The study also reports that in their effort to grab a piece of the B2B pie, companies rushed to gain first mover advantage without truly understanding what drives value in on-line B2B brands suggesting a blind spot by executives to the importance strategic marketing plays in achieving corporate objectives.
The study reveals on-line purchasing decision-makers’ preferences, myths, marketing lessons and mistakes. The key finding in the report underscores that a familiar, reputable brand is the single most important buyer preference by a wide margin followed by service, price and variety. Moreover, for 80% of the buyers in B2B, price is even less important in on-line buying decisions.
“The findings in our study were counter-intuitive to what we would believe to be the case in B2B which is that price matters first,” said Stephen Dull, partner in Accenture’s Convergence Marketing practice and author of the study. “You can’t compete in B2B if your only differentiator is price or any of the four Ps of marketing for they are mere commodities (price, product, promotion and place of distribution). Focusing your attention on the customer is where companies will rise above the noise.”
Further, the study reports that the level of customer satisfaction on-line is lower in B2B than in B2C, symptomatic of a failure to identify and respond to the real demands of the market. According to the study, less than half of B2B customers’ say they are very satisfied with their on-line purchasing experience compared to 52% of B2C buyers.
For more information, see www.accenture.com.