Analyst Reports

HOW AI PRICE OPTIMIZATION CAN PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN BOTH BUSINESS GROWTH AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE 3 In the past few years, we have seen a shift in the B2B marketplace driven by emerging technologies and changing customer expectations. Purchasing decisions used to be made during annual buying cycles. If an upgrade was needed in March but the cycle wasn't over until August, businesses would have to wait to make the upgrade. But that has shifted. In Futurum Research's report 2019 B2B Digital Buyers' Journey, we found that 80 percent of businesses no longer rely on traditional buying cycles and over half of all businesses are equipped to make a purchase when they need it. 2020 magnified these changes as B2B organizations raced to redefine their business models and buy software to keep businesses afloat during times of unease. In addition, the expectations of B2B customers are also evolving. B2C customers are used to getting products and services wherever they are with personalized experiences being the norm. B2B customers are no different. With a surplus of information available at their fingertips and the elimination of the inconvenience of traditional buying cycles, B2B customers now want exactly what they are experiencing in their personal lives — they want what they want when they want it, and they don't want frustrations to impede the buying experience. They want to be able to find the right solution that meets their needs, while enjoying a buying experience that is tailored for and personalized to them. In the same research, we found that difficult user experience, inflexibility, and inaccurate information all remain as major pain points during the B2B buyers' journey. So where does this leave B2B organizations doing the selling? These organizations today have to be everywhere. A boring website and a stagnant sales pitch aren't going to cut it. They need to be able to reach customers through the website, social media, catalogs, e-marketplaces, and even in stores where applicable with personalized experiences and dynamic pricing and customer information that changes based on a number of factors. These factors can include shifts in demand and supply or changes in costs for the organization; also whether it's a returning customer or a new buyer, size of the business, and even location. This will require data — and lots of it — to be shared from every touchpoint. The good news is that savvy organizations are already accelerating this part of their operation models. In Futurum Research's 2020 Digital Transformation Index, we found that investing in big data initiatives over the next 12-18 months was the third highest priority for businesses behind investing in cloud platforms and SaaS applications. With the changes in expectations and buyers' journeys, it's important for B2B organizations to have business models and pricing strategies that help them remain competitive. Even before COVID-19 wrought havoc on the global marketplace, creating an optimal pricing strategy was not easy. Dynamic pricing is, however, not a new thing, it's just been a challenge for businesses to embrace. Things like analytics, sales activities and incentives, and organizational processes should all align to create an integrated business strategy where the right price is delivered in the right local market. However, accomplishing that has often been easier said than done. The challenge has largely been that businesses haven't been collecting and analyzing the right business insights, incentivizing or hiring the right people, or establishing workflows that would make pricing quick and easy for the end client. Add in seemingly endless channels — online, DTC, wholesale, value-add resell, retail — and you can see how pricing strategy can get out-of-hand, or at least outdated, fairly quickly. The State of B2B Omnichannel Commerce

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