B2B platform selection is broken.

That statement probably won’t surprise many. When 2/3 of B2B companies say they want to re-platform their eCommerce systems, it’s no anomaly — it’s a symptom of a much deeper problem.

Here we are in (almost) 2026 . The stakes are higher than ever. It’s time to take an honest look at why platform selection continues to fail distributors and manufacturers — and more importantly, how to fix it.

This isn’t a new problem. But it’s one that’s holding B2B companies back as they navigate digital transformation and rising customer expectations.

I’ve been helping companies select technology for a long time. But some recent selections have forced me to challenge a few long-standing beliefs.

In short: I was wrong.

I used to think B2B companies simply struggled to select the right technology. In reality, the issue runs deeper.

When the process doesn’t properly account for B2B complexity, that’s not a selection problem it’s an evaluation problem.

It’s not the fault of distributors or manufacturers. When the entire industry is built on flawed evaluation processes, companies are almost destined to select the wrong tools.

And here’s my view: B2B companies shouldn’t have to become software experts just to choose the right platform.

Yet the market is failing to help them answer the most important question:

Does this platform work the way YOU need it to?

One fundamental problem: The language of most RFPs does not capture the complexity of B2B.

This is another holdover from B2C practices (more on that in a minute).

Most RFPs in the market today aren’t written to capture the complexity of B2B needs. They ask broad questions when the real requirements demand specificity.

In fact, in a recent conversation with an eCommerce vendor, they pointed out that many RFPs don’t even force vendors to evaluate their own platforms against true B2B use cases.

That’s a huge miss.

Language matters. If your RFP doesn’t define clear criteria that differentiate vendors, you’re unlikely to surface the insights you need.

As one top sales engineer from a major commerce provider told me:

“If a feature or functionality is supported by the platform, we’re used to answering ‘out of the box.”

And that brings us to another critical flaw…

If your process isn’t structured to clarify where time and effort will be spent, you’re not running a real evaluation.

Letting vendors tell you their platforms can do everything “out of the box” leads to one result: you’ll pick the platform you like — not necessarily the one that works for you.

To run a proper evaluation, you need to know:

• What the platform does truly out of the box
• What will require configuration
• Where true customization will be needed

Third-party modules might help — but they’re still someone else’s customization. Until you understand where you’ll need to customize, you can’t truly evaluate a platform’s fit.

While there are may symptoms, I believe the fundamental problem is this: Most of the tools and processes used today—the ones employed by many SIs, consultants and others— have their roots in B2C. They aren’t designed to handle the unique complexity of B2B.

Distribution and manufacturing are tough businesses. The professionals running them are smart, capable leaders with strong track records.

The challenge isn’t that B2B companies are failing — it’s that most agencies, systems integrators, and vendors aren’t equipped to help them evaluate platforms in a way that reflects their reality.

Most of these firms come from a B2C background. And as a result, they bring evaluation processes built for B2C into the B2B world.

That’s a critical mistake.

The complexity most B2B organizations face simply isn’t being addressed by the evaluation methods many are employing.

And in my opinion, that’s because too many of those processes were built for B2C (something I’ll be sharing in more detail next issue) — where the margin of error is larger and the complexity is lower.

If you’re a distributor or manufacturer, it’s critical to understand this: the industry’s approach to B2B software evaluation is fundamentally broken.

Most vendors know this. They express concerns about the RFPs they see all the time. Many have simply accepted it as the way things are.

It isn’t and it shouldn’t be. More on that to come…