Steve Brass, president and CEO, WD-40 Co.

In a recent earnings call, he said the manufacturer and marketer of industrial and residential lubricants, degreasers and cleansers is making progress on its four “must-win” competitive market battles:

• Geographic expansion worldwide.
• Increasing premium product sales.
• Growing its Specialist product line for mechanics and other professionals.
• Accelerating digital commerce.

Although Brass listed ecommerce fourth on the company’s must-win list, he said it was critical to the other three.

“We see [ecommerce] as an accelerator for all our other must-win battles, as it improves brand awareness and online engagement, leading to an improved customer experience and sales across all our trade channels,” Brass said on a recent earnings call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha.

He added, “Some of our key objectives within this must-win [ecommerce] battle are to build our brand digitally, grow and develop the ecommerce pure play channel, accelerate growth of the omnichannel, and continue capability-building for our employees.”

Brass went on to note that WD-40’s digital commerce strategy resulted in an 18% company-wide year-over-year ecommerce sales increase through the first nine months of its current fiscal year, “with double-digit growth across the company’s three trade blocks of EIMEA (Europe India Middle East Africa), the Americas, and Asia-Pacific.

The company said total net sales rose 9.4% to $155.05 million for the fiscal third quarter ended May 31; net income increased 5.0% to $19.84 million from $18.90 million.

For the nine months ended May 31, net sales increased 9.5% to $434.57 million from $396.80 million as net income rose 7.0% to $52.86 million from $49.42 million.

Growing sales through online distributors

The company has said its sharpest growth is via ecommerce sales through such business-to-business ecommerce sites as Grainger.com, MSCDirect.com, GlobalIndustrial.com, Fastenal.com and MotionIndustries.com and such online retailers as Amazon, Ace Hardware and Aubuchon Hardware. WD-40 customers can link directly to these ecommerce sites from WD-40.com.

WD-40 is also taking other steps with digital technology to build on its online interactions with customers and drive up operating efficiency.

An online contest WD-40 launched in 2021, Repair Challenge, has invited customers across more than 40 countries — including “doers, makers, fixers and builders” — to show how use WD-40 lubricants and other products to extend the lifespan of their tools, bicycles, cars and other items. Brass said that, so far, the contest has created over 0.5 billion online marketing impressions worldwide.

WD-40 is also “making foundational investments in systems and  data that will allow us to grow faster,” Brass said. For example, he said WD-40 had rolled out Salesforce Inc.’s CRM technology in the U.S. and will be expanding it in the near term, “driving sales efficiencies and effectiveness.”

“Use of data analytics and automated tools, leveraging data is increasing and can be a real enabler for the business,” he said. “The foundational work we are doing now around data governance, centralizing our data architecture and data quality management will allow our people to leverage our data quicker and drive better decision-making.”

Brass added that WD-40 has engaged an investment bank to seek suitors for its U.S. and U.K. home-care and cleaning product brands, which account for about 4% of total sales, and expects to sell them in the company’s 2025 fiscal year.

“Post divestiture, WD-40 Co. will be a more focused company with a higher sales growth and gross margin profile,” he said.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Michael Vax

Repeat business drives a substantial portion of the revenue in a B2B company. You need to make re-ordering as convenient as possible.

How do we achieve that in B2B implementation?

Firstly, it’s important to note several differences in the order management implementation of “My Orders” in B2B ecommerce compared to B2C. In B2C, “My Orders” refers specifically to orders placed by the logged-in user. In contrast, in B2B, the list should display orders placed by all users within the same business or, in the case of a large organization, by all users within the same business unit.

Additionally, since the list of orders could be extensive, searching and filtering past orders is the must-have functionality in B2B. Make sure that customers can filter by date and employee who placed the order. Let them search by product name, attributes, text in the description, and category. For large customers, allow search by an SKU number used in the customer’s procurement system.

Make it easy to repeat the entire order or reorder some selected products.

Warn customers about any changes in product availability. If a model has been discontinued, offer alternative products. Nothing is worse than coming to check out just to be informed that a product is out of stock.

Let customers know if a new model of a previously bought product is available and make it easy to replace it.

If the price has changed since the last purchase, make it known as early as possible. Update customers on current promotions, which could be different from the last time the order was placed.

Moreover, make sure configurable products retain product configuration details for make-to-order, so the customer does not need to go through the configuration process again.

One of the key benefits of B2B ecommerce is customer self-service capabilities. Implement the recommendations above to save your customers the most precious resource — their time.

Order Status Updates

Real-time visibility into order status and updates empower customers to track and manage their transactions proactively. By offering order tracking and notification features, businesses enhance transparency and build customer trust throughout the order lifecycle.

