Survey: 68% of APAC buyers use Gen AI to evaluate vendors

Nearly 70% of APAC buyers use generative AI tools to research or compare vendors, signaling a growing preference for self-service discovery over direct vendor engagement, a Forrester survey finds. 

The findings, published in The State Of Business Buying In Asia Pacific, 2024, draw from extensive survey data across the region. The report highlights how younger buyers reject traditional, seller-led tactics, placing greater emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and subject matter expertise. This report uses data from Forrester’s Buyers’ Journey Survey, 2024, to gain insights into how to market to business buyers in APAC.

The report revealed that 71% of APAC business buyers are under 45, and 68% use generative AI to evaluate vendors, considerably reshaping how marketers must engage with today’s digitally native, values-driven audience. These factors, along with budgetary constraints, extended sales cycles, and complex buying groups, make APAC business buying more complicated.

Risk-averse APAC business buyers have the largest buying groups in the world, said the survey, with 18% of B2B buyers in APAC saying that purchase decisions involve 30 or more people from within their organisation, compared with 13% in North America and 11% in Europe. Buying groups in APAC also involve more people from outside the organisation (10 on average) in purchase decisions than those in North America (eight) or Europe (seven). This adds to the complexity of reaching buying group members.

When choosing a provider, buyers in APAC are less likely than their counterparts in Europe and North America to cite price as a primary factor in their decision. But when it’s time to seal the deal, pricing rises to the top: Budget and price are the factors that APAC buyers most often cite as reasons for a deal stalling.

Over 20% of business buyers in APAC are more likely to prioritise commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); environmental, social, and governance; and employee experience than their peers in North America (17%) and Europe (18%). This is largely driven by the preferences of younger buyers; to engage them, it’s no longer sufficient to have a recognised brand name with a long history and good reputation.

Asia Pacific’s emerging cohort of younger business buyers have moved from traditional purchase behaviours to having a marked aversion to conventional, seller-centric sales methodologies, seeking instead to assert their individual perspectives and preferences. 

Younger buyers (94%) are more likely than their older counterparts (84%) to cite at least one reason for dissatisfaction with their chosen provider. Reasons for dissatisfaction range from technical issues with the vendor’s ability to handle implementation to cultural concerns about the lack of dedicated DEI programmes. Younger buyers demand providers that can match technical chops with a deft touch in engaging them as partners.

Younger buyers in APAC most often cite interaction with an industry expert as their primary trigger to connect with a potential buyer, whereas older buyers most often cite previous experience with a provider. When looking to connect with a potential provider, older buyers put more value on prior experience and established relationships, whereas younger buyers look more to outside expertise.

In APAC's diverse B2B landscape, providers must use data-driven insights to tailor go-to-market strategies and ensure relevance across subregions, said the report. This includes a robust engagement framework, with portfolio marketers conducting in-depth persona research to inform journey mapping and targeted messaging. The heterogeneity of buyer interaction preferences across APAC means that firms must customise go-to-market plans to deliver value aligned with specific buyer needs in each country.

Vendors are suggested to use lifecycle revenue marketing to align frontline marketing teams to the needs of buyers and customers, even postsale. Given the high proportion of buyers who are dissatisfied with their winning providers, they should ensure to focus on delighting customers at every step of the lifecycle, even postsale, so that when buyers go back into the buying cycle during renewal, vendors are more certain of retention.

Providers should understand the nuances of what is valuable for buyers at each stage of the journey to ensure that providers provide the maximum value for them in that interaction, whether it’s the content type, communication channel, or the experience of the interaction.

“The APAC business buying environment is undergoing a generational transformation,” said Mavis Liew, executive partner and principal analyst at Forrester. “With younger, digitally-native fluent buyers in the majority, marketing strategies built for yesterday’s buyers no longer apply. Today’s business buyers value expertise, expect personalisation, and demand authenticity - it is no longer just about product dominance. To stay competitive, B2B marketers must embrace localised, insight-driven approaches that speak relevance and align to the values, expectations, and complexity of this younger generation. It’s time to stop selling and start connecting.” 

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