Retailers, among other advertisers, had already been exploring how third-party cookies’ elimination would alter targeting capabilities based on activity in Google’s Chrome web browser. That journey has opened up new opportunities for alternatives. Examples include those offered through retail media networks that leverage first-party data on customers.

In a July 22 blog post, however, Anthony Chavez, a vice president working on Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, explained that his company is changing course.

Google’s decision to cancel third-party cookies deprecation

“Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time,” Chavez wrote. “We’re discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out.”

Google originally started its Privacy Sandbox project to explore options for user privacy on the open web. Up until this week, that vision did not include third-party cookies, the code used on websites that can live on in web browsers across multiple site visits to track user activity and inform targeted advertisements delivered to those users. Along the way, the Privacy Sandbox team has been working with industry and government representatives to craft new solutions.

“Throughout this process, we’ve received feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders, including regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), publishers, web developers and standards groups, civil society, and participants in the advertising industry,” Chavez said. “This feedback has helped us craft solutions that aim to support a competitive and thriving marketplace that works for publishers and advertisers, and encourage the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies.”

Timeline for third-party cookies deprecation

Ultimately, Google decided that its favored path will mean implementing these new settings within Chrome and without pushing ahead with cookies deprecation. That process began after a formal announcement in 2020, eyeing 2022 for full deprecation. In April, the deadline was moved into 2025 as Google acknowledged the CMA’s need to review proposals, as well as “ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers.”

“As this moves forward, it remains important for developers to have privacy-preserving alternatives,” Chavez stated this week. “We’ll continue to make the Privacy Sandbox APIs available and invest in them to further improve privacy and utility. We also intend to offer additional privacy controls, so we plan to introduce IP Protection into Chrome’s Incognito mode.”

Do you rank in our databases?

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Google ends its third-party cookies deprecation plans for Chrome appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

But the GenAI landscape for which tools and programs work and which ones don’t can be daunting for ecommerce marketers to figure out and implement, says a new report from Forrester Research.

“The launch of ChatGPT and the rapid proliferation of genAI tools have created ongoing discussions and discoveries about their potential impact across many scenarios and use cases — along with the potential dangers,” according to Forrester’s report, Generative AI Brings Superpowers to Portfolio Marketers. “The sheer level of capabilities it brings to so many different fields have created a maelstrom of confusion.”

The challenges noted in the report include:

• Access depends on the workplace. Organizational practices and guidelines around the use of genAI vary widely. “Many organizations are still playing it safe and banning any employee use of genAI tools.”
• Businesses are confused about the multiple ways to access genAI capabilities. “Organizations and employees are confused about which tools to use, how, and when — due to the proliferation of tools and path to access.”
• There is a lack of defined processes or standards. Within the boundaries of organizational guidelines, many portfolio marketers are actively trying out genAI tools for different use cases. “As the number of genAI tools continues to grow, portfolio marketers often rely on word of mouth to find tools that fit their needs and company requirements.”

To make using genAI effective, ecommerce marketers need not adopt a “one size fits all” mentality, Forrester says. Instead, marketers need to figure out specific areas where AI can improve the speed, efficiency and awareness of branding and messaging campaigns.

Areas where Forrester says genAI may deliver key benefits include:

• Speeding time to expertise. GenAI can summarize swaths of information from multiple sources, allowing portfolio marketers to rapidly consume the latest information.
• Automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks.
• GenAI can automate mundane tasks like data entry, note-taking, and reporting, thus freeing up time and resources for more complex and strategic work.
• Sparking creativity and ideation. With a broad remit of responsibility and endless to-do lists, portfolio marketers can find it hard to consistently spur creativity.
• Repackaging content for different uses. Portfolio marketers can increase productivity in content creation by asking genAI to develop short- or long-form.
• Enabling personalization at scale.  The ability to communicate and engage a prospect or customer based on their industry, geographic region, functional responsibility, or even buyer role can pay dividends in the level of response and engagement.

“Content-generation genAI tools can be trained on the best on-message content to help sales, marketing, and other teams when creating emails, ads, and landing pages,” Forrester says.