Not all order status changes happen in the ecommerce system, but to improve customer experiences, businesses must ensure that ALL notifications are received through the self-service channel. If an order is modified after it has been placed, these changes need to be synced back to the ecommerce system to provide customers with a single source of truth.

Integrating maintenance Requests and Support with an Online Portal

And to help customers after the purchase, create and support a knowledge database, FAQs, and usage and repair instructions.

By offering the ability to place a maintenance request on self-service support portals and ticketing systems, businesses empower customers to report and resolve issues autonomously, reducing reliance on manual intervention.

Conclusion

At the heart of every successful B2B transaction lies a seamless customer experience. It’s not merely about satisfying immediate needs but about fostering long-term relationships built on trust, reliability, and value delivery.

CX is the linchpin of sustainable growth and differentiation in today’s interconnected digital economy.

About the Author:

Michael Vax is the founder of CommerceIsDigital, which provides consulting services and training programs for companies deploying B2B and BTC ecommerce strategies. He is a former executive at ecommerce technology companies Spryker Systems, SAP Commerce Cloud, Elastic Path and WebInterpret.

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In June, “layoffs at big tech companies continued to hurt overall IT hiring,” Janco says, adding, “Large high-tech firms continue to lay off to have better bottom lines. Included in that group of companies that have recently announced new layoffs are Microsoft and Google.”

The 5.9% June IT unemployment rate is up from under 4.0% in March, when it was slightly less than the overall unemployment rate, Janco’s data reports show.

But there’s better news on the B2B ecommerce front, especially for IT professionals with AI skills, Janco says.

Although Janco didn’t break out ecommerce job numbers, it has learned that many employers are striving to cut costs by operating more efficiently — and are looking for IT workers who can help develop AI-powered applications and B2B ecommerce connections to boost revenue and profits.

“From our interviews, data, and analysis, we see that many organizations are looking to improve their bottom lines,” Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco, said in an email reply to Digital Commerce 360.

He added that companies realize that IT has some of the highest costs per FTE (full-time equivalents), including contractors and consultants.

“The mean compensation for IT staff now is $103,692 across all organizations,” Janulaitis said.  “If you add contractors and consultants, that number gets closer to $150,000.”

Relying on AI and ecommerce for automation

“Chief information officers are focused on using AI to automate functions like customer support, exception reporting, and routine management of legacy applications,” Janulaitis said. “As that occurs, the number of FTEs is reduced.”

He added that, to develop AI applications, CIOs must hire or retain consultants or contractors who can quickly develop and deploy AI and machine learning solutions.

“Ecommerce and B2B linkages are areas of particular focus,” he said. “Individuals with those skills and experience are in high demand and quickly find jobs.”

Janulaitis added that, unfortunately, IT pros without AI skills are being left out of areas with stronger employment demand.

“Traditional legacy IT pros are another case, and the high unemployment rates hit them directly.”

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Piyush Chaudhari, CEO, Salsify

A veteran executive involved in helping brands connect with customers, Piyush Chaudhari joined product experience management company Salsify last month as CEO, succeeding co-founder Jason Purcell as the top executive. Chaudhari joins Salsify as the company invests millions to roll out new technology products, including AI and automation, designed to improve how companies manage and syndicate branded product descriptions and images to attract online customers and boost conversion rates.

In this July 2 interview with Digital Commerce 360, he shares his views from Salsify’s corner office on the future course of product experience management and how brands can win the digital shelf.

Interview with Piyush Chaudhari

Digital Commerce 360: What excites you most about joining Salsify now as CEO? Please comment on one or more of the experiences in your career that will help you bring unique value to Salsify and its customers, including B2B as well as retail companies.

Piyush Chaudhari: I’m two weeks in at Salsify as we speak, and I have spent it talking to Salsify employees (or Salsifarians, as we call them) and Salsify customers in both the U.S. and Europe. These conversations have confirmed what I hoped for coming in — that my colleagues, our customers, and digital commerce are hungry to take advantage of significant growth opportunities on the digital shelf over the next few years. My past experiences at places like Aon Hewitt and IRI, driving continuous improvement in the quality of the products and services, will serve as a great foundation for expanding the business value our customers realize from their Salsify partnership.

DC360: What do you see as Salsify’s most significant strengths, and how do you plan to build on them? Are there particular technology applications and/or services you want to introduce or explore to expand Salisfy’s product suite?

Chaudhari: Our market position starts with our people, and their passion for helping our customers win on the digital shelf. Our customers’ ambitions drive everything we do. There’s a reason that Salsify was named a “Leader” in the most recent Forrester Wave in our space. Since our founding, we have focused on delivering a platform that will enable our customers to optimize the product content on every digital shelf touchpoint.

