B2B buyers are also consumers. They use Amazon at home, expect fast shipping, read product reviews, and have little patience for clunky digital experiences. The question is whether B2B companies should adopt consumer e-commerce practices wholesale or recognize that business buying is fundamentally different.
The consumer expectation reality
Research shows 72% of B2B buyers want personalized experiences similar to what they receive as consumers. One manufacturer reported doubling B2B sales in 24 months after adopting direct-to-consumer tactics, with fast and free shipping cited as the primary driver of success.
Yet B2B differs from B2C in accountability and authority. Consumers buy for themselves and answer to themselves. B2B buyers purchase on behalf of teams and companies, can be fired for bad decisions, and spend company money rather than their own. These differences affect everything from price sensitivity to decision-making processes.
The debate format
Team Consumerized featured Kelley Bennett from Henkel and Tim Nelson from Kibo Commerce. Team B2B Centric included Stephanie Pike from Ingram Micro and Greg Snodgrass from CommerceHub. All brought experience implementing digital commerce in complex B2B environments.
Round 1: Personalization to individuals or roles
Kelley Bennett argued that B2B buyers are B2C consumers who do not shift expectations when making business purchases. The demand for personalization is high because people want connection and a unique experience. Account-based marketing builds personality profiles targeting individuals, not just accounts.
Tim Nelson added that technology now enables granular personalization. Over 50% of prospects want individualized experiences. The one-on-one relationship traditionally built between sales rep and buyer can transfer to digital channels as technology advances.
Stephanie Pike countered with data: companies with 500 or fewer employees average seven decision makers on any purchase. Large enterprises involve even more. Personalizing to individuals ignores the group buying decision at the end of the road.
At the end of the day, they are making a decision together. In the small to medium business segment, the average number of decision makers is seven. You can try to influence them individually, but doing that at the role level is really key.
Stephanie Pike, Ingram Micro
Greg Snodgrass illustrated with a story from an electrical distributor managing the buyer, the approver, and the contract negotiator. All must be satisfied because B2B is about retention and lifetime value from a finite number of clients rather than constant acquisition.
The audience voted that personalization should be tailored to roles and teams rather than individuals.
Round 2: Self-service versus sales enabled
Kelley Bennett cited Gartner’s prediction that 80% of B2B transactions will be digital. Buyers want things fast and easy. Self-service increases automation, generates data, and allows salespeople to mine that data for more personalized outreach.
Tim Nelson noted that digital buyers already do close to 80% of their research online before engaging sales. If transactions can complete in self-service environments, that frees resources for higher-value activities.
Stephanie Pike distinguished between automation and self-service. Automating low-value tasks like order status is essential. But selling is complex with multiple stakeholders. McKinsey found 85% of sales reps will be hybrid by 2024, leveraging phone, email, and video alongside digital tools.
At Ingram we call those moments that matter. What are the moments that matter for our customer and how do we highlight and amplify them with digital instead of negating them with digital?
Stephanie Pike, Ingram Micro
Greg Snodgrass agreed that the concept of moments that matter captures where human expertise creates value that digital cannot replicate.
The audience voted that most B2B purchases will become self-service.
Round 3: Fulfillment and drop shipping
Kelley Bennett argued that buy-online-pickup-in-store meets customer expectations for speed and convenience while helping distributors avoid shipping costs. Even if initial B2B adoption is low, it is becoming a hygiene-level requirement.
Tim Nelson added that flexible fulfillment creates a psychological perception that the seller is accommodating the customer rather than the reverse. This intimacy drives engagement even when the feature is not heavily used.
Stephanie Pike noted that B2B omni-channel is a different animal. Installation is often a service sold to customers, not given away. Supply chain is the heartbeat of e-commerce, and lessons from B2C apply with nuance.
On drop shipping, Tim Nelson pointed to customer expectations shaped by Amazon. DHL research showed delivery expectations dropped from seven days to much faster in just a few years. B2B supply chains are unloading inventory risk by contracting with drop ship vendors closer to customers.
Greg Snodgrass argued that B2B companies already understand drop shipping. Companies like Grainger, Zoro, and MSC Industrial are crushing it. Grainger’s Zoro unit achieved 19% revenue growth in 2019 through endless assortment enabled by drop shipping. The only thing holding companies back is technical debt from old ERP systems.
I don’t think B2B companies have a lot to learn from B2C on drop shipping. I think they already get it. Companies like Grainger, Zoro, and MSC Industrial are crushing it from a drop ship perspective.
Greg Snodgrass, CommerceHub
The audience voted that B2C currently does drop shipping better, though B2B is catching up.
The verdict: Context determines approach
B2B Centric won the personalization round while Consumerized won the self-service and drop shipping rounds. The nuance matters more than the overall score.
Three conclusions emerged. First, B2C practices like site search, product reviews, easy checkout, and fast shipping are critical for transactional products that buyers know they want. Fasteners, ink cartridges, and other routine purchases should deliver Amazon-like experiences.
Second, complex products requiring consultative selling need a different approach. Digital tools should enable sales teams with data rather than replace human expertise. The hybrid sales model is the future.
Third, investment decisions force tradeoffs. Companies cannot pursue every initiative simultaneously. The question is whether to invest in self-service experiences on owned sites, integration with procurement platforms, or presence on marketplaces like Amazon. The answer depends on what customers value most and where the company can differentiate.
The moderators closed with Mike Tyson’s observation: everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. B2C practices sound great in theory, but reality requires adaptation to B2B complexity.