CHICAGO, Oct. 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- hybris, an SAP company and the world's fastest-growing commerce platform provider, will reveal an exclusive study by Forrester Consulting at the inaugural Game Plan B2B E-Commerce Forum being held in Chicago. Entitled, "eCommerce Is Fundamentally Changing B2B" the study – the first of its kind - explores what impact e-commerce is having on global B2B companies.
Forrester found that e-commerce is fundamentally transforming how B2B companies acquire and retain customers. Rather than distancing B2B manufacturers from their customers, e-commerce is making the B2B sales relationship closer than before. The study revealed that the online channel – which is currently under resourced by many B2B organizations - can be a goldmine for those who recognize its potential. Those businesses that have operated online the longest and have sold a greater number of their products through e-commerce, have experienced an exponential upturn in their results compared to those garnered through the more traditional channels. Therefore, B2B companies that wait to implement e-commerce risk losing market share to both B2B rivals and emerging B2C threats.
"This is the most comprehensive global study on B2B e-commerce to date," said Brian Walker, senior vice president, strategy, hybris. "Until now, B2B executives couldn't effectively determine the best course of action for implementing e-commerce solutions because the market was lacking this information. This breakthrough report provides data that B2B executives can use to determine the best course of action in regards to the timing and scope of investment. The time is now to invest in e-commerce capabilities, and the companies that are already doing so are seeing results – revenue."
B2B companies now accruing incremental revenue and customer loyalty gains from advanced e-commerce are beginning to pull away from direct competitors that are still sorting out nascent e-commerce strategies. For B2B distributors and wholesalers in particular, the study shows that the failure to embrace e-commerce in a timely manner represents an existential threat to their business.
"The full study will be presented at Game Plan B2B E-Commerce Forum this week by Senior E-Business Forrester Analyst Andy Hoar, and attendees will be the first to receive the report," said Walker. "We selected an analyst firm to commission this study so that the rigor and quality of the analysis is to a standard that executives can trust. The insights truly lend themselves to executive business decision making to forge ahead on the future of commerce."
About hybris, an SAP Company
hybris helps businesses around the globe sell more goods, services and digital content through every touchpoint, channel and device. hybris delivers OmniCommerce™: state-of-the-art master data management for commerce and unified commerce processes that give a business a single view of its customers, products and orders, and its customers a single view of the business. hybris' omni-channel software is built on a single platform, based on open standards, that is agile to support limitless innovation, efficient to drive the best TCO, and scalable and extensible to be the last commerce platform companies will ever need. Both principal industry analyst firms rank hybris as a "leader" and list its commerce platform among the top two or three in the market. The same software is available on-premise, on-demand and managed hosted, giving merchants of all sizes maximum flexibility. Over 500 companies have chosen hybris, including global B2B sites W.W.Grainger, Rexel, General Electric, Thomson Reuters and 3M as well as consumer brands Toys"R"Us UK, Metro, Bridgestone, Levi's, Nikon, Galeries Lafayette, Migros, Nespresso and Lufthansa. hybris is the future of commerce™. For more information, visit www.hybris.com.