There has never been a more destructive phrase in B2B eCommerce than “Consumerization of B2B.”
In the musical Hamilton, there’s a song called “The Room Where It Happened.” Well, I was in the room where it happened when this phrase was born.
I was working with the hybris team and a few of their big agency partners—mostly B2C guys—who wanted to push into B2B but couldn’t quite crack it. At one point, someone said something like:
"Isn’t eCommerce just eCommerce? Don’t people bring their expectations from buying into the workplace?"
And that was it. That became the strategy. And honestly? It set B2B digital back a decade.
In 2010, I wrote two articles:
- “Who Cares About the Add to Cart Button?”
- “Can We All Stop Talking About the Consumerization of B2B Yet?”
Because even then, I knew—we were solving the wrong problem.
B2B buyers don’t need a better shopping cart. They need better tools to do their job.
- They don’t think in transactions. They think in workflows.
- They don’t want to type things into their ERP, then re-type them into a website.
- They don’t need eCommerce. They need eBusiness—a digital experience that actually fits how they work.
[THE CAVEAT]
Now, let’s be clear—there are industries where traditional eCommerce does work.
- In JanSan, office supplies, plumbing—buying through an eCommerce site actually makes life easier. These customers would choose to buy online because it fits how they work.
- And that’s the whole point. We need to listen to customers, understand how they buy, and then build digital tools that actually help them do their job better.
When we talk about customer adoption problems, we have to ask ourselves:
"Are customers not adopting because it’s not actually helpful?"
I’m not saying websites don’t matter. Information, knowledge, discovery, and solutioning are more critical than ever.
But why would we expect customers to adopt a system that makes their job harder?
We wouldn’t.
The Rethink: Mapping the Customer Journey First
Before we talk about solutions, we need to ask a fundamental question:
Do you truly understand how your customers purchase today in their jobs?
Not just where they buy—but how they buy. What triggers a purchase? Who’s involved? What systems do they already use? What makes their job harder—or easier?
If you haven’t done a customer journey map to break down every stage of the buying process, you’re just guessing. And that’s how we end up building eCommerce sites that nobody actually wants to use.
We need to rethink the whole model:
- Instead of making customers search for products, we should be anticipating their needs—offering AI-driven recommendations based on usage, inventory levels, or past orders.
- Instead of a checkout process, we should be integrating directly with procurement systems—eliminating double entry, streamlining approvals, and embedding into how they already buy.
- Instead of forcing them into our site, we should be meeting them where they work—through APIs, punchout catalogs, real-time quoting, and AI-powered ordering tools.
Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t to get them to use your system. It’s to make their job easier.
The companies that win in B2B eCommerce won’t be the ones with the best website.
They’ll be the ones who digitally enable their customers’ work.
B2B isn’t about mimicking Amazon. It’s about eliminating friction, integrating processes, and making life easier for the buyer.
It’s time we stop talking about the
