What Is B2B Ecommerce? A Guide for 2025

B2B (business-to-business) ecommerce is a form of online commerce where businesses sell products or services to other businesses, typically through digital platforms that facilitate transactions, order management, and supply chain operations.

When people think of ecommerce, they typically imagine a consumer shopping for products online from the comfort of their own home, on a mobile device or a laptop. But there’s a whole other side to ecommerce that involves large, complex orders, custom tech integrations, and unique buyer/seller relationships. Enter: business-to-business ecommerce (also known as B2B ecommerce).

Before the digital transformation of commerce, businesses would sell goods and services to other companies mostly through in-person sales and catalog orders. A lot has changed since then. Today, business buyers expect the same kinds of shopping experiences they’ve become accustomed to in their personal lives: easy, intuitive, and digital.

Business-to-business ecommerce is the process of selling products between two businesses via an online channel. By digitizing sales and offering self-service ordering and reordering for business buyers, you can reach more customers and reduce service costs. Plus, you’ll significantly shorten the sales cycle and give time back to your reps to focus on more strategic initiatives. Here’s how it works.

In a B2B ecommerce model, goods and services are sold to other manufacturers or wholesalers. Consider the automotive business. A parts manufacturer creates individual car components, such as an engine, fuel pump, or seat belts, and those parts are sold to auto manufacturers, rather than individuals, for assembly. Instead of sending your sales reps to meet with manufacturers to take orders, B2B commerce digitizes the process and speeds things along.

B2B ecommerce strategies aim to deliver a seamless multichannel relationship between business and buyers. This also gives sales and customer service reps a holistic view of each business, so they can provide a more personalized, convenient buying experience in every interaction.

B2B ecommerce strictly involves businesses selling to other businesses, often with bulk orders, custom pricing, and longer sales cycles. On the other hand, B2C businesses sell directly to consumers. The core difference lies in the buyer's intent: B2B caters to business needs and B2C is focused on personal consumption.

Another key difference between B2B and B2C ecommerce is pricing and order quantities. B2B transactions typically involve negotiated, account-specific pricing and terms, alongside order quantities ranging from a few items to massive bulk purchases, making them complex to manage without specialized systems like B2B commerce platforms and ‌customer relationship management (CRM) software.

B2B ecommerce helps businesses save time and money by automating sales processes and reaching more customers. It offers multiple opportunities to build lasting customer relationships. Let’s look at a few benefits:

• Stronger customer relationships: B2B ecommerce prioritizes engaging buyers at every step of their online and in-person journey. This helps you deeply understand your customers.
• Expanded market reach: Digital platforms break geographical barriers, enabling you to serve customers across multiple regions. This reduces the cost of traditional sales teams and physical locations.
• Streamlined ordering processes: Automated systems reduce manual paperwork and phone calls, allowing buyers to place orders 24/7 with real-time inventory visibility and faster processing times.
• Scalable but affordable: Digital platforms can handle multiple transactions and new customers without requiring equivalent increases in staff or infrastructure. This supports business growth efficiently.

Although B2B ecommerce is rapidly growing, many businesses still hold outdated beliefs that prevent them from fully embracing digital commerce opportunities. Let’s look at a few of them:

B2B buyers don't want self-service options. Many assume business buyers prefer traditional sales interactions, or that they don’t have the same expectations as consumers. But 73% of B2B buyers‌ prefer to research and purchase independently online. Clearly, they value the same convenience and speed they’re used to as individual shoppers familiar with self-service portals.

B2B ecommerce is just B2C with bulk pricing. This oversimplifies the complexity of B2B transactions. They require sophisticated features like custom catalogs, approval workflows, multiple payment terms, and integration with procurement systems that B2C platforms usually don’t require.

Implementation is too expensive and complex. While B2B ecommerce platforms require investment, modern solutions have significantly reduced costs and complexity. They often provide faster return on investment (ROI) through efficiency and expanded market reach than traditional sales methods.

