Introduction: In our article series “The Regionalisation of B2B Commerce is Here,” Ludvig Bergander, Strategic Account Advisor at Columbus Sweden, and his colleagues discuss five areas where regionalisation is changing how B2B businesses must think, build, and operate. "Using customer journeys to stand out in B2B commerce" is the second article in the series.
B2B companies are increasingly shifting toward regionalised commerce strategies. For manufacturers, getting closer to the customer now means more than just having a local sales team.
Today, it’s about delivering digital experiences that feel relevant, intuitive and tailored in every market. Physical presence still matters, but so does digital presence that speaks the local language. You could say “all business is local” is back. But this time, it’s digital.
Manufacturers are seeing just how powerful seamless, localised customer journeys can be, especially as B2B buyers bring expectations shaped by their day-to-day digital lives. That might mean faster access to product data, regional self-service tools, or more intuitive ordering workflows.
With personas, markets and customer behaviours becoming more complex, new questions have emerged like: how do you stay structured without slowing down? How do you adapt journeys without losing consistency? And how do you balance ambition with what’s actually feasible?
In this article, we look at:
- Why one-size-fits-all customer journeys no longer work in manufacturing
- How to build a global journey framework with local variations
- The role of modular design systems and persona-based UX
- How to ensure governance, consistency and data-driven improvement across regions
Together with Fredrik Morgenstern, Head of UX at Columbus Sweden, we share key principles and hands-on advice for building customer-centric digital experiences that stay globally aligned, while feeling locally relevant.
Global foundation with local flexibility
In global manufacturing, it’s tempting to treat the customer journey as one-size-fits-all. But the reality is much more complex: especially when your audience includes engineers, buyers, technicians, and channel partners across different markets. What works in one region may fall flat in another.
Take search behaviour, for example. Customers in Germany may prefer sourcing through local distributors. In Sweden, they might rely more on digital portals or aftersales support platforms. And in the US, many customers turn to online searches and direct access to OEM websites.
Building a unified customer journey doesn’t mean every market has to look the same. By starting with a global journey framework, you can define the core steps your customers go through from discovery to purchase but leave space to adapt how those steps play out in each market. Understanding the local buyer’s mindset and needs is what turns a global approach into an experience that feels tailored and relevant.
Modular systems for regional flexibility in manufacturing
Once you have a broad understanding of customer journeys globally and locally, it’s time to think about your systems. A modular design system is your best friend here. By building systems that allow local customisation in areas like product assortment, pricing or payment methods, you can easily adapt to the preferences of the region you want to target without sacrificing the global framework.
For example, while Germany may require invoice-only payments, Sweden could benefit from a hybrid system. Similarly, US markets may demand specific product assortments based on local preferences. With a modular approach, you can give local teams the freedom to adjust to their specific market, while still ensuring global brand consistency and operational efficiency.
Persona-centric experiences across regions
Regionalisation isn’t just about translating content or tweaking visuals. It starts with understanding who your customers are – and that means identifying the key personas in each market. Every region has its own buyer behaviour. Some personas may prioritise ordering spare parts through a self-service portal, while others may need quick access to technical documentation or live inventory data.
By identifying three to five key personas in each market, you can ensure your digital experiences are tailored for the most important customers in each region - without overcomplicating your strategy with too many personas. This way, you can focus on the personas that truly matter for better adoption and engagement in each market.
Consistency without compromise
It’s easy to lose brand consistency when you’re trying to be relevant in every region. To be successful with your regionalisation strategy, there’s a need to find the balance between local relevance without losing your global identity.
Your branding, UI patterns, and core customer support frameworks should stay consistent across all regions, as this helps build recognition and trust. But when it comes to content, promotions and even customer touchpoints, they should reflect local preferences. This makes sure that while the experience in Sweden might look a little different from the US, customers in both markets will instantly recognise it as your brand.
Data-driven customer journeys in manufacturing
Regionalisation is a dynamic process, and it’s critical to continuously track how your strategies are performing. Analytics play a central role here, not just in tracking sales, but in understanding engagement and journey behaviour on a regional level.
By focusing on regional metrics, you can identify patterns in how customers engage with your brand, where they drop off in their journey, and which elements of your strategy are working well. This helps you tweak and refine your regional strategies over time to make sure you’re always in tune with local needs.
Content governance: ensuring consistency across regions
You’ll most likely be adapting some of your content to make it relevant locally. But this content still needs to remain consistent with your global voice, tone and messaging standards. That’s where a strong content governance framework comes in. It helps you strike the right balance between local flexibility and global consistency. With clear guidelines, regional teams have the freedom to tailor content in a way that works for their audience.
Why content governance matters
When companies regionalise, content can quickly drift and become misaligned. Local teams may want to adjust messaging, promotions or even product offerings to suit their market’s preferences, which makes perfect sense. But without clear guidelines and governance, these changes can lead to a fragmented brand presence that confuses customers and dilutes the brand’s core identity.
A strong content governance model makes sure that each local market knows where they can adapt and where they need to stay aligned with your global strategy. This helps your local teams remain globally consistent, while giving them room to create content that resonates in their market.
How manufacturers can implement content governance effectively
- Define global and local content boundaries - be clear on what content must remain consistent and where teams have room to adapt.
- Create clear guidelines for local customisation - give teams examples, templates, and best practices they can apply.
- Use a centralised content management system (CMS) - a shared system makes it easier to manage assets, track changes, and avoid duplication.
- Set up approval workflows - Give local teams autonomy where possible but add checkpoints to keep content aligned.
- Monitor and measure content performance - use data to see what’s working and where content might need tweaking.
Aligning global strategy with local needs
For manufacturers, regionalisation is about aligning the entire customer journey to local needs while maintaining global consistency. By taking a customer journey-driven approach, you can deliver highly personalised experiences that resonate with your customers and create loyalty.
The key is to balance local needs with global consistency and use data-driven insights to continuously optimise. With the right strategy, tools and approach, you can effectively regionalise your digital commerce and meet the unique needs of every market.
Enjoyed this article? Take a look at our next one, where myself and Kristoffer Persson, Head of Architects at Columbus, look into how build control into the architecture itself—so central teams can enable, not restrict, local differentiation.
Alternatively, if you’d like to talk more about how this could work for your business, we’re always happy to have a conversation. Just reach out using the contact details below.
Don’t miss the next article:
The future of B2B commerce in manufacturing is shareable, not just scalable
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