brianwalker’s posterous

Two questions that come to mind.
What percentage of companies that have B2B also have B2C offerings? And what percentage of agencies/vendors/shops only do B2B implementations? It seems that agencies who do great ecommerce B2C can bring that branding experience the table. And in some cases do it with existing clients.

Hi Brian,
This is a great topic and one I've faced a number of times this year. While my focus is B2C, I have had a couple of B2B clients and like you, get B2B inquries. You are right, it's less about technology than about culture....but there are also key differences in the selling cycle, the number of decision makers involved and the negotiated nature of pricing and agreements that make having a "B2C like" e-commerce experience less of a slam dunk than it appears on the surface. That said, I think that some of the B2C best practices and technologies can and should be brought to the table as B2B companies look to improve their online presence. Many have been slow to adapt and are stuck with "brochureware" sites that do more harm than good.

In my experience, this B2B desire for a "retail-like experience" comes from finally understanding that the end-users of B2B sites are the same end-users as B2C sites, they're just shopping for different products, and as you pointed out Brian, they usually have a more rigid/closed shopping process. The biggest obstacles I've encountered have been organizing product data in a visually appealing way while still getting all the information and specifications across. B2B sites typically have more options for the same product, whether the options are a matter of quantity (each vs pack vs case) or by grades or weights, etc. Typically the B2C options are still relevant too (size, color). Organizing all this information in an appealing yet still functional product page is a feat.

I've also found that the checkout process is dramatically different with B2B sites, particularly when dealing with approval routing, multiple bill-tos and ship-tos on the same account, and tracking spending against grants and spend limits.

The good news is that, from what I've seen, B2B eCommerce is ripe with opportunity and the challenges faced and fixed in this space can bring innovation to eCommerce in the B2C space.