B2B customers don't shop on mobile. Despite the perception that business purchases happen only on desktops, mobile commerce is rapidly growing in B2B. Buyers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets for B2B ecommerce, too. This includes product research, checking inventory, and placing reorders while on the go.

Every B2B ecommerce business caters to a wide range of industries — each with their own unique set of needs and challenges. Here are the common types of B2B ecommerce:

• B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer): B2B2C ecommerce is when businesses sell products or services to other businesses, who then sell them to the end consumers. This requires a seamless partnership between manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, simplifying the distribution channel from the initial producer to the final consumer.
• Wholesale: Wholesale ecommerce focuses on selling products in bulk quantities to retailers, other businesses, or even individual consumers who require larger quantities. They typically offer discounted prices based on volume or account-based pricing, making it an essential part of the B2B commerce landscape.
• Distributors: Distributor-based ecommerce involves businesses that act as intermediaries between manufacturers or wholesalers and retailers. Here, ecommerce platforms are crucial for order management, shipment tracking, and inventory management — all from a unified database. This minimizes errors and costly supply-chain issues.
• Manufacturers: Manufacturers often engage in B2B ecommerce to sell to other businesses like wholesalers, retailers, or even other manufacturers who require specific components or materials for their production processes. This direct approach allows them to bypass intermediaries, simplify sales, and build stronger customer relationships.
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): SaaS B2B ecommerce refers to cloud-based ecommerce platforms that businesses subscribe to rather than purchase outright. This provides scalable ecommerce capabilities without maintaining software or internal IT infrastructure. For example, Salesforce Commerce Cloud offers enterprise-level B2B ecommerce solutions through subscription-based pricing. This enables you to create personalized buying experiences and manage complex B2B transactions while Salesforce handles technology infrastructure and platform maintenance.

B2B businesses typically progress through startup, growth, maturity, and expansion phases, with ecommerce serving as a critical growth accelerator at each stage. Let’s understand each of these four stages:

1. Startup: In the very beginning, ecommerce can help validate your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and prove market demand. A simple online storefront allows you to test product-market fit (PMF), gather early customer feedback, and secure initial sales — all crucial for attracting seed funding.
2. Growth: During the growth stage, B2B ecommerce sees rising sales and competition. Businesses must scale operations, simplify processes, and expand their offerings. This is key to capturing a bigger market share. Marketing and sales strategies play a vital role in driving growth and acquiring new customers. Quick tip? Make sure your ecommerce platform can handle heavy traffic and support large, increasingly complex orders and reorders.
3. Expansion: During the expansion stage, B2B ecommerce enters new markets, expands geographically, or diversifies product lines. The goal is to capture greater market share and become industry leaders. Businesses often pursue strategic partnerships, acquisitions, and investments to fuel this growth. Historical ecommerce data becomes invaluable for making informed decisions‌. Success at this stage requires focusing on innovation and customer retention.
4. Maturity: At maturity, B2B businesses have established market presence, loyal customers, and steady revenue streams. Now, the focus is on optimizing operations, strengthening customer relationships, and finding new growth opportunities. Since continuous adaptation to market trends and emerging technologies is essential for staying competitive, having a flexible B2B ecommerce platform becomes crucial for long-term success.

Big purchases need big marketing. An effective B2B marketing strategy will help you build brand awareness, attract qualified leads, and convert them into loyal customers. Here are some key marketing strategies to consider:

According to the State of Marketing Report, at least 60% of B2B marketers use ABM for customer acquisition. Tailor your approach to each customer by really understanding your customer data. Since sales cycles are longer in B2B ecommerce, you should create experiences that feel personal. Also, suggest products they'll genuinely love as it builds lasting relationships.

A whopping 97% of customers say that reviews factor into their buying decisions. It’s because we trust word-of-mouth marketing or genuine reviews more than anything. So, encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and testimonials about their experience with your business. Positive reviews can build trust and credibility, influencing potential customers in their decision-making process.

