Digital B2B Communications: Economic and Marketing Effects

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse the efficiency of international digital B2B instruments implementation at Russian market for the development of recommendations for the most effective approach this viral channel.

Methodology. The authors use the field studies (in-depth interviews, collection of expert opinion) as well as do the comparative analysis of the open sources (international scientific views in regards to digital technologies implementation, companies’ reports). Such integral analysis of theory and practice allows creating the new concentrated knowledge in the development of digital technologies.

Findings. Digital technologies intensify their development in Russia. While, the digital B2B has its own specifics. The producing companies, historically putting the focus predominantly at the final consumer, start shifting towards winning the competition via reinforcement of their influence at trade partners (distributors and retailers). It involves such instruments as improvement of quality of communication with trade partners, frequency of communication, their education and motivation, delegation of merchandising tasks, B2B2C communication of trade partners with final consumers as well as the increase of trade partners’ loyalty towards the companies’ products. As the consequence: the growth of sales.

However, the digital B2B is an emerging direction for Russia. The major difficulties in launch of mobile communications relate to the Internet coverage across the regions, the smartphones’ availability, and the age of the participants involving certain complexity in education to new technologies.

Practical implications. By bringing the new technologies to emerging markets, the international corporations should take into consideration their specificity. The focus at digitalization, becoming the relatively effective instrument of delegation of part of marketing and trade marketing tasks to trade partners, while decreasing the human field resources in parallel before reaching the desired economic effects, can bring the companies to resources gap and as a consequence to acceleration of decrease of sales.