The idea of a customer-centric buying experience was almost entirely a B2C development until recent years. It would always inevitably trickle down to B2B relationships, but this is a trend that we’ve seen grow quicker than expected over the last few years.
The idea of customer-focused relationships speaks for itself; the customer’s needs, preferences, and demands come first. For wholesalers & B2B delivery businesses, this means understanding the needs of each customer, and letting these demands shape their operations.
In B2B distribution, customer trends are shifting in various ways and causing wholesalers to shift their focus in a new direction. These various trends can be summarised by the customer demand for increasing personalised services.
“Customer loyalty and profitability are increasingly tied to a company's personalisation of customer experience.”
B2B customers are looking for a buying experience and relationships that mirror that of the B2C market. They want to be able to place orders more easily and more conveniently, and they also want a quicker, more reliable and more transparent delivery service.
A global shift of priority towards sustainability and Eco-friendly business practices has not excluded the B2B marketplace, and this rings true for the wholesale industry too. Retailers, given their consumer-facing nature, were understandably leaders in this transition. However, during the pandemic, a light was shone on the supply chain and its processes which uncovered environmentally-damaging practices, that are now being reviewed and restructured.
Retailers are placing pressure on their network of suppliers to be more transparent and more Eco-friendly, landing us in the current climate where wholesalers and delivery businesses are re-evaluating their operations to meet these demands and remain desirable.
B2B customer trends will shape the wholesale industry in various ways, and there are predicted to be very definite winners and losers.
Understanding these challenges and demands is the first hurdle, with the second being the ability to address these demands swiftly as customer demands continue to evolve in the coming years.
This means that visibility, agility and efficiency are key priorities for wholesalers and B2B delivery businesses looking to become more customer-focused. Each of these priorities relies on investment in technologies that can handle as much data as possible behind customers.
“To be successful in the years to come, businesses will need to focus on data quality and data augmentation. This means ensuring that all customer information is cleansed and enriched with machine learning algorithms to be used effectively to personalise the customer experience.”
Wholesalers need to have technologies that hold and organise all previous sales records, customer buying habits and trends. These technologies should offer forecasting and predictive analytics capabilities so wholesalers can personalise each customer’s buying experience, offer personalised services, and predict demand so they can prepare accordingly.
As the B2B marketplace speeds up the pace as it trails the B2C buying experience, the winners will be those who continuously look for ways to invest in their products, their services, and their customers. As we move forward, technology, machine learning, and big data will have a crucial role to play in this evolution.
References: Top B2B marketing trends to watch for in 2022
