The COVID-19 crisis had a positive effect on at least some B2B marketers in 2020, judging by The State of B2B Digital Commerce, a global study by the former 2Checkout (now known as Verifone)
finds.
For one thing, 21% of B2B firms worldwide increased their revenue by 25% or more. And 26% scaled up by up to 25%.
For 61%, the increase was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,
and for 33% it was due to a transition to online.
Another 29% built up their online presence, and 26% simply focused their investment on growth.
However, 11% experienced
decreases of up to 25% and 9% had cutbacks of 25% or more.
For 79%, reductions were caused by the pandemic, and 25% exited some markets or closed regional shops.
U.S. firms
seemed to do worse than the global averages — 30% suffered a decrease in business, whereas 33% saw no change. And 37% experienced an increase.
Moving forward, 55% plan to invest
in their marketing activities in 2021.
Another 43% will spend on sales processes, 37% on product development,23% on partner management and 22% on compliance and security.
Among their biggest challenges were:
- Finding new leads — 46%
- Longer sales cycles/slow funnel — 33%
- Difficulty in expanding to new markets/regions
— 21%
- Less time available for sales reps — 20%
- Difficulty upselling to next product/package tier — 18%
Each of the companies polled utilizes
at least three sales channels, ranked here in order by usage:
Online direct/self-service via website — 55%
- Phone — 48%
- Email — 44%
- Assisted Sales — 35%
- Online marketplace — 22%
- Offline/Physical store or branch location — 18%
- Resellers/Distributors — 16%
- Within the app — 11%
The ranking is a little different in the U.S., where firms “also employ a disjointed mix of channel to reach their buyers,” the study
notes:
- Phone — 62%
- Assisted Sales — 57%
- Email — 57%
- Online direct/Self Service via website — 54%
- Online
marketplace — 22%
- Offline/Physical store or branch location — 16%
- Reseller’s Distributors — 11%
- Within the app — 11%
2Checkout surveyed 840 respondents globally between October and November 2020. The firm was acquired by Verafone in August of this year, and is now known as Verafone.