Submit a nomination

Nominate a game-changer for the Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards from Digital Commerce 360 and the B2B Ecommerce Association.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The post Ecommerce marketers embrace the pros and cons of GenAI appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Jay Schneider, CEO, B2B-Squared

Taking a page from retail ecommerce, he adds, “what we can do is basically connect a new customer to the store” and then build a profitable, long-term relationship with them.

“But in B2B, it’s more complex,” he says. “It’s not about promotions or flash sales … where retailers make their money on upselling and loyalty programs.”

B2B commerce, he asserts, “is more about products that go into assemblies, related products and product lines, and replenishment products.”

Schneider says the more B2B sellers compile workflow data on how they search for, interact with, and purchase through digital content as well as through offline channels, the more sellers can use that data to build personalized marketing automation to boost conversions and sales from existing customers.

The sales engine flywheel effect

It’s the sales engine flywheel effect — the more customers interact with a seller, the more data the seller has to trigger automated, personalized marketing designed to drive conversions and sales, he says.

B2B-Squared has launched Flywheel B2B Marketing Automation, a technology and services package designed to build on customer online activity and product and marketing data for a more productive B2B buying experience.

“As we do this over and over and over again, it creates this flywheel effect — this energy that continues to drive ecommerce,” he says, adding: “If we have a number of these workflows working all at one time, it should be what we really expect commerce to generate in B2B — and  that is the opportunity to sell more to our existing customer.”

Schneider asserts that enterprise marketing platforms are mostly designed for generating sales leads and marketing content, “not building incremental ecommerce income.” He adds that email and marketing platforms are built primarily for consumer marketing and not for the complexities of B2B customers and markets.

He says that Flywheel B2B Marketing Automation takes a different approach, including:

• Marketing automation triggered by such online actions as add-to-list, add-to-cart, or checkout; or responses to email promotions or sales rep communications.
• The use of critical data from a seller’s products and promotions and from customer activity to build personalized and automated campaigns designed to boost conversions.
• Integrated technology to coordinate email delivery, marketing automation and personalization for building and improving customized marketing campaigns.
• A turn-key approach where all services — campaign design, management, reporting, etc. — are included in the monthly subscription.

Justin King, managing partner of consulting and advisory firm B2X Partners and a global senior analyst for the B2B eCommerce Association, has reviewed the Flywheel B2B system and says it is critical for bringing more B2B customers into digital commerce.

“In the B2B world, there’s a ton of chatter about technology like ecommerce platforms and product information management systems (PIMs), but the real challenge is getting customers to actually use these digital tools,” he says. “It’s more about the right processes than just the technology. Simply setting up a B2B store isn’t enough to ensure customers will flock to it.”

King says Flywheel B2B is “the first digital marketing platform designed specifically to shift customer transactions from offline to online. By creating workflows that link customers directly to your online store, it not only helps kickstart their use of the ecommerce site but also keeps them coming back, which in turn means they will spend more.”

B2B-Squared is offering Flywheel B2B as a monthly tiered subscription, starting at $1,995, with services and software included.

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

Submit a nomination

Nominate a game-changer for the Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards from Digital Commerce 360 and the B2B Ecommerce Association.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

The post A ‘Flywheel B2B’ application launches for marketing automation appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Adrien Nussenbaum, co-CEO, Mirakl

2023 marked a “year of maturity for Mirakl,” says Adrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and co-CEO. “Not only did we significantly increase our annual recurring revenue … but we are now financially self-sustaining.”

Nussenbaum adds that Mirakl powers ecommerce operations for more than 450 enterprises. They include B2B companies Airbus Helicopters, pharmaceuticals distributor Cencora (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen), Mitsubishi Electric, restaurant supplier Parts Town and Toyota Material Handling. Among its retailer clients, Mirakl counts Macy’s, Best Buy, Kroger and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Mirakl-powered B2B marketplace sales

Mirakl says the gross merchandise volume on the Mirakl Marketplace Platform, which client companies use for first-party and third-party ecommerce sales and drop-shipping, grew 50% year over year in 2023 to $8.6 billion.

