Leader Spotlight: Rethinking B2B UX for the Amazon-era buyer, with Minal Bhargava
Minal Bhargava is a digital and ecommerce leader known for transforming complex B2B and B2C platforms into high-performing, customer-centric experiences. Over the course of her career, she has led large-scale digital initiatives across organizations like Lowe’s, HD Supply, Sealed Air, American Tire Distributors, and Greenworks — bridging the gap between traditional enterprise systems and modern user expectations.
In our conversation, Minal talks about rethinking B2B UX for the Amazon-era buyer and how B2B buyers expect the same intuitive, seamless journeys they get as consumers. She explains where B2B and B2C should align — particularly in the core shopping flow — and where they should diverge. Minal also dives into the operational side of B2B commerce, sharing how AI-driven reordering, role-based guardrails, and the right performance metrics can ultimately drive long-term revenue growth.
The biggest misconceptions in B2B ecommerce
In your experience leading digital transformation for both B2B and B2C commerce, what is the biggest misconception in how product teams design the ecommerce user experience for business customers?
One of the biggest misconceptions I see, especially in B2B ecommerce, is the belief that the user experience doesn’t have to be as clean or easy to use as a B2C website. Until a couple of years ago, a lot of B2B websites were very manual. For example, you had to enter numbers instead of uploading sheets. The look and feel wasn’t very intuitive, and it didn’t allow you to move end-to-end through the discovery-to-purchase lifecycle smoothly. A huge factor behind that is that the B2B ecommerce industry had a late start compared to B2C.
But the people shopping on your B2B ecommerce site are also consumers in their day-to-day lives, and they still expect a clean experience. They still want a one-stop shop for all their needs. In fact, improving the experience in B2B can have an even bigger impact. A clean, intuitive UX reduces training time. It reduces the need to bounce between different websites to complete a purchase. And that convenience increases loyalty. So the misconception is assuming that business users will tolerate complexity just because it’s “for work.” They won’t — and they shouldn’t.
What beliefs about business buyers tend to drive digital teams toward that generic, complex spreadsheet-like experience?
I think a lot of it comes from legacy systems and legacy thinking. Most B2B organizations are still operating on older technology. They’re used to processes that are more manual than automated. Teams get accustomed to seeing things the same way all day, every day — and that familiarity turns into comfort. Over time, that comfort becomes the standard, even if the experience is clunky.
There’s also a strong belief that B2B shoppers don’t like change. That’s somewhat true because they’re doing the same tasks every day, often under time pressure, so if you change their workflow, they can get very antsy. Digital teams hesitate to modernize the experience, assuming complexity is safer than disruption. My argument, however, is that if you’re going to change it, make it easier. Don’t hide features that were visible on the page or add extra clicks. Instead, simplify it.
Another driver of that spreadsheet-like experience is not fully understanding how B2B users actually use the site. Some are power users who spend hours a day there. Others are quick in-and-out buyers — they know the exact part numbers, enter them, place the order, and leave. That spectrum matters. If you don’t research how long they’re on the site, what they’re doing, and how frequently they return, you end up defaulting to a generic, dense interface that tries to serve everyone but delights no one.
Where B2B and B2C should (and shouldn’t) align
Where should B2B and B2C experiences be nearly identical, and where should they really diverge?
I think the shopping journey itself — from discovering a product, reviewing product details, adding it to cart, checking out, and tracking when the order will arrive — can be the same, 100 percent. There really doesn’t need to be a lot of difference between B2B and B2C in that core flow.
Where they start to diverge is more on the marketing side. In B2B, you don’t necessarily need to market newer products the same way you would in B2C. Most B2B organizations operate under contract pricing for specific parts and products. Buyers often are only purchasing what’s been pre-approved. The decisions about introducing new products are typically made by the owner of the company or someone at a higher level, not by an individual buyer browsing the site. So while the end-to-end shopping experience can and should feel very similar, the marketing efforts are completely different.
What are the hidden friction points in B2B purchasing flows, and how do you mitigate them?
There are a few hidden friction points in B2B purchasing flows, and most of them come down to speed, repetition, and organizational complexity.
First, ordering itself can be unnecessarily slow. B2B buyers often know exactly what they need, such as part numbers, quantities, and SKUs. Features like quick order, where they can upload a spreadsheet instead of manually entering each item, remove a lot of friction. You can also build orders automatically using AI-driven or automated tools, or enable predictive order placements based on past behavior.
