B2B ecommerce sales stay the course

Total B2B sales continue to grow as demand for goods and services remains strong across many industrial sectors. But how B2B buyers are purchasing goods and services for their organization has clearly shifted. And that shift in purchasing behavior is a big factor in the acceleration of Q3 and year-to-date B2B ecommerce sales.

In the third quarter, total  US B2B ecommerce sales grew 18% to $484.5 billion from $410.6 billion in the third quarter of 2021. For year-to-date, B2B ecommerce sales grew 17% to $1.387 trillion from $1.185 trillion for the first nine months of 2021.

In a regular year, it’s highly unusual that ecommerce sales would grow at about the same pace as total B2B sales. Typically, ecommerce sales grow at a faster rate. But the last two years have been highly unusual, giving the ongoing economic impact of COVID-19 and supply chain wrinkles.

Total B2B sales and ecommerce sales are growing at about the same pace so far this year because digital-first business buyers are shifting more of their purchasing behavior from offline to online sales channels.