British Business-to-Business (B2B) companies take on average 32 days to collect, collate and enrich all the necessary data for a new product launch, significantly impacting UK productivity and go-to-market times, according to research conducted by Akeneo, the Product Experience (PX) Company and leading provider of Product Information Management (PIM) solutions.
The impact on speed to market is even greater for British B2B manufacturers and suppliers serving the retail industry with product information inefficiencies increasing the time taken to prepare data for launches to more than seven working weeks or 42 days, revealed Akeneo’s 2024 B2B Survey Report, which surveyed 650 industry leaders and decision makers across the U.K., U.S., France and Germany.
Overall, UK B2B manufacturers underperform slightly compared to their global counterparts, who complete the product data collection and enrichment process in 31 days, highlighting the need to enable increased efficiency to drive the greater productivity and business outputs required to deliver economic growth.
Trade body, Make UK, expects the British manufacturing sector to grow by 1.2% across 2024, beating GDP growth of 0.9% for the year as demand normalises following several years of disruption caused by multiple global events. However, managing accurate and comprehensive product information remains a significant challenge for many B2B organisations, with 99% of business leaders polled indicating they faced at least one product information challenge, with the application of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) being the most common (33%). This was followed by team collaboration (29%), managing the activation of product information on sales channels (29%) and timely product launches (29%).
The line between B2B and B2C buying experiences continues to blur, with B2B customers expecting the same level of convenience, personalisation and seamlessness they experience while shopping as consumers. The research revealed that nine in ten (90%) of B2B organisations are planning to increase their digital sales strategies in the next two years, especially in larger companies. Popular pre-purchase channels among B2B customers include digital self-serve portals (51%), social media (46%) and product marketing websites (45%).
Kristin Naragon, chief strategy officer at Akeneo, commented: “As B2B customers increasingly expect the same seamless experiences they encounter in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) transactions, organisations must adapt quickly to stay competitive. This includes ensuring the timely collection and enrichment of product data to ensure products are available on market swiftly and with all the relevant buying information delivered seamlessly across increasingly digitised buying channels, underscoring the importance of leveraging advanced technologies to meet these evolving demands.”