In addition, Mirakl generated a 20% increase in annual revenue to nearly $160 million.

Nussenbaum says Mirakl has been expanding and upgrading its digital commerce and marketing products and services in several areas to help online sellers meet rising expectations of personalized and helpful online buying journeys.

For example, Mirakl introduced last year a program for integrating AI technology across several Mirakl technology platforms:

• Mirakl Marketplace.
• Catalog platform for onboarding sellers’ product information.
• Target2Sell content personalization.
• Target2Sell content personalization.
• Mirakl Ads online advertising program for promoting products on e-marketplace pages.

Mirakl says that, through a feature developed on generative AI, Mirakl customers “can enhance the data quality and completeness of product catalogs, boost search engine rankings, and increase conversions automatically by optimizing product titles, descriptions and attributes.”

It adds that Mirakl has also developed AI-powered language translations to help online sellers “expand their business into new territories.”

In addition, Mirakl launched in 2023 the Mirakl Payout for online payment transactions and a global arrangement with marketing and communications firm Havas Group.

In a sign of what it expects more robust growth to come, Mirakl said it achieved a record $1 billion in monthly GMV in November. And it noted that more than 30 Mirakl-powered marketplaces surpassed the $100 million GMV mark last year, including several that surpassed $500 million.

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

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s MSC Industrial report.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post Marketplace technology firm Mirakl reports surging sales appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

What building trust with buyers means

When it comes to referrals, business buyers who trust suppliers are twice as likely to recommend those companies as buyers who do not trust suppliers, the report says. They are also more likely to pay a premium to collaborate with those companies.

Determining what constitutes a buyer’s trust in a supplier, however, can be viewed as a nebulous and highly subjective process. To bring clarity to what defines a buyer’s trust in a supplier, Forrester identified seven criteria buyers use as suppliers build trust. Those criteria, in alphabetical order, are accountability, competence, consistency, dependability, empathy, integrity and transparency.

A supplier’s competence, consistency and dependability are the three primary criteria most business buyers use to determine the level of trust they have in a supplier regardless of industry, types of purchases made and a buyer’s status within their organization, although the order can vary based on the geographic region, according to Forrester. Buyers in the Asia Pacific region, for example, rank a supplier’s competence first, followed by either consistency or dependability.

While a supplier’s perceived competence, consistency and dependability carry the most weight in building a B2B buyer’s trust in a supplier, accountability, integrity, transparency and empathy also play roles in building trust to varying degrees. Among these secondary criteria, a supplier’s integrity carries quite a bit of weight. Some 45% of business buyers, for example, said that if a supplier acted contrary to their company’s values, they were not likely to forgive the supplier. In comparison, empathy, on which consumers place a strong emphasis when building trust with a merchant, does not rate high with business buyers, according to the report.

Forrester surveyed 1,420 global purchase influencers, which the report refers to as business buyers.

Most important factors in building trusted B2B supplier status

When asked to rank the traits suppliers displayed during the purchasing process that built trust in the supplier, competency ranked first with a score of 18.5%. After that, consistency ranked second with a score of 17%. Dependability ranked third with a score of 16.8%.

To calculate the scores, Forrester used a MaxDiff analysis (also known as best-worst scaling), which plots rankings based on a 100-point scale. The top three criteria ranked above the neutral share of importance — i.e., the value at which all seven levers would carry an equal one-seventh share of importance, or 14.29%, according to the report. When the scores for all seven criteria are added together, they equal 100%.

“Furthermore, each [trait] distance from that neutral value provides a clear picture of which [trait] has the greatest or least utility in the buying process,” the report says.

Accountability ranked fourth with a score of 14.3%. Transparency ranked fifth with a score of 12.7%. Integrity ranked sixth with a score of 12.1%. Empathy ranked seventh with a score of 8.6%.

Importance of referrals and recommendations

A key part of a buyer’s trust with a supplier comes from gathering information from people, organizations and third parties. When asked to rank the sources of information they trust most about suppliers, 82% of respondents cited co-workers. 82% also cited company management. 79% cited vendors with whom they currently work. 72% cited industry peers. 68% cited industry analysts. Respondents were then asked to rank 10 sources of information.

