B transactions will reach US $1.2 trillion over the next five years.1 With the advent of the internet and digitalization, the opportunity for companies to boost revenues by tapping global markets and to drive down costs through greater efficiency has also opened up new prospects for earnings growth. This huge potential is forcing B2B companies to adapt their supply chains to be more like a business-to-consumer (B2C) channel i.e. flexible, agile, scalable, quicker, mobile and global. More significantly, digitally-aware B2B customers are expecting ‘Amazon-like’ experiences including seamless commercial transactions when buying, receiving and returning products.2 Businesses have shifted their purchasing research and transaction activities towards online 3 especially when customer expectations for a full spectrum of services and support that are hosted online have continued to increase.4 Despite these customer expectations, there are fundamental differences between B2B and B2C commercial transactions which need to be understood and managed.