What telecommunication and information technology companies do with business digital commerce and B2B marketplaces is often a harbinger of what industries will do ecommerce and how soon.

And these days, IT and telecommunications companies are doing — and getting a lot from — B2B digital commerce, based on a new survey from McKinsey & Co.

Users want B2B ecommerce adoption

Ecommerce is now considered the most effective sales channel in IT and telecommunication, according to the McKinsey of 750 companies across 13 countries.

42% of respondents view ecommerce as the best option, ahead of in-person sales (19%), video conference (15%), email (8%), online chat (8%), and telephone (7%).

Many information technology and telecommunications buyers also view online commerce as a more appealing option than offline across five key buying criteria including:

• Product availability (45%)
• Pricing (44%)
• Shipping and delivery options (45%)
• “On call” customer support (45%)
• Personalized recommendations (43%)

“While tech and telecom companies across regions ranked ecommerce as the most effective channel, the strength of that conviction varies geographically: the United States leads the way with 47% of tech and telecom companies holding that view, followed by Asia at 38%, and Europe at 36%,” McKinsey says. “Finally, for outperforming tech and telecom companies, ecommerce means more than digital self-serve channels such as their own websites. Around half of them have already built an online marketplace.”

More information technology and telecommunications companies also are investing in building and maintaining their own B2B marketplace, McKinsey says.

Just as they are making more use of third-party marketplaces, tech, and telecom B2B companies are increasingly launching their own marketplaces as another sales channel,” McKinsey says. “Adoption of company-owned marketplaces in the sector increased by more than 10% last year, from 50% to 58%,” McKinsey says. “This includes companies that have already built their own marketplace (30%) and those with plans to develop their own (28%). Across all sectors, 26% of companies have already built their own marketplace, and another 26% have plans to do so.”

Matt Love contributed to this article.

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