Breaking Down Barriers to B-to-B Online Commerce

Business buyers are rapidly evolving in terms of where, when and how they want to make their purchases. Your e-commerce ecosystem needs to evolve with them in order to meet those changing expectations. In an increasingly competitive market landscape, you need to ensure that you're not only capturing those purchases, but also maximizing the revenue potential from each sale.

Optimizing B-to-B e-commerce can be challenging. It requires buy-in from many parts of the organization as well as outside partners with whom you have long-standing relationships. Some proven methods that can help bring about the organizational shift needed to achieve a successful B-to-B online commerce strategy include the following:

• Understand where your business has been and where your customers are going. How have you handled customers within various buyer segments? What do analytics tell you about where your customers and their buying patterns are going? How can your business use a direct B-to-B buyer approach to address unmet needs?
• Identify where power resides within your business. What are the biggest sales channels? Who "owns" each revenue stream? Every company needs to have the proper balance of where their revenue comes from, both internal and external sales channels. Spend the critical time needed to determine what your ideal balance is now and in the future.
• Find an "internal champion" and a "channel champion." See which leaders are open to learning about how B-to-B e-commerce can drive success for your business. Find someone willing to advance the idea in the C-suite. Is there a key reseller, distributor or strategic channel partner willing to work together to create a win-win situation?

While there are significant challenges in successfully implementing such a B-to-B strategy, they're likely organizational and can be overcome by creating a realistic and tangible vision for your business. By starting with a clear focus on addressing channel conflict issues and then taking the steps to go directly to the business buyer, your organization will be better armed to address channel complexities and ultimately generate more online revenue.

Michael Chuma is director, global product management, B-to-B at Digital River. Michael can be reached at mchuma@digitalriver.com.