Over a virtual coffee, we spoke to Yara Molthan, Director Business Consulting at Spryker, about her experiences to date in the field of digital business and ventured a look into the crystal ball.
What challenges will B2B companies have to face in 2022?
"Until now, the majority of B2B companies have operated in an indirect sales model. Accordingly, there is a strong connection to existing partners such as retailers. These naturally feel threatened in their existence in the face of the increasing ambitions of B2B companies to seek out direct customer relationships. This shift in market power can lead to conflicts and, in the worst case, reactions such as delisting by retailers. We therefore advise entering into dialog with the ecosystem at an early stage and looking for synergies. The biggest challenge therefore remains to harmonize the existing business model with strategic investments in the future."
What opportunities does D2C offer B2B companies?
"Based on prominent examples from the B2C business such as Casper (mattresses), Lululemon (sportswear) or others, the direct customer relationship offers many opportunities for company growth. The advantages are manifold:
D2C enables more control over your own value creation and quality assurance.
Customer feedback can be passed on to product development more quickly and efficiently.
Proximity to the customer opens up the possibility of identifying new trends or business cases.
Studies also show that customers are more willing to pay the manufacturing company. For these reasons, all B2B companies should examine what skills they lack for direct sales and what opportunities this opens up for them."
How can technology offer B2B companies added value?
"The corresponding volatility of the customer requires a high degree of flexibility and speed. So what needs to be eliminated are outdated technologies or internal monoliths that prevent the company from keeping up with the pace of the market. After all, customers are not waiting for companies to digitize their internal processes and activities.
The champions of the digital age, such as Spotify or Amazon, are impressive proof that companies should rely on technologies that promote agile and flexible ways of working rather than hindering them. Our customers and we therefore make sure to always ensure the highest technological standards required by development teams, such as API-first approaches or headless, in order to offer maximum flexibility."
So how do you define a comprehensive D2C strategy that promises long-term success?
"In short: don't plan too long-term. Stubbornness is the death of innovation! That is also the reason why planned economies do not work. Long-term planning takes companies away from customer centricity, as an abstraction takes place that does not correspond to reality. It is therefore much more important to create a strategic framework - for example with a North Star or a vision that guides the company, but where freedom for adjustments is possible and desired. This starts fundamentally with the mentality and identity of the organization. A collaborative atmosphere must be created in which test failures are understood as learning effects that promote the further development of the company.
Put simply, the challenge for companies is to transform themselves in such a way that in future they can bet on different horses rather than on one horse."
What steps should decision-makers at B2B companies take as soon as possible?
"Decision-makers should familiarize themselves with agile development processes, develop the first MVPs in interdisciplinary teams and create an environment for testing. It's time to say goodbye to old habits, shorten decision-making processes and create a culture of consensus rather than patriarchy. It is often underestimated how much knowledge there is about the customer throughout the company, but it is never actively transferred into new developments due to the environment."
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