Uncovers essential considerations for driving growth as companies adapt to the needs of changing buyer expectations
- B2B sales are following B2C trends: 65 percent of B2B sellers believe buyers choose to buy online; 93 percent of B2B buyers say they prefer to buy online
- 45 percent of companies embrace modern commerce; 54 percent plan to do so in the next year
- Expanding markets, improving customer experience are key drivers for modern commerce investments
HOUSTON, June 6, 2017 – A study released today by PROS® (NYSE: PRO), a cloud software company powering the shift to modern commerce, reveals new data and insights into the state of B2B sales. The report – Accelerate Your Journey to Modern Commerce – illuminates the challenges companies face in making the transition to better serve their customers in the digital era. Three hundred B2B decision makers – evenly split between the United States and Europe, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany – responded to the April 2017 commissioned study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of PROS.
Forrester defines modern commerce as a means of doing business where the buyer is in control, highlighted by frictionless, transparent and consistent experiences across all sales channels. These experiences are made possible through dynamic, personalized offers and pricing, powered by machine learning and data science.
“The data reveal, above all else, that businesses are at a crossroad and must adjust their selling models to address the rapidly occurring changes in buyer preferences,” said PROS Chief Visionary Officer Craig Zawada. “In the digital era, modern commerce has become an imperative for companies around the world to support the new buying and selling dynamics for both customers and partners. The Forrester study mirrors our own experiences working with PROS customers. We see firsthand that modern commerce helps competitive enterprises create personalized and frictionless experiences for their customers, fueled by dynamic pricing science. We’re enabling companies to configure, price and sell their products and services with speed, precision and consistency across all sales channels, which improves the buying experience and helps maximize revenues.”
Shifting Preferences Force Change
Forrester notes in the study that B2B sales dynamics have changed, and buyers now demand to be served when and how they prefer. Much like B2C industries, 93 percent of B2B buyers indicated a preference to buy online, driven in large measure by the speed and convenience of the experience. As companies attempt to address the needs of more empowered buyers, many organizations have created one-off, disjointed processes as they battle growing competition for customers.
According to the study, sales organizations are dealing with modern commerce challenges, with most still relying on traditional relationship-based sales processes. Forrester estimates that by 2020 more than 20 percent of B2B salespeople will be displaced by self-service eCommerce.
How Companies Must Adapt
Forrester notes that adopting a modern commerce strategy requires synchronized orchestration across the entire end-to-end sales process, particularly as companies look to overcome the hurdles:
- 48 percent indicate challenges with consistent cross-channel buying experiences.
- 45 percent highlight struggles with transparent pricing and sales processes.
- 45 percent indicate difficulties with dynamic pricing and personalized offers.
- 44 percent find the process of creating a frictionless buying processes complex.
Despite these challenges, companies have already begun to make the fundamental shift toward a modern commerce strategy as they address disruptive changes in customer buying habits:
- More than half (51 percent) are working to create a unified buying experience across channels.
- 54 percent are focused on making buying processes more transparent.
- 51 percent plan to offer personalized offers and pricing to their customers.
- Nearly half – 48 percent – are focused on enabling customers to buy in real-time.
To download the Forrester study, visit the PROS website hier.
Visit the website to download PROS modern commerce e-book – Are You Ready for the New Era of Digital Business? – which offers a perspective on how today’s global enterprises can reimagine their go-to-market sales strategies in response to evolving buyer expectations.
Über PROS
PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRO) ist ein Cloud-Softwareunternehmen, das den Wandel zum modernen Handel vorantreibt, indem es Unternehmen hilft, personalisierte und reibungslose Kauferlebnisse für ihre Kunden zu schaffen. Die Lösungen von PROS basieren auf Dynamic Pricing Science und maschinellem Lernen und ermöglichen es Unternehmen, ihre Produkte und Dienstleistungen in einer Omnichannel-Umgebung schnell, präzise und konsistent zu bepreisen, zu konfigurieren und zu verkaufen. Unsere Kunden, die in ihren Märkten führend sind, profitieren von jahrzehntelanger Erfahrung in der Datenwissenschaft, die in unsere Branchenlösungen eingeflossen ist. Um mehr zu erfahren, besuchen Sie Profis.de.
Zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen
Diese Pressemitteilung enthält zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen, einschließlich Aussagen über die Funktionalität und den Nutzen von Umsatz- und Gewinnrealisierungssoftware für Unternehmen im Allgemeinen sowie über die Funktionalität und den Nutzen der PROS-Softwareprodukte. Die in dieser Pressemitteilung enthaltenen zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen basieren auf den historischen Erfahrungen von PROS mit der Software zur Umsatz- und Gewinnrealisierung und den aktuellen Erwartungen hinsichtlich der Vorteile der Software zur Umsatz- und Gewinnrealisierung für Unternehmen, die diese Software implementieren und nutzen. Zu den Faktoren, die dazu führen könnten, dass die tatsächlichen Ergebnisse wesentlich von den hierin beschriebenen abweichen, gehören die Adressierbarkeit der Anforderungen einer Organisation an eine Software zur Umsatz- und Gewinnrealisierung, die Risiken, die mit der Entwicklung und Verbesserung von Produkten mit der Funktionalität verbunden sind, die erforderlich ist, um die angegebenen Ergebnisse zu erzielen, und die Risiken, die mit der komplexen Implementierung und Wartung von Software zur Umsatz- und Gewinnrealisierung wie den Softwareprodukten von PROS verbunden sind. Zusätzliche Informationen zu den Unsicherheiten, die das Geschäft von PROS betreffen, sind in den von PROS bei der Securities and Exchange Commission eingereichten Unterlagen enthalten. Diese zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen stellen die Erwartungen von PROS zum Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung dieser Pressemitteilung dar. Spätere Ereignisse können dazu führen, dass sich diese Erwartungen ändern, und PROS lehnt jegliche Verpflichtung ab, diese zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen in Zukunft zu aktualisieren oder zu ändern, sei es aufgrund neuer Informationen, zukünftiger Ereignisse oder aus anderen Gründen.
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Medienkontakt:
James Garber
pros@marchcomms.com
617-960-9875