What B2B Online Chicago 2026 Revealed About the Future of Distribution and Manufacturing

B2B Online Chicago 2026 brought together manufacturers, distributors, technology leaders and commerce experts to discuss where B2B digital transformation is headed next.

This year, the conversation felt more practical than speculative. AI was everywhere, but not as a distant promise. Leaders were asking how to make it useful, measurable and operational.

Product data came up again and again, not as a back-office issue, but as one of the biggest foundations for growth. And across sessions, one message was clear: B2B companies are no longer trying to prove that digital commerce matters. They are trying to make it work better, scale faster and create more value for both buyers and internal teams.

These themes strongly echoed what we recently explored in The 2026 State of B2B Commerce Report, produced by B2B Online Insights in collaboration with Novatize and Shopify. The report shows that B2B commerce is entering a new stage of maturity: digital revenue is growing, AI investment is increasing, but many organizations are still held back by technology gaps, product data challenges and integration complexity.

Here are our main takeaways from B2B Online Chicago 2026.

1. AI is moving from experimentation to operational impact

AI was one of the most discussed topics at the event, but the most valuable conversations were not about hype. They were about where AI can actually create business value.

One of the strongest examples came from SAP, with a presentation that brought agentic commerce to life in a B2B context. The session showed how commerce agents could support the buying journey by interpreting intent, helping buyers find the right products and reducing friction between discovery and purchase.

The key idea: AI will not replace the fundamentals of commerce. It will make those fundamentals more important.

For AI agents to make accurate recommendations, personalize experiences or support complex buying workflows, they need access to reliable product data, account logic, pricing rules, availability and business context. Without that foundation, AI simply adds another layer of complexity.

This is consistent with the report findings: among organizations planning to increase AI investment, 70% are prioritizing automated product data enrichment and content generation. Product data is becoming one of the first practical AI use cases because it addresses a real operational burden and creates a foundation for more advanced applications.

2. Product data is now a growth strategy

Discoverability was a recurring theme throughout the event. Whether the conversation was about AI, search, product recommendations, marketplaces or self-service portals, the same issue kept coming back: buyers cannot buy what they cannot find, understand or trust.

In B2B, this challenge is amplified by complex catalogs, technical attributes, compatibility rules, multiple units of measure, customer-specific pricing and industry-specific terminology. A product page is no longer just a destination; it is a source of truth that must support search engines, internal teams, sales representatives, AI tools and buyers at the same time.

This aligns directly with the report, where 60% of respondents identified maintaining clean, consistent product data across channels as one of their biggest challenges in scaling digital commerce. Product data management, enrichment and syndication also ranked as the top focus area for improving digital commerce over the next 12 months.

The conversation is shifting. Product data is no longer only about operational efficiency. It now affects:

• product discoverability;
• AI performance;
• buyer confidence;
• self-service adoption;
• sales enablement;
• conversion;
• customer service efficiency.

For B2B companies, investing in product data is not just a technical project. It is a commercial strategy.“Product data is no longer just content that lives in a PIM. It has become the operating layer behind search, personalization, AI, sales enablement and self-service. If the data model is fragmented, every digital initiative built on top of it inherits that complexity.”

— Pierre-Olivier Brassard, VP, Technology & Services, Novatize

3. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”: transformation starts smaller than we think

One of the most memorable sessions came from Grainger, with the theme “Smooth is fast: Operating Models & Real Change Velocity With AI.”

The message was simple but powerful: transformation does not accelerate when teams try to do everything at once. It accelerates when they reduce scope, ship real software and learn faster.

A key slide summarized the approach:

Rethink the unit of work: smaller scope, real software, faster learning.

The recommendation was to identify the thinnest possible slice, one customer, one product, one flow and ship something real to production, not just a demo. From there, teams can expand from a working foundation.

This is especially relevant for B2B companies because transformation programs often get slowed down by complexity. Teams try to account for every customer group, business rule, approval flow and edge case before launching anything. But in practice, that approach can delay learning and increase risk.

Grainger’s message was a strong reminder that momentum comes from reducing the first scope, not reducing the ambition.

For manufacturers and distributors, the lesson is to start with a focused use case that proves value quickly. That could be a specific customer segment, a high-volume reorder flow, a product category with strong data quality or a self-service workflow that reduces manual work for sales or customer service.

4. Adoption comes from useful, familiar and high-value use cases

Schneider Electric shared strong examples of how AI can create impact within internal teams. One of the most important lessons was that adoption increases when companies start with simple use cases that people already understand.

Instead of positioning AI as a large, abstract transformation, the most effective initiatives often begin with familiar tasks: blog content, email support, internal knowledge access, product information enrichment or repetitive workflows that employees already recognize as time-consuming.

The goal is not only to introduce a new technology. It is to give teams time back.

That idea was reflected in one quote captured during the event:

AI doesn’t replace you. It removes the work that kept you small.

This is a helpful way to frame AI adoption in B2B organizations. The most successful implementations are not necessarily the most advanced at first. They are the ones that solve a clear problem, create visible value and help people understand how the technology supports their work.

