If you’ve been in B2B for a while, you know how business has always been done. A buyer calls a rep, who issues a quote and takes an order. That’s a sales channel. It used to be THE sales channel. But then the company website came along, first brochure-ware, hopefully not vapor-ware, and all of a sudden there was the online ordering channel – nope, it wasn’t called ecommerce, just online ordering! For ages many B2B leaders thought these two touchpoints comprised the full picture. But they don’t.

Today’s buyer, whether Gen-Z, Millenial or Boomer, all have a consumer oriented brain. They’re shopping on Amazon before heading to work, ordering lunch from DoorDash and comparing vendors on Google in the afternoon. Whether they’re ordering industrial plumbing, packaging materials, or restaurant supplies, they expect the same kind of experience as when they’re doing their personal business. So meeting them where they are – across multiple channels – is a requirement.

The Channels Worth Your Attention

Beyond the traditional two, B2B sellers have a growing menu of channel options, each serving a different buyer need:

Industrial and B2B Marketplaces. Platforms like Amazon Business, ThomasNet, Faire, and industry-specific exchanges are where buyers increasingly start… and finish… their purchasing journey. Being absent from these marketplaces doesn’t protect your brand; it simply redirects revenue to a competitor who showed up. For buyers managing procurement across dozens of vendors, a marketplace offers convenience that a standalone website often can’t match. Certainly there’s more to consider here, specifically around pricing and margin. But just because you have customers with contract pricing, is that a reason to stay away from these channels where you may find new customers who may not yet need contract pricing?

EDI and Punchout Integration. Many mid-market and enterprise buyers operate through procurement systems like SAP Ariba, Coupa, or Oracle. Punchout catalogs allow your product content to appear directly inside their purchasing workflow. This isn’t a flashy channel, but it removes enormous friction for buyers who’d otherwise pick up the phone or pick a different supplier whose catalog is already connected.

Distributor and Partner Channels. Manufacturers should consider distributors as a channel Distributors with partners, perhaps focused on a specific offering and not the full catalog, should view those partners are a channel too — and the digital experience you provide them (pricing portals, inventory feeds, co-branded storefronts) directly shapes what they tell their customers about you. Neglecting the partner experience is neglecting the customer experience once removed.

Inside Sales with Digital Assist. The sales team doesn’t disappear in a multichannel model — it evolves. Equipping reps with real-time inventory visibility, digital quotes, and shared order history transforms them from order-takers into trusted advisors who can serve buyers faster and with more confidence.

Recurring Order and Subscription Flows. For buyers who order the same SKUs on a predictable cadence, a subscription or standing order model isn’t just convenient — it’s a retention tool. A buyer locked into a quarterly replenishment program is one who isn’t evaluating alternatives.

What This Means for Customer Experience

Channels aren’t just distribution mechanisms. They are touchpoints. A buyer who checks inventory on your website, gets a quote from your rep, and places the order through their procurement system has touched three channels in one transaction. If those three experiences are disconnected – inconsistent pricing, mismatched product data, no shared order history – the friction lands squarely on the buyer.

A coherent multichannel strategy means consistent product information, synchronized inventory, unified pricing logic, and a customer record that travels across every interaction. It means the rep knows what the buyer ordered online last week. It means the marketplace listing reflects the same lead times as the website.

Where to Start

You don’t have to activate every channel simultaneously. Start by mapping where your buyers are actually looking for you — versus where you currently show up. The gap between those two maps is your opportunity.

Then ask whether your current systems can support a consistent experience across new channels, or whether channel expansion will simply multiply existing data problems. The answer to that question is your roadmap.

Having more channels than your competition isn’t “winning”. But having the channels your customers need, and making sure they work together, is.

Lost in digital? Let us know how we can help (info@b2b-squared.com).