“Business buyers trust people and organizations they already know and with whom they share a professional kinship. Coworkers and current vendors are among the most trusted sources of information,” says the report.

Surprisingly, vendors’ sales representatives ranked seventh on the list of trusted sources of information. Some 58% of respondents cite vendor sales reps as a trusted source of information. News media (56%), government officials (51%) and social media influencers (44%) rounded out the list.

“Salespeople don’t innately command trust, barely scoring higher than government officials,” the report says. “Vendors should recognize that trusted sources — including their own executives — are more likely to build trusting relationships and should be used to augment and support marketing efforts and sales processes. They should also co-opt more trusted sources of information like consultants and analyst research.”

Attributes associated with most trusted B2B suppliers

When B2B buyers were asked how likely they were to trust a supplier based on a set of 13 attributes, financial security ranked first (81%). That was followed by longevity (80%), innovation (78%), brand awareness (77%) and specialization (76%). Diversity, equity and inclusion (65%), entertainment (61%) and controversial (52%) ranked 11^th through 13^th.

Overall, gaining a B2B buyer’s trust is critical for suppliers looking to establish long-term relationships with buyers. As part of its research, Forrester asked buyers who expressed trust in their supplier, as well as those who did not, a series of the same questions.

Among buyers who expressed trust in their supplier, 85% said they would recommend the supplier to others within their organization. Similarly, 83% said they would continue to do business with the supplier. 83% also said they would recommend the supplier to peers and friends outside their company. In addition, 74% said they would continue to purchase additional products from the supplier, even if those purchases were unrelated to the products or services they currently purchase. Meanwhile, 74% also said they would trust other companies affiliated with the supplier.

Consequences when suppliers are not trusted

In comparison, among buyers who did not express trust in their supplier, 48% said they would recommend the supplier to others within their organization. 53% said they would continue to do business with the supplier. And 45% said they would recommend the supplier to peers and friends outside their company. In addition, 43% said they would continue to purchase additional products from the supplier, even if those purchases were unrelated to the products or services they currently purchase. Meanwhile, 42% said they would trust other companies affiliated with the supplier.

“Trust is an essential ingredient in the business buying process,” the report concludes. “Trusted companies are more likely to win and retain customers, receive the accolades of their peers, and enjoy a strong buyer preference.”

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post Forrester survey: How most trusted suppliers attract B2B buyers appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Millennial and Gen Z B2B buyers are many and demanding online

Annual US B2B ecommerce sales near $2 trillion

B2B electronic sales grow to more than $9 trillion

The long history of Caterpillar’s ecommerce journey

Amazon Business touts $35 billion in annualized gross sales

Digital diversity drives Grainger sales growth in Q2

MSC Industrial cites ecommerce as key to its growth

Fastenal’s Q2 digital sales top $1 billion

Digital now tops half of all sales for MRC Global

More core industries go hard core for B2B digital commerce

The myth busters of B2B ecommerce

How B2B companies build out their ecommerce strategies

Anheuser-Busch InBev pops the cork on ecommerce

Honeywell acquisition of Carrier unit boosts B2B and B2C ecommerce offerings

Walmart Business launches as a B2B ecommerce site

Watsco ecommerce sales top $2.3 billion

Global Industrial hits an ecommerce milestone despite soft sales

Williams-Sonoma is all business about B2B ecommerce

Digital trucking firm Convoy blames ‘perfect storm’ for shutdown

WD-40 Co.: Digital commerce is a “must-win battle”

