Commentary

Forget B2B and B2C: effective customer experience is about B2H (business 2 human)

DJ Edgerton, CEO and founder of Zemoga, explains why retailers should be melding the characteristics of B2B and B2C sales strategies to drive a rewarding customer experience.

Photo by iStock.com

March 27, 2019

By DJ Edgerton, CEO and founder, Zemoga

Historically, the retail industry has been divided into two categories: B2B and B2C, and each has followed specific guidelines in terms of overall customer experience.

In B2B, for example, the customer experience has typically focused on answering the needs of multiple stakeholders within a business, and concentrating on the technical aspects of the sale, such as product pricing for different customers, wholesale orders and facilitating repeat purchases on a large quantity of product.

In contrast, B2C's focus is selling products to unique individuals and, in recent years, creating an enjoyable and replicable experience around the product to continue drawing in a loyal customer base, regardless of whether the customer makes the purchase during that particular visit to the store or later on a digital platform.

While each of these approaches has its distinctive characteristics and expectations, retailers are realizing they must blend the characteristics of these B2B and B2C sales strategies together.

The truth of the matter is that the retail customer experience can no longer be segmented in B2B or B2C silos. In the omnichannel environment we live in, we as consumers expect to seamlessly move from our mobile to our desktop and all the way to the store in one connected shopping experience. And, regardless of our purchase intent for ourselves or for the company we represent, we all have consumer biases. Couple that with our constant, daily interaction with digital, and it has all led us to expect and be drawn to shopping experiences that answer our experiential needs.

The fact is, when it comes to an effective customer experience in retail, the top driver in B2B and B2C should always be B2H: business-to-human. Here's why:

Experience is everywhere

A sophisticated, interesting and exciting customer experience is something that we've been conditioned to expect in every aspect of our lives. These expectations are shaped by our everyday experiences, from quickly and easily using our mobile phones to hail a ride anywhere in the world with Uber or Lyft, to choosing from a continuously curated list of movies and television series through streaming services.

Industry disruptors throughout all verticals have shown us that experiences should be convenient and user-intuitive, delivering a layer of innovation that will keep us coming back for more. In the business world, this need for an updated experience has also begun to take the industry by storm with the rollout of fresh workspaces such as WeWork, designed to deliver a professional yet stylish and experience-driven work environment.

In the business to human approach, it's all about the interface

With new experiences coming at us from every angle, it's no wonder we expect these similar events in the world of retail, no matter if it's a B2B or B2C environment. This is where the 'business 2 human' approach, or B2H, can help retailers across the board take customer experiences to the next level. For example, no matter the retail category, employing a B2H approach can help create an evolved customer experience that brings customization, curation and choice to all consumers across the board.

In building a B2H approach, the most critical step to keep in mind is the design of the interface itself, what the end-user will engage with, every interaction. In the B2B world, it often seems like users end up using solutions or products because they have to, as it's mandated by their business. In the B2C world, we push an e-commerce site live for consumers to view, and if the design doesn't resonate, we iterate on the design to prevent the consumer from moving on to a competitor's site.

In an ideal B2H customer experience, the interface should bring in the elements of what we see and are inspired by in everyday life. This means giving both B2B and B2C consumers the ability to easily access and navigate through a retailer's site, gather more intel about the brand's passion and authenticity, and create a simple yet interesting path-to-product discovery, purchase and fulfillment. This means doing away with complicated checkout processes and making the consumer-retailer relationship as easy as tapping a button on your mobile phone.

The B2H customer experience

The B2H approach is needed in retail to create an effective customer experience that builds rapport with each and every customer, along with life-long customer loyalty. At the end of the day, we are all consumers, and if retailers don't address our external biases and expectations within the retail world, they risk losing their consumers to the customer experience disruptors making waves within the industry.