New report shows that digital experience budgets will increase despite Covid-19 crisis
Elly Yates-Roberts |
According to Episerver’s recent B2B Digital Experience Report, business-to-business (B2B) enterprises are prioritising digital experiences and direct selling, in order to change how they connect with customers as a result of Covid-19. As such, the report shows that budgets in these areas will increase next year.
Of the 600 IT, e-commerce and marketing executives who responded, 41 per cent believe selling directly to customers online is the most significant opportunity for their business in the next year, followed by expanding into new geographies (37 per cent) and providing their salesforce with digital selling tools (36 per cent).
“It is clear from our data and conversations with customers that digital transformation is being accelerated to address immediate needs due to Covid-19,” said Alex Atzberger, CEO of Episerver. “Direct-to-consumer sales, for example, have been discussed for years, but now the time is there to rethink your go-to-market channel. Getting in touch with customers directly and in a hyper-relevant way is business-critical when in-person tactics are impossible to execute. You can’t not be digital anymore; you can’t not create content to create engaging experiences; you can’t not sell directly.”
Episerver customer and industrial products supplier Partsmaster launched its e-commerce site in early 2019 with Brilliance Business Solutions and, as such, has been able to meet the increased digital demand created by Covid-19 in both orders and web traffic, and support its customer base with its scalable infrastructure.
“It’s not surprising to me that selling directly to customers is seen as the top opportunity for B2B organisations,” said Robert Debault, software architect at Partsmaster. “None of us could predict the global impact of Covid-19, but Partsmaster saw clearly that B2B buyers want the same ease and convenience they receive from B2C brands when shopping online. It’s why we turned to Episerver and Brilliance to be digital, scalable and flexible. For many years it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ B2Bs needed e-commerce but rather ‘when’; and that ‘when’ has been accelerated overnight.&rdquo