Inventory management is another big one. Predictive inventory checks can flag when a customer is running low or when a part is about to go out of stock. The system can prompt users to reorder with one click, and that kind of automation dramatically reduces effort.
Subscriptions are also powerful in B2B. In the consumer world, subscriptions mostly work for everyday essentials, such as pet supplies or water filters. In B2B, almost every product can be a subscription because purchases are repeated over and over again. Automatic replenishment can remove a lot of manual work.
Loyalty programs are another underused lever. Since B2B customers are making repeated purchases, offering loyalty points or rebates that they can earn back and apply toward future orders can strengthen retention and reduce switching.
Finally, one of the biggest friction points is role complexity. In B2B, you don’t have a single user who can buy anything. You have an approver, a quote creator, a purchaser, an owner, etc. Designing clear permissions and workflows so approvals don’t turn into bureaucracy is critical. In B2C, none of that exists — it’s one user, one cart, one checkout.
Encouraging repeat purchases in B2B ecommerce
If repeat purchasing is the backbone of B2B commerce, like you said, what are the most effective patterns for enabling that fast, low-friction reordering?
Definitely AI predictive ordering. That means creating AI bots that can go through your account, look at your ordering patterns, predict what you’re likely to need next, and suggest products so you’re not running out of stock. It helps ensure you’re ordering items at the right time instead of reacting after inventory is already low. Another big piece around reordering is warehouse inventory replenishment tied directly to the order flow. But that only works if you’re accurately tracking the exact inventory on the floor. If your inventory data isn’t right, the automation falls apart.
Business buying usually involves controls like permissions, budgets, and approvals. How do you design guardrails so they preserve governance without turning every order into bureaucracy?
It does require a bit of upfront effort from the owner of the company, but the key is building structured account management with clearly defined roles and permissions. Most mature B2B platforms, like the ones I’ve worked on at Sealed Air, HD Supply, and Lowe’s for Pros, all have account management built directly into the owner’s profile. The owner can create users and define what each person can and cannot do. Once that structure is in place, governance becomes embedded in the workflow.
A simple way to think about it is hierarchy. For example, at Interline Brands, we had just three roles: owner, who had full access to everything; quote approver, who could submit and approve quotes; and purchaser, who could add items to cart but not approve orders. If a purchaser submitted something, it automatically routed to the quote approver or owner. The permissions defined the workflow. You can imagine this at scale, like a large retailer with multiple franchise locations. Each location’s owner manages their own users and approvals within their structure. From their perspective, it’s simple: create a user, assign a role, and the system enforces the rules.
The important thing is that the guardrails are defined once and then largely “set and forget.” You want the system to handle it automatically based on predefined roles. When permissions and workflows are clearly structured upfront, you preserve governance without turning every order into a bottleneck.
Adapting to modern consumer expectations
Many organizations assume that B2B and B2C platforms must be fundamentally different products. In your experience, what actually changes when a company treats them as variations of the same core product or experience?
There are really two parts to this. Ten years ago, B2B and B2C were often treated as completely separate products. Today, more organizations are realizing that the purchase path is almost the same for both. The product catalog can live in the same PIM system. Product information can sit in the same CMS. A lot of the underlying systems can, and should, be shared.
Technically, what changes is that B2B has additional features layered on top. You might have different payment methods, contract pricing, approvals, or role-based permissions, but the core infrastructure of browse, search, product detail pages, cart, checkout, etc., doesn’t need to be reinvented. Instead of building two platforms that conflict with each other, companies are designing technology that overlaps and works in harmony.
You can see this with large retailers like Amazon, Lowe’s, and Home Depot, which serve both B2C and B2B customers. For example, Lowe’s for Pros may have a slightly different in-store experience for professional customers, but online, outside of approvals and permissions, the needs are very similar. Both a Pro customer and a consumer want to find the product quickly, buy it quickly, ensure it ships on time, and possibly arrange installation.
Culturally, the shift is even bigger. Organizations are moving from being hardcore manufacturing companies to digital companies. And in today’s landscape, it’s almost impossible to survive without investing in technology. With AI accelerating expectations, the pressure to modernize is even stronger. So when companies treat B2B and B2C as variations of the same core experience, they invest in shared platforms and customize where necessary. The core stays unified.
