Survey Report on Industrial Marketing Communication Channels
Traditionally, industrial purchasers seek for potential suppliers by the way of trade show, phone inquiry, and print catalog. With Internet persivase in China as well as around the world, the traditional access to industrial info is being replaced with Internet search by purchasers who want to find appropriate suppliers. 3 surveys revealed a common conclusion: Search Engine has become NO. 1 information source for industrial purchasing.
Report 1 (Survey Results from leading industrial distributors in China):
2617 valid customers in China (most of them are responsible for industrial purchasing, product selection like purchasing staff or technicians) answered the question – which source to know company?
Attention: because of multiple-choice questions, 1 person might select multiple sources to know the company, so the total percentage is more than 100%.
From the chart, it can be seen that the Internet (34.3%) including search engine, website (online communication channels) has surpassed the traditional market communication channels.
Report 2 (ThomasNet)
ThomasNet (a famous B2B vertical website in the US) and Google made a conclusion based on their joint market survey: 9/10 industrial buyers begin with Internet to find right products or suppliers; 1/3 of them think the Internet shorten the process for them to approach suppliers or manufacturers. Besides building own websites and advertising on the search engines, the suppliers often utilize more Internet resource like B2B eCommerce Platforms. In fact, about 71% of suppliers plan to make a promotion through eCommerce portal or vertical B2B website in specific fields.
As Figure 1 shows, almost half as many buyers access search engines such as Google or Yahoo first to see what is available that might serve them best (23%). Nearly as many buyers turn to industrial destination sites before any other resource (17%). Some people go directly to a specific company’s website first, but at this stage of the process those tend to be buyers who know that company already.
Figure 2, above, suggests that, while company websites are very important resources for buyers, marketers also need an online vehicle to direct these buyers to their websites.
Report 3 (GlobalSpec)
GlobalSpec, a vertical search engine specialized in engineering equipment and the community of industrial technology, made a survey among engineers, technical purchasers, technical staff, and other industrial community in Jan. and Feb. of 2006. The survey results show search engine has become the NO. 1 channel for technical purchasers to find new suppliers. The traditional means of trade show, sales phone, and print catalog were gradually replaced with Internet search. The first 2 means for new suppliers are Search Engine, then Online Classified categories, two of which accounts for 73% of total inquiry channels for new suppliers, while the effect of print catalog is at low level, the following chart is the detailed survey results for the Channel for American Industrial Firms to Find Suppliers:
Channels for American Industrial Firms to Find Suppliers
Suggestion for Industrial Marketing
The survey results by ThomasNet and GlobalSpec are based on American industrial market, and the purpose of both surveys tended to be beneficial to their own business – placing more emphasis on the importance of Internet marketing, but the conclusive finding of both surveys are generally consistent – Internet marketing has played more and more key role in industrial marketing and promotion. To be honest, the survey conclusion highly agrees with the survey finding obtained in China industrial market. Indeed, search engine, vertical websites have been becoming significant channel for industrial buyers to find appropriate suppliers. The conclusion is definitely meaningful for industrial enterprises to formulate the marketing strategies and planning.
Most Important Online Contents for Industrial Buyers
GlobalSpec has found the means for the engineers or technicians to have access to industrial info are increasingly transforming from offline traditional channel to online media. According to the statistical results, the most important contents that are expected by online visitors are as follows:
- What’s new for visitors
- Technical specification
- Pricing Info
- Product Pictures
- Search by product parameters
- Convenient Navigation
- Corporate Contact Info
- Less Page Load Time
- Online Catalog
- Search by Model No.
- Frequently Updated Product Info
- Available Quotation
- Application Instruction
- CAD Drawing
- Online Ordering
- Available Ordering Status
- Corporate Background
Source: ThomasNet
When buyers are sourcing for products and services on the Internet, they need certain kinds of information, and they will keep looking until they find it. However, the Industrial Marketing Survey revealed a pattern that suggests that supplier websites are designed more for their own purposes than for buyers’ and prospects’ purposes. Most supplier websites do fill buyer information needs for product descriptions and applications (70% and 53%, respectively), but that is just not enough (see Figure 3, above). Many buyers need to go deeper: pricing and shipping information, tech support, and CAD drawings, to name a few things. For the most part, they are not getting these things from supplier websites.
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