Salsify lets our customers centralize their product data and be sure it meets the data requirements of every retailer. We then connect that data everywhere it needs to go across an open network that’s continually expanding. Finally, we make sure they can do all this at scale, with automation and AI to drive all this with maximum efficiency.

We have all this in one unified platform — and over the next few years, we are going to continue to innovate by expanding our network and embedding AI throughout the product experience management (PXM) lifecycle to realize the goal of optimizing every touchpoint, everywhere.

DC360: How well do you think most companies (including existing Salsify clients and prospects) recognize and act on the importance of deploying comprehensive technology systems for effective product data management technology? What can help bring more companies further into effective product data management strategies, including through extended sales and distribution networks?

Chaudhari: There is no question that the period of COVID — when the digital shelf was the only shelf — brought product experience management (PXM) front and center into executive suites for retailers and manufacturers across all categories. They had to invest not only in the right technology, but also reshape the ways in which their cross-functional processes and teams designed, marketed, and sold their products to consumers and B2B buyers.

We have been fortunate enough to be their partners and advisors in the first decade of Salsify, and have witnessed companies like Mars and L’Oreal and many others go from implementing PXM in one team or region to executing global digital shelf excellence in every market. At the same time, retailers like Amazon, Kroger, Wayfair and Intermarché make it seamless for their suppliers to quickly understand and meet their product content requirements through automated APIs rather than outdated spreadsheets.

We are excited to work with B2B distributors like Affiliated Distributors (AD) and Grainger and their suppliers to extend digital shelf best practices into the industrial space. B2B buyers have the same expectations as consumers and want to self-serve their buying experience as much as possible. We believe this industry will transform in half the time of companies adopting PXM in the first decade, given the paths that have already been tread and the impact of AI.

DC360: What are companies (including both merchants and brand suppliers) missing regarding effective technology and strategies for effectively competing for sales and brand recognition through the digital shelf? What are some of the newest and most effective strategies merchants and brands should deploy?

Chaudhari: We believe that the single most important driver of growth that will emerge over the next several years is AI-propelled personalization at scale. We have seen the improvements in conversion in areas such as email marketing when brands are able to apply deep knowledge of the consumer through permission-based first-party data to demographic, behavioral, and other predictive data insights to drive higher click-throughs and conversion.

Imagine the growth potential when a merchant is able to apply similar intelligence at scale to personalize a product detail page (PDP) for each visitor instantaneously.

Achieving this future will require deep data collaboration between retailers and their suppliers to make sure there is the product data necessary to support merchandising that supports the correct persona, occasion, and use case. Retailers must invest in the technology and data infrastructure to power these experiences through collaboration with their suppliers, and suppliers must be testing and learning their way with generative AI and the automated processes to be able to support personalized merchandising at scale through their retailers.

DC360: Are brands and merchants today collaborating more effectively than in the past to build customer loyalty and grow sales and profits? How do you see Salsify helping them along these lines?

Chaudhari: Quality product content is the foundational fuel of two things that modern retailers care very much about.

One, accurate, complete product content powers both search discovery and conversion on the product page. 78% of online shoppers cite product images and descriptions as “extremely” or “very” important to their buying decision.

Two, in recent research from the Digital Shelf Institute and Stratably, 71% of digital leaders from 78 global consumer brands said Product Detail Page (PDP) quality significantly influences their return on ad spend (ROAS). In a time where many retailers hope to boost their balance sheet by monetizing their audience with brands, ad buyers are refusing to increase investments until product data quality is best in class.

In response, leading retailers have invested heavily in the processes and API connections that enable suppliers to meet constantly shifting data requirements in a more automated and reliable fashion. For retailers such as Walmart and Kroger, we are seeing a trend toward OmniConnectors, APIs that are purpose-built to support data ingestion for both digital shelf and brick-and-mortar. Salsify is democratizing these 2-way, automated connections between suppliers and retailers through innovations like our Open Catalog. Continually optimized quality product content will be a minimum requirement for entry into the future world of a personalized digital shelf at scale.

DC360: How will AI and other emerging technologies help companies better engage customers with digital content that is personalized to their needs and will boost conversions and sales? How do you see AI and other emerging technologies adding to Salsify’s product offerings?

Chaudhari: Salsify is a no-hype AI zone. By that I mean that we really try to clearly differentiate between what may become possible in the future, and what is available now for our customers to use on their test, learn, and scale journey. So today, you’ll see from us AI-propelled capabilities like our Grocery Accelerator, which uses AI to rapidly validate grocery suppliers’ against regulatory, industry, and retailer-specific requirements, and proactively surfaces content recommendations to speed accurate and compliant product content to market.

Our customer Uma Home Decor introduces one to four thousand new products a year. Content creation for that many products was a serious impediment to getting to market. With AI connected to Salsify, they were able to reduce their production of content from six months to six weeks!

