Although the B2B and B2C markets are very different in many ways, there are a significant number of cross overs and we are currently witnessing even more convergence between the two. As recent events this year have bump shifted perspectives on business operation and practices, the way in which B2B works has started taking a more B2C look, especially with work from home culture. This has caused a monumental shift not only in how businesses, big and small, utilise the technology available to them to continue operating but all the ways they could potentially use it to change their operation. And convenience has come out as king! The purchasing community not only in construction but also across most markets has always been a bit ambiguous about the sharing of pricing information, as a way of protecting profits and keeping their customers in blissful ignorance about their margins, customer to customer. But no more! The resounding call from the marketing is for freedom of information for greater efficiency. Much like the consumer market, e-commerce B2B is surging and is not likely to stop, as fewer people are happy to wait for their supplier to get around to their email or answer their phone call, then wait for them to send a quote, then wait for them to respond, then get approval, then make a payment, then have it dispatch and finally receive delivery and maybe make a second payment (and however much tumb twiddling in between each step). Even writing out that process as simply as I could, made my head hurt. The WFH culture has made people impatient, as they would be as a consumer and this is great for business. Being at home but still working is a massive psychological grey area causing a dynamic, fluid mix of business practices and personal preferences/mindset. The actual job people are doing is still the same, but this psychological cross over means its approached differently, attitudes are changed. They want to actually see the item(s) they are in need of purchasing, see its price, get all the information about it, allowing things to happen faster. And now, every employee is seeking new efficiency, ultimately this will lead to innovation within a business. PIPEKIT has been using an e-commerce site as part of how we supply to our customers for nearly 5 years now, learning some lessons the hard way during that time, and we have found it extremely useful in many scenarios we didn't expect. Not only has our site been a place for people to place orders but it's also used as a resource of information, a place where people can build up detailed quotes for jobs and locate any technical information they need to problem-solve. We also use it as a reference material internally, when we are quoting our customers, for example, and when advising customers over the phone, the detailed pictures and schematics available allow us to visualise the systems helping us give better advise they also help us communicate better with customers as we can both be looking at the same item while discussing it. Yes, the argument can be made that a product brochure could work just the same but we have 25,000+ products on our website, so unless our customers carry around a personal library our website is better and locating a product is as easy as a search bar. We constantly search for ways in which we can help our customers with purchasing the materials they need which is why we implemented feature like 'My Quotes', where they can curate a list of products they need, save it against a personal reference, view and edit it any time and it's one click to the basket. We have seen this be beneficial for a variety of customers from our sole trader plumbers, who have several jobs on the go and need to keep track of which parts are for which jobs, to construction firms who need to create a large bill of materials when competing for jobs. We continually refine and tweak these features to seek an ever better experience for our customers, easing any stress in the process. Going forward it's very clear that this convenience and efficiency-seeking is here to stay and the use of tools such as e-commerce sites to create confidence and control of supply is very important in the face of Brexit. But We want to embrace these changes as ultimately change happens no matter what so let's make it change for the better.