Key takeaways:
B2B buyers are leveraging AI more than ever — and sellers need to move fast to keep pace.
Customer expectations in B2B have never been higher, and B2B buyers have never been younger. Demographics play a role: 71% of buyers are Millennials or Gen Z, while only 29% were born before 1980. B2B experiences are increasingly digitized and B2C-like.
But another factor reinforcing this shift is Agentic AI.
Though often seen as a retail trend, AI is quietly transforming B2B. Buyers are already using it to research catalogs, compare prices, and submit quotes. Dentsu estimates that 77% of B2B buying processes used AI in 2025, with 40% of buyers classified as heavy users. Forrester reports similar adoption: 89% of B2B buyers use generative AI as a top source of self-guided information throughout every stage of the buying process.
AI isn’t just changing how buyers gather information; it’s speeding up decisions. NRG and Google found that 84% of buyers using AI tools make research and purchasing decisions faster, and 58% switched vendors within the past six months. As Gen Z climbs the career ladder, their daily use of AI — 86% use it for product research — will continue to amplify these trends.
B2B sellers are starting to respond: 75% of sales reps already report using AI-enabled tools. But pressure is mounting as 1 in 5 sellers will need to negotiate with AI-powered buyer agents as early as the end of this year. Sellers embracing AI, especially agentic AI, can improve every step of the buyer journey, from product research to administrative tasks, creating faster, smarter and more tailored experiences that boost buyer productivity.
So how is B2B buying evolving with AI? And how can forward-thinking sellers turn it into a competitive advantage? Explore the latest insights in the infographic below.
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.