In the future, you will see AI deployed across the entire PXM lifecycle — data modeling, content creation, data quality validation, automated mapping to each retailer’s requirements, and the ultimate goal of PXM, continuous optimization of every digital touchpoint.

The Salsify App Store will be a busy place over the next several years, where best-in-class AI providers will be able to easily hook their latest capabilities into Salsify and customers can implement the ones that deliver the value they need in the PXM lifecycle. Exciting times ahead!

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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For the third quarter ended June 1, MSC reported a decrease in sales of 7.1% to $974.4 million compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2023. Net income was $71.7 million compared with $95.2 million in the prior year.

MSC Industrial ecommerce sales

MSC Industrial didn’t break out ecommerce sales for the most recent quarter. However, in the second quarter, MSC’s ecommerce sales — including sales made through EDI systems, VMI systems, extensible markup language ordering-based systems, vending, hosted systems and other electronic portals — represented 63.2% of net sales.

It’s been a tough year so far for MSC. Struggles can be attributed to two factors, MSC Industrial CEO Erik Gershwind told analysts on an earnings call, according to a transcript from SeekingAlpha.com. First, there were fewer sales from its core group of metal-working customers. Also, the company experienced delays in launching time-critical improvements to its digital commerce platform,

“During our preliminary results release, we described that our biggest disappointment impacting this fiscal year’s results has been re-energizing our core customers due in large part to delays in our website improvements,” he told analysts. “We also experienced some unexpected gross margin pressure in our fiscal third quarter following the full rollout of web price realignment.”

The delayed website enhancements were designed to foster ecommerce with MSC’s core manufacturing customer base. Nevertheless, they resulted in setbacks in marketing efforts and online features for helping those customers find the right products at the right price, the company says.

MSC Industrial website updates

MSC expects to begin realizing more website improvements in its current fiscal fourth quarter. In addition, it expects to complete the projects in the “early stages” of fiscal 2025, which begins this September.

The delay in ecommerce technology upgrades eventually led to an executive departure. MSC’s chief digital officer, John Hill, left the company last month.

Gershwind wants to expedite a return to better sales and profits. To do that, he said he is taking a more direct hand in speeding up ecommerce updates.

“With respect to MSCDirect.com, the recent executive changes have given me a chance to get even closer to our team and to our development efforts,” he told analysts.

MSC expects to have most of all the updates complete by the second quarter of fiscal 2025, the company says.

“We’ve implemented twice-per-week executive reviews; these reviews are bringing more transparency, collaboration, and energy to the program,” he said. “We expect to deliver enhancements to search and product discovery beginning this month. These include improvements to search accuracy and relevance and the introduction of a new presentation of results, which will begin with a narrow slice of our product offering and a rollout on a broader scale in the upcoming quarters.”

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Shawn Cope

In Part 2 of our Machine Customers series, we further expand on the emerging $30 trillion business-to-AI (B2A) marketplace. In Part 1, “The coming era of machine customers,” we introduce the concept of a custobot, a “non-human economic actor who obtains goods or services in exchange for payment” (Gartner.) We shared an example of how it could work in practice, and in this second part, we discuss  the technological underpinnings in greater detail.

Kathleen Lewarchick

Since the decision-making around integrated machines is usually complex, we start with a typical custobot journey map. By capturing its flow, people can gain more clarity around their own roles of ownership, responsibility, IP, and security. And the journey really begins in just the first few seconds — dare we say nanoseconds? — within a transactional ecommerce environment.

The First Seconds of Your Machine Bot’s Journey

The first action step in a custobot’s journey is to identify a product need. The machine might do this through a regulated chip or sensor that provides data: examples include usage level, power level, or variations in tolerances. A data point (or need) drives a purchase occasion. You can see how a car wash soap machine (out of suds,) or a battery-powered system (out of juice,) might know when it’s time to reorder. But conditions requiring tight tolerances might be harder to manage, especially in cases where holiday seasonality or weather conditions may come to bear. And yet, predictive “machine customer” buying behavior is much farther ahead than you might imagine. Some vending soft drink machines have built-in thermometers, for example, to assess heat conditions (and pricing).

Once the need is identified, the custobot can use machine-learning and artificial intelligence to conduct a smart search. If the Bill of Materials (BOM) is programmed into a smart machine, the custobot can search on any of the keywords or specifications. If an item was previously searched, reviewed, or considered (through authentication,) that history might also be added to the query.

Once matches are found, the custobot can use pre-determined filters (like budgets, specs, brands) to then evaluate the shortlist of options for consideration. A custobot might know, for example, that there are two acceptable lightbulbs for its smart lamp. Because of the variability of pricing, shipping terms, delivery windows, and taxes, the distributor who gets the buy box or order will likely have the best real-time information and the most positive credentials, such as ratings-and-reviews.

