Creating Value and Identifying Opportunities for Innovation in E-commerce on the B2B Market. : A case study of the distribution and construction industries in Sweden.

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of e-commerce in the B2B market. Focus has been on how customer values and the front end of innovation are affected from a distribution company’s and construction industry’s point of view. Method - The results of this research paper are based on qualitative interviews with supplementary quantitative questions, combining an internal and external view of a case company within the distribution industry and a selection of its customers. Four internal interviews were conducted with the case company’s employees of high positions in different areas of expertise, followed up by three interviews with customers. By a thematic coding of the interviews, the data could be analyzed and provide answers to the research questions. Results and conclusions - The study focuses on the following areas within customer value: service, personnel, and time and energy. The research showed that service becomes more important as a good delivery is such an important part of buying online. Moreover, personnel were found to be less valuable in the digital store as the customers are okay with the independency online. The value of low time and energy cost was found to be high no matter the sales channel. Finally, the lack of communication between salespeople and customers was found to disrupt the possibility to use customers’ input in the front end of innovation. Therefore, input from the customers need to be collected through other means than the physical interaction with salespeople in the purchase process, such as through customer panels or by using the big amount of CX data (customer experience data) that can be collected online. Research contribution - The contribution to literature that can be derived from this master thesis includes examining how customer values are affected by e-commerce from a B2B perspective. In addition to this, the use of collecting innovative ideas from customers over the Internet have been examined and analyzed. This thesis has brought clarity to these aspects from a distribution and construction industry point of view and even though the construction industry has been behind on the aspect of digitalization, we can see a trend of this industry becoming more digitized, meaning that the distribution companies need to find other ways to meet new demands from construction companies of all sizes.