Much has been said about the digital evolution of B2B buyers and the impact of composable commerce on manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers in 2024. As we look back, the following questions arise: What trends materialized this year? What’s hype and what’s reality? Here, we review the B2B trends and predictions we forecasted for 2024 and reflect on what happened as we look toward 2025.
Introduction
Starting in 2023, our annual report Pivotal Trends and Predictions in B2B Digital Commerce has featured expert insights, success stories and forecasts for all things commerce tailored specifically to the concerns of manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. The goal: Empower B2B practitioners to navigate an ever-evolving digital landscape as the new year approaches. For many digital leaders, this must-read report serves as a guide to turning trends into action.
As we look toward the 2025 edition of this report, we’re confronted with the pressing questions: What trends and predictions did we get right? What came out of the blue and surprised us? Let’s take a deeper look at what happened in 2024 and discover the insights that will still demand close attention in the upcoming year.
Your overview of all predictions: The B2B Trend Cycle
Check out the B2B Trend Cycle to visualize how our predicted trends are evolving. In a nutshell, trends in the Hype phase are much-talked-about ideas that haven’t yet materialized into concrete benefits. Early stages signify that a trend has seen initial developments and has the potential to grow in the months to come. Growth is marked by rapid adoption and expansion, and Maturity is where the trend becomes mainstream.
Prediction #1: More than data quality
Status: Growth
Creating a robust eCommerce presence requires a robust data strategy. This year, we witnessed a heightened focus on data hygiene, as B2B organizations expanded from basic eCommerce to an omnichannel approach. The trend is clearly gaining momentum and growing rapidly.
Many companies adopted a wide range of technologies, from advanced analytics and cloud-native infrastructure to GenAI, to restructure and optimize product data for eCommerce, as well as customer data for better personalization and faster decision-making. For example, AI-driven platforms have enhanced customer-specific recommendations and dynamic content, allowing B2B sellers to tailor their digital interactions effectively.
According to McKinsey, experimenting with GenAI gives B2B companies an edge in connecting the dots in customer data and pursuing a one-on-one personalization strategy. In fact, the 2024 B2B Pulse Survey revealed that 54% of companies engaged in one-on-one personalization are already in the process of implementing GenAI. The GenAI/personalization combo is clearly bearing fruit, as the McKinsey report states “Data-driven commercial teams that blend both approaches are 1.7 times more likely to increase market share than those that are not fully committed to either.”
While data management remains challenging, there’s massive interest in experimenting with technologies to solve this trillion-dollar problem, so we expect more activity in all things data in 2025.
Prediction #2: Omnichannel becomes omnipresent
Status: Reaching maturity
It’s no longer surprising that B2B buyers are following their consumer instincts and craving an omnichannel experience when dealing with suppliers. In fact, McKinsey noted that B2B buyers now use an average of 10.2 interaction channels during their purchasing journey, a climb from a mere five channels in 2016.
What’s different today than a year ago is that the B2B sector is embracing omnichannel like never before. The journey has been immensely supported not only by significant improvements in data hygiene but also by a broader understanding of what omnichannel means for manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers.
A great example of this evolution came from Chris Baltusnik, eCommerce Transformation and Operations Leader at Owens Corning, who shared at Elevate — The Global Commerce Summit™ that, “When I think about omnichannel, I think of a cohesive customer experience through multiple selling channels. Before you really build your omnichannel, you’ve got to take a step back and get a holistic view of your audience, understand your customer, their buying, their motivations and develop your strategy based on that.”
That said, we expect B2B omnichannel will continue to grow as more organizations take their digital leap, investing heavily in data hygiene and seamless orchestration of channels, including eCommerce and in-person sales.
Prediction #3: Hybrid sales meets streamlined buyer journeys
Status: Between early stages and growth
There’s no B2B omnichannel evolution without hybrid sales. Indeed, as B2B leaders realize that in-person sales will continue to be a part of their success, it’s becoming clearer that eCommerce isn’t about replacing sales reps — but helping them serve their customers better and more efficiently.