The operative word in all of this is “smart.” Now is a good time to take measure of your ecosystem to determine where you are already ahead, and what obstacles you might have to navigate, in your platforms (ERPs, PIMs, DAMs) and other systems.

What to Do Next – Engaging Your Technical Experts

Data Preparation

On most B2B sites the current level of data is often quite sparse. Custobots will make purchasing decisions based primarily on information systems rather than personal relationships and will place a heavy emphasis on comparing a product’s attributes. This means you must vastly expand on the amount of detail available for a product’s specifications and attributes.

It also means that a strong push should be made towards standardized product attributes — now, while there is still runway left. According to Wes Smith, the President/CEO of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED), through the IDEA’s data synchronization services, “the electrical industry continues to advance its product standardization effort, focusing on a goal of harmonized industry data that is consistent, compatible, and complete.”  IDEA is the Industry Data Exchange Association and is jointly owned by NAED and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).

Why standardize? Because it benefits every participant in the customer journey and will do so for machine customers one day.

Streamlined Products and Pricing with Optional Authentication

Common to B2B websites is the practice of locking catalogues behind an authentication wall. This could shut out guest purchases and present a roadblock to acquiring new customers. However, when a custobot encounters a digital store front as either a guest or authenticated user and it finds limited or no products, a website may rank lower in algorithms, resulting in lost opportunities.

Similarly, in B2B, pricing for a particular product is negotiated per customer or contract, and the price is hidden behind authentication. This pricing method simply won’t work for a custobot that wants to purchase and must at least have an opening price point for comparison. While there is merit in having a better price for volume customers, standard advertised prices are needed at the very least so you don’t risk losing easy sales and lowering your preference rankings in algorithms.

Influencing the Industry Standards

Start Search Engine Optimization (SEO) now to influence the artificial intelligence (AI) models that future machine customers will leverage. If models think specific attributes (e.g., “fit” or “material”) are the most important factors in a buying decision and your products score well there, you will likely win customers based on this foundational groundwork. Large language models are known to have some inherent bias and setting authority for search terms is an important first-mover advantage in the world of machine customers.

In Summary

The coming world of machine customers is already well underway. Setting a place at the table for your new customer requires smart planning and preparation. Since digital moves quickly, start by gathering a cross-departmental, cross-functional team and identifying what people know and don’t know about machine customers. This team can then identify gaps in a custobot customer journey, and then work with subject matter experts to assess the feasibility of solutions.

Pairing Product Management with IT resources will help uncover roadblocks to data flow and create the right single source of truth for product and pricing management. Pairing Marketing and IT resources will help uncover roadblocks to the golden order through API and SEO management. At the very least, by this time next year, everyone in your organization should know what machine customers are and why the company’s digital and IT investments will continue to grow.

Say hello to the new face of customers.

About the authors:

Shawn Cope is the Director of Front-End Engineering for Xngage LLC, a B2B digital commerce services company with more than 60 clients across the industrial trades. Throughout his career he has cultivated a passion for bleeding-edge technologies and crafting user experiences.
Kathleen Leigh Lewarchick is the VP of Marketing for Xngage. She is the former PURELL® Hand Sanitizer Brand Director, has co-created automated replenishment products with Amazon Business, and created telehealth solutions for a company that she later helped sell to CVS Health. 

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Without constant learning and adoption, existing biases can prevent product managers from identifying the most persistent and intense challenges for clearly defined user personas that other products in the market have not addressed. As a result, many product managers build for the “average user” since this approach increases the total addressable opportunity during early assessment. This approach results in products that lack differentiation and scalability that create a durable competitive advantage over a period of time and are easily replaceable.

In today’s market, the most successful company leaders and product managers understand that product development starts with a deep understanding of previously unarticulated customer needs captured by closely observing customers in their workflow. An essential product competency is familiarity with new technologies like generative AI when approaching customer discovery, including at the earliest stages when diving deep into targeted user personas and identifying potential opportunities to address specific pain points.

The value of using extensive amounts of data from various user settings during discovery becomes magnified when the same datasets funnel into the development of personalized solutions. One powerful example of AI revolutionizing product development is the last-mile delivery systems companies develop and utilize for organizations’ delivery fleets, which they even sell as delivery-as-a-service white-label solutions. Fueled by massive growth in online shopping, the last-mile delivery market is expected to grow to more than $200 billion by 2027.

Using AI to make last-mile delivery more efficient

Not long ago, using generic routing algorithms and mapping technology and identifying the fastest, most efficient delivery routes with a simple “traveling salesperson problem” was considered sufficient in delivery systems.