How much of that change has to do with how the business buyer persona has evolved now that every business buyer is also on Amazon?
For me, that’s what I call a myth buster — the idea that B2B and B2C users need to be treated completely separately. Not anymore. The same people shopping for their business are shopping for their home every day. They’re used to experiences like Amazon, which is incredibly easy to use. There’s no tutorial explaining how to navigate the site. The simplicity teaches you how to use it without formally teaching you.
Organizations that lead in digital experience have figured out how to make their platforms intuitive enough that customers don’t need instructions. They simplify the journey instead of layering on explanations. Because of that, the gap between what a B2B and B2C website needs is shrinking significantly. B2B customers now expect the same convenience.
Measuring ROI and driving digital transformation
Simplifying B2B UX can feel risky inside a legacy enterprise organization. What signals or metrics demonstrate that ease of use directly drives ROI and revenue growth?
Excellent question. The way you measure ROI from ease of use is actually very different for B2B and B2C. I’ll start with consumers because it helps frame the contrast. For consumers, lifetime value can vary widely. They’re not coming to your site with a purchase list. There’s discovery involved. You’re selling them. They’re comparing prices, warranties, and competitors. So for B2C, you often measure ROI through things like number of sessions, time spent browsing, and how effectively you convert that discovery into larger baskets. The longer they’re actively browsing and not sitting idle, the better. You’re coaching them from, “I need one item” to “I’ll buy 10.”
B2B is very different. A business user is often obligated to buy from you because of contract pricing, free shipping agreements, zone pricing, or guaranteed inventory. They typically come with a purchase ticket, so they know exactly what they need. So the ROI question becomes: how quickly can they get in, place the order, and get back to their job?
For B2B, shorter session time can actually be a positive signal. Faster ordering, high adoption of digital channels over offline customer service, and smooth reordering flows are strong indicators that UX improvements are working. Average cart size also differs, as B2B might average around seven items per order, whereas consumers may average closer to one or two. So the KPIs — session length, adoption, conversion — are interpreted very differently.
Another important distinction is acquisition cost. In B2C, you may spend significant marketing dollars to acquire and retain a customer. If their experience is poor, they leave, and that investment is gone. In B2B, customers are somewhat anchored by contracts, but that doesn’t mean UX doesn’t matter. It absolutely does — especially at renewal time. Switching vendors isn’t easy for a business, but when contracts come up for renewal, ease of doing business becomes a major factor.
So the signal that UX drives ROI in B2B isn’t, “Are they spending more time on the site?” It’s, “Are they ordering faster? Are they adopting digital instead of calling customer service? Are repeat purchases increasing? Is retention strong at renewal?” Ease of use in B2B translates into operational efficiency, loyalty, and long-term contract value — and those are very real revenue drivers.
Given that B2B represents a significantly larger share of overall commerce than B2C, why do you think so many manufacturers and legacy organizations are still slow to digitally transform their ecommerce experience?
One big reason is comfort with the status quo. Many manufacturers still believe their old Excel sheet–looking websites can continue to drive revenue because their customers are used to it. There’s a mindset of, “Why do we need a better-looking website? Why do we need to make it easier? Our customers love it.” That belief persists because B2B relationships are often contract-based, and revenue doesn’t immediately drop the way it might in B2C if the UX is poor.
But that thinking ignores what’s happening in the broader market. When competitors invest in digital transformation and create simpler, more intuitive experiences, customers start to notice. And while switching vendors isn’t easy in B2B, it absolutely happens, especially when contracts come up for renewal. That’s often when the bell rings.
Another factor is slow technology adoption. Many legacy organizations are still transitioning from manufacturing-first mindsets to digital-first mindsets. And in today’s landscape, that’s risky. It’s no longer optional to invest in technology — especially with AI accelerating expectations.
Mobile is another example. Five years ago, not having a mobile app might have been acceptable. Not anymore. Entire businesses run from phones and devices. In one consumer example, 60 percent of traffic came from mobile devices versus desktop. B2B mobile adoption may still lag in some industries, but that gap is shrinking.
Ultimately, the opportunity in B2B is enormous — but so is the risk of complacency. The organizations that move faster on digital transformation will capture loyalty and long-term growth. The ones that assume customers will tolerate outdated experiences simply because “that’s how it’s always been” may not realize the impact until it’s too late.
What does LogRocket do?
LogRocket’s Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.