The promise of AI and other trends

A large IT distributor re-invents ecommerce with AI and 3D technology

Making Generative AI work for better B2B content

How AI helps manufacturers upgrade their ecommerce operations

Generative AI makes product management inroads

Challenged procurement pros want automation and AI

Three ways generative AI will change B2B marketing

Manufacturers make AI the heart of digital transformation

Xometry touts AI strategy and record Q3 revenue

An AI tool launches to upend online product configuration

Why B2B companies are integrating ERP and ecommerce technology

How manufacturers and distributors collaborate to grow B2B digital sales

Ecommerce drives up US port activity

Manufacturers are ‘bullish’ on digital

How Ecolab figured out an online personalization formula

Manufacturers are ‘bullish’ on 2024 earnings and digital transformation

Digital manufacturer Protolabs scores record quarterly sales

AB InBev reports 27% growth on its digital BEES platform

How a manufacturer planned a B2B ecommerce site project

For a mining equipment manufacturer, ecommerce uncovers new rewards

Distributors roll with ecommerce growth

Bottoms up: A B2B distributor tops $3 billion in digital sales

Fastenal’s Q3 digital sales come in at 57% of total sales

Watsco expands online buyer base, sparks ecommerce sales

Zoro.com appoints Sandy Mattinson as president

Despite a dip, MSC Industrial keeps doubling down on ecommerce

A major building products distributor takes digital transformation mainstream

Food-service distributor Parts Town expands same-day delivery

Data hack problems continue to plague a major distributor of dental products

A tire distributor rolls with more B2B and B2C online orders

The Hot Corner: B2B Marketplaces

Amazon Business, Alibaba, eBay: Where gross B2B sales know no bounds

Amazon Business is all business about its B2B marketplace

Supporting disabled workers, Amazon Business launches an AbilityOne store

A GE marketplace blows its way into the wind turbine business

B2B marketplace’s fast track into mainstream US business sales

B2B marketplaces refine their expansion strategies

Vehicle carrier transport is the next B2B marketplace niche

EnvisionB2B 2023:

EnvisionB2B: B2B companies share their ecommerce growth strategies

EnvisionB2B: Disruption drives ecommerce change for Konica Minolta

EnvisionB2B: Why not all B2B buyers want an Amazon shopping experience

Toyota, Bendix, McKesson and US Foods join EnvisionB2B’s speaker lineup

EnvisionB2B: Global Industrial’s Alex Tomey on sustainability

EnvisionB2B: Performance Food Group revamps the online B2B buyer experience

Perspectives of industry experts

Become Amazon in your space with AI/ML: Using AI-based language transformers to boost sales

Manufacturers’ game plan: Crafting a strong business case for ecommerce

What’s attracting B2B marketplace investors this year?

Generative AI will change the B2B customer experience as we know it

6 ways ChatGPT can enhance supply chains

‘Visual commerce’ — a sharp new focus on B2B

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

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post Editors’ picks: Our top B2B ecommerce stories of 2023 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Laura Ramos, vice president and principal analyst, Forrester Research

That’s the advice from Forrester Research in the report, “Predictions 2024: B2B Marketing, Sales, and Product,” by vice president and principal analyst Laura Ramos and other Forrester analysts.

Forrester advises that B2B marketing, sales and product teams “face a turbulent year ahead, full of partner-centered growth and productivity ups as well as demand, technology and regulatory/legal downs.”

It asserts that generative AI may broadly impact all teams across marketing, sales and product, “with a mix of both success and failures” throughout 2024.

But Forrester adds: “Teams that double down on customer analysis and understanding, address buyer preferences, and enrich collaboration with [channel] partners will find the ride exhilarating.”

GenAI tops the B2B challenges

Topping off the challenges ahead is generative AI, which Forrester predicts will sift through customer data for insights that will direct one in five new product launches. But while GenAI will help make 2024 a bumper year for new products, Forrester warns that “thinly customized GenAI content will degrade purchase experience for 70%” of B2B buyers by failing “to demonstrate an understanding of their organization’s business conditions or needs.”

To deepen understanding of B2B buyers, Forrester says “B2B marketers should invest in fresh buyer and customer persona interviews and use the transcripts to guide AI-generated content personalization efforts,” adding: “We anticipate that one-third or fewer will do so, but those who do will see their investment in AI-generated content pay off.

Among its other 2024 predictions, Forrester says half of B2B companies will boost partner ecosystem technology investment. It suggests those companies consider collaboration in such areas as GenAI, co-marketing and partner-led marketplaces.