Now, machine learning, advanced optimization techniques, and AI have enabled product managers to go deeper into each part of the driver’s delivery journey and create last-mile delivery products using the most optimal routing constructs for dynamic factors that influence driver’s on-road decisions, like the predictability of parking in dense metro areas, weather conditions, a customer promise to deliver within certain hours, street-crossing safety, and more. These enriched, real-world datasets combined with the ability to “productionize” them to optimize each delivery or pickup make last-mile deliveries more reliable, efficient, and much safer.

For instance, with today’s routing algorithms and advanced optimization techniques, it is possible to determine whether it is more efficient for each driver to park in a central location and walk to multiple delivery addresses or drive to each address. With historical datasets and generative AI, drivers can also access specific information about where they are making deliveries, including access codes, business hours, customer notes, and even photos of buildings.

With AI and other advanced technologies incorporated into delivery workflows, drivers can receive details on connected devices from past successful deliveries, along with important information such as guidance on the presence of lockers and directions for alternative delivery locations, which could be spread across multiple floors. Because of these advancements, uncertainty and inefficiency are replaced by streamlined operations that ensure packages are received optimally based on up-to-the-minute delivery conditions.

Drivers will consider various delivery applications and unit economics when delivering in various marketplaces. If all factors are equal, they are more likely to choose the companies that make delivering packages as convenient and reliable as possible. McKinsey & Co. reports that AI-based delivery solutions can save companies up to 15% in logistics costs, 35% in inventory levels, and 65% in service expenses. In one recent example, OYAK Cement used an AI-based solution to lower fuel and other delivery costs by $39 million annually.

Generic solutions for average users are no longer enough

The same degree of product specificity occurring in the delivery market is also happening in other areas of product management. As AI advances rapidly, the key to success for product managers today is “going deeper,” or using advanced technology to identify actionable insights from detailed datasets about users in their workflow.

Product managers leverage that information to create expansive lists of pain points organized by themes, test and validate hypotheses, and analyze results from surveys and focus groups to ultimately work backward from the user when envisioning product prototypes that achieve a higher level of differentiation.

Effective product managers understand that the most critical skill they bring to software development teams is acting as the user’s voice in the room. In this role, they prioritize product ideas likely to make the most significant difference to the user journey and ensure the development team designs features and solutions using the most advanced technologies that resonate deeply with consumers.

One example of this is a recent agreement between Mars, which creates a variety of food and pet care products, and PIPA LLC, a company that accelerates nutrition science and innovation by embedding AI in R&D, manufacturing, and commercial businesses. The partnership allows Mars to utilize PIPA’s advanced AI technology to design new products that meet the health benefits demanded by customers. The technology taps into clinical trial data, biomedical databases, scientific publications, and additional sources to identify market trends. The partnership and AI technology access have already led Mars to create a state-of-the-art diagnostic tool that predicts cat kidney disease.

The most effective product managers leverage AI, ML, and deep learning techniques to build specific customer personas and craft innovative solutions that meet their needs. On the other hand, product managers who stubbornly continue to focus on the average customer will likely see suboptimal user growth and retention by delivering products that fail to stand out and satisfy specific user needs.

Designing for the average customer is a mistake in most industries because increased competition has divided demand among many players and made differentiation necessary for product-driven growth. AI and other advanced technologies complement existing techniques that product managers can leverage to ultimately become faster and more effective in their jobs.

With the tools now widely available, differentiation has become more important than ever for product managers. In a recent Fictiv survey, 97% of senior decision-makers said AI will impact their organization’s future product development and manufacturing processes. In that same survey, 78% of respondents said they are currently evaluating technology tools to develop new products more efficiently.

AI is quickly changing the way product managers work

Advanced technologies are transforming the entire product development process. AI empowers product managers to make better, more informed decisions and design highly personalized products for users. There is almost no limit to how granular product managers can understand user needs as they strive to improve and grow their products.

In last-mile delivery, for example, product managers use enhanced map datasets driven by ML models to optimize delivery based on traffic lights, predicted street traffic, and parking availability instead of just determining the shortest map route for deliveries — a capability that is easily available in consumer map products. These capabilities are why 83% of CEOs say AI and advanced technology are critical to the success of their companies.

Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer at global information technology consulting firm Accenture, recently said, “The playing field is poised to become a lot more competitive, and businesses that don’t deploy AI and data to help them innovate in everything they do will be at a disadvantage.”

About the author:

Hrishikesh Paranjape is a senior product manager with experience across ecommerce, real estate, customer service and financial industries.

