Only 71% of global B2B companies surveyed by McKinsey last year offered ecommerce, but those that did got more than one-third (34%) of their revenue from online sales, and digital commerce has become “the leading sales channel in revenue generation, usage, effectiveness, and investment,” according to a September 2024 article by McKinsey.
The article is based on B2B ecommerce statistics from McKinsey’s Global B2B Pulse survey of almost 4,000 B2B buying decision makers and Master B2B’s 2025 Ecommerce Predictions report.
B2B Buyers Willing to Spend More Online
Companies that have been slower to adopt B2B ecommerce point to the complexity and high cost of many B2B transactions, but B2B buyers are making bigger purchases online. The B2B Pulse survey, which defined “online” sales as a combination of self-service digital commerce and remote interactions with salespeople, found significant increases in the amount buyers are willing to spend online for a B2B purchase in just the 16 months between the December 2022 survey and the April 2024 survey:
- 39% were willing to spend more than $500,000 online in 2024, compared to 28% in 2022.
- 20% were willing to spend $1 million or more online in 2024, compared to 15% in 2022.
- 11% were willing to spend $5 million or more online in 2024, compared to 9% in 2022
Indeed, online commerce is the engine of growth for B2B. Digital Commerce 360 estimates that total B2B ecommerce sales in 2024 reached $2.43 trillion, a 17% jump from 2023’s $2.08 trillion. In comparison, the total B2B market size in the U.S., including manufacturers, distributors, and B2B retailers across all channels, increased an anemic 1.5% last year, per Digital Commerce 360.
Practical B2B Ecommerce Predictions
Recognizing these critical B2B ecommerce trends, Coveo turned to Brian Beck and Andy Hoar, co-founders of Master B2B, to suggest practical actions that will help executives move their total B2B business forward.
Beck and Hoar, consultants who have spent years engaging with the B2B ecommerce community through interactive webcasts and in-person roundtables, recently released the “2025 eCommerce Predictions presented by Master B2B,” a report on B2B trends sponsored by Coveo and HCLSoftware that can be downloaded here.
This post will focus on three interrelated predictions from the report:
- GenAI will be a 70% solution.
- Analytics will be key to smarter decision making.
- Advancements in search will supercharge long-tail sales.
GenAI Will be a 70% Solution
As it was last year, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is top-of-mind among B2B sellers. According to the report, executives in B2B ecommerce should experiment with GenAI use cases in 2025 that will help them boost efficiency, increase personalization, improve search, or scale routine tasks, but they shouldn’t expect GenAI to operate autonomously. GenAI will get a B2B business “70% of the way to solving a problem. But, importantly, not 100%,” the report said. “Seventy percent is meaningful enough to be worth the investment.”
Appropriate tasks for GenAI include writing product descriptions and search ad copy at scale or creating “a customer service chatbot that responds with deep product knowledge in your brand voice,” the report said. “Gen AI will still require human intervention, other types of software, and trained individuals to govern the process.”
One thing that’s holding any B2B brand back from relying more on GenAI is its tendency to create errors or “hallucinate.” Hallucinations and output that is inaccurate, false, or misleading are relatively common with GenAI at this early stage of its development.
Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to implement GenAI use cases that improve efficiency, scale content creation, or reduce customer service costs — but maintain human oversight.
Analytics will be Key to Smarter Decision Making
Most B2B commerce still goes through traditional sales channels, but a strong majority of sales are influenced by company websites and social media channels. However, many B2B companies keep online and offline data separate, where neither the B2B marketer or traditional sales leader can make connections that will increase sales and customer satisfaction.
To break the logjam, “practitioners need to further invest in analytics that will help them understand the key metrics in their business, both online and off,” said the Predictions report.
An article in Harvard Business Review explained three common approaches to analytics: descriptive, where decisions are made mainly by humans; predictive, where machines determine likely outcomes, but humans choose which course to follow; and prescriptive, where decisions are made mainly by AI. Prescriptive analytics uses complex algorithms to rapidly test and learn and then recommend actions that will lead to a desired outcome.
“We’d expect B2B ecommerce practitioners to be thinking about those prescriptive analytics solutions as they think about investments for next year,” the report says. “But the truth is, without a solid foundation in Google Analytics-type descriptive analytics, as well as predictive analytics tools offering options to analysts, it will be difficult for companies to get a real-time understanding of the state of their business.”
Takeaway: Build a robust foundation in descriptive and predictive analysis before adopting advanced AI tools for prescriptive analysis while continuing to invest in analytics that align with key business objectives.
Advancements in Search will Supercharge Sales of Long-Tail Products
Approximately 20% of products on an ecommerce website are responsible for 80% of sales, but the most popular products tend to be the most price-sensitive, so profit margins are moderated by price competition. The remaining 80%, known as the “long tail,” sell less frequently, but they have the potential for higher return on investment (ROI).
People looking for specific long-tail products are usually further down the purchasing funnel, and long-tail keywords tend to attract more qualified leads than popular keywords. And when a B2B website is able to meet customer expectations by making it easy to find these products, it is almost guaranteed the sale.
The trick is to make long-tail items findable for the audience that wants them — through intent-based search or product recommendation — without overwhelming or distracting other site visitors.
There are several ways to reduce the clutter in search results while showcasing long-tail products for interested customers, according to the 2025 Predictions report. These include “showing long-tail products via targeted faceted search only, only showing long-tail products in response to specific search terms as opposed to all search terms, [and] building special landing pages for long-tail products so that they are more discoverable in key searches.”
Peter Curran, general manager for commerce at Coveo, was a guest on a webcast discussing the Master B2B predictions. When Hoar mentioned that B2B companies can build landing pages specific to long-tail products to make them more discoverable, Curren explained how it’s done at Coveo. “We use generative AI agents to act as humans and look at long-tail landing page opportunities, then identify products that should go onto those pages,” he said.
Takeaway: Audit current search tools to identify gaps in discoverability. If needed, invest in AI-powered search solutions. This guide suggests questions to ask potential vendors.
Connecting the Dots
Following a 17% revenue increase in 2024, B2B commerce is poised for continued strong growth in 2025, but there’s work to do. How can you use the Master B2B predictions as a jumping off point?
One step is to advance your team’s experience with GenAI by deploying more use cases. Speed up content creation for emails, product pages, search advertising, and social media. Discover new ways to personalize content. Don’t expect GenAI to get 100% of the task right, though. Maintain human oversight for all projects.
Use some of the time freed up by GenAI to review your analytics. Find ways to hone your team’s skills in descriptive and predictive analytics while you prepare to use more AI-powered prescriptive analytics.
Long-tail products are core to most B2B ecommerce sites, but are you capturing your share of sales and profit margins? Is your on-site search helping customers find long-tail products without overwhelming visitors looking for popular ones? Consider using GenAI to generate long-tail landing pages.
Dig Deeper
This blog has explored only half of the predictions in the Master B2B report. To get a fuller view of what’s next in B2B ecommerce in 2025, download the report here.