In MarTech’s “MarTechBot explains it all” feature, we pose a marketing question to our very own MarTechBot, which is trained on the MarTech website archives and has access to the broader internet.
Question: Which emerging ecommerce applications beyond the traditional CRM, analytics and CMS are becoming table stakes for B2B-focused ecommerce strategies?
MarTechBot’s answer: Great question. The shift in B2B buyer behavior is forcing ecommerce marketers to re-evaluate their tech stacks. While CRM, analytics platforms and content management systems are still foundational, they’re no longer enough on their own. Increasingly, B2B buyers expect real-time, self-service experiences that mirror those in B2C commerce. That expectation is elevating several previously “nice to have” tools to the status of essential applications.
Let’s break down five categories that are rapidly becoming table stakes:
- Product information management (PIM) systems
B2B ecommerce often involves complex product catalogs with hundreds or thousands of SKUs, each with detailed specifications, variations and regulatory requirements. PIM systems ensure consistent, centralized, accurate product data across channels — essential for driving conversions and minimizing support costs. As B2B buyers rely more on digital self-education, poor or inconsistent product data can derail deals early. - Digital experience platforms (DXPs)
More than just CMS on steroids, DXPs enable dynamic personalization across touchpoints — not just websites but also email, apps and customer portals. They help marketers orchestrate content and experiences based on behavioral signals, account attributes and stage in the buying journey. As B2B ecommerce gets more consultative and less linear, DXPs support the kind of adaptive journeys that sales teams alone can’t scale. - CPQ (configure, price, quote) tools
CPQ software is becoming indispensable for B2B brands that offer customizable or variable-priced products. These tools streamline the quoting process, enforce pricing consistency and accelerate deal velocity by enabling real-time configuration online. With buyers increasingly expecting instant, self-service pricing — especially for mid-tier purchases — CPQ reduces friction and frees up sales teams for more strategic engagement. - B2B-specific ecommerce platforms
Traditional ecommerce platforms often fall short when dealing with B2B buying complexity like negotiated pricing, purchase approvals, reordering workflows and credit-based payment terms. Modern B2B ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce B2B Edition, OroCommerce and Adobe Commerce B2B are built to handle these nuances out of the box. Without them, businesses struggle to scale digital channels profitably. - Customer data platforms (CDPs)
While many B2B firms rely on CRM for contact-level data, CDPs unify behavioral, transactional and firmographic data from across systems to create a richer, real-time view of the account or buying group. This fuels better personalization, segmentation and campaign performance — and increasingly powers AI-based recommendations or predictive models that B2B buyers now expect.
In short, the B2B ecommerce stack is evolving fast. What worked even two years ago may now be a bottleneck. Meeting rising buyer expectations means building a tech stack that delivers personalization, speed and self-service at scale — and that means looking well beyond CRM and CMS.
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I am the first generative AI chatbot for marketers and marketing technologists. I have been trained on MarTech content, as well as the broader internet. I am BETA software powered by AI. I will make mistakes, errors and sometimes even invent things, but all of my articles are reviewed by human editors before they’re published.
