Page 30 - CBM25

~ Intershop ~

reduces the time spent by the decision-maker in searching allow anyone to virtually visualise the product or machine
and buying any given B2B product. they want in their warehouse or desired workstation. But
besides this, AR has a lot of extra capabilities and provides
For example, suppose a company’s CEO is searching for an overall improvement in the customer experience for B2B
spare parts for a specific brand of machinery. In that case, an e-commerce. In fact, as the Intershop e-book points out,
intelligent search can provide them with not only the exact quoting the PwC report Seeing is Believing, “VR and AR can
results of that brand for that machine but also the spare parts add over $1.5 trillion to the global economy and create close
compatible with that same machine from other brands. And to 24 million new jobs by 2030.”
suppose in their next search, they requested, for example,
information regarding another machine that works in tandem 4. Progressive Web Apps
with the previous one. In that case, the AI driven-search Having B2B e-commerce with AR and self-serving
could glean out non-compatible machine combinations capabilities sets the path to success, but having it accessible
because it understood that the new search is related to the from any kind of device with native compatibility is what
previous one. might set you apart from your competition. To do so, the best
way is to use Progressive Web Apps and OS-agnostic mobile
2. Self-service, please technology. PWAs have become an ideal solution for mobile
Self-service is a common thing for current B2C e-commerce. B2B e-commerce by mixing the best of a classic e-commerce
And this means that B2B e-commerce needs to get on website optimised for mobile—responsive and that can
par. Precisely to reinforce this need, the Intershop e-book be accessed via a browser—with the advantages of a fully
highlights the NICE 2022 Digital-First Customer developed native app. Through strategy, innovation and technology
Experience Report, which claims 81% of consumers surveyed
in the United States and the United Kingdom say they want As Intershoop points out in its e-book: This leads to we help businesses to fully digitalize their
more self-service options. increased quality in customer loyalty and user experience,
with higher conversion rates – but without the inconvenience organization. We deliver business critical
But how can B2B e-commerce become self-service? Well, of the native app in terms of development, maintenance,
AI-driven searches, alongside other automated solutions and separate support for each operating system (primarily digital platforms on a global scale.
for customer care, are the founding stones upon which iOS and Android). Overall, it will probably be the year of
B2B e-commerce can achieve self-service capabilities. This global consolidation for PWAs as industry standards for
capability is vital for B2B global companies with multiple e-commerce: they are faster, more efficient, modular—you
clients in different time zones. For these reasons, providing customise them better—and optimised for mobile commerce.
your customers with a friendly self-service interface is vital
in 2023. To top it all off, Millennials and other digital-native 5. Package Business Capabilities
generations are more inclined to use self-service options than Now, this trend is a particular approach of Intershop www.youweagency.com
to deal with other humans. towards a rising need in the B2B world: Package Business
Capabilities. This approach is its own brand of composable
3. Seeing is believing: The rise of virtual commerce. An idea concocted by Intershop to strike the
commerce perfect balance between standardised solutions and modular
Virtual commerce is on the rise. The capability of actually e-commerce capabilities. And why do we say it is different
being able to visualise the product or service we are interested from traditional composable commerce? Because composable
in buying online is one of the main gaps between physical commerce, as a trend, is a development approach of selecting
commerce and e-commerce. So far, the use of photos and best-of-breed commerce components and ‘composing’ them
videos has been the most common solution to this very into a custom application built for specific business needs.
human need of actually seeing what you are buying. But in
2023, we could start seeing a pretty different picture, a Virtual But this possesses several advantages and also a key set of
Reality picture, to be more precise. clear disadvantages. The advantage is that you can do anything
you want with your e-commerce configuration. And the
AR (Augmented Reality) is fast becoming a much- disadvantage is that this full-blown microservice architecture
appreciated capability for businesses dealing with B2B. The might be too much for a typical B2B company. A full-fledge
AR apps allow potential customers to visualise the product composable commerce architecture brings some dangerous
they are about to buy in perfectly 3D-rendered images. pitfalls:
1. Complexity:
For the cases in which the B2B product is a spare part or With a wide range of options and combinations
piece of machinery, this becomes extremely useful because the to choose from, it can be challenging to manage
3D AR image can be rendered at a full 1:1 scale. Meaning you the different products and vendors.
will see the product in real-life size. This, in combination with 2. Ineff iciency:
a smartphone or any other mobile device with a camera, could The process of composing and recombining

30