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

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post 2024: Expect a B2B ‘thrill ride’ of highs and lows appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Eugene Levin

Company leaders face a frenzy of interest about how generative AI will impact their businesses on many levels. The same can be said for online visibility because generative AI adds another dimension to the complex and competitive online landscape where businesses are constantly fighting for the attention of their target audiences. So, if companies adopt generative AI, will it replace search and the processes that they  rely on to be successful?

The short answer is no. Prioritizing SEO is still extremely important for businesses, and generative AI is another tool in the toolbox that professionals can leverage to stay ahead of the curve, even as the technology evolves. Here’s how.

Experiment with generative AI tools to enhance your SEO strategy but lean into your human expertise.

At this point, business leaders cannot afford to not experiment with generative AI tools. Start by using tools that can make an immediate impact on important SEO tactics, including idea generation and content creation. However, do not simply rely on generative AI results. Generative AI is a tool, not a replacement for the critical thinking and creativity that humans are capable of.

Don’t get lazy and default to trusting these budding tools that are known to cite sources unreliably. Since the recent popularization of generative AI, we are seeing an increase in the creation of poor content that is polluting search engines, making it even harder for users to find quality content for what they are searching.

Quickly and accurately identifying high-quality, trustworthy content has long been a concern in the search space. Most of Google’s major algorithm updates are geared toward exactly that. Generative AI will require search engines to adapt to embrace AI-enhanced features while also vetting content trustworthiness, whether the content was developed by AI or humans.

Stay alert to changes with both emerging search engines and the industry leaders.

Even with the genesis of generative AI, no one is truly challenging Google — yet. But that’s going to change.

Data shows that Google searches for “Bing” are up 29% year-over-year, suggesting users may be curious about its new AI functionality. And as more search engines begin to leverage AI, more competitors will claim market share in the years to come. This competition will be great for businesses because they will be able to show up in and compete for more places online.

However, business leaders must continue the SEO strategies working for them on Google because search likely won’t drastically change as quickly as one might expect. The “traditional SERP” (search engine results page) has been gone for a while, and AI has already become part of search as we know it. There are instant answers, Featured Snippets, and other SERP features that are designed to immediately provide helpful information to users. The use of generative AI in search is a continuation of that trend.

To be aware of the constant changes in search engine algorithms and what Google, Bing and others are doing, trust your SEO team to monitor these changes and constantly come up with ways to adjust their strategies accordingly.

Use generative AI beyond basic search. Take it one step further to improve user experience.

Once your business begins leveraging generative AI for its search strategies, take things to the next level by using it to engage your customer base via automation and personalization. It’s easier than ever to do this, and it will add value to your audience and lead to growth in revenue.

Generative AI can enhance interactions between business owners and customers on several levels. The technology can create responses to business or product reviews in seconds, ultimately reducing reply time and unanswered reviews to nearly zero. This drives better customer engagement, better review scores, increased brand loyalty and incremental sales.

It can also analyze thousands of customer reviews and feedback inputs across multiple channels, like surveys and social media posts, to unveil themes, strengths, challenges, and areas to improve. The insights can then be applied to engage your audience with updates you’ll know they’ll appreciate. Business leaders should also use these tools to personalize targeted ads and product recommendations based on a customer’s behaviors and preferences even easier than before.

Though we’re watching generative AI technology evolve in real time, business leaders can stay on top of search to stay relevant and visible in the increasingly competitive online space, while also strategically experimenting as a business and improving customer engagement.

It’s imperative to experiment now to find what works for your business and be ready to pivot in the future as additional changes and advancements are made and search inevitably becomes more competitive.

About the author:

Eugene Levin is the president of Semrush, an online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post How generative AI is reshaping SEO strategies for businesses appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

That pressure stems from ARG’s role as a light custom-manufacturer as well as a distributor of more than 25,000 SKUs for  industrial hoses, fittings and related products for such industrial uses as oil rigs and fuel-delivery trucks. Most of its business involves replacing broken industrial hoses, and ARG’s sales and product teams often work with customers to assemble customized hose products and systems.

