Return on Intelligence
By Jim Gilbert
Retail Rambles
The Lighter Side of Shipping?
Feb 1, 2012Postage rate increases have gone into effect; consumers want — scratch that — expect free shipping; and don't forget about...
Return on Inventory
How Inventory Planning Supports Marketing Decisions
Jan 27, 2012Many smaller retailers simply don’t believe that improvements in inventory planning will provide enough incremental profit gain for a company...
Shipping Insights
Parcel Rate Increases for 2012
Dec 19, 2011UPS has announced 6.9 percent air increases, partially offset by a 2 percent fuel surcharge reduction. It's also announced a...
ThinkAbout: Inspirational Verve for Your Product Line!
Can You Up the Ante on Your Products’ Amusement Factor?
Oct 17, 2011Can you up the ante on any of your products’ amusement factors? Is there some ho-hum aspect of your product...
Retail Rants & Raves
What I Learned at NRF 2012
Jan 20, 2012The National Retail Federation's Annual Convention & Expo (aka Retail's BIG Show) in New York City wrapped up this past...
Creating Positive Customer Experiences
A Little Customer Romance Goes a Long Way
Feb 15, 2011It’s the time of year when everyone’s thinking about romance. But did you ever think about how much romance is...
B-to-B Sites Follow B-to-C in User Functionality and Benefits
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I’ve also noticed many more product videos cropping up on YouTube. Try searching for industrial tools or forklifts, for example. YouTube isn’t just for funny or entertaining videos anymore. Very useful videos on how to find, buy and use various B-to-B products are now part of the mix, as well. Try searching for some of your best-sellers.
I’m spotting a simple trend here: What we’re seeing today on many B-to-C sites will soon start popping up on B-to-B sites.
Here’s another example: More B-to-B sites are offering different payment methods, such as PayPal. Nearly 21 percent of all online purchases are made using PayPal, compared to 42 percent with credit cards. And PayPal is gaining fast. I also noticed that PayPal is launching a new service called PayLater that, as the name suggests, allows approved buyers to take up to 90 days to pay for their purchases. Bill Me Later and others offer similar deals. I expect we’ll see this offer migrate to B-to-B.
After all, what small business wouldn’t want extended terms? Even if your customers continue to have you bill them directly, they’ll soon expect similar payment terms from you as the ones available from PayPal. This would be especially true if your competitor already accepts PayPal and offers those deals.
This reminds me of the birth of the free shipping offer. Remember when that began? It started in B-to-C as a seasonal promotion or “extra” offer, but quickly expanded and migrated to B-to-B. Now it’s almost an expected benefit when a purchase of a certain size is made in many product categories, including office supplies, computer supplies and consumer electronics.
So, if you want to know what online functionality your customers will demand in the years to come, check out the leading B-to-C sites, and ask yourself whether what they offer — e.g., customer product reviews, the ability to share deals with friends, comparison shopping — is of interest to your customers. Such emerging functionalities won’t always migrate to B-to-B, but my guess is that most will.
Click on the “Post a comment” icon below or e-mail me at TerryJ@AbilityCommerce.com and/or post your comment on this site.
Terence Jukes is president of Ability Commerce, a 140-person firm that designs, builds and runs e-commerce and related marketing programs for catalog companies. He can be reached at TerryJ@AbilityCommerce.com.
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