McKinsey flags widening B2B gap as AI lifts leaders

McKinsey has published findings from its tenth global B2B Pulse Survey, highlighting a widening gap between B2B companies that are adapting to buyer demands and those that are not.

The survey drew on responses from nearly 4,000 B2B decision-makers across 13 countries. It found that digital tools, omnichannel engagement and eCommerce are no longer enough to distinguish leading suppliers. Companies gaining market share are more likely to focus on one-to-one personalisation, broader use of generative AI and tighter sales governance around account-based marketing.

According to McKinsey, 11% of respondents were growing market share by more than 10%. Those companies were more than twice as likely as others to have implemented generative AI in buying and selling processes, with 44% reporting such use compared with 22% of their peers.

The consultancy also found that strong performers were four times more likely than laggards to deploy one-to-one personalisation, at 20% versus 5%. Meanwhile, 71% had increased AI investment by double digits year on year, compared with 25% of peers.

E-commerce gap

One of the clearest findings centred on online sales. McKinsey found that 71% of B2B companies now offer eCommerce and generate about one-third of revenue through digital channels, yet roughly one in three still do not provide online purchasing.

That matters because buyers continue to move larger transactions online. The survey found that almost one in three buyers are willing to spend more than USD $500,000 through online transactions, despite a five percentage-point fall in that measure since 2024.

Comfort with lower-value digital purchasing has risen more sharply. In 2022, 59% of respondents said they were comfortable placing orders worth more than USD $50,000 online; this year, that figure reached 73%.

The findings suggest that the absence of eCommerce is becoming harder to justify in business-to-business markets, particularly where buyers expect to move smoothly between self-service and human interaction.

Changing buyer habits

Research habits are also shifting. AI-enabled search, chatbots and large language models are now among buyers' top five channels during the purchase journey, according to the survey.

McKinsey found that 58% of buyers trust those tools to help them learn about products and services. That puts AI-based channels close to more established sources such as search engines, peer recommendations, vendor information and trade publications, which drew trust levels of about 60%.

The results point to a market in which buyers expect information to be available quickly and in multiple formats. They also suggest suppliers may need to treat AI-assisted discovery as a mainstream route into the sales funnel rather than an experimental one.

Leaders and laggards

Personalisation emerged as another dividing line. McKinsey found that 73% of winners were personalising marketing at either very personalised or one-to-one levels, compared with 31% of laggards.

The survey describes this as a new threshold in B2B sales, where what was once seen as an added feature is now expected by buyers. In practice, companies are being judged less on whether they offer digital access and more on whether they can tailor interactions across channels and stages of the buying process.

Candace Lun Plotkin, Partner at McKinsey, said the market shift marks a new phase. "B2B sales is facing its third major reckoning in a decade. Rising B2B buyer expectations and the acceleration of AI capabilities are creating a bigger divide between market leaders and laggards than previous shifts, such as the consumerization of B2B buying or the Covid acceleration of self-serve. We've entered a new era of 'Great B2B Buyer Expectations', where leaders are embracing a new commercial operating model built around hyper personalization, sales-led account based marketing, and AI," Plotkin said.

Jennifer Stanley, Partner at McKinsey, said the basis of competitive advantage has changed. "Early B2B eCommerce adopters grew five times faster than the market, a decade ago. Now, digital tools, omnichannel engagement, and eCommerce capabilities have become table stakes. The companies that are thriving have redesigned their B2B sales capabilities, to meet greater B2B buyer expectations," Stanley said.