D-B2B 2018 main takeaways

Oct 23, 2018 | 7 min

On October 9 Svensk Digital Handel and partners held its annual Digital B2B seminar in Gothenburg with Anders Björklund, CEO at Zooma, as moderator. Here are some main impressions and takeaways from the day. And at the bottom you find a video clip with Anders.

This year 193 participants gathered from the marketing industry; B2B marketers as well as consultants from the digital arena, to get inspired by e-commerce specialists and marketers on stage. The day also offered valuable moments to share reflections and thoughts on current digital opportunities and future challenges.

Main takeaways

While the speakers represented various industries, some of the key findings were echoed throughout the day and in various sessions. The conclusions may not be revolutionary, but they confirmed that most of the attendees at the seminar shared a common view of what is important to focus on to stay relevant in the era of digitalisation.

B2B and B2C is irrelevant–B2Human is what matters
This was for example emphasised by Kenneth Qfvarnström, representing Collector Bank, and Fran Marion from Intershop. Additionally, Thomas Svensson from Svea Ekonomi showed how B2B and B2C now have the same expectations and requirements for the online shopping experience. Kenneth also pointed out that sustainability matters more than one might think. Companies that have a clear strategy for sustainability—both for the company itself and the planet—are more attractive for customers since people bring with them their personal beliefs and convictions when they consider a purchase decision.
The world is in constant flux and change is accelerating
Gustaf Josefsson Tadaa talked about VUCA—a term to describe the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity of general conditions and situations that are increasingly shaping the world around us. This means is that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to predict how even the near-term future will turn out. Kenneth Qfvarnström echoed this sentiment, saying that the idea of the traditional business plan—where you plan out the next 3-5 years is dead. Instead, you need to plan—both from an organisational and technical perspective—for flexibility and the ability to adapt when things change. You need to build an organisation, infrastructure, and business that is adaptable to constant transformation.
Analytics is key for marketing and commerce
Most of the speakers, including Charlotte Brix and Christian Andersen from Solteq, and Malena Holmberg from Valtech, talked about the traditional benefit of using data and analytics to optimise the user experience and improve marketing and sales. Johan Ekman from Curamando urged the audience to not only focus on mistakes and things not working when it comes to analytics—but also focus on the small things that are to be working and make them more visible.
The power of psychology
To augment the importance of data-driven marketing, Robin Carlsson from Vaimo threw in some amusing examples of how psychology has an important role to play when it comes to e-commerce. To some extent e-commerce show, similarities with gaming and much of the psychology of gaming can be applied when it comes to online shopping. The customer experience should be fast, simple, rewarding and with a glimpse of humour.
As always - look from the outside
This can never be enough emphasised. At Zooma, we have been going on about this for over a decade. It is not a coincidence that most (if not all) of the presenters talked about the importance of looking from the customer's perspective. The focus must be on the customer experience—and not on yourself and your organisation—if you want to succeed in the digital world. Malin Sjöman, representing Litium, also made this point for content marketing. I.e. you must create content that is foremost relevant for the end customer—not for yourself.
Commerce and e-commerce
E-commerce is continuously growing. In China, the difference between on- and offline shopping has almost disappeared. It is just "shopping". On- and offline is that well integrated. Most speakers concurred that the development we've witnessed in the East will increasingly shape also how we think about on- and offline commerce here in Europe and the Western world. One example of this is, as Kenneth Qfvarnström mentioned, Amazon that now is opening self-service shopping—AmazonGo cashier-less stores. According to Bloomberg, the company is planning as many as 3,000 such stores within the next few years
Become Amazon proof
Many of the speakers mentioned the fact that Amazon is expanding rapidly and that you, as a company, need to decide how you should relate to this. What happens to your brand and your company if you start selling your products through Amazon? What happens if you don't? Read more insights on this topic in this post by Stellan Björnesjö at Zooma.

Let's see if these trends will come true in the next year. Stay tuned for D-B2B 2019 and subscribe to news alerts from Zooma to make sure you are notified when tickets are released.