B2B buyers look for the same digital experience they encounter as consumers. Read this and other reasons why every B2B store needs a B2B mobile ecommerce app.
According to a recent study, mobile devices drive over 40% of B2B ecommerce sales for leading organizations. That’s a large number – but this is only the beginning. According to Forbes, B2B ecommerce will grow to $6.7 trillion by 2020, with most sales being mobile.
These findings may surprise many of our readers. After all, the B2B marketplace is traditionally desktop-oriented. What’s changing?
According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), evolving B2C habits are creating a paradigm in B2B ecommerce, too. According to BCG “today’s B2B buyers look for the same digital experience they encounter as consumers”.
What does it mean?
First, it means that more B2B buyers want a straightforward, simple, transparent purchase process. Second, it means that more people are making purchases online using mobile devices.
Given these facts, you need to deliver more value, faster, and more effectively than your competition by creating mobile-first B2B experiences. In this blog post, we’ll help by explaining the 6 reasons why every modern B2B store needs a B2B ecommerce mobile app.
Reason 1: B2B Buyers Expect a B2B Ecommerce Mobile App
According to Google, today’s typical B2B buyer is young – under 35 – with decision-making powers previously reserved for senior executives. These millennials are digital savvy and choose mobile over desktop before making a purchase decision.
The difference between B2B and B2C buyers is that they are generally less price conscious. If B2B ecommerce stores want to win and keep customers, they will have to succeed in one thing only: added value. That doesn’t mean offering endless features or lower prices. It means optimizing the entire experience, from research to delivery.
A B2B ecommerce mobile app – when developed with the right B2B features – can do just that. It’s faster, offers an easier experience and extra features that makes the whole buying experience more fluent and fun. That’s why 76% of people say they prefer mobile apps over mobile sites.
Reason 2: B2B Ecommerce Mobile Apps Improve Efficiency
Like we already mentioned, B2B buyers don’t necessarily want the absolute best price. Instead, they want their buying experience to be fast and easy.
Think of it this way. Your target audience is often in store, on the road, or at a busy office. They don’t shop for fun, like consumers do. Nor do they want to invest a lot of time placing (repeat) orders. Putting an intuitive B2B ecommerce mobile app in their hands pushes you to the forefront of their attention.
B2B mobile app features like in-store barcode scanners, saved purchase info, push notifications with in stock products, post-payments and other time-savers and attention-grabbers will make the life of B2B buyers easier.
Instead of having to bounce around between emails and your site, customers have all the info they need for repeat purchases in one B2B mobile app.
Reason 3: B2B Mobile Apps Lift Repeat Purchases and Loyalty
Retaining customers is critical to B2B success. Compared to B2C, where customer churn is part and parcel of doing business, B2B brands depend on regular purchases to survive and thrive.
To this end, you may be glad to know that people return 2x faster to a mobile app within 30 days, than they do to a mobile website. Plus they even spend 27% more per session.
That’s because with a mobile app, customers are reminded of your brand and app constantly. Everytime they check their phone (which is up to 200 times a day!), they will see your app logo on their home screen. Push notifications also drive retention and are an effective way to remind B2B buyers of your brand and new in-stock products.
Reason 4: Improve Cart Abandonment with your B2B Mobile App
A B2B business’s greatest opponent isn’t necessarily a competitor. It’s the conversion friction they get on their mobile website.
In over 37 studies, researchers found that 70% of shopping carts are abandoned prior to a purchase being completed. There are many reasons for this, but many of them center around poor experiences like long checkout forms or poorly designed stores.
A native app or PWA (progressive web app) can help you in this department. In our experience, optimizing checkouts can easily save a B2B brand 20% of the time customers spend in their carts filling out long, complex forms. This, in turn, leads to more conversions (a 300% improvement vs mobile websites).
Reason 5: The ROI of an App is Much Higher for a B2B Brand
For a B2C vendor, it’s harder to win back the return on investment.
B2B buyers, on the other hand, make purchases more often and for more volume than their B2C counterparts. This means that a B2B ecommerce mobile app tends to pay for itself quickly, with very little chance of it being net-negative.
This is especially true if you leave your app to a brand like JMango360. Our set-up costs are minimal, the monthly fee is small, and you get a dedicated app marketing team to help you succeed; with conditions like these, it’s almost impossible to fail.
Reason 6: Don’t lose Customers to Technology Savvy Competitors
A massive 78% of B2B ecommerce companies believe that mobile devices and B2B ecommerce mobile apps are the future of their industry. About 65% of these businesses already have a mobile app that helps them raise brand awareness, engage customers, drive revenue, and convert visitors into buyers.
As mobile commerce continues to take a bigger share of the traditional e-commerce pie, these trends are only likely to grow. Multi-step checkout processes on mobile will become a thing of the past.
In other words, the revolution is already here whether we like it or not. You can either be proactive about it. Or wait for competitors to take market share and customers away from you with their B2B ecommerce mobile app. In the end, though, staying in business will mean going mobile.
Final thoughts
B2B mobile commerce is at the center of two important trends. The first is a desire for simple, transparent purchase processes. The second is a drive to use mobile devices as they become increasingly popular.
These two trends are very important to the modern B2B buyer. Since B2B mobile ecommerce apps can help deliver on both fronts – ease of use and quality mobile experience – they’re a key value-add for modern B2B businesses. Since modern B2B buyers prioritize value over costs, getting a B2B mobile app can do a tremendous amount for your business.
Now, what can you do with all this information having read this article?
If you’d like to get a best-in-class B2B ecommerce mobile app that works on iOS and Android devices, consider contacting JMango360. We’ve developed over 1.000 mobile ecommerce apps and boost results through our app marketing support team.
Follow us:
