B2B companies everywhere are continuing to see staggering growth in eCommerce as not just another viable sales channel, but as a strategic imperative to meet modern buyer expectations and boost revenues in the digital era. But as we know, B2B companies are all at different stages of maturity with their eCommerce. Companies generally fall into one of four levels of the New B2B eCommerce Maturity Model: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, or Customer-Centric.
This four-part blog series explores each level and provides guidance on how to leap ahead with your eCommerce. This is the fourth post in the series, which is focused on Level 4: Customer-Centric eCommerce.
Understanding Level 4: Customer-Centric eCommerce
The fourth stage in our B2B eCommerce maturity model is Level 4: Customer-Centric eCommerce. This level is the Holy Grail in our model, and is all about maximizing revenue while also delivering an exceptional customer experience. But what exactly characterizes Level 4?
The Hallmarks of Customer-Centric eCommerce
Level 4 takes what a company has achieved in the Advanced level, and adds a powerful layer of personalization, guided selling, smart product recommendations, and consistent omnichannel experiences. The buyer gets a best-in-class, personalized experience while the company uses product and order data to create more opportunities to increase order volumes, add-ons, cross-sells, and up-sells. Extensibility is a key component of Level 4, with headless and composable architecture as a way to enable businesses to extend to new channels with ease.
Key Attributes of Customer-Centric eCommerce
- The strategy, tech stack, and experience are optimized for extensibility.
- The experience includes product discoverability and guided selling.
- Buyers get a personalized experience with smart recommendations across digital touchpoints.
- The eCommerce channel is revenue-boosting and future-proofed.
- The overall experience is customer-centric and connected.
What Customer-Centric eCommerce Looks Like in Practice
Let’s visualize a real-world scenario to understand what Customer-Centric eCommerce might look like in practice.
Imagine an enterprise fintech company that wants to put buyers at the center of its eCommerce and digital business strategy. This company has a long-term strategic initiative around digital transformation, with a key pillar being customer-centricity.
As part of a multi-year project, the company has invested in leveling up its data management around products and sales patterns and brought digital and marketing together to take the full portfolio of institutional trading and investment management products online. The company recently went live with a headless, AI-enabled eCommerce solution that offers personalized product recommendations to buyers and enables faster time-to-revenue for the business. The company has already heard great feedback from customers, both anecdotally and through data, and early results are showing not only an uptick in digitally sourced orders, but in revenue overall.
To learn more about Logik.io’s B2B eCommerce Maturity Model and determine your current level and next leap, download our guide today.
Looking for Level 1? Read about Basic eCommerce here.
Looking for Level 2? Read about Intermediate eCommerce here.
Looking for Level 3? Read about Advanced eCommerce here.