As we step into 2025, we expect hybrid sales to continue to be a topic of discussion and implementation in B2B circles. This includes how to better integrate digital and in-person sales to automate sales processes wherever possible while reducing complexity for buyers and sellers alike. New technologies will continue to pop up to support this growth, from collaborative buying to assisted selling and even digital sales rooms.
Prediction #4: Elevating digital commerce security takes center stage
Status: Between early stages and growth
Online security is a critical consideration for B2B eCommerce, especially as businesses increasingly transition to digital platforms. In fact, manufacturing was the top-attacked industry this year, representing 25.7% of incidents. Clearly, the stakes are high due to the sensitive nature of the data involved, such as financial information, proprietary business processes and customer details.
In 2024, we noticed a clear focus and investment in B2B eCommerce security to address growing cyber threats and protect sensitive business data, such as AI-powered fraud detection and secure payment processing, especially as B2B organizations embrace modern online payment solutions. Regular security updates, multi-factor authentication and robust employee training programs have also become standard practices to mitigate risks.
In a nutshell, online security has become a pivotal criterion for B2B organizations investing in eCommerce solutions — and a trend expected to enter the maturity stage in the near future. While online security technologies aren’t necessarily in early stages, a significant portion of B2B organizations aren’t following security best practices or still rely on outdated on-premise hosting, which is more exposed to vulnerabilities than cloud technologies.
Prediction #5: GenAI starts translating buzz into B2B reality
Status: Early stages
This year, GenAI continued to evolve from the early hype to more pragmatic applications. One such use case includes extracting, categorizing and surfacing unstructured data at high speed, reducing errors in data flows that support omnichannel journeys.
However, there’s more to GenAI than data cleansing, especially when combined with predictive analytics. A prime case is Dawn Foods, an American supplier of bakery goods and ingredients, which employs AI for demand planning and forecasting, as well as product recommendations. AI-powered site search is another trend that accelerated in 2024; there’s definitely more to come when search and discovery meet AI.
We expect B2B organizations to become more enthusiastic about AI in general as these technologies prove their ability in practical applications and drive measurable outcomes. In fact, GenAI — in combination with predictive AI — has the potential to boost EBITDA by more than 40% in telco B2B sales.
Prediction #6: Customer-specific everything, everywhere, all at once
Status: Growth
Customization is now viewed as essential in a marketplace where consumer-like experiences dominate B2B buyer expectations. By enabling tailored pricing, product configurations and exclusive catalogs through digital platforms, companies are transforming how businesses engage with their clients.
In 2024, B2B organizations have significantly scaled customization options in their eCommerce experiences to meet buyers’ rising expectations for personalized and efficient interactions. For example, Wild Fork Foods, a D2C provider specializing in high-quality meats and seafood, created an eCommerce experience that could accurately handle variable-weight products for customers while managing inventory levels with precision.
Behind the scenes, many technologies enable B2B organizations to scale customization options in their eCommerce experiences, including flexible product modeling capabilities and composable product configurators to sell complex goods and services, such as 3D visual configuration, virtual photography and more.
As 2025 approaches, we’ll see more action in highly customized offerings and experiences, as B2B firms aim to replicate one-on-one interactions digitally.
Prediction #7: More than tech: Sustainability comes to the forefront of B2B buying
Status: Early stages
Sustainability has become a central focus in B2B procurement, driven significantly by a generational shift in buyer demographics, as Millennials and Gen Z now dominate decision-making roles and prioritize environmental and social responsibility.
While sustainability is one of the top three priorities for B2B buyers, and 36% of them are willing to change suppliers if sustainability needs aren’t met, only 53% of customers say sustainability efforts meet their needs. In other words, there’s a clear buy-sell gap, which most sellers haven’t yet translated into opportunities for their own businesses.
As sustainability continues to influence purchasing behaviors, businesses are investing in strategies such as greener supply chains, renewable resources and streamlined digital processes. Experts predict this trend will grow as companies integrate sustainability not just as an ethical priority, but as a crucial driver of long-term growth as there’s a push for supply chain transparency and measurement of impact.
