{"id":10098,"date":"2024-02-29T14:34:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T22:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=10098"},"modified":"2025-08-26T16:45:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T08:45:57","slug":"best-b2b-commerce-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ap\/blog\/best-b2b-commerce-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"5 B2B Commerce Trends That Will Dominate 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B2B companies expect more than half their revenue<\/a> to come from digital channels over the next two years. That\u2019s a big jump \u2014 last year, only 30% of B2B revenue was digitally-driven. What are businesses doing to adapt and drive revenue in a mostly digital market? We asked 2,700 commerce leaders how they plan to navigate changing customer behaviours, sky-high expectations, and the rise of new technology (ahem, generative AI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what we uncovered and the B2B commerce trends that are already emerging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Get insights to move your business forward<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Learn how leaders are finding success in a changing market.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tRead the report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
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1. More B2B companies will invest in headless commerce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Speed. Customisation. Flexibility. Every B2B company could use more. But the complexity of large catalogs and disparate pricing models make it difficult to introduce new channels, personalise buying experiences, and add new functionalities quickly with legacy platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, headless commerce<\/a> and composable capabilities<\/a> make these goals much easier to achieve. How? Headless separates the front end and back end of an ecommerce application and offers businesses the freedom of expression to build whatever and however they want. At a time when 63% of business buyers<\/a> say most customer experiences fall short of what they know is possible, headless offers a promising solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With traditional monolithic architectures, development cycles were sluggish and it could take months to get new commerce experiences to market. Teams would spend valuable time and resources reconfiguring the front and back end any time a new feature or update was needed. With headless, you gain flexibility and the freedom to quickly innovate, update, and optimise your experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headless offers the best capability to sell, quote, and price nearly every product in every channel. According to one survey, 46% of IT<\/a> teams have implemented composable architecture, and 43% plan to.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. AI will increase productivity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Almost half (45%) of B2B organisations<\/a> are experimenting with AI, and 32% have fully implemented it. Already, businesses are seeing big improvements in employee productivity and operational efficiency. Thanks to generative AI tools and automation, tasks that once took days or weeks to complete now take just hours or minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI also has the power to significantly improve areas of B2B digital transformation that were once sticking points. For example, large volumes of technical, often incomplete product data (like product descriptions, visual depictions, and configurations) have traditionally required massive investments for clean up and ongoing management. And that\u2019s before accounting for factors like localisation for different geographical markets. Considering that 64% of B2B organisations<\/a> sell internationally, it\u2019s critical that businesses gain efficiency when it comes to catalog content creation and management. Enter: AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI can drastically reduce the amount of manual effort involved in these processes. With generative AI, companies can finally present more of their catalog digitally \u2014 and many will be able to take the leap into even more robust product content, such as visual buying experiences.\u00a0 For example, imagine a technician servicing agricultural equipment, augmented by AI. This would make it possible to find a replacement part using a visual 3D image, significantly reducing time for service. The same visualisations can also be used by customers to self-diagnose problems and automate the fix themselves. With the advent of AI, these use cases are finally within reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI can also help sales and marketing teams create personalised, dynamic messaging and promotions for each buyer based on purchase and product search history, cadence of reorders, and more. This frees up valuable time for your sales teams, allowing them to put their energy into more strategic tasks that make more of an impact on your bottom line. Commerce professionals using AI estimate it saves them an average of 6.4 hours per week<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Agility. AI. Easy-to-use tools.<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

See why Salesforce is a leader in B2B digital commerce.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tGet the report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
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3. Data management will become a top priority<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since AI is powered by data, B2B companies must prioritise improving data quality and management if they want to realise AI\u2019s full potential. And that\u2019s no easy task: 68% of B2Bs<\/a> say poor data integration and harmonisation are challenges keeping them from AI adoption and maximisation. But the juice is worth the squeeze: Sales leaders list data accuracy as one of the top tactics to drive growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to get your data in working order? It all starts with performing an audit to determine its accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, and relevance. To improve data quality, make sure you have a data management platform<\/a> that can unify and harmonise your data and a connected commerce platform<\/a> that helps you put it all to use by way of stellar shopping experiences. These tools will give you a more holistic view of customer profiles, shopping behaviour, and business activity so your teams have a shared, accurate view of useful information.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a commerce platform connected to customer data, you can collect in-the-moment insights about your buyers and interact with them in ways that show you understand their unique needs and preferences. This has never been more critical, especially at a time when 85% of business buyers<\/a> say customer experiences should be better considering all the data companies collect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accurate, real-time, connected data is an invaluable business asset, especially in the era of AI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Embedded commerce is the easy button for starting digital transformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long and complex purchasing processes can be a significant hurdle for B2B companies. To enhance the buyer experience, shorten the sales cycle, and boost revenue, the bulk of organisations now incorporate transaction functionality into sales, service, and marketing touchpoints. This is what\u2019s known as \u201cembedded commerce\u201d \u2014 and it has a substantial impact on companies\u2019 top lines. In fact, B2B organisations with embedded commerce<\/a> capabilities see 46% of their overall transactions<\/a> occur through these channels. Here\u2019s how businesses are using this innovative technology to increase sales:<\/p>\n\n\n\n