B2B2C strategy: How to transform from a B2B business

For legacy B2B organizations, staying relevant and competitive is a challenge. Enter B2B2C strategies.

You know what used to be a big pain? Buying a mattress.

Less than a decade a go, if you were in the market for a new mattress, there was only one way to make the purchase. Buyers would go to a mattress curator or department store, lay on a few mattresses, make a selection, and work with the sales rep to coordinate shipping and delivery.

Simply put: Buying a mattress used to be time-consuming, expensive, and a bit of a shot-in-the-dark.

Well, that process has certainly been made-over. Today if you want a new mattress, one-click will have it on your doorstep tomorrow morning. You can try it out for 100+ days and decide if you like it. And if you don’t like it, the mattress will be picked up from your house and your card will be refunded.

That simple. Welcome to retail in the digital age.

Businesses like Tuft & Needle, Casper, and Endy identified the flaws in the mattress buying process, and made it easier. How? By removing the middle-person and going directly to the consumer. For the first time ever, the mattress industry is being propelled by B2C businesses.

As these upstarts begin to win market share, where does this leave legacy mattress businesses like Sealy, Simmons Bedding Company, and Serta?

Direct to consumer is causing disruption

B2C strategies are dethroning B2B sales across many industries – not just in the mattress world (think: home products, car parts, beverage, alcohol, etc.). Using e-commerce as leverage, the direct to consumer channel eliminates the supply chain and goes right to the buyer.

For upstarts, the B2C approach makes for less logistics, less costs, and less disruptions. For the consumer, buying is simplified – and more cost effective.

What’s the next move here: Do traditional businesses continue investing in their B2B channel? Or do they go direct to consumer and compete against upstarts?

Staying competitive with a B2B2C strategy

Herein lays a trend I am seeing more and more with our clients: Transforming from a B2B business to a B2B2C business.

When an organization comes from B2B roots, eliminating this channel is not an option. Years of time, money, and attention have been put towards partners, technology, people, and processes. This source of revenue fuels the business.

So, while retaining B2B operations, we’re seeing companies opening up a new channel – a B2C channel. Blurring the lines between B2B and B2C has countless benefits, which include:

• Allowing organizations to digitally transform
• Keeping pace with innovation
• Capitalizing on more revenue opportunities

But identifying and opening a new revenue channel is one thing. Doing it well is another.

New channel, new customer experience: Hello, B2B2C

We’re all consumers. Great buying experiences stand out. For example, I know that dozens of my friends have bought a Tuft and Needle or Endy mattress. But having a direct relationship with buyers calls for heightened attention and nurturing. A poor customer experience will spoil any chance at building loyalty, and in the world of online reviews, negative feedback could completely stain the reputation of a business.

Transforming into a B2B2C company means serving a new customer. Everything, from business development to conversion and loyalty, is sprinkled with new customer pain-points and challenges.

Research is required to deliver a seamless, customer-centric experience. To drive customer engagement effectively in both B2B and B2C markets you need:

1. Persona creation
2. Scenario design
3. Customer journey roadmaps

From there, new and different technology may be required to best service buyers directly.

A business cannot survive without support from its customers – so don’t leave expanding into a new market to guesswork. A digital advisory can help you roll out a B2B2C strategy quickly and seamlessly.