Content-Driven Commerce is one of the most exciting trends in e-commerce and is rapidly transforming commercial practices across both B2C and B2B. While B2C companies blazed the trail, the rapid growth in online shopping over the past two years, accelerated by the pandemic, has dramatically shifted customer expectations and behaviors in the world of B2B sales as well – where 2/3 of B2B buyers are now opting for digital self-service .

Driven by the need to succeed in the new digital-first B2B buy cycle , leading companies are now rethinking their B2B e-commerce strategy and embracing content-driven commerce as a way to gain a competitive advantage.

In this post we look at three examples of innovative content-driven e-commerce website best practices from both B2C and B2B, and how companies from different industries have used and implemented content-driven commerce with Crownpeak to drive B2B e-commerce growth.

Harnessing hybrid headless CMS at ASICS powers content-driven commerce experiences

The athletic shoe industry is a cutthroat business. Customer loyalty can change quickly based on price and the latest consumer fad. ASICS, a shoe brand that has developed a loyal following among runners, understood that the key to maintaining competitive success would be to differentiate their brand by delivering exceptional digital experiences that would support their customers throughout the runner’s journey.

Based on this philosophy the company acquired apps, such as Runkeeper and Race Roster, targeted for individual runner’s specific needs, and created the OneASICS™ loyalty program to reward its customers.

To deliver content-rich, personalized experiences across their multiple channels, ASICS combined the content orchestration and personalization capabilities of Crownpeak’s Hybrid Headless CMS and AI-Powered Experience Optimization Engine with their commerce platform – Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC). This integrated approach enabled their marketing teams to quickly and easily execute individualized, content-driven commerce experiences without support from IT. This helped ASICS lower their development costs and reduce time-to-market while, while enabling them to continually push the bounds of their digital strategy to drive engagement and build customer loyalty.

ASICS is a great example of how B2C companies are using Crownpeak to deliver rich, content-driven commerce experiences. Now let’s take a look at some B2B examples where B2B e-commerce companies have embraced this winning strategy.

Personalizing the buyer’s journey with content-driven commerce at Geberit AG

Geberit AG is a leading European manufacturer of sanitary systems and products, with sales operations in 41 countries. Their previous Content Management System (CMS) was no longer able to meet the company’s advancing needs and they wanted a modern content-driven commerce solution that would enable them to consolidate their digital presence and optimize the buyer’s journey for each of their three target user groups - plumbers/contractors, architects, and DIYers - across their corporate website and localized country websites. The CMS would need to be easy to use and enable their marketing teams to quickly and efficiently deliver personalized, media-rich commerce experiences across multiple channels.

Crownpeak’s content-driven commerce solution was selected after an extensive vendor evaluation process for its outstanding user experience and sophisticated personalization capabilities which would enable the marketing team to get targeted product and brand communication online faster.

Leveraging Crownpeak enabled Geberit’s 100 digital marketers to not only produce and publish media-rich content faster, but flexibly reuse existing content across different markets, publication channels and sales campaigns. This meant that new content didn’t have to be authored as frequently, which saved the company a lot of time and money and resulted in 50% faster time-to-market for product and brand communication.

In addition, by leveraging the platform’s personalization capabilities, Geberit was able to create targeted and optimized digital experiences to keep customers engaged, build loyalty and drive sales.

Now we’ll take a look at another B2B commerce example where content-driven commerce has enabled a retailer to successfully adapt to rapid changes and improve the B2B buying experience.

How an international sports retailer transformed their digital supply chain with content-driven commerce

While the pandemic shifted the balance toward more shopping online and highlighted the importance of B2B e-commerce, it also caused major disruption to well-worn business and sales processes. It forced brands to explore the question of what is B2B e-commerce in the context of their business model and to re-think their B2B website best practices.

This was the case for an international retailer of sporting goods that had previously relied on in-person tradeshows to make its catalogue of leading sports brands available to its local store managers. Traditional trade shows had given the retailer’s store managers the opportunity to view and interact with the merchandise and place their orders for stock to fit the target demographics at their local stores. However, with pandemic restrictions in place, events of this kind were no longer possible. In order to avoid potentially serious consequences for the retailer’s supply chain they needed to quickly find a reliable digital solution that could emulate the best elements of physical, in-person experiences for their local store buyers, while delivering those experiences in an all-digital environment.

The company recognized they would need to go beyond a mere catalogue and showcase their range with enriched product descriptions that would be more comparable to the trade fair experience. A fast time-to-market would be critical, to ensure their stores would have time to select their merchandise for the next season. They opted for a content-driven commerce solution which combined the Spryker commerce platform with the sophisticated multi-media capabilities of Crownpeak’s DXP.

Crownpeak DXP was selected from a number of different competitor solutions due to its ease of integration with the Spryker commerce platform and its ability to deliver rich, engaging digital experiences for the company’s local store managers as they digitally “kicked the tires” of the company’s product offerings.

The result: Thanks to Crownpeak’s agility and ease of use, the new website launched in record time - just 8 weeks after the first contract talks took place.

The complete product range is stored in the Spryker system, where local stores can access it easily. Using the Crownpeak DXP, the company can quickly and easily enrich their local retailers’ e-commerce experiences with individualized marketing content that can be controlled either by the sports retailer itself or by the individual brand manufacturers. And because Crownpeak DXP is so flexible, content can be quickly adapted to a target group of individual stores or locations. Buyers for the local retail stores then have the opportunity to digitally view new products that are most relevant to their own sales regions. And with Crownpeak DXP and Spryker, they can conveniently place their orders.

Put content at the heart of your e-commerce strategy and drive sales with Crownpeak

These B2C and B2B e-commerce examples show how content-driven commerce is helping companies quickly adapt to changing customer needs and deliver engaging digital experiences that help them drive ROI and stay ahead of the competition.

Want to know how content-driven commerce can help you bring your products to life and bring more customers in your digital door? Speak to an expert today →

Tags: Digital Experience Management eCommerce