The report also points to this adoption challenge. 51% of respondents identified a lack of applicable digital commerce talent or training opportunities as one of their biggest barriers to scaling B2B digital commerce.

In other words, AI adoption is not just about tools. It is about enablement, confidence and change management.

5. B2B transformation needs more diverse leadership

Another strong theme at B2B Online Chicago 2026 was the growing visibility of women leaders across B2B technology, manufacturing and distribution. Through Women in B2B Tech and Women in B2B Manufacturers & Distributors sessions, the event created space for candid conversations about leadership, influence, team building and the role of women in shaping the next phase of B2B commerce. The progress is real: women now represent 29% of C-suite roles in corporate America, up from 17% in 2015, according to McKinsey and LeanIn.Org. Still, representation remains uneven across industries, with women making up less than a third of the U.S. manufacturing workforce.

For manufacturers and distributors, this matters because digital transformation is not only a technology challenge. It is a leadership challenge. Building better B2B experiences requires teams that can connect strategy, operations, data, customer insight and change management. The conversations at B2B Online were a reminder that more diverse leadership is not a side topic, it is part of how the industry builds stronger, more resilient and more customer-focused organizations.

“B2B transformation is not only about changing systems. It is about changing who gets to shape the future of the industry.”

- Pascale Turpin, Marketing Director Novatize

6. The storefront still matters in an AI-driven buying journey

One of the most interesting comments came from Dustin Holmstrom, Field CTO at Shopify, during the Novatize and Shopify session on the state of B2B commerce.

His point was that the buyer journey is changing, but the company website remains essential. In a world where discovery may happen on Google, in AI search or through agentic interfaces, the brand’s own site still plays a critical role in explaining why a buyer should choose that company.

As captured in the notes:

The “where” is on Google. The “why” is on your .com.

This is an important distinction for manufacturers and distributors. Search and AI may influence where buyers start, but the owned storefront is where the company can communicate its value, differentiate its offering, support complex buying needs and convert interest into action.

A modern B2B storefront must do more than display products. It must support:

• account-specific experiences;
• self-service ordering;
• clear product information;
• real-time availability;
• pricing logic;
• trust-building content;
• sales and customer service enablement.

This also connects to one of the strongest findings in the report: B2B leaders are looking for buyer experiences centered on self-service, personalization, real-time visibility and automation.

The future of B2B buying may include AI agents, marketplaces and new discovery channels, but the company-owned commerce experience remains a strategic asset.

7. Integration complexity is still the hidden tax on innovation

Many conversations at B2B Online Chicago came back to the same operational reality: innovation is difficult when the technology stack is already fighting itself.

The report confirms this challenge. 45% of respondents identified integration complexity with their existing tech stack as the single greatest barrier to broader AI adoption.

This matters because B2B commerce does not operate in isolation. The buyer experience depends on ERP, PIM, CRM, OMS, payment systems, tax logic, inventory, pricing rules, approval workflows and sometimes multiple sales channels.

When these systems are disconnected, every new initiative becomes slower and more expensive. AI, personalization and automation all depend on the same thing: a coherent commerce architecture.

That is why platform decisions are increasingly being evaluated not only based on features, but based on fit. The most successful B2B organizations are choosing technologies that can handle complexity while remaining manageable for the teams that operate them every day.

“What stood out in our conversations at B2B Online Chicago is that manufacturers and distributors are no longer asking whether Shopify can support complex B2B. They’re asking how fast they can modernize without recreating the same complexity they already have. That shift says a lot about where the market is going.”

— Alex Salas, eCommerce Director, Manufacturing & Distribution, Novatize

Moving forward: B2B transformation is becoming more focused

B2B Online Chicago 2026 confirmed that manufacturers and distributors are entering a more focused phase of digital transformation.

The question is no longer whether B2B companies should invest in digital commerce, AI or self-service. The question is how to sequence those investments in a way that creates measurable business value.

The strongest themes from the event were clear:

• Start with product data.
• Make complexity invisible to the buyer.
• Use AI where the value is concrete.
• Build adoption through simple, useful use cases.
• Reduce scope to accelerate learning.
• Treat the storefront as a strategic asset.
• Solve integration challenges before they become blockers.

At Novatize, we see this shift every day with B2B manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. The next generation of B2B commerce will not be defined by technology alone. It will be defined by organizations that can connect their systems, structure their data, enable their teams and design buying experiences that make complex operations feel simple.

B2B is complex. Buying shouldn’t be.

“The next phase of B2B commerce won’t be won by adding more technology on top of complexity. It will be won by making that complexity invisible to the buyer, starting with clean product data, modernized workflows, and AI applied where it can create measurable value.”

— François-Jérôme Gosselin, CEO, Novatize

Would you like to talk to an expert about your eCommerce?

We’d love to hear from you!

Pierre-Olivier Brassard

Vice President - Products and Technology, Partner

contact@novatize.com+1 844 932-6682

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