Every industry has corporations and leaders that set the bar everyone goals for and the trail to excellence others will follow. And B2B digital commerce isn’t any exception — which is why Digital Commerce 360 and the B2B Ecommerce Association have worked together to form the inaugural Global Ecommerce Industry Awards and name the 2024 winners.
B2B ecommerce is now an $8 trillion global industry that features every region of the world including Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East amongst a number of others.
In each regional market, there are winners and leaders from B2B ecommerce organizations of all sizes. And for the primary time, the B2B Ecommerce Association — in partnership with Digital Commerce 360 — recognizes who these corporations and executives are in announcing the 2024 award winners.
B2B Ecommerce Association 2024 award winners
On Aug. 22 — during a webinar sponsored by BigCommerce that attracted a world audience of manufacturers, distributors, B2B-focused retailers, ecommerce technology development and services corporations — the B2B Ecommerce Association and Digital Commerce 360 announced these category award winners:
Although the winners are B2B ecommerce organizations of all sizes and reflect the business conditions of the regions they serve, all of them had universal points of excellence that include:
- A proven ecommerce strategy.
- A strong, scalable, and state-of-the-art ecommerce technology infrastructure.
- A seasoned and expanding ecommerce staff.
- The backing of top leadership.
- The willingness to listen and listen to what their digitally driven customers want and wish.
- The power to execute ecommerce excellence quickly and simply.
Listed here are each of the category award winners and what made them successful.
Enterprise B2B ecommerce manufacturer of the 12 months
- Winner: Simpson Strong-Tie
- What they do: Designs and manufactures structural products for homes, buildings, and communities.
- Why they won: Simpson Strong-Tie successfully transitioned from 0% to over 60% of sales through digital channels since 2018, highlighting a remarkable digital transformation.
- Takeaway for everybody: Simplify the purchasing process, but provide customers with detailed product information and efficient transaction processes, resulting in high customer satisfaction.
Mid-market B2B ecommerce manufacturer of the 12 months
- Winner: Workwear Group Ltd.
- What they do: A manufacturer of workwear and safety gear in Australia and Recent Zealand.
- Why they won: By leveraging a headless commerce application and integrating it with their legacy A/S400 ERP system, WWG created a highly performant and efficient system. The platform includes advanced features just like the Wearer Allocation Value Engine (WAVE) System. It allows for tailored uniform allocation packs, ensuring a seamless and customised ordering experience.
- Takeaway for everybody: Address key customer pain points by developing a user-friendly platform that’s accessible across all devices, including mobile, and designed to facilitate quick and straightforward transactions.
Enterprise B2B ecommerce distributor of the 12 months
- Winner: Sonepar
- What they do: Distribute electrical, industrial, safety products and related products. The distributor has greater than 400 locations across the US.
- Why they won: The Sonepar Spark platform stands out for its features. Those include: AI-generated product variants, a sustainable packaging returns system, and advanced user experience features like blanket orders and customer dashboards.
- Takeaway for everybody: Provide a strong omnichannel strategy that supports consistent customer interactions across multiple channels, including ecommerce, sales automation, and marketing automation.
Mid-market B2B ecommerce distributor of the 12 months
- Winner: Joval Wines
- What they do: Joval Wine Group makes a speciality of wonderful wine distribution. It operates throughout the beverage industry. The corporate’s fundamental offerings include the distribution of a various portfolio of wonderful wines through its two distinct distribution corporations, red and white and Mezzanine the High quality Wine Specialist
- Why they won: The Joval ecommerce platform integrates sophisticated capabilities resembling real-time customer-specific pricing (managing over 400,000 price lines), multi-location inventory management, customer-specific reservations, and omnichannel order history, all supported by seamless enterprise resource planning (ERP) integration.
- Takeaway for everybody: Address the unique needs of various customer segments and ensure accurate, up-to-date information for every user, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
B2B retailer of the 12 months
- Winner: Wovenbyrd
- What they do: A furniture company that designs and sells home furnishings. Those include sofas, beds, chairs, ottomans, and related products.
- Why they won: Wovenbyrd effectively managed its omnichannel operations. Through real-time inventory updates and streamlined operations, Wovenbyrd provided consistent and reliable service. The corporate’s give attention to advanced customer engagement tools, resembling personalized product recommendations and automatic order management, led to significant improvements in conversion rates and customer retention.
- Takeaway for everybody: Provide continuous efforts to boost digital capabilities and leverage data-driven strategies for targeted growth.
B2B marketplace of the 12 months
- Winner: GigaCloud Technology
- What they do: GigaCloud launched its B2B marketplace in January 2019 by specializing in the worldwide furniture market. It has since expanded into such additional categories as home appliances and fitness equipment.
- Why they won: The marketplace achieved total 2023 revenue of $703.8 million. That’s a 43.6% increase from $490.1 million for 2022. The GigaCloud marketplace gross merchandise volume in 2023 totaled $794.4 million. That’s up 53.3% from $518.2 million within the prior 12 months.
- Takeaway for everybody: An efficient marketplace eliminates the necessity for resellers to carry inventory. This streamlines operations, reducing costs and improving efficiencies.
Newcomer of the 12 months
- Winner: Community Coffee
- What they do: Community Coffee is a coffee roaster and distributor based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 2005, it was the most important family-owned coffee brand within the U.S.
- Why they won: Community Coffee effectively transitioned from a standard face-to-face business model to a contemporary, advanced B2B ecommerce platform. This platform was designed with the precise needs of B2B clients in mind, offering features resembling company-specific pricing, contract-specific products, and a comprehensive order history tool.
- Takeaway for everybody: A commitment to digital customer satisfaction and revolutionary digital strategies will lead to high customer retention rates and a solid foundation for future growth.
B2B ecommerce leader of the 12 months
- Winner: Larry Wu — Gigacloud Technology
- Who he’s: The CEO of Gigacloud Technology
- Why he won: Under Wu’s leadership, GigaCloud Technology has seen remarkable financial and operational growth. That features a 96.5% increase in total revenues to $251.1 million in the primary quarter of 2024. It also features a 124.7% rise in gross profit in Q1. Wu’s strategic direction has led to 5 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. This showcases his ability to drive sustained success in a competitive market.
- Takeaway for everybody: Give attention to streamlining processes to lead to faster delivery times and improved economies of scale.
Each of the 2024 B2B Ecommerce Association award winners brings something unique to furthering the acceleration of B2B ecommerce across the globe, says association president Brett Sinclair.
“It’s definitely clear that the people who find themselves excelling on this space are considering beyond just the shopping cart/catalog, they’re more advanced of their considering,” Sinclair says.
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