31 Oct What makes a B2B a B2B?

In most of my customer meetings, we always have a conversation about what makes that customer unique.  Some of their requirements are unique to only them, but others can be grouped into what makes B2B e-commerce unique.  Many are beginning to be considered best practices:

• Purchase by Committee – 70% of B2B purchase decisions include at least 2 decision makers, 28% include more than 5
• Languages – our customers average more than 7 operating languages
• Complex Organizations – organizations can have distributed and central contracts, multiple departments, business units, locations, and users
• Contract Pricing – each customer can have different and complex pricing per product
• Custom Catalogues – many contracts dictate more than just price down the exact products that their employees are allowed to purchase
• It’s their Job – the people buying from your site are different from people shopping for birthday gifts.  The main difference is that for your customers it is their job to buy from you
• Customers and Buyers are different – one user finds the right product to fit the application, a different user is responsible for purchasing and approving the purchase
• Additional Tools – customers need to view and pay invoices, setup users, check order status
• System Complexity – B2B customers average more than 3 ERP systems, 6+ order capture systems, and 2+ PDM / PLM systems
• Punch Out – not quite as cool as the game,  customer purchase through EDI, but yet want to shop through traditional methods

IMAGE SOURCE” http://www.destructoid.com/secrets-abound-in-nes-punch-out-here-s-one-143346.phtml