The data on eCommerce is clear – it is growing, it is here to stay, and though it is primarily driven by retail sales, it will also continue to have a significant impact on business-to-business (B2B) transactions as the humans behind them become increasingly used to conducting business online.
One of the biggest takeaways from this past Black-Friday / Cyber-Monday experience is that the majority of transactions are now being completed on mobile devices. This year, 51% of all purchases made were on mobile devices, up from 46% last year, an 11% increase. If this trend continues, that puts mobile transactions at two-thirds in just three short years.
Often, we differentiate B2B transactions from consumer, or B2C, transactions by how those transactions are occurring, without considering that the person executing the purchase continues to be trained by their personal shopping experiences to conduct business primarily online.
This means they will shy away from cumbersome purchase experiences involving sales people, days’ worth of back-and-forth emailing, and cumbersome payment processes in favour of the simplicity of a streamlined, mobile friendly, easy to execute eCommerce experience.
Overall, desktop purchases still made up for a greater dollar-value of sales, though that dollar value is due to having higher average-items-per-order, and a higher-order-value than mobile, whereas mobile had a higher number of transactions overall.
If you aren’t selling online, on a mobile-friendly website, you’re losing business. Britec has partnered with Sage 300 and Acumatica to ensure that your brick-and-mortar shop, and your eCommerce shop both talk to the same accounting system.
In the future, this trend will hold true for services-based businesses as well, where – for example – a person can go through an eCommerce portal to purchase time from an expert, like a lawyer or accountant. It used to be unthinkable that software would be sold as a service, and we’re now seeing a shift to services-as-a-service (the other SaaS) businesses popping up & experiencing steady and sustained growth.
So, if you aren’t actively selling – and closing – business online, on a mobile-friendly experience, you’re likely to fall behind your competitors. Find out how Britec can help you stay ahead.