Ecommerce analytics provide deep insights into complex buyer behaviors. This helps you optimize marketing spend, personalize experiences, and identify the most profitable customer segments. Use analytics tools to track customer journeys, and measure the true ROI of marketing efforts across different channels and campaigns.

Content marketing is essential for B2B ecommerce because it educates potential buyers through complex purchase decisions, positioning you as an industry expert. Helpful content builds long-term relationships with business customers who require detailed information before making high-value purchases, while also improving SEO rankings and generating qualified leads. Through valuable resources like blog posts, case studies, and industry insights, content marketing nurtures prospects throughout extended B2B sales cycles and drives conversions.

Email marketing enables personalized communication with business buyers throughout long sales cycles. It helps you deliver targeted content based on business size, industry, and purchase history. Think of it as a cost-effective way to nurture leads, maintain relationships with existing customers. Automated workflows and account-specific offers generate ‌repeat purchases. Email campaigns also facilitate direct communication with multiple decision makers within organizations, keeping key stakeholders aligned.

Pro tip? Use artificial intelligence (AI) to send personalized and targeted email campaigns to educate and promote your products or services. Also, segment your email list based on customer behavior and demographics to deliver relevant content and offers.

As digital natives make up a larger share of the workforce, social media marketing for B2B businesses is more relevant than ever. Social media marketing builds brand awareness and credibility among business professionals, particularly on platforms like LinkedIn where decision makers actively engage with industry content. Use social media platforms to increase brand visibility, and engage with your audience. This fosters relationship building with prospects and customers, and provides valuable market insights.

The best part? It amplifies content marketing efforts to reach broader professional networks within target industries.

Paid advertising lets you skip the long queue (but in a good way!). It delivers immediate visibility and targeted reach to specific business audiences, allowing you to compete effectively against established players and enhance lead generation. Platforms like Google Ads and LinkedIn enable precise targeting based on company size, industry, job titles, and search intent. This ensures marketing budgets target qualified decision makers who are actively searching for solutions. Paid campaigns also provide valuable data insights, enhancing marketing ROI.

Staying informed about the latest trends in B2B ecommerce will help you adapt to the evolving customer expectations. Here are five key trends shaping B2B ecommerce in 2025:

1. Data-informed personalization: B2B buyers want the same personalized experiences they get as consumers. AI and machine learning (ML) can help you offer spot-on product recommendations and tailored marketing, making every interaction meaningful and genuinely helpful. Plus, AI chatbots can help you scale support while offering smoother buying experiences.
2. Omni-channel experiences win: Your B2B buyers expect consistency across every sales channel, whether they're interacting on your website, speaking to a rep on the phone, or using a chatbot. Pricing, messaging, and overall experience should be consistent at every touchpoint, and switching between channels should be easy for your buyers.
3. Mobile commerce: Mobile devices now generate about 70% of online sales . Digitally native B2B buyers research products on mobile, and expect to be able to do business with their phones — not always at a desktop. In 2025, if you're not optimized for mobile, you're missing out on attracting a major chunk of your audience.
4. Subscription-based models for predictable revenue: Transactional, one-time sales make it difficult to retain customer loyalty, but two words can turn it all around: predictable revenue. This builds lasting customer loyalty and makes your operations more efficient. It's a win-win.
5. Sustainable, ethical commerce: Today's B2B buyers care about more than just price. They want to partner with businesses that share their values. Prioritizing environmental responsibility, ethical sourcing, and social impact isn't just the right thing to do — it's a powerful way to stand out and attract socially conscious buyers.

B2B organizations need a strong ecommerce strategy in place to stay ahead in an increasingly digital-first world.With face-to-face selling on the decline, the right B2B ecommerce plan and platform can lower costs and help businesses get products to buyers faster. These steps can help you launch a B2B ecommerce storefront quickly and successfully:

The first step in launching a B2B ecommerce strategy is to identify the biggest customer pain points. Most buyers expect companies to implement new technologies that curate better experiences. What steps does your business need to take to accomplish that?

