B2B ordering in 2026 is basically B2C expectations… with B2B complexity hiding underneath. Buyers want the speed of Amazon, the controls of procurement, the pricing logic of a contract, and the reassurance of a proper supplier relationship — all at once.
Here are the trends that keep coming up (plus the stats + a few proper quotes to keep us honest).
This isn’t a “nice-to-have” anymore — it’s how buyers prefer to buy.
One quote that sums it up (and stings a bit if you’re in sales):
“Bad prospecting actively damages relationships with potential customers.” Gartner
What this means for ordering apps in 2026: Your ordering experience can’t be “request a quote and we’ll email you back tomorrow”. It needs to be:
Self-serve doesn’t remove relationships — it removes friction.
The biggest lie we tell ourselves is that B2B buying happens at a desk.
Google’s B2B research (with BCG) said:
And another Google piece (May 2024) jumps out:
So “ordering app” in 2026 usually means:
If your customer is a site manager, chef, franchisee, driver, merchandiser, contractor — mobile is the channel. No debate.
In 2026, the ordering experience is only as good as the plumbing behind it.
A lot of businesses still run on:
And buyers expect it all to line up.
Shopify put it plainly:
“Buyers expect the same seamless experience they get in B2C—accurate pricing, availability, and order tracking across all touchpoints.” Shopify
My take: integrations are now a revenue lever, not an IT project. If your portal shows stock that isn’t real, pricing that doesn’t match invoicing, or deliveries that can’t be tracked… you don’t have a digital channel — you’ve built a complaint generator.
On the EDI side, even the traditional integration players are basically saying “EDI is evolving” rather than “EDI is dead.” OpenText Blogs+1
When you sell into larger organisations (or anything public sector-ish), you’re not just selling to a person — you’re selling into a process.
That’s where procurement integration grows up: PunchOut, PO workflows, invoice automation, approvals.
TradeCentric (who live and breathe this stuff) frames integration as a consistency engine in a marketplace/procurement model. TradeCentric+1
Why it matters in 2026: If it takes a buyer 10 minutes to re-key an order into Coupa/Ariba/Oracle Procurement, you’ve lost. They’ll buy from whoever makes compliance easy.
This is the bit that kills the old argument: “Yeah but big orders still need a rep.”
McKinsey’s B2B Pulse Survey coverage shows buyers are increasingly comfortable going big through digital/self-serve:
And the warning shot is pretty direct:
“Those in B2B sales who think it’s optional to invest more in ecommerce are mistaken.” Digital Commerce 360
That’s not a trend. That’s a line in the sand.
Not every industry becomes “Amazon Business” overnight, but marketplaces are absolutely becoming part of how buyers source.
The driver is simple: buyers want choice and speed, and procurement teams want control and compliance.
You also see “marketplace behaviour” showing up inside supplier portals:
Even if you don’t call it a marketplace, the expectation is moving that way.
AI in ordering is most valuable when it’s practical:
But… the human element still matters at specific points. Gartner’s 2025 press release basically says buyers prefer self-service until they hit tasks needing contextual judgement. Gartner
So the winning model isn’t “AI replaces people”. It’s “AI removes admin so people can do real work.”
This is the one that’s already reshaped software teams.
Atlassian’s 2025 DevEx research says:
That sounds unreal until you remember the other half of the story: devs still lose loads of time to organisational mess. Atlassian also found:
So yes — AI speeds up delivery. But only if your product/process isn’t chaos.
GitHub’s research backs up the “real productivity” angle too:
And Stack Overflow’s 2025 survey shows how mainstream it’s become:
My take for 2026: if you’re building B2B ordering software and you’re not using AI to speed up delivery and documentation, you’re voluntarily moving slower than your competitors.
This isn’t sexy, but it wins deals.
When your systems are unified (pricing, stock, orders, delivery, invoices), you can:
And buyers notice when you can answer basic questions instantly:
That’s not innovation — that’s competence. In 2026, competence is a differentiator.
If you sell B2B and you want your ordering channel to actually grow, I’d focus on:
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