A HIGHLY INTERACTIVE

CONFERENCE ALLOWING

THE MUCH NEEDED DRILL-

DOWN DISCUSSIONS THIS

MARKET NEEDS. LOVED THE

CASE STUDY INTERACTIVES

AND THE WORKSHOPS!– Alexander Leibold,

Global eCommerce Manager, HP

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Methodology 3

Part 1: Manufacturers 6

Part 2: Distributors 9

Part 3: Industry Overview 12

About WBR Digital 21

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METHODOLOGY

WHAT KIND OF B2B BUSINESS ARE YOU?

REGIONS

CONTRIBUTORS

ARE YOU…

In preparation for B2B Online 2017, WBR Digital

surveyed 100 B2B manufacturers and distributors

based in Europe. The research prioritised major

international players and focused on the biggest pain

points facing B2B sales and marketing executives

today. These topics will also be covered in detail at

B2B Online 2017. Respondents to the survey were

Directors of Marketing, Digital, Sales and eCommerce as well as others of a similar standing.

The survey was conducted by appointment over the telephone. The results were compiled and anonymised by B2B Online & WBR Digital and are presented here with analysis and commentary from the B2B Online community.

57%43%yIndustrial 34%

manufacturing

yLife Science: 33% Lab equipment

yOffice suppliers 33%

Vasuki Muralidhar, Head of eCommerce, Fabory (Grainger)

Stéphane Lafarge,Director, Western Europe, Herman Miller

yGermany 25%yFrance 21%yUK 15%yNetherlands 15%yBenelux 15%yNordics 9%

yA manufacturer 57%

yA distributor 43%

PART 1 : MANUFACTURERS

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DO YOU SELL YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DIRECTLY TO THE END-CUSTOMERS OR INDIRECTLY VIA DISTRIBUTORS?

yBoth directly and indirectly 65%yOnly indirectly 28% yOnly directly 7%

65% of our manufacturer respondents utilise more than one channel to sell their products to end- customers.

65%28%

7%

I am surprised to see that so many respondents operate a hybrid distribution strategy (direct and indirect) but apparently do not use their direct end-user connections to promote online business.

Stéphane LafargeDirector, Western Europe

Herman Miller

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WHAT CATEGORIES OF SUPPLIERS DO YOU INVEST THE MOST IN?

Marketing automation and email marketing 79%

Content marketing and management – inbound marketing 75%

Data management and DMP (Data Management Platform) 70%

Personalisation 65%

Marketplaces 63%

B2B systems integration (cloud/CRM) 61%

Customer experience 61%

Apps 58%

Cross-channel optimisation 56%

Programmatic marketing 49%

SEO and PPC 47%

Consultants 46%

eCommerce technologies 33%

Social selling 25%

PIM 25%

With GDPR less than a year away, investment in email and inbound content marketing is taking priority for manufactures.

It’s no surprise that the biggest area of improvement in the B2B space is around content and data. Publishing a catalogue online doesn’t work anymore, so intelligence around selection and content relevance is becoming key.

Vasuki MuralidharHead of eCommerce

Fabory (Grainger)

PART 2 : D ISTRIBUTORS

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HOW MUCH OF A THREAT DO YOU REGARD MARKETPLACES TO BE TO YOUR BUSINESS MODEL?

yMajor challenge – we need to be more competitive 49%

yMinor disruption – things are changing, but we offer 35% value which can’t be undercut by marketplaces

yExistential – we need to adapt to survive 16%

Almost half of our distributor respondents [49%] see marketplaces as a major challenge in their ability to stay ahead of the curve.

49%

35%

16%

Marketplaces can potentially disrupt standard product offerings and distributors need to work their strategy around it (or become one themselves). In all honesty, most distributors are marketplaces anyway, just not digital.

Vasuki MuralidharHead of eCommerce

Fabory (Grainger)

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WHAT CATEGORIES OF SUPPLIERS DO YOU INVEST THE MOST IN?

Content marketing and management – inbound marketing 67%

B2B systems integration (cloud/CRM) 65%

eCommerce technologies 65%

Marketing automation and email marketing 65%

Customer experience 61%

Data management and DMP (Data Management Platform) 56%

Apps 51%

Cross-channel optimisation 47%

Consultants 42%

SEO and PPC 42%

Marketplaces 37%

Personalisation 37%

Social selling 28%

Programmatic marketing 28%

PIM 19%

Investment in marketing techniques and technologies appear to be of the highest priority for distributors.

The predominant channel for customer engagement is still email and content, which also reflects the investments around marketing automation, data management.

Vasuki MuralidharHead of eCommerce

Fabory (Grainger)

PART 3 : INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

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IN RELATION TO THE GLOBAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR):

yYour organisation is in the process of getting ready 41% for May 2018

yYou feel your organisation is ready for May 2018 38%

yNothing has been set yet to prepare for May 2018 21%

Over a third of respondents feel as though their organisation is ready to deal with GDPR compliance when it takes effect in May 2018.

41%

38%

21%

Are we underestimating GDPR? It is not a recommendation but a law. Do companies fully understand the extent of implications of GDPR on their existing practices and data?

