WASHINGTON -- Three-quarters of retailers said the difficulty of coordinating promotion management with manufacturers and vendors is a major obstacle to increased use of B2B e-commerce, according to a survey scheduled to be released today.
nted today at GMA's E-Business Summit in Phoenix, the study said the other principal issues creating challenges for the food and consumer products industry included data synchronization and operational experience.
SN was permitted to view preliminary results of the study, which is based on interviews with more than 200 executives and managers from retailer, wholesaler, sales and marketing agencies and manufacturer organizations, the study explored which B2B processes were top priorities for retailers and manufacturers.
The study also examined when e-commerce capabilities will be ready to implement; how companies are planning to use Internet exchanges; and where the largest opportunities exist for manufacturers and retailers to work together.
Manufacturers and retailers interviewed in the study said a lack of collaboration and trust were barriers to B2B e-commerce, with companies reporting there is "far too little sharing of information" about their respective B2B e-commerce strategies and initiatives. "Clearly there are areas in which manufacturers and distributors can benefit from increased sharing of information and better collaboration," said Mark Baum, GMA executive vice president. "This study provides a strong starting point in understanding some of the current challenges to B2B e-commerce and moving forward with practical solutions that work for manufacturers and their customers."
Cost-price management, order management, and payment management were rated as high priorities for both retailers and manufacturers participating in the study. Collaborative business processes such as forecasting, replenishment, category management and promotion management were prioritized highly by manufacturers but were still in the "planning" phase.
The study also confirmed that many companies have already spent significant time and money implementing proprietary data exchange and process automation systems and are unlikely to abandon these investments in the short term.
Fifty-one percent of retailers said they were planning to electronically connect with suppliers through the public B2B Internet exchanges and one-to-one solutions, while 10% of retailers said they would consider using another consortium-led Internet exchange.
Sixty-eight percent of manufacturers said they would use public B2B Internet exchanges. Transora was considered the primary exchange for the manufacturers, but 63% of companies said they would use multiple exchanges to connect with retailers.
Other highlights of the e-readiness study include:
Operational B2B experience was the biggest weakness in both retailers' and manufacturers' readiness for e-commerce. Companies should work with their trading partners to gain operational B2B e-commerce experience and understand the implication on their internal business processes.
Linking different data repositories and working with one updated product database were identified as the largest IT challenges for retailers. Without a good internal understanding of the data and dollar flows for the key business processes, companies will have a difficult time implementing new e-commerce solutions.
Retailers almost universally agreed item management was the most important business process to be addressed by B2B e-commerce. Item synchronization is also seen as a crucial first step for many collaborative initiatives. Matching of items and data will take more time than originally projected and will require a great deal of initial internal systems work.
Manufacturers have allocated budgets to build e-commerce capabilities. Most companies have senior management involvement and significant internal resources dedicated to prepare their organization.
Retailers are committed to B2B e-commerce but are still in the planning phase. Forty-seven percent of retailers said they would use one or more B2B e-commerce applications with manufacturers within the next six months.
"B2B e-commerce for the CPG industry is no longer a question of 'if' but 'when'," said Jacob Jensen, head of consumer goods/retail practice at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. "Retailers and manufacturers are committed to getting ready for real B2B e-commerce, and we believe they will have their capabilities in place within the next two years."
