7 Amazing B2B E-commerce Trends To Grow Your Business In 2023

By | Updated Date : Jan 16, 2023 | 4 Comments | 112 views | Jan 16, 2023
  • 7 Amazing B2B E-commerce Trends To Grow Your Business In 2023

B2B E-commerce is an unstoppable juggernaut.

Research suggests that 80% of B2B sales will be done online by 2025.  A figure worth taking note of!

Add to this the fact that B2B ecommerce sales are set to register a 71% growth from 2019 to 2027. 

That’s what we call MASSIVE!

B2B eCommerce: the global landscape

Exciting times are ahead for enterprise B2B brands

In the past few years, businesses witnessed and handled crisis scenarios that were unheard of. From global lockdowns to the breakdown of supply chains, we eventually overcame all. The final outcome of these tough times was - a complete overhauling of the way we did business.

Business owners, as well as B2B clients, realised the potential and significance of taking the online route. 

In a short span of time, the business-to-business segment witnessed tectonic shifts. Here is how enterprise brands surged ahead;

Shift 1.0: From heavy dependence on traditional business methods enterprise brands moved online

Shift 2.0: M-commerce became the key channel for doing business 

Shift 3.0: Buyer journeys became multi-channel, with buyers connecting with brands on at least 4-6 channels before converting

Shift 4.0: The road ahead is through disruption i.e, adopting hybrid business models 

Improved internet and smartphone penetration, agile B2B ecommerce solutions and growing global connectivity of markets made these changes possible.

And the trends in the online B2B landscape clearly indicate how enterprise brands should chart their future roadmap. Here are some key insights to strategise the growth plans of a modern B2B company;

  • $20.9 trillion is the projected value of the B2B market globally by 2027
  • 20.2% is the CAGR of B2B ecommerce for the period 2023-2030
  • 65% of B2B companies are exclusively selling online in 2022
  • 5X+ growth in global B2B e-commerce sales on marketplaces from 2020 to 2022
  • $31.19 billion is the estimated GMV of B2B online marketplace worldwide

Source: Statista, McKinsey & Company, DHL Express

It’s out there in plain sight. 

Business-to-business brands that incorporate these trends can set up their business for growth like never before!

B2B ecommerce trends to watch in 2023 and beyond

B2B E-commerce made great strides throughout 2022 and is all set to keep climbing to new heights in 2023 and beyond. Rapidly changing market dynamics, customer expectations and next-gen technology will be the key drivers of change in the business-to-business landscape. 

In this blog, we present the top B2B ecommerce trends and examine how businesses can take advantage of these opportunities to gain a competitive edge. We will also explore the challenges faced in implementing these trends and the solutions and strategies that would help in overcoming them.

Without further ado, let's check out the B2B ecommerce trends for 2023 and beyond:

B2B has shifted to virtual sales

Ecommerce is the future of B2B commerce. Here is how enterprise brands and buyers feel about doing business online;

  • 90% + of B2B organizations have moved to sell through digital channels
  • 90% savings in sales and operating businesses having a B2B ecommerce website
  • 70% of B2B customers prefer doing business remotely
  • 74% of B2B buyers feel buying from a B2B website is easier than buying offline 

Source: McKinsey & Company, Statista

While business owners have found selling online to be cost and time-efficient, B2B customers have also given an overwhelming response to doing business online. Setting up an online store enables brands to be available to their customers 24X7. Also, targeting customers in new untapped markets becomes easier as you can connect with buyers from new geographies using digital channels and tools.

While setting up your business-to-business online store is a lucrative idea, finding the right B2B ecommerce solutions can be challenging. The complex B2B set-up needs an advanced ecommerce platform that comes with a host of B2B features to handle diverse B2B processes. StoreHippo's B2B ecommerce platform has 300+ built-in enterprise-grade business-to-business features like RFQ, MOQ, custom forms, customized invoices, multi-pricing, custom entities etc. to make B2B online selling a breeze. The scalable and flexible StoreHippo platform is ideal for businesses planning to leverage the latest B2B ecommerce trends and go to market in record time.

B2B marketplace model is gaining traction 

We all are witnesses to the stupendous growth and popularity of the marketplace model in the B2C segment. Well, 2023 is going to be the year of the dominance of B2B marketplaces

Check out some of the trends;

  • 4X growth in the number of B2B marketplaces in the last 3 years
  • 5.3 X growth in sales on B2B marketplaces from 2020 to 2022
  • 7.2X faster growth of B2B marketplaces as compared to overall B2B eCommerce
  • 6.9% of B2B online sales come through marketplaces
  • 75% of B2B procurement spending in the coming 5 years is expected to take place on online marketplaces 

Source: 360 Digital Commerce

Setting up an online marketplace is the way to win the B2B battle!

While selling on popular marketplace platforms offers a shortcut to SMBs in the business-to-business segment, enterprise B2B brands can leverage the multi seller model to accelerate their growth. Building a multi seller B2B ecommerce portal makes it easy for brands to onboard, manage and grow their vendor network. This eventually helps in building a stronger brand presence and visibility which accelerates growth.

Building an online marketplace of their own from scratch can be very challenging for brands. To make the process faster and smarter brands should go with a future-ready marketplace builder like StoreHippo. With its comprehensive multi vendor solutions StoreHippo helps build a variety of B2B marketplaces for wholesale, manufacturing, distribution, a chain of multiple dealer-based stores, hybrid marketplaces, B2B2C marketplaces or any other type of B2B use cases.  

Omnichannel B2B is the future

B2B ecommerce trends are heavily influenced by the experience of business-to-business decision makers on B2C sites. With more and more B2C brands offering omnichannel experiences to their buyers, wholesale enterprise buyers are also experiencing the same from the brands they are interacting with.

Have a look at some of the