Lack of real-time information contributing to poor food and beverages B2B online purchase experience, new report finds

Hokodo, the B2B eCommerce Association, OroCommerce and Greenwood Consulting have released a joint report that explores the habits and e-commerce expectations of business buyers. 

The report found that 93% of F&B B2B buyers surveyed make their purchases via online platforms. Of this, 69% make over half of all their purchases online and 98% said they will  make more or the same number of purchases online in 2024 as they did last year, signifying the growing prevalence of e-commerce in F&B business trade. 

However, respondents said that they often face a poor user experience with online checkouts; 50% of F&B B2B buyers said the biggest issue is not being able to see real-time product availability. Alongside this, many noted a poor UX (45%) and lack of a repeat order option (43%) With the majority of F&B B2B purchases taking place online, it’s essential that sellers perfect their user experience, or face being abandoned by potential customers in favour of tech-savvy sellers. 

How they pay is important to F&B B2B buyers too, particularly when it comes to alternative payment methods. 48% of F&B respondents would prefer to use mobile payments, while 86% noted they will abandon a purchase if payment terms are not available. Other areas of improvement included more transparency around shipping costs and other fees (44%) and better customer support (43%).  In the consumer segment, the report notes, shoppers are used to one-click checkouts, slick customer service and transparent pricing, suggesting that these issues should be solvable on a B2B platform, too. 

Alongside original data points and analysis, the report makes a number of recommendations that F&B B2B sellers can implement in order to improve their checkout and user experience. With every F&B respondent agreeing that it’s important for B2B suppliers to sell online in 2024, the report helps sellers to navigate the expectations of buyers, and explains how B2B sellers can improve their e-commerce platforms in order to meet the standard of service expected in the consumer segment. 

Louis Carbonnier, Co-founder and President of Hokodo said:

“The findings of this survey reinforce what we at Hokodo have always known: payment terms are a must-have for B2B e-commerce transactions. We’ve spent the past six years developing and refining solutions that address this critical need, empowering merchants to offer flexible payment terms, instantly, at the point of need, even on a customer’s first purchase.”

Christopher Gee, UK Chapter Lead of the B2B eCommerce Association said: 

“Gone are the days when customers would put up with complex, manual, offline processes. Their experiences as consumers are simply too good for them to accept anything less at work - so it’s more important than ever that B2B sellers get the buyer experience right.”

Visit Hokodo to download the full report.