B2B business — even large industrial brands — is finally undergoing its own real time digital transformation, propelled by COVID-19. And it’s likely to bring long-term benefits.

Digital Commerce Consultant Pete Robertshaw of Space48 said, “In the last three to four months, we’ve seen just how vulnerable B2B business can be. Even the ones that were already online don’t quite have the optimized digital journey they need yet.”

Robertshaw recommends that B2B think more deeply about their online presence and learn to better understand their buyers.

“Some of the B2Bs we see think they know what their users want, but when it comes to optimizing their digital journey, they really don’t. UX and CX aren’t just important for B2C; they’re important for B2B too. Buyers want their shopping experiences to be seamless.”

As more and more B2B brands move online, we’ll start to see more innovation in related areas like content marketing and development, communications with customers, and the ways they tell their brand narrative online.

Direct Payment Group founder Aviv Baron predicts that B2B will even begin to offer more payment options to create efficiencies for both buyer and seller.

“We’re building a universal invoicing system, which will give sellers the ability to offer options like pay by credit card, e-check, ACH,” said Baron.

With that system, businesses will get more visibility into their payments received.

“We’re already seeing some B2Bs offering options to pay in installments, and I think that will increase over time.”

Resmed, a global company selling cloud-connected devices for remote patient monitoring, only recently took their B2B business online — but they haven’t looked back.

“Previously, all B2B orders were placed through emails or phone calls and logged in spreadsheets,” said Rajiv Shanmungananthan, customer-facing applications lead at ResMed Asia.

“Overall, at the end of the month, we experienced complete chaos that ... attributed to approximately 54 work hours per week.”

Ecommerce for their B2B business is, as Shanmungananthan said, “eradicating chaos from the end of the month,” as well as providing support for order management.