B2B Ecommerce Trends: How Ecommerce Enterprises Are Adopting Them

B2B ecommerce is blowing up, but growth usually brings a bunch of new challenges. The big question now is how to simplify the customer experience and make it more seamless than ever.

Especially when around 70% of today’s B2B buyers prefer to wrap up their purchase journey before even talking to sales. Meeting these demands is the driving force behind the latest B2B ecommerce trends.

Quick Tips for Busy People

A quick rundown of trends that we’ve implemented for enterprises:

• B2B ecommerce is booming. The focus is on customer-centric strategies that can scale up if you want to stay competitive, especially since the market’s supposed to hit $3 trillion by 2027.
• Flexibility trend. Appears in various aspects, from providing flexible payment options for end-users to improving the ecommerce platform flexibility with the modular approach.
• Automation. Includes automating recurring operations and simplified order placement and purchase.
• B2B purchasing experience that resembles B2C. That’s where advanced search, multi-channel experiences, and personalization come in.

Details next.

Driving Forces of B2B Innovations

It’s predicted that the U.S. B2B ecommerce market is going to surpass $3 trillion by the year 2027, developing at a solid annual growth rate of 10.7%. This growth isn’t about bigger numbers. It signals that B2B businesses are prioritizing smarter, customer-focused digital strategies.

This creates a growing need for businesses to quickly adapt to the changing buyers’ behavior and growing investments in scalable, modern technologies. Buyers increasingly expect the ease of use and efficiency of B2C platforms, which is likely to shape the future of B2B ecommerce.

Along with some other specifics that add complexity:

Companies looking to stay in the commerce game must have strategies that will scale up their efficiency while maintaining customer satisfaction. B2B ecommerce trends, guaranteeing the flexibility of ecommerce platforms, prepare them for whatever comes next.

Plus, big money gets invested in modern sales tech, such as AI, with 60% of B2B companies adopting it to boost personalization, automate tasks, and improve lead qualification.

In a nutshell, the future of B2B ecommerce is linked with tying operational complexity together with customer-centric digital experiences. And those that can adapt will be well-positioned to capitalize on this burgeoning market.

We at Expert Soft have brought these principles to life in several ways.

B2B Ecommerce Trends: Use Cases

Here, we share our expertise as an ecommerce website development company on how large enterprises have successfully implemented top B2B ecommerce trends with our support. This is not the ultimate truth but rather our observations, offered to inspire and inform.

Modular systems for flexibility

Modular systems make it easy for B2B ecommerce platforms to adapt and evolve. These systems help businesses break their platforms into smaller, independent components that allow quick updating, scalable features, and the sidestepping of those dreaded system-wide complications. This means fewer hiccups, smoother operations, and a platform ready for everything.

A prime example of system modularity is microservices. Take, for instance, our work with a leading credit rating agency. We helped them transform their existing data access and search portal into two distinct systems, all while preserving seamless search functionality across both platforms.

At the heart of this solution were microservices, which brought flexibility and independence to the system. This modular approach allowed us to focus on specific microservices, significantly accelerating the process and delivering a streamlined solution.
For even greater modularity, you can combine microservices with headless commerce architecture, creating platforms aligned with MACH principles with advanced flexibility for future growth.

Streamlined product discovery

Looking for the right product in a huge commerce catalog can be overwhelming, especially when the inventories are complex and buyers might not have all the info they need. So, companies integrate various ways to make the process more convenient. For example, visual search.

We implemented this concept in our work for an Eastern European car part manufacturer. They came across the following challenge: very often, a buyer would be in need of certain parts but was not always sure about the name or product code. To solve this, we introduced image-based search functionality.

Here’s how it works:

• A buyer uploads a picture of the part they need in the search bar.
• The platform sends the picture to an integrated third-party system where an ML algorithm performs the analysis and matches it against the catalog.
• Then the system returns a product code, and the ecommerce platform converts that to a text query to connect the user with all the product details.

This new concept made it easier for buyers to find and order the parts they wanted, even with incomplete information. While image-based search is more common in B2C, this example shows the technology can be adapted to address the specific challenges in B2B, providing a streamlined solution for large and complex inventories.

Automation for customers

Automation is a B2B ecommerce trend that can be beneficial for both your company (when you automate internal processes) and customers, as they receive a more hassle-free experience. However, while automating internal processes may be risky and resource-intensive, you can start by automating some processes for customers. Even if it’s not automation for business.

