B2B eCommerce: Basics, Business Models and Best Practices in Business-to-Business Online Trade

218 Pages·2022·6.242 MB·English

by  Gerrit Heinemann

Gerrit Heinemann
B2B eCommerce
Basics, Business Models and Best Practices
in Business-to-Business Online Trade
B2B eCommerce
Gerrit Heinemann
B2B eCommerce
Basics, Business Models and Best Practices
in Business-to-Business Online Trade
Gerrit Heinemann
Hochschule Niederrhein
eWeb Research Center
Mönchengladbach, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
ISBN 978-3-658-38527-9 ISBN 978-3-658-38528-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38528-6
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023
This book is a translation of the original German edition „B2B eCommerce “ by Heinemann, Gerrit, published
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Preface
While digitized transactions have been established among manufacturers and wholesalers
since the 1990s in the form of electronic data exchange, automated ordering, and ePro-
curement, only a small minority of German manufacturers engage in true e-commerce.
Only a few B2B suppliers provide online shops for their commercial customers, although
these can demonstrably reduce transaction costs in the processing of orders and at the
same time increase customer loyalty. Without exception, associations and experts there-
fore also predict significant online growth in the B2B segment.
It is striking, however, that often no differentiation is made, neither according to value-
added stages nor according to uses and requirements. While it is undoubtedly obvious for
finished products – both for industrial goods and consumer goods – that sales via online
shops can replace catalogues, the advantages for project and plant business, supplier busi-
ness, and system business remain largely unclear. It is not without reason that the European
B2B online market is still highly fragmented and consists largely of niche providers as
well as address lists and industry directories. Dominant market leaders – especially with
an ecosystem like Amazon – are still missing.
Therefore, it is not surprising that especially experienced B2C players like Amazon are
now entering the B2B online market. Besides Amazon, other players such as the global
marketplace Alibaba.com, eBay Supply, Mercateo, WerLiefertWas, and EuroPages are
already active. This could become a huge threat to German wholesalers, especially because
of a “consumerization in B2B business”: The same B2B customers who shop at Amazon
Supply today are also B2C customers at Jeff Bezos and therefore expect the same service,
i.e., “B2Me”. B2C providers can leverage their experience and familiarity here and use
services like supplier credit to turn their B2C customers into loyal B2B customers. It is
therefore not surprising that similar principles of customer approach are increasingly
being used in the B2B sector as in B2C communication. Increasingly, many consumer
goods suppliers are operating a B2B shop in addition to a B2C one. The result is a new
combination of “Consumerated B2B and Disintermediated B2C,” i.e., a kind of hybrid
distribution of branded goods. The appropriate term for this is “B2B2C” and is already
being used in the e-commerce scene.
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vi Preface
The following factors are likely to fuel B2B online growth in the coming years: Firstly,
large corporations, larger medium-sized companies, and “hidden champions” in particular
are currently investing in digital and networking projects, which will lead to a higher
degree of networking among companies. Secondly, the growing investment in digital busi-
ness processes is leading to more extensive digital communication both internally and
externally, which is also fueling the level of networking. Thirdly, more and more compa-
nies are selling on marketplaces, thus learning about online sales in the first instance.
Fourth, the move into digital business models ensures a higher digital share of value cre-
ation. And fifthly, there is a great need for SMEs to catch up, which is increasingly being
recognized.
Mönchengladbach, Germany Gerrit Heinemann
Contents
1 B2B eCommerce Specification 1
1.1 B2B versus B2C eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Digital B2B Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Types of Suppliers and Sales in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 Types of Customers and Users in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.5 Digital Maturity Levels and Barriers in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6 Truth and Fiction in Digital Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Basics of B2B eCommerce 19
2.1 Digital Basics of B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.1 Physical Versus Virtual Value Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.1.2 Phases of Digitization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.1.3 E DI Versus Industry 4.0 Versus B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.4 P latform Economy in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.5 G rowth Factors of the B2B Platform Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.1.6 F orms of Operation in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.2 Business Types of B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2.1 P roject Business in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2.2 S upplier Business in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.3 S ystem Business in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.4 I ndustrial Goods Business in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2.5 C onsumer Goods Business in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.2.6 I ntegration Business in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3 Customer Interaction in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3.1 P urchase Phases and Conversion in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3.2 Selling Center Versus Buying Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.3.3 Onsite Versus Offsite Customer Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.3.4 Upstream Versus Downstream Customer Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.3.5 C ustomer Journey in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.3.6 T ransaction Behavior in B2B eCommerce Using the
