Sebastiaan Verhaar is the CEO of Sana Commerce, a ready-to-use commerce platform engineered for B2B.
In my experience, many B2B buyers wish they could purchase more online than they currently are able to. To capitalize on this trend, I believe businesses should prioritize a personalized approach to B2B commerce in 2025. Here’s what you need to know:
Generational shifts are driving this change.
This demand is being fueled by a generational shift. A majority of B2B buyers today (71%) are millennials or Gen Z. These buyers range in age from 18 to 45. The oldest came of age as the world made the transition to online connectivity through AOL and dial-up. They remember the advent of email and instant messaging. The youngest of this cohort have never known a world without online commerce or smartphones. There is a yawning gap in the digital experience between the eldest millennials and the most junior Gen Z, but both adapted digital technologies into their lives at a critical time. In short, they natively reach for a digital solution to any problem.
Seeing as 71% of B2B buyers are digital natives, it comes as no surprise that 75% of all B2B buyers prefer online ordering over all other B2B sales channels. However, this shift doesn’t mean that all buyers are on the same page—29% of the B2B buying population is comprised of Gen X and older buyers who didn’t grow up with the internet. These buyers are more accustomed to using traditional channels such as email, phone calls and in-person meetings.
Knowing this, and knowing that the generational divide will grow, it is essential to understand the preferences of these different buyer groups and tailor digital solutions accordingly. Businesses must ask themselves: Who are our buyers? What are their preferences? How can online commerce address their specific needs?
Personalization is paramount.
B2B is a textbook example of complex commerce. With multiple approvals, layers of reconciliation, complicated payments and bulk orders delivered to countless locations, B2B commerce is a unique beast that must be managed with skill. A one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t work.
To this end, personalization based on the buyer persona and buyer journey will be paramount throughout 2025. For example, a large hydraulic crane manufacturer may find that their buyers are hesitant to purchase large, complicated orders that are high in capital expenditures through online channels without any sales support. This makes sense—with such a high investment, a small error can spell disaster. In this instance, the B2B commerce process could be personalized to include features such as online sales rooms, simplified reordering, online payment options or even support for research online, purchase offline—using the online store as a knowledge repository.
The main takeaway? Personalization can effectively solve unique buyer pain points along the buyer journey.
E-commerce solutions should solve buyer pain points.
What’s the most important part of an “e-commerce solution”? The solution.
It’s easy for businesses to forget that element—companies can get starry-eyed thinking about the fun features, neat connections and internal time-saving processes that a stellar e-commerce solution will provide for them. But this alone won’t drive success. An online commerce solution can only be successful if it solves your buyers’ challenges. Whether it’s simplifying a complex order process, improving accessibility or ensuring accuracy, the solution must be buyer-centric.
Understanding the core challenges faced by your buyers is crucial. Ask yourself: Why should our customers adopt e-commerce? What pain points will e-commerce solve? Will it help our buyers save time, reduce errors or gain access to products more easily?
Often, the answers to these questions overlap. For example, an international company may have buyers across multiple time zones. Online commerce offers buyers the ability to place purchases outside of the seller’s business hours. This pragmatic functionality spurred the online commerce paradigm shift during the Covid-19 pandemic; businesses literally weren’t able to be open to the public, so their e-commerce solutions became critical.
Be nimble, be creative, be iterative.
Personalizing the B2B buying process thanks to a deep knowledge of the buyer journey will be the north star for 2025. On a tactical level, businesses need to identify key features that can address common pain points—choosing an iterative approach rather than a massive and risky overhaul.
As an example, a customer of ours has deployed a new automation feature. When their clients are low on stock, they get an automated alert that it is time to order more supplies. Automation features like this help buyers eliminate out-of-stock challenges that can cause backed-up orders. Furthermore, this feature helps the B2B seller differentiate in a commodity environment, providing a competitive advantage.
Once new features are deployed, businesses should track how buyers respond and adjust accordingly. If a feature isn’t working, optimize it or try something new. Don’t be afraid to be agile. This nimble responsiveness is key to maintaining positive buyer relationships.
As businesses iterate, they should also continue refining their understanding of the buyer persona. Keeping the buyer’s needs at the forefront will help businesses roll out meaningful, personalized improvements that resonate with their customers.
The time to lead is now.
The generational shift in B2B buying behavior is creating a demand for personalized, digital commerce solutions. To stay competitive, businesses must embrace this change, not just catch up. By understanding the challenges of today’s buyers, personalizing the experience and staying nimble in implementation, companies can build a more effective e-commerce strategy and lead the way in 2025.
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