Forrester has a new report out looking at B2B ecommerce finding what it describes as “solid evidences on the impressive financial successes achieved by companies that have taken the lead in implementing B2B ecommerce.”

The report found that 89% of respondents agreed that implementing ecommerce increased annual company revenue by an average of 55%. 98% all of them said their ecommerce solution was important in meeting their goals to grow revenue, and 90% said it was for attracting new customers. 90% also said it was important to improving customer retention/satisfaction. 92% said it was important in lowering costs, and 89% said it helped them gain a competitive market advantage.

88% of respondents said they agreed that implementing ecommerce drove higher profitability per order, and 84% agreed that it drove lower cost per order. 81% said it increased average order value.

12% said 50% of their revenue booked by their ecommerce system is incremental revenue for the company. 16% said 40% to 49% of it was. 27% said 20% to 29%, and only 2% said 0% to 9%.

“While the value of eCommerce solutions for selling to businesses online is undeniable, many B2B companies balk at the thought of a complex and costly implementation process,” the firm says. “B2B companies should carefully define project goals and objectives, involve users throughout the implementation process, and engage with knowledgeable experts, both internally and externally.”

42% of respondents said they have deployed their current core ecommerce solution as software-as-a-service (SaaS)/platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and hosted off site. 24% said theirs is a hybrid (started SaaS, plan to transition to on-premises). 17% said on-premises. 8% said they started as SaaS and have already transitioned to on-premises. 9% started on premises and have either already transitioned to SaaS or are doing so.

You can find the study available for download here.

Image via Forrester