Myth #1: Most B2B companies don’t offer e-commerce.

Wrong. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of B2B companies across industry sectors now offer e-commerce capabilities, defined as fully executing a sales transaction online. This is up from 53 percent in early 2021. Spurred by the massive wave in digital adoption over the past two years, sellers have accelerated their digital timetables. In a remarkable first, B2B sellers are now more likely to offer e-commerce channels than in-person selling, an uptick that accelerated even as widespread vaccine rollouts allowed face-to-face interactions to resume (Exhibit 1).

Myth #2: B2B buyers prefer face-to-face interactions.

Not so. Two-thirds of corporate customers intentionally reach for digital or remote in-person engagement when given a choice. Moreover, they’re doing so at every stage of the purchasing journey. In all, e-commerce has surpassed in-person as the single most effective channel (Exhibit 3).

Online chat is also becoming a mainstay, with more than 50 percent of B2B companies now providing this feature, and adoption of video conferencing also continuing to increase. For top B2B companies, it’s becoming clear that these elements are crucial aids to customer decision making and lift the buyer-seller interaction beyond the transactional.

Myth #3: Just a basic e-commerce site can suffice.

False. Our research shows that the majority of B2B companies are treating e-commerce as a full-service channel—and investing accordingly. While proponents of this myth take a “slow and steady” approach to their e-commerce build-out on the assumption that developing digital capabilities and managing channel conflict makes it necessary, the rest of the field is tackling these issues head on. More than 80 percent say they hold their e-commerce channel to the same or higher standard as other channels and that it offers the same or better levels of excellence in product and service availability, pricing, performance guarantees, shipping and delivery, and personalized recommendations (Exhibit 4).

Myth #4: E-commerce is only for repeat or low-ticket purchases.

Not anymore. Business buyers have shed whatever concerns they may once have had about completing major transactions online. More than one-third (35 percent) now say they are willing to spend $500,000 or more in a single transaction on digital channels, a figure that has grown steadily over the past 12 months, and a whopping 15 percent of corporate decision makers are comfortable making purchases worth more than $1 million online (Exhibit 5).

Myth #5: Digital marketplaces are a next-level ‘nice-to-have.’

B2B buyers say the opposite. They see digital marketplaces as an important part of the purchasing mix. A sizable 60 percent of B2B buyers indicate they are open to purchasing on digital marketplaces, roughly the same percentage as those who buy from supplier-branded websites (64 percent) (Exhibit 6).