This trend is also reflected in McKinsey's 2026 "Global B2B Pulse" study: 71% of companies already have an e-commerce channel, and in companies that have one, digital channels generate approximately one-third of revenue on average. The scale of online transactions is also changing - 73% of B2B buyers are ready to make purchases exceeding $50,000 online, compared to 59% in 2022.
In B2B commerce, the digital channel is becoming a standard part of sales infrastructure, and expectations for it are changing accordingly. Companies increasingly need not just another place to submit orders, but a system that genuinely shortens the purchasing process for the customer and reduces manual work on the supplier's side.
What's happening | Research data | What it means |
|---|---|---|
B2B purchasing is rapidly moving to digital channels | +13% e-commerce growth | Digital channel is becoming a core part of sales infrastructure |
Value of online transactions is increasing | 73% ready to purchase online for more than $50,000 | Self-service is relevant for high-value purchases |
Buyers want more autonomy | 70% prefer fully digital self-service | More of the process can be completed without a sales rep |
Data quality still causes problems | 85% encounter problems when purchasing online | Integrations directly impact purchasing experience |
Purchasing happens across multiple channels | 10 channels used on average | All channels must have the same information |
AI is already being used on the buyer's side | 61% of B2B buyers use AI | Product and order data will increasingly be used by other systems |
E-commerce is increasingly merging with customer self-service
Simply accepting a B2B order online is fairly straightforward today. The more complex part begins where the system needs to work according to the company's actual trading rules: specific customer pricing, assigned assortment, credit terms, order permissions, or other agreements.
If an employee still has to check such information in the ERP, spreadsheets, or other sources, part of the process remains manual. In practice, B2B e-commerce is increasingly merging with order systems and customer self-service - customers are given not only the ability to submit an order, but also to independently perform other related actions.
Data quality is becoming one of the most important factors in purchasing experience
In a Sana Commerce and Sapio Research survey, 73% of B2B buyers said they want to purchase online, but 85% still encounter problems. 75% of respondents would be willing to switch suppliers if another offered a better digital purchasing experience.
Among the most frequently mentioned problems are inaccurate inventory, prices, product information, and delivery times. In the McKinsey study, misaligned information between different supplier teams became the most important buyer-cited reason for switching suppliers.
In B2B commerce, this is a very practical question: if a customer sees one set of information in the portal, the account manager sees another, and the ERP yet another, self-service quickly loses its purpose. For this reason, integrations between ERP, warehouse, PIM, CRM, and other systems directly determine how much the digital channel can be trusted.
A Deloitte study shows an interesting difference. 72% of suppliers rate their sales processes as mostly or highly automated, but only 47% of buyers rate their purchasing experience this way. Buyers are six times more likely to say the process is still mostly manual.
This is a good reminder that automation should not be evaluated by the number of systems deployed. What matters much more is how many manual actions actually remain in the process.
Repeat purchasing in B2B commerce deserves special attention
A large portion of B2B revenue comes from recurring orders, so a completely different usage scenario is important here than in typical e-commerce. The customer often doesn't need to search for or select a product again - they want to submit their usual order as quickly as possible.
In such cases, very practical things can add a lot of value: repeating a previous order, saved order templates, quick search by item code, or the ability to immediately upload a larger list of items. In a B2B system, this can be more important than some of the features that are typically considered standard e-commerce functionality.
The same is worth evaluating more broadly - how much time it takes the customer to perform the most frequently repeated actions and how much employee work is still required. If self-service shortens each such process by a few minutes, across thousands of orders the impact becomes significant.
Buyers want self-service, but the account manager's role isn't going away
In Gartner's 2026 study, 67% of B2B buyers indicated they prefer a purchasing process without a sales manager, and 70% would choose fully digital self-service. At the same time, 69% would want to verify AI-provided insights with a sales specialist.
McKinsey research shows similar logic: for frequent, well-known purchases, customers are more inclined to choose self-service, while in higher-value and more complex transactions, human involvement remains important.
In practice, this allows for a fairly clear redistribution of work. Repeat orders, information searches, or standard inquiries can be handled through self-service, while the account manager's time remains where it's truly needed - for consultation, negotiation, new sales, or non-standard situations.
One digital channel for all customers won't be enough
McKinsey calculates that during one B2B purchasing process, a customer uses an average of 10 different channels. According to Deloitte data, 65% of buyers choose a channel primarily based on how easy it is to use, and the number of trade channels offered by suppliers has grown on average from 3.4 to 4.7 over two years.
Therefore, a B2B portal should not be built with the assumption that from now on all customers will only purchase through it. Some will use self-service, others will combine part of the process with an account manager, and larger buyers may want to submit orders directly from their own procurement system.
This is where the significance of EDI, PunchOut, API, and other direct integrations emerges. In the Deloitte study, 92% of B2B buyers currently using EDI said they plan to move at least some purchases to other digital channels, including e-commerce and procurement commerce solutions.
The basic principle is simple: it shouldn't matter to the customer which channel they used to submit an order. Price, inventory, order status, and other information must match everywhere.
AI is already changing the B2B purchasing process itself
There's a lot of talk about AI use on the seller's side, but in 2026 it's worth watching another direction - AI is increasingly being used by buyers themselves.
In a Gartner survey, 45% of B2B buyers indicated they had used generative AI in an actual purchasing process. In the Deloitte study, this number is even higher: AI is used by 61% of B2B buyers, and 38% have already used agentic AI. They delegate product search and evaluation, configuration, order status checking, or order submission itself to it.
This is important when planning systems for the longer term. Product data, prices, inventory, and order capabilities will gradually be used not just by humans in browsers - they will also be read by other systems, so API, structured data, and clear order logic gain increasing significance.
B2B self-service results are worth evaluating more broadly
E-commerce revenue is just one of the metrics. The impact of B2B systems is often seen first elsewhere: in a larger share of independently submitted orders, shorter order administration time, fewer errors and customer inquiries, or more time for account managers to dedicate to sales.
B2B buyers surveyed by Deloitte indicated they spend on average 29% more with suppliers who provide a good purchasing experience. Companies that have achieved high digital commerce maturity also exceeded their annual sales targets by a significantly larger margin than low-maturity organizations.
Therefore, self-service can deliver results from both sides: reduce process costs while improving conditions for sales growth.
What's worth evaluating in 2026?
B2B e-commerce in 2026 is increasingly becoming part of the overall sales and customer service infrastructure, so the most important thing to evaluate is not just whether a customer can submit an order online, but how simple the entire purchasing process is and how much manual work still remains in it.