When it comes to using data to improve discoverability, almost half (47%) of B2B decision-makers say siloed data is the biggest challenge with their current ecommerce platform, followed by 43% who point to insufficient technology and 43% to insufficient data strategy.
Those are just a few data-focused numbers from the 2024 State of B2B Ecommerce Report, a new study by Zoovu and Forrester Consulting that found that “without fundamentally transforming all product discovery and sales processes, applying new software to an old way of thinking will never pay off.”
“Before organizations can begin to transform their e-commerce operations,” the study says, “they must first solve the data problem. Excellent data and effective data management are unavoidable prerequisites many organizations never move past.”
According to the study, 80% of respondents consider it a critical or important priority to provide more automated, personalized guidance to buyers. 75% feel similarly about improving demand generation, 73% said improving their collection and use of zero-party data, and 71% said driving more of their overall sales to online ecommerce channels.
(Photo Source: Zoovu)
“Companies are prioritizing digital transformation of sales,” the study says, “but B2B sellers can’t achieve their goals, including improving both demand gen and their ability to collect and use zero-party data, without also improving data hygiene — the cart can’t go before the horse. Even though improving product data hygiene is sixth on the list of respondents’ ecommerce goals, it is a prerequisite for achieving all other objectives.”
83% of the survey’s respondents said their data is some combination of incomplete, inconsistent, inaccurate, unstructured, or outdated, with 80% “stymied by a lack of automation, data that is siloed, or such large volumes of data that their organizations struggle to manage it.”
An all-in-one CRM and marketing automation platform like Mirabel’s Marketing Manager obviously helps tick many of the pain-point boxes ecommerce businesses have with their data.
The study recommends:
- Investing in cleaning data “as a prerequisite to achieving results from AI-driven tools,”
- Treating data hygiene “like a program, not a project,”
- Looking for ecommerce technology “to empower sellers.”
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