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The post Product managers: Don’t miss out on the rewards that AI unlocks appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Jason Nyhus

There has been an ongoing narrative that success in B2B commerce means mimicking tactics in B2C commerce. The idea is that B2B buyers want a familiar and comfortable experience, akin to that of B2C. The reality is that the B2B world is vastly different from B2C and for good reason. Sales in the B2B sector are full of complexities and nuances that B2C sales don’t need to address, so the tactics for the two sectors are different and need to be different.

There are numerous aspects of your B2B commerce strategy that need to be addressed but are often overlooked. For example, the B2B commerce world involves intricate relationships, both internally and externally. There needs to be custom pricing for some accounts and specialized workflows to move potential customers down the pipeline. So, it is no surprise that much of the sale is based on relationships.

Building trust and relationships.

The truth is, for many sales reps in the B2B space, they operate on the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. For them, 20% of their accounts produce 80% of their results. This means that if they have 50 accounts, they are really leaning on 10 of those accounts to drive their numbers.

Those top 10 accounts will be the first to hear about a new promotion or new product offerings, and they’ll have consistent communication from the sales rep. Relationships with the prime accounts will be the strongest and get the most attention, but what about the other accounts?

If you’re looking through a B2C lens, you’d assume everyone is getting a little bit of interaction from the sales rep, but that’s not how it works. The myth formed by ecommerce companies is that by leaning into consumerization, you can create new sales opportunities and unlock new and explosive growth for your B2B company, but that is a story told to cover up the shortcomings of so many ecommerce platforms when it comes to B2B sales.

The reality is that the nuance of B2B sales means that consumerization will never truly work for this sector. With B2B sales, you’re dealing with much bigger contracts, a longer buyer journey and more decision makers. Due to all the reasons mentioned above, a rep has to be that much more nurturing for their leads in B2B sales. Potential customers will want more research, a deeper understanding from the sales rep of their business and the challenges they are looking to solve. Each step in the sales process needs to be carefully cultivated and developed by the sales team.

Sometimes there can be a team of 10 that all need to make the B2B buying decision together, whereas in B2C you only need to worry about one single buyer. This is why becoming a trusted advisor for the entire buyer group is so important.

In B2B sales, you need to make sure the whole buyer group is confident moving forward. You may have a split decision among the buyer group and have to provide extra content and answer additional questions for the doubtful side of the buyer group. Sales teams in the B2B sector need to be prepared to tailor their efforts to not only the group as a whole but also on an individual basis.

In a nutshell, the differences between B2B and B2C sales far outweigh the similarities between the sectors, and if you are trying to replicate strategy across sectors, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Convenience and practical functionalities.

Most commerce platforms were launched more than 15 years ago and designed for the B2C commerce boom. These platforms were not designed to handle B2B sales. But instead of redesigning their platform or adding new features and functionalities to better support B2B sales, ecommerce technology companies are trying to make B2B sales fit in their current B2C offerings — and it should be the other way around.

The shift that needs to happen from ecommerce platforms for B2B sales can be compared to the shift to telehealth for healthcare companies. Telehealth is all about efficiency and adding value for the doctor and the patient. A traditional visit to the doctor can take up to three hours when you factor in drive time, waiting, filling out paperwork, and the actual time with the doctor. Now, with telehealth, the experience only takes 30 minutes, and it is a highly personalized visit.

By truly adopting a B2B mindset for your ecommerce platform, you can learn how to create value for both the sales rep and the customer. The truth is, if your platform doesn’t add value, the sales reps will just rely on the same old tools they know the best. The sales teams for the B2B sector need to have the ability to answer complex, multi-level questions from anyone in the buyer group. For a sales rep to switch from their current system to your new commerce offering, it needs to help them answer those questions effectively and efficiently.

Supplying unique B2B-specific features will truly unlock B2B sales and growth. Your offerings need to strengthen the skills B2B sales reps already have. You need to be able to make their life easier, not just give them another tool to use. When looking at your platform, take a step back and ask yourself, “How will this make things easier for the sales rep and provide a better experience for customers?

Provide tools that unlock potential for the other 40 accounts people are managing, not just the 10 accounts in the top 20% of their portfolio. Adding features that make building relationships with all the customers easy is where the growth will come from.

About the Author:

Jason Nyhus is the president and general manager of Shopware US, an ecommerce software provider.

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The post The consumerization of B2B: myth or fact? appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Mirakl describes the tool, which uses large language model artificial intelligence, or LLM, as “the first and only LLM-powered technology that allows companies to start listing products on marketplaces and drop-ship platforms.”

Nagi Letaifa, Mirakl’s chief technology officer, said in an email reply to Digital Commerce 360 that the tool will become available later this year in the Mirakl marketplace platform and the Mirakl Connect marketplace network of more than 13,000 brands, sellers and suppliers.