Here, you need to be creative. And our customer — a manufacturing company — was. With Expert Soft’s support, they developed a portal to simplify subscription and order creation processes for their customers.
Instead of manually entering information already available in the system, customers could now request platform staff to handle the task. While these actions still required a manual effort on the company’s part, the streamlined workflow enhanced the user experience and boosted end-user satisfaction.

Additionally, with rapid AI development, automation becomes the future of B2B ecommerce of today.

Flexible payments

In B2B ecommerce, payment flexibility is a must-have, not a nice-to-have. Many of the buyers have to follow some strict company rules or have their ways they like to pay. Offering a bunch of choices simplifies the process and builds trust and loyalty with customers, as they see you totally understand what they need.

How it works: Unified payment engine for a global Medtech company

We had an international client who was struggling with their payment process. Their buyers came from different places, each with their preferences. Some liked credit cards, others preferred wire transfers, and some markets had their local way of making payments. Without a unified system in place and with so many choices, the company lived with inefficiencies, integration difficulties, and increased operational costs.

We stepped in and built a payment engine that brought all those options into one place, saving the client up to $100 million on operational expenses and streamlined management.

Besides flexible control, the company now can much more easily integrate new payment methods and providers specific to different countries, which simplifies global reach.

Recurring purchases

Many B2B brands offer recurring purchases and subscriptions, which are essential for meeting their clients’ needs. Automating these processes simplifies reordering for customers, ensuring everything runs smoothly and on time without requiring manual effort on their end.

For customers, it’s all about that commerce convenience they love. For businesses, it’s a trend to save time, trim down errors, and build stronger relations with their customers.

How it works: Automating recurring orders for a B2B client

A global medical technology provider wanted to increase the level of commerce experience by smoothing out subscription payments. They aimed to eliminate the manual effort customers had to put into paying invoices and subscriptions.

To do so, Expert Soft put into operation an automated payment system. The solution linked customer subscriptions with their payment methods, such as credit cards or bank accounts. Once a subscription was set up, the system automatically processed all linked invoices, eliminating the need for any manual intervention.

Some results:

Straightforward sales processes and self-service buying

B2B buyers of today are looking to take charge of their buying process. They love being independent and getting things done quickly. So they get attracted to B2B commerce platforms where they can find, compare, and buy products with a lot of ease. And sometimes, this can be not just a trend but a necessity, as it was with our client.

During the pandemic, a global medical equipment provider was under a critical challenge. Hospitals needed the ventilators urgently, but the existing procurement process slowed down purchases. Our task was to add a new, streamlined flow for approval and purchasing in a short time, bypassing some of the standard validation steps.

While not a fully self-service platform, this example demonstrates how technology can help unify or automate processes, even if a fully self-service model doesn’t align with your B2B business strategy. Ultimately, buyers gain the independence they value, while commerce companies improve efficiency and build trust through seamless experiences.

Omnichannel experience

In B2B ecommerce, the buyer expects things to work flawlessly no matter how they’re interacting with your B2B brand — desktop, mobile device, or third-party site. Consistency is key, and meeting those expectations in B2B commerce can make all the difference.

With the rise in the number of buyers depending on their phones to browse, compare, and even place orders, the mobile-first approach in B2B commerce has turned out highly critical. Your platform should work fluently on mobile devices, just like on desktops, so that buyers may have a frustration-free experience, whatever the location.

That’s where the concept of headless commerce architecture comes in. By separating the front-end presentation layer from the back-end functionality, it allows businesses to develop and deploy customized interfaces for each channel — desktop, mobile, third-party marketplaces, — without needing to overhaul the entire system. Leveraging headless commerce development services, companies can ensure omnichannel consistency while enabling faster updates and innovations, keeping their platform aligned with the evolving needs of modern buyers.

To Sum Up

The future of B2B ecommerce brings us a fast-changing space because buyers want smart solutions. Think of modular systems that make platforms more flexible, plus automation that makes even the trickiest workflows a breeze. The path to success is all about practical strategies for B2B brands that deliver value.

The examples we went over show how keeping up with the top B2B ecommerce trends helps businesses address big issues: getting approvals, personalized pricing, and ensuring consistency across all channels. As the B2B ecommerce market grows, companies that put these strategies and trends into action will not only continue to compete but also lay a solid foundation for future success.

If you’re looking to upgrade your B2B platform, Expert Soft is here to help you implement those strategies. Feel free to reach out.