Key takeaways:
Why B2C-like experiences for B2B buyers remain relevant
By now, it’s somewhat old news that B2B buyers are seeking B2C-like experiences when interacting with suppliers. Yet the topic remains as relevant as ever, because buyer expectations continue to evolve in tandem with consumer-style journeys.
After all, B2B buyers don’t leave their consumer experiences at the door when they log into a procurement portal. They compare every interaction — from search and discovery to checkout and post-purchase support — to the best digital experiences they’ve had elsewhere. As retail moves toward hyper-personalization, automation and even agentic experiences, B2B buyers increasingly expect the same convenience, clarity and speed.
So, why does this trend remain relevant? Let’s explore the four reasons shaping modern B2B commerce.
Reason #1: Demographic shifts are redefining how B2B buying works
The most profound driver of B2C-like expectations in B2B is demographic change. Millennials and Gen Z now account for more than 71% of B2B buyers, while fewer than one-third were born before 1980. These generations grew up with search engines, marketplaces, mobile apps and one-click checkouts — and they bring those mental models directly into their professional roles.
This shift goes beyond “digital preference.” Younger buyers:
Expect self-service by default. They want to research products independently, compare options and place orders without waiting for sales callbacks.
Value speed over ceremony. Long onboarding processes, PDFs, phone orders and opaque pricing feel outdated and inefficient.
Influence group decisions. Even in complex buying committees, digital-native buyers shape expectations for tools, workflows and suppliers.
As a result, B2B companies are no longer competing solely on product quality or pricing. They’re competing on experience parity with consumer platforms — from intuitive UX and rich product content to personalized recommendations and instant reordering.
Crucially, this isn’t a “future buyer” problem. It’s a current revenue problem. Companies that fail to modernize risk being silently sidelined during the research phase, long before a salesperson ever gets involved.
Reason #2: The “ease of doing business” is more important than ever
B2B buyers are done with cumbersome purchasing experiences that require too much of their time. “Ease of doing business” has become one of the pillars in driving brand trust and loyalty as buyers increasingly raise their expectations based on their consumer experiences.
According to Dentsu, professional decision drivers — product information, clarity, speed and trust — dictate whether buyers choose, remain loyal to or switch suppliers. These factors are deeply interconnected: Unclear data slows decisions, slow processes erode trust and friction pushes buyers to competitors.
B2B leaders who prioritize buyer experience close deals 31% faster, underscoring that experience is not cosmetic — it’s commercial.
Ease of doing business shows up in practical ways:
Accurate, searchable product data.
Transparent pricing and availability.
Fast onboarding and account setup.
Simple reordering and approvals.
Seamless integration with procurement and ERP systems.
When these elements work together, “trust” becomes a byproduct of consistency and reliability. Buyers feel confident that orders will be correct, deliveries predictable and processes repeatable.
Enterprises that invest in buyability — not just brand — reduce churn, increase share of wallet and expand faster, because customers reward suppliers who save them time and cognitive effort.
Reason #3: D2C growth is accelerating B2C-style expectations in B2B
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategies are no longer confined to consumer brands. Nearly 80% of B2B companies now sell directly to consumers, a significant increase year over year, and many of the remaining organizations plan to follow suit.
This shift has ripple effects across B2B commerce:
Promotional cycles enter B2B. Roughly 30% of B2B companies now generate major revenue during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Seasonality and urgency increase. Limited-time offers, discounts and campaigns create demand spikes unfamiliar to traditional B2B models.
Personalization becomes expected. Buyers anticipate tailored pricing, recommendations and offers based on behavior — not static catalogs.
As organizations serve both business customers and consumers, the line between B2B and B2C commerce continues to blur. Buyers expect the same transparency, checkout simplicity and responsiveness regardless of channel.
However, D2C and hybrid models also place significant pressure on commerce infrastructure. More SKUs, more customer types, more order variations and higher transaction volumes demand flexible architectures, composable platforms and clean, scalable data foundations.
In short: B2C-style experiences aren’t just a design challenge — they’re an operational one.
Reason #4: Agentic AI is raising the bar for B2B commerce
AI has already become part of the B2B buying and selling journey — from content creation and forecasting to customer support and personalization. However, the next wave, agentic AI, represents a step change rather than an incremental improvement.
Agentic AI moves from assistance into execution. Instead of simply informing decisions, AI agents act autonomously within defined guardrails, reshaping the end-to-end operation of commerce.
Key applications include:
Autonomous purchasing agents: AI agents can interpret sourcing requests, evaluate suppliers, compare specifications, validate availability and pricing and even prepare quotes — escalating to humans only when exceptions arise. For buyers, this means faster procurement cycles and less manual effort.
AI-powered sales agents: Digital sales agents can autonomously qualify leads, trigger outreach, personalize recommendations across channels and nurture opportunities until human intervention is needed. This increases pipeline velocity without adding headcount.
