“There’s an enormous opportunity to be seized in manufacturing B2B e-commerce, yet only a tiny percentage of manufacturers are reaping the benefits to date. To stay ahead of the curve, manufacturers must ensure their order and inventory management systems are ready for the challenge.

Let’s examine some of the numbers behind the e-commerce boom and how manufacturers are adjusting to the shift.

The Opportunity

• Reflective of the industry as a whole, Amazon’s e-commerce sales increased from $8.5 billion in 2005 to $469 billion in 2021.
• Millennials prefer e-commerce: 73% of B2B sales transactions now involve millennial decision-makers.
• 61% of B2B transactions start online. 
• Most manufacturers (60%) agree that “implementing digital marketing and sales over the next two years is a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ priority.” 

Few Manufacturers Have Embraced B2B E-Commerce

• Manufacturing B2B e-commerce sales jumped from $255 billion in 2016 to $459 billion in 2020.
• Only 15% of CEOs are utilizing a digital strategy, but more than 90% agree that e-commerce will directly impact their industry. 
• Common e-commerce challenges B2B businesses face are: Maintaining customer relationships, finding the right market, choosing the right technology, cybersecurity, and meeting demands of the B2B marketplace online.

Inventory Management Challenges

• 71% of B2B buyers will search elsewhere if finding a product or solution is too inconvenient. 
• The COVID-19 pandemic and winter storms in the U.S. have exposed issues with the global supply chain. The supply chains in 40% of multinational corporations said they could not “withstand the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.”  

How Top Manufacturers Are Handling the Shift

• The total number of AI devices in manufacturing will reach 15.4 million by 2024.
• Companies are investing in radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, which allows them to track their inventory more efficiently and meet production demand despite the volatile supply chain. 
• Companies that use RFID systems in their supply chains see an increase in inventory accuracy from 65% to 95%.
• Manufacturers are moving their warehouse systems to the cloud, having spent $49.4 billion on cloud services in 2021.
• The number of warehouses in the U.S. rose from 15,763 to 19,190 from 2013 to 2020.
• Due to a boom in e-commerce, the number of warehouses worldwide is expected to reach about 180,000 by 2025. 
• The global inventory management market is expected to reach $3.2 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2019 to 2025.”

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