DHL Express and Cranfield School of Management have released a new white paper that suggests that we could see dynamic growth in B2B cross border e-commerce. This follows explosive growth in the B2C sector in recent years.
In a statement about the paper, Ken Allen, CEO of DHL Express, said, “We have seen B2C e-commerce grow at a faster pace than most other industry sectors in recent years, with premium cross-border shipments growing from 10% to more than 20% of the volumes of DHL Express.
“As this study shows, there is the same potential for cross-border B2B e-commerce to grow at a dynamic pace, and the DHL Express network will be an enabler of that for businesses around the world.”
John Pearson, CEO, DHL Express Europe, added: “E-commerce is radically transforming the way in which B2B companies operate and opening up new market opportunities around the globe while simultaneously challenging many established companies to keep up with more agile newcomers.
“The most successful e-commerce companies today provide an enhanced customer experience comparable to what we all now know from our personal online shopping activities. To compete in this changing market environment, B2B companies are also having to change their supply chains, becoming more transparent, streamlined, responsive and flexible. Based on both our longstanding relationships with the B2B sector and our success in serving cross-border B2C, DHL Express is very well placed to help industrial companies expand more actively into e-commerce.”
There are five categories of features that the white paper identifies are essential to B2B e-commerce platforms. These are customer experience, digital infrastructure, seamless integration, customer personalisation and synchronisation of logistics.
The DHL / Cranfield paper also offers practical recommendations to companies that wish to further develop their capabilities across these five categories.