Intelligent post-purchase service agents: Post-purchase AI agents monitor accounts for anomalies in usage, pricing or contract thresholds, initiate replenishment, resolve common issues and proactively escalate complex cases, improving retention while reducing support costs.
At the same time, discovery itself is changing. As buyers increasingly rely on AI tools like ChatGPT for research, B2B organizations must rethink product content. Structured data, clear use cases, FAQs and intent-driven content become essential for visibility in AI-mediated buying journeys.
While the shift to agentic AI won’t happen overnight, 2026 is poised to be the year AI starts operating inside buying and selling workflows — not just alongside them. Companies that prepare their data, processes and systems today will capture the earliest and most durable advantages.
B2B enterprises creating B2C-style experiences
These B2B enterprises are turning complex transactions into fast, intuitive and personalized experiences — driving faster deals, higher adoption and stronger loyalty.
The century-old American manufacturer and distributor of baked goods, Dawn Foods, found itself in this exact situation. A new customer base of younger clients wasn’t too keen on having their orders taken down on paper and began requesting a new digital ordering process and catalog that was easier to use. Using commercetools, Dawn Foods’ customers can see their order history, pick the order and then reorder — three clicks, and they’re done. Plus, with the new eCommerce functionality, customers can view the entire product catalog online for the very first time. This was never possible before.
The resulting eCommerce solution from Dawn Foods was met with a resounding, “What took you so long?” from their customers, who welcomed the new online commerce system with open arms. Online orders now account for over 25% of all orders, with an average of two never-before-ordered products per cart.
Viewrail leveraged commercetools to launch and manage multiple D2C brands from a shared backend, enabling rapid experimentation without duplicating systems.
“With commercetools, we can power one site or 100 from a shared backend,” said Kyle Klimek, Chief Digital Officer at Viewrail. “We want to launch more D2C brands, so that flexibility to scale brands and storefronts without duplicating systems is what sealed the deal.”
This scalable foundation enabled Viewrail to fully capitalize on peak sales moments, such as Memorial Day and Black Friday, by offering 15–20% discounts and handling sharp demand spikes without performance degradation — a hallmark of mature B2C commerce applied to a B2B-rooted business.
NXP, a New Zealand-based B2B office supply distributor, struggled with a legacy platform optimized for large enterprise clients but ill-suited to midmarket buyers seeking speed and autonomy.
By adopting commercetools, NXP launched a streamlined self-service storefront that lets new customers open trading accounts in just 20 seconds, eliminating paperwork and manual approvals. Marketing teams can now launch campaigns twice as fast, and midmarket buyers enjoy a consumer-like onboarding and purchasing experience.
Coflex, a leading plumbing connector manufacturer in Mexico, set out to deliver a B2C-style digital experience to its distributor network. The goal wasn’t speed of implementation — it was usability, adoption and alignment.
The result was a modern portal that mirrors consumer eCommerce experiences, with intuitive navigation, clear product information and streamlined ordering. Within six months, 80% of customers and nearly 90% of the sales force had adopted the platform, driving higher engagement, more digital transactions and measurable revenue growth.
Cargo Crew, a leading provider of modern work uniforms worn by tens of thousands of professionals worldwide, reimagined its B2B digital experience to meet rising buyer expectations — and the results speak for themselves. Facing limitations with its legacy commerce platform, the company shifted to a composable commerce architecture with commercetools, enabling flexibility, scalability and speed across its online presence.
With this new foundation, Cargo Crew launched around 30 customized webshops that support its B2B, B2B2C and D2C models, empowering customers to browse curated uniform collections, place bulk orders and personalize products with embroidery, monograms and logos — all in a smooth online journey that mirrors the best consumer experiences.
The impact has been significant: Cargo Crew increased online revenue by 34%, lifted conversion rates by 15% and boosted items ordered by 19%. Moreover, automation eliminated roughly 2,000 hours of manual order processing and cut development costs by around AUD 700,000, demonstrating that modern digital experiences can unlock both customer satisfaction and operational efficiencies.
B2C-like experiences are the new B2B advantage
As B2B buyer expectations continue to align with those of consumers, delivering B2C-like commerce has become a strategic imperative. From demographic shifts and demand for ease of buying to the rise of D2C models and transformative agentic AI, the forces shaping B2B commerce are real and accelerating.
By leveraging commercetools’ flexible and AI-first commerce platform, B2B enterprises can deliver the same seamless, personalized experiences their buyers enjoy as consumers.
From self-service portals and bulk ordering to personalization and multi-brand scalability, commercetools enables frictionless journeys that accelerate revenue, reduce operational overhead and build long-term customer retention.
Manuela leads content strategy at commercetools. With over 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS, she writes about all things commerce by day and turns to fiction by night. She loves long walks, traveling, and, unsurprisingly, reading books.