Example of Domain Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
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2.4 Marketing and Sales in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.4.1 Marketing Policy and CRM in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.4.2 Sales, New Purchases and Repurchases in B2B eCommerce . . . . . 62
2.4.3 Shop Design and Usability in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.4.4 Conversion and Shop Productivity in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . 67
2.4.5 Login, Purchase Completion and Check-Out in B2B eCommerce . 70
2.4.6 System Strategy and Shop Selection in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . 72
2.5 Customer Centricity as a Basic Requirement for Online Retailing . . . . . . . 82
3 Business Models in B2B eCommerce 91
3.1 Business Models in the B2B Consumer Goods Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.1.1 The Digital Universe of Consumer Goods Manufacturers . . . . . . . 92
3.1.2 B2B eCommerce for Consumer Goods as a Digital Ecosystem . . . 96
3.1.3 Five Conditions for B2B Consumer Goods Transactions . . . . . . . . 99
3.1.4 Multi-channel Distribution as the Basis of B2B2C Commerce . . . . 102
3.1.5 Future B2B eCommerce for Consumer Goods as B2Me. . . . . . . . . 108
3.2 Business Models in the B2B Industrial Goods Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.2.1 Consumerization in B2B Industrial Goods Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.2.2 Derivative Demand in B2B Industrial Goods Business . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.2.3 Digital Marketing and Brand in B2B Industrial Goods Business . . 117
3.2.4 Digital Content for Industrial Goods Fairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.2.5 Future B2B eCommerce for Industrial Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.3 Business Models in the B2B Supply Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.3.1 B2B Supply Pyramid and OEM as Customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.3.2 B2B Suppliers and Outsourcing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.3.3 Service Providers as Suppliers of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3.3.4 B2B in Sourcing and eSourcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
3.3.5 B2B Customer Acquisition of PLMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.4 Business Models in the B2B Systems Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
3.4.1 B2B Systems Business as Systems Selling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
3.4.2 Demand-side Connectivity in the B2B Systems Business . . . . . . . . 137
3.4.3 OEM as A Business Model in the B2B Systems Business . . . . . . . 140
3.4.4 Value Factors and Brand Management in the B2B Systems
Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
3.4.5 Cloud Computing Commerce in B2B Systems Business . . . . . . . . 143
3.5 Business Models in the B2B Project Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
3.5.1 Phase-Related eCommerce in B2B Project Business . . . . . . . . . . . 148
3.5.2 New Purchasing Requirements in B2B Project Business . . . . . . . . 150
3.5.3 Pricing Leverage and Value Selling in B2B Project Business . . . . . 152
3.5.4 Online Configurator and Multi-channeling in B2B
Project Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
3.5.5 General Contractors and Consortia in B2B Project Business . . . . . 157
3.6 Integration Business as a Value-Adding Approach in B2B . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Contents ix
4 Best Practices in B2B eCommerce 163
4.1 Best Practices in the B2B Consumer Goods Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
4.2 Best Practices in B2B Industrial Goods Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.3 Best Practices in B2B Supply Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
4.4 Best Practices in B2B Systems Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
4.5 Best Practices in B2B Project Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
4.6 Best Practices in B2B Integration Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
5 Risks in B2B eCommerce 179
5.1 Legal Risks in Online Trading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.1.1 L ogin and Identification of B2B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.1.2 T he General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
5.2 Business Risks in B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
5.2.1 R isk of Lack of Business Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
5.2.2 Lack of Digital Readiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
5.3 The Myths of B2B eCommerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
References 193
About the Author
Gerrit Heinemann is director of the eWeb Research Center at Niederrhein University of

Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach, where he has been teaching business administra-
tion, management theory, and trade since 2005. He is also a visiting professor at the
Management Centrum Innsbruck and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Prior
to his academic career, he held responsible positions in the retail sector for around 20
years, including head of marketing at Douglas Holding AG, central managing director of
Drospa Holding, and head of the Retail and Consumer Goods Competence Center at
Droege & Comp. Today, he holds various supervisory board positions in e-commerce and
retail companies and supports start-ups on the advisory board.Prof. Heinemann is the
author of more than 400 articles and 25 books on the topics of digitalization, e-commerce,
and online and multi-channel retailing. His book Der neue Online-Handel (The New
Online Trade) has also been published in English and Chinese and will be released in its
14th edition at the beginning of 2023.
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