It’s tempting to think the same digital strategies that revolutionized B2C commerce can be copied and pasted into the B2B world. Both B2C and B2B companies are, after all, using the same language to describe digital transformation. AI and machine learning, omnichannel experiences, and Amazon’s relentless innovation now shape expectations everywhere.
But as Master B2B’s 2025 State of B2B Ecommerce Report makes clear, there’s no shortcut to digital maturity for B2B organizations.
The report underscores that B2B buyers have fundamentally different technology needs from those in B2C. When companies ignore these differences, they have difficulty truly innovating. In this post, we’ll dig into where B2B diverges from B2C, and why a different playbook is essential for success.
B2B’s Biggest Obstacle Isn’t Tech
For the B2B sector, culture outweighs technology when it comes to implementing successful digital transformation. In this year’s Master B2B report, the number one challenge cited by B2B practitioners is “migrating the business from analog-centric to digital-centric.” It’s an obstacle that’s less about tools and more about shifting mindsets.
Unlike B2C, where digital adoption is often driven by consumer demand, B2B organizations frequently fall short of major digital change. This typically stems from cultural barriers versus technological ones. The report revealed that some of the most common disconnects for B2B companies include:
- Lack of digital expertise among senior leadership, making it difficult to set a vision for change
- Silos. When teams work in their own bubbles, it’s tough to get everyone moving in the same direction
- A natural hesitation to shake up the status quo or take risks on new ways of working
- Not enough resources (or focus) for hiring or developing people with digital skills
- Reluctance to get teams on board with digital projects, especially outside the core digital team
- Old habits, processes, and systems that can’t keep up with what’s needed today prevent B2B businesses from moving forward. Overcoming these cultural obstacles is the real work of digital transformation for B2B leaders.
Old habits, processes, and systems that can’t keep up with what’s needed today prevent B2B businesses from moving forward. Overcoming these cultural obstacles is the real work of digital transformation for B2B leaders.
B2B Digital Maturity Lags Behind — Especially at the Top
One of the biggest gaps holding B2B companies back is digital leadership. Fully 40% of companies in the Modern B2B report say their most senior leaders have little or no digital experience. That’s a major problem in a world where digital transformation is no longer optional.
B2C companies have had a head start here. Many have seasoned digital leaders whose entire focus is driving growth and adapting to new technologies. They have the budget and leadership support they need to build teams with the right skills.
In contrast, B2B organizations are still building this muscle. They’re relying on employees who manage multiple roles that involve digital and non-digital responsibilities. Many noted that members of their team have “no digital background whatsoever.” This lack of digital knowledge extends to senior leadership.
It’s a big reason that B2B companies often default to operational efficiency and incremental improvements, rather than broader organizational changes. This approach is a recipe for slow progress and missed opportunities, especially as customer expectations continue to rise.
For digital maturity to improve, B2B organizations need a new kind of leadership—one that focuses on true digital growth versus just keeping the business running.
AI Is Rising, But Human Skills Still Matter
AI is on everyone’s mind, with 89% of survey respondents saying it will have the most significant impact on B2B commerce over the next three to five years. AI and machine learning manifests in many ways including smarter search, personalized recommendations, and process automation.
But AI alone isn’t enough to drive company wide digital transformation. Human talent is just as critical, if not more so. When asked which skills are most important for success, B2B leaders ranked analytical and critical thinking even higher than AI expertise.
While AI can automate and accelerate, it’s people who ask the right questions, interpret results, and make strategic decisions that guide transformation.
What does this look like in practice?
- AI can generate insights, but humans must act on them for real change to happen.
- Automation is a time saver, but it’s only helpful if people use the extra time to focus on high-value activities and relationships.
- The most successful B2B teams integrate AI with human creativity and problem-solving.
Companies that invest in AI technology must also hire people who can work with AI tools in ways that turn insight into action. Key human skills that remain important are data analysis, digital marketing, and critical thinking.
Complex Needs Demand B2B-Specific Solutions
B2B buyers have more complex needs versus their B2C counterparts. You can’t simply retrofit a B2C platform and call it a B2B product. Executives want features like flexible quoting, LTL (less-than-truckload) freight logic, and parent-child account hierarchies. These capabilities are rarely found in B2C solutions.
Where B2C software is built for straightforward, one-size-fits-all transactions, B2B transactions often involve negotiated contracts and customer pricing. They may also require location-based ordering logic.
