Solusi Pemenuhan Kebutuhan Barang Bagi Pelanggan Bisnis di masa Pandemi

Memilih supplier, terutama bagi pelanggan bisnis (B2B customer) bisa jadi bukanlah hal yang mudah. Terdapat banyak faktor yang perlu dipertimbangkan, dimana seringkali harga bahkan tidak menjadi faktor penentu keputusan pembelian.

Seiring dengan pandemi COVID-19 yang melanda dunia, perilaku berbelanja pelanggan bisnis pun berubah dan mengalami pergeseran yang signifikan dibandingkan dengan masa sebelum pandemi.

Di bulan November 2021 ini, kami melakukan survey terhadap para pelaku bisnis di Indonesia (perusahaan, PT dan CV) melalui metode online, dimana para peserta merupakan divisi pengadaan (procurement) dari perusahaan tempat mereka bekerja. Survey ini dilakukan kepada 864 PIC divisi purchasing dari seluruh Indonesia, pria ataupun wanita, dan berusia 25-45 tahun.

Sejak sebelum pandemi terjadi, e-wallet (dompet elektronik) seperti Gopay, OVO, ShopeePay dll, telah tumbuh dan diadopsi dengan sangat cepat di Indonesia, terutama untuk pembayaran transaksi B2C (Business to Customers) oleh pelanggan individu. e-wallet dirasakan sebagai sebuah metode pembayaran yang mudah, cepat dan praktis, serta sudah terintegrasi langsung dalam berbagai aplikasi online shopping yang mereka gunakan.

Hal yang cukup mengejutkan adalah setelah pandemi, metode pembayaran e-wallet pada transaksi B2B ternyata meningkat cukup signifikan, dimana sebelum pandemi e-wallet hampir bisa dikatakan bukan metode pembayaran yang ideal bagi perusahaan.

Berdasarkan hasil survey yang kami lakukan:

Berbeda dengan transaksi B2C, dalam B2B komunikasi antara penjual dengan pembeli menjadi hal yang sangat penting, bukan hanya untuk mendapatkan informasi lebih detail mengenai cara melakukan transaksi ataupun terkait promo dan benefit bagi pelanggan, terlebih lagi informasi lebih detail terkait produk, mulai dari spesifikasi, harga, waktu pengiriman, maupun hal administrasi seperti metode pembayaran, faktur pajak, quotation dll.

Jika berbicara tentang tingkat loyalitas pelanggan (bisnis, tidak termasuk individu) terhadap supplier/penyedia barang, dapat dilihat dari seberapa sering mereka mengganti/beralih ke supplier lain. Terlepas dari berbagai latar belakang seperti perubahan harga, ketersediaan barang, pergantian PIC (Person in Charge - seringkali terjadi pada B2B ), ternyata hasil survey kami menunjukkan :

Walaupun tidak menjadi faktor utama, harga tentunya tetap menjadi salah satu hal terpenting dalam membuat keputusan pembelian dan pemilihan supplier. Dan bagi pelanggan B2B, jaminan atas harga yang tetap selama periode tertentu ternyata menjadi hal yang sangat penting. Terbukti bahwa berdasarkan data, hampir 40% dari pelanggan B2B memilih supplier yang dapat memberikan jaminan harga yang sama untuk setidaknya dalam kurun waktu 3 bulan ke depan.

Choosing a supplier, especially for business customers (B2B customers) oftenly becomes difficult. It should include many factors to consider, where mostly price is not even the highest factor to make this decision.

And currently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic all over the world, the shopping behavior of business customers has changed significantly compared to before the pandemic.

In November 2021, we conducted a survey for business people in Indonesia (companies, PTs and CVs) through online and only targeting the procurement department in a company. This survey was followed by 863 PICs of purchasing departments from companies all over Indonesia, male and female, 25-45 years old.

Before the pandemic, e-wallets such as Gopay, OVO, ShopeePay etc., have grown and adopted rapidly in Indonesia, especially for B2C (Business to Customers) transactions by individual customers. e-wallet is perceived as an easy, fast and practical payment method, because it has already integrated into online shopping applications they use.

Surprisingly after the pandemic, the e-wallet payment is also used in B2B transactions and increased significantly, previously it was regarded as a non ideal payment method for companies.

As we can see the number of business customers (B2B transactions) who choose to use an electronic wallet/e-wallet has increased very significantly, now it’s 30% higher than transactions via credit cards. This applies to both PT and CV entities, which are assumed to have different business scales.

Unlike B2C, in B2B transactions, communication between sellers and buyers is very important, not only to get information about transactions or related to promos and benefits, evenmore to have detailed information related to product specifications, price, delivery time, until administration matters such as payment methods, tax invoices, quotations etc.

Around 80% of business customers, both PT and CV, choose Whatsapp as their main channel to communicate with sellers, more than online meetings. This shows that the communication trend is shifting, preferring faster, direct and practical methods. Followed by telephone in the second position which strengthened this conclusion.

On the other hand, both online and F2F (Face to Face) meetings are decreasing, defining that both are no longer practical and relevant with the current pandemic situation.

To measure business customers' loyalty level with suppliers/vendors, we asked participants how often they change/switch to other suppliers. Regardless of the background like price changes, product availability, PIC replacement (Person in Charge - often occurs in B2B), the survey results show that:

Around 40% of companies change their supplier after 1 year, for both PT and CV entities. But the other 40% companies change their suppliers at every purchase. While the rest are changing their supplier every 6 months, 2 years, or even every 1-3 months.

Even though it is not a major factor, price is still one of the most important things in making decisions for selecting suppliers. And for B2B customers, the guarantee of a fixed price for a certain period is quite important. This is supported by our survey data, almost 40% of companies choose suppliers who can guarantee the fixed price for at least up until the next 3 months.