The Great Buyer Resignation
One of the big stories of the year 2021 and the Covid-19 pandemic has been the “Great Resignation” of workers in many consumer and business sectors. There are a variety of reasons cited. Including lack of adequate childcare, health, industries severely impacted by the pandemic, acting upon personal interests, and early retirement. To name a few. A component of this overarching story and one often missed is that of the “Great Buyer Resignation.”
B2B buyers and consumers alike are shifting away from traditional seller-buyer interactions in a dramatic fashion. This has been predominantly noted in business markets and media as being driven by technology.
Businesses should not be so fooled.
As buyer insights research interviews during the past year indicate, there are underlying reasons why the “Great Buyer Resignation” is happening. In the B2B world, these can include:
- Buyers have had it with seller obnoxiousness
- Sellers demonstrate no or little understanding
- Increased capabilities to “turn off” seller communications
- Self-sourcing is easier and friction-less to do
- Procurement functions are being streamlined
- Churn in seller and buyer personnel increased
- Evidence of inability to adapt to pandemic on part of sellers
- Murky brand perceptions
- The pandemic made loyalty a thing of the past
An exhaustive list can be made. What is clear is that buyers in B2B are demonstrating more assertiveness to “resign” from the traditional seller-buyer relationship and interactions.
The “Great Buyer Resignation” is a real thing many businesses cannot ignore. It will dominate the next few years as we experience tectonic shifts in how business commerce evolves in a new reality. Requiring deeper levels of insights, as well as, reinventing to be a part of a new reality that is still taking shape.