Per the report, “B2B companies will accept neither B2C software transplants that lack critical B2B functionality nor B2B-centric vendors that lack B2C-like CX features.” In other words, B2B buyers expect both the robust, flexible features they need to run their business and the seamless, intuitive experience they’ve come to expect as consumers.
Here’s a summary of what that means from a capabilities perspective:
- Quoting and pricing: Buyers want to request quotes, negotiate prices, and see custom pricing based on contracts or order volume.
- Shipping and logistics: Features like LTL freight calculation, split shipments, and complex delivery schedules are standard in B2B, but rare in B2C platforms.
- Account structures: B2B platforms must support parent-child hierarchies, multi-user accounts, and different roles and permissions for buyers, managers, and finance teams.
- Ordering logic: Location-based ordering, approval workflows, and purchase limits are often required to match how real businesses operate.
- Integration: Deep connections with ERP, CRM, and inventory systems are essential for B2B, while B2C platforms often focus on front-end experience.
Trying to force-fit a B2C solution into the above paradigm is a recipe for frustration and missed opportunities. B2B buyers and the companies they represent need technology that’s designed for their specific ecommerce needs and complexities—without sacrificing the customer experience modern buyers expect.
Product Findability Is a Top Focus
One of the biggest pain points for B2B companies is the complexity around product discovery. With large catalogs and thousands of SKUs, it’s often difficult for customers to locate the items they need or check stock availability.
According to the Master B2B report, 43% of respondents plan to invest in improving findability on their websites—helping customers be more successful at locating the right products and making purchasing decisions.
AI-Search is an important lever for solving this problem. It addresses messy product data while reducing the manual effort required to manage search functionality, like creating synonyms or fixing keyword mismatches.
AI-driven search learns from user behavior, understands intent, and makes connections that traditional keyword-based systems can’t. There’s one major caveat, however. Optimal AI search requires good data governance and enriched product content to support deeper discovery and better results.
From a business perspective, the payoff is significant. Search visitors convert at nearly five times the rate of non-search visitors, and even small improvements in search performance can lead to millions in additional revenue. One Coveo customer projected $3 million in incremental revenue in the first year after upgrading their search capabilities — and ended up surpassing that by threefold.
Expectations are shifting and B2B buyers want more than just a list of products. They need search tools that act as navigators, helping them compare options, understand compatibility, and make confident decisions. This is search as an extension of your sales force, acting as a virtual rep who is available 24/7.
Integration and Scale: The Hidden B2B Headache
As B2B organizations grow, so does the complexity of their technology stacks. A handful of essential tools can quickly balloon into dozens of platforms, each with its own quirks and requirements. This tangled web of systems becomes increasingly difficult to manage, let alone scale.
Ensuring compatibility between systems was a top challenge for 67% of report respondents, with 63% saying they struggle to manage data consistency across tools.
It’s a technical headache that requires more time and budget with every new integration. High implementation costs and limited internal expertise are major barriers to digital progress, according to respondents. And as the tech stack grows, so does the risk of data silos, errors, and slowdowns that frustrate both teams and customers.
The most effective way to manage this complexity is to leverage the tools and platforms you’re already using by only investing in new solutions that are composable and scalable, but also easy to use and less dependent on IT.
This allows business users to make changes and unlock new capabilities without waiting in line for technical resources. Easy integration makes it possible to adapt quickly and add new features or channels when needed, without breaking what’s already working.
Adding new tech tools and capabilities shouldn’t be a roadblock to growth, and this is another area where human expertise helps facilitate change. Per the Master B2B report:
“B2B organizations that continue to invest in new technologies in the coming years should hire, at minimum, a business analyst who can work with the digital team to understand what requirements truly matter when implementing a solution. And not just in a static, one-time sense but in more dynamic fashion. Ongoing technical success requires building on a strong foundation so companies can add new tools without causing problems with the existing technologies.”
Build for B2B, Not in Spite of It
B2B organizations need tech solutions made for their specific needs. Successful digital transformation must also be guided by leaders with a clear digital vision, and supported by tools that help teams work smarter without oversimplifying what makes B2B unique.
Nearly half of respondents in the Master B2B survey say that aligning business priorities with technology capabilities is a top challenge their organization faces when making a commerce tech purchasing decision. This shows the industry is ready to move beyond patchwork approaches and build a stronger foundation for the future.