Mike Powers, director, ecommerce and digital, ARG Industrial

“You have to make sure that you’re getting the right data from your suppliers, and also that you’re presenting the right data on these assemblies to your customers,” says Mike Powers, ARG’s director of ecommerce and digital. Ship a hose assembly with the wrong specifications, and the customer could experience severe problems, he adds.

ARG B2B digital commerce sales

ARG is working with the Industrial Distributor Cooperative (IDCO) buying group and product information management (PIM) and other software from digital commerce technology vendor Unilog to expedite how it receives product data from Midland and other critical suppliers.

Ross Baker, director of product strategy, Midland Industries

“It’s the way of the future,” says Ross Baker, Midland’s director of product strategy. “The more distributors that are pulling this data we’re putting into the PIM, the more chances there are for sales to increase on both sides.”

Powers asserts that companies involved in ecommerce face challenges in pulling data from legacy enterprise resource planning systems and integrating that data with a customer-facing ecommerce site.

“They’re realizing that the complexity of integrating legacy ERP and B2B ecommerce is very, very tough,” Powers says. He adds that companies then often find it difficult to find the people with the necessary expertise to work with legacy ERP systems.”

Working with Unilog and IDCO, ARG receives more consistent and helpful product information from Midland and other suppliers.

Midland is now pushing new product updates quickly to ARG, “instead of us waiting 12 months to get a new catalog,” Powers says. “All we need to do is log in.”

Data collaboration results

He says the much-improved product data flow is producing several results, including:

• Increased web traffic through improved keywords and search engine optimization.
• A more useful site search tool and increased sales of newly released products.
• ARG’s enhanced ability to develop a new configurator that lets customers who want to build their own hose assemblies to order an accurate product set.
• ARG’s enhanced ability to provide punchout catalogs that let buyers punch out from their procurement software to an ARG product catalog.

Baker adds that Midland expects to extend the level of product data-sharing it does with ARG to more companies to foster increased revenue for both Midland and its channel partners.

The Cashing in with Digital Channel Partners report is available for a free download.

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

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post How manufacturers and distributors collaborate to grow B2B digital sales appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Bachir Kassir, founder, MyTradeZone.com

“We know that 40% of B2B marketing budgets are spent on trade shows and that over 95% of marketers use social media content in their campaigns,” he says in his promotional material, adding: “So why is there no social network specifically dedicated to B2B trade?”

That’s where MyTradeZone fills the gap in B2B commerce, he adds.

“On MyTradeZone, each business can both market its products/services and source what it needs, all within the same platform,” he says.

Kassir notes that he founded and launched the site quietly several years ago, building a base of about 50,000 users through word-of-mouth.

A toolset with CRM and email marketing

But he recently publicized MyTradeZone’s official launch in a press release and is considering taking on investment partners to spur growth. He adds that he expects the site to begin generating revenue in the first quarter of next year.

MyTradeZone.com provides built-in features ranging from site search, product listings, and online video chats to email marketing and CRM software applications to help buyers and sellers find and build business relationships with particular types of trading partners.

It offers limited access to these features at no charge under its basic membership plan. Premium plans will provide the same features and higher site search rankings for monthly fees from $20 to $50 based on the volume of activity.

In addition, the top premium plan will let participants earn fees from online ads placed on the social network site. MyTradeZone will take a cut of those ad fees.

MyTradeZone.com does not operate as a conventional ecommerce marketplace hosting product and services sales transactions among participating buyers and sellers, who complete those transactions outside the networking site. But it will let users monetize business communities, such as by setting up industry organizations and charging membership fees through the Stripe online payments system. In that case, MyTradeZone will charge a fee based on a percentage of the membership fees.

Kassir says MyTradeZone has been gaining about 100 members daily — a figure he wants to grow to about 1,000.

To get there, he says he’ll continue to invest in “lots of business tools” available to members and offer premium membership deals to trade shows, business networking groups and trade associations. He adds that while he has mostly self-funded MyTradeZone, he may consider outside investors.

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

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post MyTradeZone.com launches for B2B networking and lead generation appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.