Tech buyers, if you sell to other businesses through an e-commerce channel, your vendors have heard you loud and clear: You’re pursuing pragmatic growth opportunities in today’s unprecedented economic climate.

The Big Picture Is Stoic Pragmatism

Asset-light growth from helping existing customers do better — that’s what marketplaces do. That’s the main trend that unifies B2B businesses with e-commerce channels, which Forrester forecasts to be on a path to transacting $3 trillion of US B2B e-commerce by 2027.

Here’s the catch: Being pragmatic means something different in each business. Your job isn’t straightforward. Your customers all have nuances to what they find to be convenient; for example, conveniently buying cloud technology to support their transformation looks different than conveniently restocking a parts locker at their repair shop. The requirements for B2B commerce are far from homogeneous.

The Big Challenge Is Mistargeted Jibber-Jabber

Even though you need clear answers quickly, you’re still dealing with commerce solution vendors that haven’t clarified their messaging. They told us, in no uncertain terms, that other vendors are confusing you. This time around, the vendors told us the primary challenge is that tech buyers struggle to understand what it means to compose a commerce solution.

Through the work I’ve done in research and with clients, if a digital business fails to understand (or implement) composability, it’s likely because that digital business lacks a compelling need to compose in the first place. So start with a compelling “why” by partnering with your peers in the customer experience function to understand customer outcomes that move the needle.