Prediction #8: Change management and collaboration come into sharper focus
Status: Growth
B2B organizations are increasingly prioritizing organizational alignment and cross-functional collaboration to realize the full potential of digital investments. In 2024, change management and collaboration have grown significantly, as B2B practitioners recognize that digital transformation extends beyond a technology-only approach. The focus has shifted to integrating IT with business operations and fostering partnerships across departments, ensuring that technology serves as an enabler rather than a standalone solution.
B2B leaders like Amelita Ebuña, Director Digital Platforms at molecular diagnostics company Cepheid, hit the nail on the head when she shared at Elevate — The Global Commerce Summit™ that “rapid digital transformation is made possible with a combination of people, process and strategy.”
More emphasis on collaboration — especially as low-code tools for non-technical teams, enabling them to become an integral part of eCommerce innovation — will be a game-changer for companies to boost their digital maturity faster and with less friction.
Prediction #9: Manufacturers tackle the unrealized value behind D2C commerce
Status: Between growth and maturity
D2C commerce allows manufacturers to bypass traditional retail intermediaries like wholesalers and retailers, giving them direct control over branding, customer relationships and first-party data collection. Such an approach enables manufacturers to better understand consumer preferences and behaviors, which has become increasingly critical as B2B buyers expect personalized purchasing experiences.
D2C strategies have grown more sophisticated over the years, leveraging technology and data analytics to enhance customer engagement and operational efficiency. While the D2C strategy is entering the maturity stage, as many manufacturers embraced this model wholeheartedly, a significant portion of them haven’t, mostly due to fears of channel conflict.
Looking ahead to 2025, D2C commerce is poised for further expansion as manufacturers explore new ways to avoid channel conflict, from offering exclusive products to restricting the number of resellers in a distributed area. Sustainability will also become a differentiator point, as manufacturers integrate eco-friendly practices into their D2C operations to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.
Prediction #10: Midmarket B2B firms turbocharge digital maturity with composable
Status: Growth
In early 2024, the market analyst firm IDC predicted that B2B “midmarket growth companies,” or MMGs for short, are the ones adopting composable technologies faster to increase digital maturity. According to the report IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B Digital Commerce Midmarket Growth, “By embracing API-first composable commerce, which offers modular architecture for rapid innovation, MMG B2B firms can swiftly adapt to market changes to optimize revenue generation and capitalize on emerging CX opportunities.”
More than the recognition that composable commerce is the right for B2B firms to unlock growth is that business leaders are finally prioritizing a digital future. The findings of the 2024 Master B2B Executive Survey in partnership with commercetools confirm that B2B organizations are ready to invest in digital maturity. For instance, 83% of B2B firms planned to spend more money on digital in 2024 than the previous year. Plus, 94% of leaders agreed that CEOs have become supportive of digital transformation efforts and greenlighting digital transformation projects.
Today, B2B leaders recognize that investing in their digital readiness to meet their buyers’ shifting expectations requires more than just increasing tech spend; they also need an eCommerce solution that’s flexible, scalable and agile.
So, for 2025, we expect composable commerce to continue to rise in digital transformation projects, not only for midmarket companies but also for enterprises.
What’s coming up in 2025?
More than the evolution of the trends predicted in the last edition, we expect 2025 will be the year B2B digital commerce reaches new heights. While many organizations are still taking their first digital steps, quite a few manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers are on the verge of delivering the sophisticated experiences that B2B buyers are looking for with a faster time to market.
So, what can you expect from the next edition of our annual report? In addition to all the latest insights by commercetools experts, success stories and predictions, you can also discover the winning strategies to set your business apart from the competition in 2025 and beyond.
Download the Pivotal Trends and Predictions in B2B Digital Commerce in 2024 for all the insights, and you’ll be notified automatically when the 2025 edition is available.
Julia is a Senior B2B Product Expert at commercetools. With over a decade of experience across product and marketing teams in the tech world, she is an expert at creating innovative, customer-first strategies, and excelling in cross-functional growth & GTM initiatives.