In this post, allow me to move away from consumer research and touch upon a Business to Business marketing issue.
An interesting on-line business model was recently brought to my attention: Shopify (www.shopify.com ; or www.shopify.com.mx if you speak Spanish). Shopify is an on-line service, which helps anyone interested create an online store – today. Their site includes a full description of their services (creating and running the store, accepting payments, moving to a mobile store, etc.). In addition, it features success cases of their service, their 3-level pricing scheme, as well as other useful information.
So, why is it different from other online stores? Well, that is exactly the point: IT IS NOT DIFFERENT! It is very similar to many on-line stores. For instance, if you go to the website of El Corte Ingles (http://www.elcorteingles.es ) you will see more or less the same features for the products that it sells: a description of the product, a few illustrations of how it works, pricing info, upgraded versions of the product, etc.
And why is this similarity striking? Well, simply because Shopify targets business customers, and El Corte Ingles targets consumers… And any marketing professor (including myself) and any marketing textbook (like those I use for teaching) would tell you that these two targets are VERY different. For instance, one of the textbooks that I use (Marketing Management, Kotler and Keller, 14th global Edition, Pearson, 2012, pp. 206-207) says that some characteristics of B2B markets are:
- Fewer and Larger Buyers. Well, Shopify targets apparently many and not so big clients. If your most expensive products brings you $ 179/ month, you have to have MANY clients.
- Close supplier-customer relationship. Apparently, the closest many of Shopify’s customers have been to it is an extended email exchange…
- Professional buyers: Obviously if a firm can barely afford $100 / month for their on-line shop, it cannot afford having a professional buyer.
- Multiple sales calls: Hm… in this case it seems that the clients are calling shopify, after browsing their website.
- Geographically concentrated customers: Shopify appeals to a global audience.
That, of course, does not necessarily mean that B2B Marketing is fundamentally consumer-izing (check the vid below to see how fundamentals always remain the same).
My take, is that a new form of B2B markets is emerging: One in which the customers resemble closer the mass consumer markets. Such markets may be more important as small business (due to the economic crisis) try to expand their reach. Whether or not sustainable business is possible in these markets remains to be seen. Having that said, practitioners (as is frequently the case) have already sensed and are exploiting this trend, while academics are not yet discussing it – at least not in written form.
But then again, if everything was in textbooks, why would anyone need a Business School?
Antonios (Adoni) Stamatogiannakis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Marketing
IE Business School – IE University
antonios.stamatogiannakis@ie.edu
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