Once you’ve identified your goal, perform a “business as usual” audit and a separate review of the past two months. What’s been successful and what hasn’t? Where are the gaps between sales reps and customers? Are there additional points for engagement? Where do you see procedural hiccups that cause excess spend or lost revenue opportunities?

Answering these questions can help you assess your B2B ecommerce strategy and course-correct to ensure your interactions are driving the most ROI possible.

Companies usually see the most success in achieving sustainable revenue streams when they start small with a phased approach and focus on one set of customers or business units at a time. Pinpointing a smaller segment of buyers within a new B2B ecommerce strategy allows for testing and optimization before scaling across the entire business.

Incentivizing implementation partners to use your existing tools and capabilities can also help your business reduce costs when building your B2B ecommerce strategy. Measuring the adoption of features and real customer feedback can help your company determine what’s most important to your audiences.

Successful B2B ecommerce encompasses much more than your standard vanity metrics. Qualitative measures like speed and agility are just as important in determining your company’s productivity and efficiency, so make sure to think beyond typical KPIs when setting goals for your storefront. Some metrics to consider include:

• Budget. Track spending as you go and avoid budgetary surprises to help your efforts come in under budget and remain cost-effective.
• Opportunity costs. Think about the resources you can save by implementing a B2B ecommerce strategy. Good examples of these are data entry and other manual tasks.
• Customer service requests. A decrease in customer service requests can indicate that your self-service options and guided experiences are working.

Many businesses are still wrestling with outdated tech, trying to keep up with today's complex B2B purchases and digitally-savvy customers. The truth is, a connected ecommerce platform isn't just nice to have‌ — it's the absolute backbone of a successful B2B strategy. Without it, you're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Ask yourself these questions before choosing your B2B ecommerce platform:

B2B orders can swing wildly, from a handful of items to tens of thousands. Your ecommerce platform must handle this range seamlessly while enabling you to create custom, branded storefronts without breaking the budget. This is particularly important for small and medium businesses (SMBs). The right solution should grow as you scale, helping you manage increased volume and data.

Modern businesses rely on countless applications and systems, yet most operate in isolation, creating data silos that fragment the customer experience. In fact, organizations today use over 1,000 applications, but 70% are disconnected from one another and the core business.

Unified commerce breaks down these barriers by connecting your B2B ecommerce platform with all business systems‌ — ‌from inventory and CRM to accounting and marketing automation. This integration creates a single source of truth, enabling real-time data flow across every touchpoint. The best part? It provides complete visibility into customer behavior and purchase history for more informed decision-making and personalized experiences

According to Connected Shoppers Report, about 84% of retailers are either using or considering AI. AI transforms B2B ecommerce by automating complex processes and delivering personalized experiences at scale.

Autonomous AI agents like Agentforce can understand your customer needs and offer personalized product recommendations. It can predict demand to prevent stockouts, and handle dynamic pricing that adjusts to market conditions and customer segments in real-time. Go for an AI CRM like Commerce Cloud, which is ideal for businesses of all sizes.

Successfully launching B2B ecommerce requires comprehensive support throughout every stage of the customer journey. This is where the partner ecosystem comes in, because the right implementation partners create a connected ecosystem. This makes sure your teams and customers have everything they need to succeed.

Also, experienced partners help reduce long-term costs while building customized, scalable solutions that meet your business goals. This makes the difference between a struggling platform and a thriving digital commerce operation.

Headless architecture gives you ample flexibility as it separates the front-end layer from back-end functionality. This is the key to customizing user experiences across multiple touchpoints without being constrained by platform limitations. Headless commerce enables faster loading times and better performance.

The main benefit is its ability to integrate with existing business systems more seamlessly while supporting omni-channel experiences across web, mobile, and emerging technologies. You can quickly implement updates without disrupting your core operations.

You're ready to begin. With the right tools like Salesforce Commerce Cloud, you can quickly launch your storefront, sell across multiple channels, and ‌manage orders — from start to finish. It integrates seamlessly with sales, service, and marketing workflows, keeping your teams aligned and your business prepared for future growth.