“With the Catalog Transformer, Mirakl is enhancing its multichannel feed management capabilities on Mirakl Connect, establishing it as a central hub for brands and resellers to easily find, integrate, and manage new Mirakl-powered marketplace and dropship channels,” Letaifa said.

“Brands, sellers, and suppliers of all sizes can centralize their offerings and begin selling on 400-plus Mirakl-powered marketplace and drop-ship platforms in one click, enabling them to focus resources on business impact rather than complex technical processes,” Mirakl says. It adds that Catalog Transformer supports catalog import methods ranging from Excel and CSV to API, SFTP and purpose-built, turnkey connectors with platforms including Shopify, Adobe, Amazon and Salesforce.”

Jonathan Attali, chief digital officer at fashion apparel merchant Zadig & Voltaire, says in a Mirakl press release that the new tool mitigates the cost of selling through new channels.

“With other feed management solutions, we typically need to invest $100,000 and four months up front to sell on a new channel, which hinders our ability to scale,” he says. “Catalog onboarding represents a massive part of this cost.” Zadig & Voltaire is a seller on the Mirakl Connect network of marketplaces.

He adds: “Thanks to Mirakl Connect’s Catalog Transformer and easy integration with the Magento [ecommerce software] connector, it took us less than 24 hours to import our full catalog data, and start listing products. We carefully reviewed the data from Mirakl’s AI-powered conversion, and it required little to no changes.”

Letaifa said Catalog Transformer uses AI technology from Mistral AI and OpenAI as well as Mirakl’s proprietary AI technology “to automatically align product data from sellers’ catalogs with the specific requirements of marketplace or drop-ship platforms.”

He added, “It improves data quality by correcting inaccuracies and completing missing information, while providing rewriting and translation features to enhance user experience, boost product discoverability, and improve SEO rankings.”

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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The post Online sellers get a one-click entry to marketplace product listings appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Walmart Realm allows shoppers a Disneyesque shopping experience immersion and avatars with funky music playing in the background. The only thing missing are 3-D glasses. A recent sampling of the site — offering categories of home, beauty and fashion — allowed for a $113 Alden Design Mid-Century Modern Faux Leather Wingback Accent chair to be easily placed in a cart, but the feeling was almost as much gaming as shopping.

What it’s like to use Walmart Realm

While Walmart did not respond to a request for comment, William White, its chief marketing officer, emphasized Realm’s futuristic shopping experience.

“It’s fantastical, it’s inspirational, and simply put, it’s a lot of fun,” White stated. “At Walmart, we’re embracing innovation with e-commerce experiences designed with the virtual world at the heart.”

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. The retailer is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the top 100 online marketplaces by gross merchandise value.

Walmart isn’t alone in thinking that Realm may be transformational.

Digital marketing expert Joe Karasin, owner of Karasin PPC,  says that if Realm is successful, other retailers will try similar tactics.

“Walmart Realm will most likely be a major experiential shopping tool that other retailers seek to emulate in the future,” Karasin predicted. “This is very much in line with the direction technology is heading. Amazon has the AR View option for furniture, and other retailers like Wayfair and even Value City have followed suit.”

He anticipates that Walmart may even take some of Amazon’s digital market share.

Walmart’s continuing interest in metaverse ecommerce

Realm showcases creations from the content designers at the firm Sawhorse, as well as a platform created by Emperia, both of which worked with Walmart on the project. It builds on Walmart’s earlier announcements and partnerships to create immersive shopping experiences, including one with 3-D content platform maker Unity. In addition, Walmart has worked on in-game commerce with the virtual game platform Roblox and explored use cases for NFTs.

Some critics have panned Realm as a fad, but Michael Zakkour, a Walmart observer and founder of the consultancy 5 New Digital, doesn’t think so.

“WMR is no fad; it’s a smart strategy,” Zakkour said. “The initial focus is not on growing top line revenue but rather on attracting newer and younger consumers, while also giving current customers an additional habitat in which to shop and experience Walmart.”

He added that using creators and influencers to create, curate and run the shops is innovative business.

“It creates differentiation from what is offered in-store, online, and on the marketplace,” Zakkour explained.

And Realm does differentiate. It offers virtual shops with an under-the-sea theme (but with the fun name of “So Jelly” in homage to the fish), a Wild West theme (Y’Alternative) and a futuristic, avataristic moonscape theme (Go Chromatic). In So Jelly, for example, a full-length ocean-themed Vlush-brand mirror beckoned the seafaring shopper.

But the big question is: Will shoppers bite?

“Consumers may not take to the 100% virtual shopping experience, but if they do, it will revolutionize retail in a major way,” said Karasin.

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The post Walmart Realm debuts a new metaverse-style take on ecommerce appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.