Vasuki MuralidharHead of eCommerce

Fabory (Grainger)

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IN TERMS OF CUSTOMERS DATA AND ANALYTICS, RATE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS FROM 1 (COMPLETELY UNTRUE) TO 10 (VERY TRUE):

COMPLETELY UNTRUE VERY TRUE

You are growing the database to expand market

coverage

You would define your data as clean, correct and

usable

Your organisation is working on improving data

architecture

Your organisation is investing in data

centres

There is a customer insight function in your

organisation

You have a single view of the customer

journey

You use a specific team (data miners, data scientists,

etc.) to interpret the data

You use predictive analytics, modelling and/ or

artificial intelligence

You are currently re-designing processes around

the systems and technologies

1%

1%

2%

6%

4%

2%

6%

5%

1% 3%

5%

9%

7%

14%

9%

16%

16%

6%

7% 15%

17%

11%

13%

16%

8%

9%

14%

14%

17%

18%

12%

21%

24%

26%

19%

33%

16%

22%

23%

14%

32%

28%

29%

29%

29%

26%

27%

27%

23% 5%

11%

9%

11%

10%

10%

23%

13%

32% 25% 13% 7%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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WHEN IT COMES TO E-COMMERCE PLATFORM ADOPTION AND UPGRADE, ARE YOU:

Satisfied with existing solutions

41%

Nearly 60% of respondents are still looking for more bespoke, customised solutions in relation to their eCommerce platforms.

Looking for more bespoke

solutions

59%

WHAT PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS ARE YOU FACING IN TERMS OF IT?

Data flow and exchange 67%

B2B system integration 63%

Website/ eCommerce platform integration 55%

User experience 48%

Website/ eCommerce platform adoption 31%

Translations 31%

Currency exchange 30%

Payments 27%

Invoicing 17%

Website design 13%

Data flow and exchange [67%] is the currently the biggest practical constraint in terms of IT for our respondents.

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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION IS:

yWe have an internal team that identify drop-off 43% points and work on finding solutions to these issues

yWe ensure conversion rates are optimised 34%

ySomething where the marketing communication teams is 13% involved to sure branding is part of the process

yBeing invested in and we are working with external 10% service providers in that regard

43% of our respondents have dedicated teams that ensure the customer journey is identified and improved on.

43%

34%

13%

10%

The normalisation of the customer journey is directly linked to the complexity around integration efforts in systems as reflected in the survey.

Vasuki MuralidharHead of eCommerce

Fabory (Grainger)

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WHAT FEATURES DOES YOUR WEBSITE (ECOMMERCE OR OTHERWISE) HAVE?

Dedicated customer service support number 97%

Access to a list of available products / inventory 95%

Availability of consumer product reviews (social proof) 52%

Downloadable content containing product information / 42% specifications

List of distributors selling your products 32%

Ability to buy products online 25%

Multiple payment methods 24%

Information on prices 23%

Click and collect 9%

Stock checking 6%

Other 2%

Interestingly, none of our respondents use live chat features on their eCommerce websites or marketplaces.

A dedicated customer service support [97%] and access to a product list [95%] are currently the top two features that most of our respondents offer on their website, whilst only 25% offer the ability to buy their products online.

B2B Online Research Team

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FOR YOU, THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

Is a massive opportunity and we are

currently investing

56%

A fad

2%

Something we have our eye on but are not actively investing in at the moment

42%

56% of our respondents have seen opportunity in IoT and are currently investing in it.

The Internet of Things is not actively pursued as a strategy by almost half of the respondents, which is a huge opportunity for growth.

Stéphane LafargeDirector, Western Europe

Herman Miller

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IN YOUR ORGANISATION THEDIGITAL PROPOSITION IS…

yA marketing channel creating leads for offline sales 66%

yA marketing channel leading both to offline and online 25% sales

yAn online sales platform complementing offline sales 4%

yAn online sales platform replacing (or aiming to replace) 3% offline sales

yA marketing channel leading to online sales 2%

43% of respondents primarily see the digital proposition as a marketing channel to support their offline operation. A further 25%, however, have also now incorporated online sales.

43%25%

4% 3%2%

Surprisingly, digital is used predominantly for lead generation rather than conversion which draws from the complexity of B2B sales process. Surprisingly, marketplaces tend to focus more on conversion.

Vasuki MuralidharHead of eCommerce

Fabory (Grainger)

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WHAT STRATEGIES ARE YOU USING TO DRIVE SALES?

Email marketing 99%

Content marketing 81%

Physical newsletter / flyers 67%

Printed Catalogues 60%

Paid search advertising 57%

SEO 57%

Paid social media advertising 50%

Tele-marketing 29%

Blogs 25%

TV/Radio advertisements 19%

81% of our respondents are now using content marketing as part of their marketing strategy to drive sales.

Email marketing [99%] and content marketing [81%] are currently the two most preferred strategies in driving sales for respondents, with TV and radio advertisement being the least preferred strategy.

B2B Online Research Team

ABOUT WBR DIGITALAt WBR Digital we design and execute bespoke content marketing campaigns, delivering insightful content to our high-level audience all year round.

We are a team of marketers, researchers and writers with a passion for content with a creative twist. From research-based whitepapers focused on your priorities, to benchmarking reports, infographics and webinars, we can help you to inform and educate your readers and reach your marketing goals at the same time.

Contact us to find out how your business could benefit from:

J Year-round access to the wider WBR event database

J Lead generation campaigns that fit your priorities

J In-depth research on current fast-moving issues and future trends

J Promoting your expertise a thought leader in your field

Contact: Tanyel Crossley Head of Digital Publishing

Tel: +44 (0)20 7368 9708 Email: Tanyel.Crossley@wbr.co.uk