If you're running a B2C commerce operation and think B2B features don't apply to you, you're about to get lapped by competitors who understand what's happening in the market.

80% of B2B buyers expect B2C-level experiences. But here's the twist: B2C buyers are starting to demand the features that made B2B commerce work—self-service account portals, bulk ordering with tiered pricing, multi-user accounts with approval workflows, subscription management, and saved payment methods and purchase orders.

B2B features have become table stakes for any retailer selling to customers who buy repeatedly, manage households, run small businesses, or handle purchasing for organizations.

The lines between B2B and B2C commerce are blurring fast, and retailers who don't adapt are losing customers to platforms that offer the control and efficiency people now expect from every commerce experience.

The Self-Service Expectation Crosses Over

The data is stark. 61% of B2B buyers prefer rep-free experiences, and 70% expect companies to offer self-service capabilities.

This goes beyond B2B behavior. People want to buy this way, period.

Think about how you manage your own subscriptions. You don't call customer service to update your streaming services or adjust your meal kit deliveries. You log into an account portal, make changes, and get on with your day. That same expectation applies when a corporate procurement manager is managing recurring office supply orders across 50 locations or when a franchise operator needs to adjust product deliveries for seasonal demand.

B2C retailers who force customers to contact support for basic account management are creating friction that competitors can eliminate with self-service portals. Customers want to view order history, track shipments, update payment methods, manage subscriptions, pause deliveries, download invoices, and handle returns without talking to anyone.

The technology isn't exotic. B2B platforms have been doing this for years with customer account portals. The question is whether B2C retailers will implement it before customers get frustrated enough to switch to platforms that already have it.

Why B2C Retailers Need Bulk Ordering Capabilities

B2C retailers miss an obvious pattern: A significant portion of their customer base isn't buying for individual consumption. They're buying for corporate procurement programs, franchise operations, hospitality groups, healthcare systems, educational institutions, and multi-location retail chains.

These customers have different needs than individual shoppers. They want to add 20 units of the same product without clicking "add to cart" 20 times. They need tiered pricing that reflects bulk discounts. They want to save frequently ordered item lists for quick reordering. They expect delivery scheduling that works for commercial addresses.

Right now, most B2C retailers make bulk buyers work too hard. Corporate buyers can't easily order 500 branded items in mixed sizes for multiple office locations. There's no way to save a "quarterly equipment refresh" list for one-click reordering across departments. Volume discounts require contacting sales instead of being calculated automatically at checkout based on corporate account status.

B2B platforms solved these problems years ago because their customers demanded it. Now B2C customers who buy in volume are demanding the same capabilities. Retailers who can't support bulk buying are losing orders to platforms that can, even if those platforms weren't originally designed for consumer retail.

The fix isn't complicated: quick-add for multiple quantities, CSV upload for bulk orders, saved order templates, and tiered pricing rules. These are standard B2B features that B2C platforms need to support.

Multi-User Accounts With Approval Workflows

This one surprises B2C retailers, but it shouldn't. Lots of B2C purchases involve multiple people in the decision or approval process.

A corporate wellness director sets up employee accounts with monthly wellness product allowances and spending limits. A franchise operator gives location managers purchasing access but requires approval for orders above certain thresholds. A procurement manager at a multi-location retailer can order supplies, but regional directors approve purchases over $5,000.

These scenarios require multi-user accounts where different people have different permissions. B2B commerce platforms have supported this forever through account hierarchies, spending limits, and approval workflows. B2C platforms mostly don't, which means customers either give out their credit cards and hope for the best or make every purchase themselves.

The market opportunity is clear. B2C customers are starting to expect features from B2B, and multi-user account management is one of them.

Implementing this doesn't require reimagining your entire platform. You need user roles and permissions, spending limits per user, optional approval workflows for large orders, and order visibility across account users. These capabilities let customers manage purchasing however their situation requires.

B2C Subscription Management Needs B2B Flexibility

Subscriptions aren't new to B2C, but most implementations are primitive compared to what customers need. The typical subscription feature lets you set a delivery frequency and that's about it. Customers want more control.

They want to skip next month's delivery because they're traveling. Swap products within their subscription without canceling. Adjust delivery frequency based on actual consumption. Add one-time items to a subscription order. Pause for three months and resume automatically.

B2B customers who manage recurring orders have had these features for years through sophisticated reorder management tools. B2C subscription platforms are finally catching up, but most are still too rigid.

The business case is strong. Subscription revenue is predictable, and customers with subscriptions have higher lifetime value. But only if the subscription experience is flexible enough that customers don't cancel out of frustration when life circumstances change.

Good subscription management should feel like having a personal assistant who remembers what you need and handles the details. Most B2C subscription implementations feel like being locked into a contract you can't easily modify.

Account-Specific Pricing and Payment Terms

B2C retailers think everyone pays the same price at checkout. That's increasingly wrong.

Some customers qualify for loyalty discounts. Others have negotiated pricing through corporate relationships or membership programs. Some want to use purchase orders instead of credit cards. Others need net-30 payment terms because they're buying for businesses.

B2B platforms handle this through customer-specific pricing rules and flexible payment options. B2C platforms mostly don't, which means retailers can't properly serve customers who don't fit the standard individual-shopper model.

The opportunity is bigger than most retailers realize. Corporate procurement programs and franchise operations are huge potential customers for B2C products, but they need B2B-style purchasing capabilities. Employee wellness and benefits programs want to give staff buying access with company-paid accounts. Hotel chains and restaurant groups want to extend negotiated pricing across all their locations.

None of this works if your commerce platform only supports one-price-for-everyone and requires credit card payment at checkout. The platforms winning this market segment can handle customer-specific catalogs, negotiated pricing, multiple payment methods, and flexible terms.

Why Most B2C Platforms Can't Support This

The technical challenge comes from architecture, not features. Most B2C platforms were built around assumptions that no longer hold: every customer is an individual, everyone pays the same price, every transaction is a one-time purchase, and customer accounts are simple profile pages.

These assumptions made sense when ecommerce was mostly individual consumers buying products for immediate consumption. They don't make sense anymore.

B2B platforms were built with different assumptions: customers are accounts with complex hierarchies, pricing varies by customer and quantity, purchasing involves approval workflows, and account management is mission-critical functionality. These assumptions turn out to be useful for lots of B2C scenarios too.

The problem is that B2C platforms can't easily bolt on B2B capabilities. The underlying data models don't support it. You can't add account hierarchies to a platform designed around individual user profiles. You can't implement customer-specific pricing if your pricing engine only knows about one price per product.

Retailers are discovering this when they try to support corporate customers or high-volume buyers on their B2C platforms. The platform technically works, but the customer experience is painful because fundamental capabilities are missing.

What This Means for Broadleaf Customers

Broadleaf Commerce was built to support both B2B and B2C commerce on the same platform because we saw this convergence coming. The data model supports account hierarchies, customer-specific pricing, approval workflows, and multi-user permissions natively. The same platform that powers traditional B2B wholesale can handle B2C retail, subscription commerce, and everything in between.

This matters because retailers don't need to choose between B2B and B2C capabilities. You can support individual consumers, corporate procurement programs, franchise operations, enterprise accounts, and multi-location businesses on the same platform with the same product catalog. The system applies the right pricing, payment options, and workflow rules based on customer type and context.

More importantly, as customer expectations continue to evolve, Broadleaf customers don't hit architectural limits. When your customers start demanding features that look like B2B capabilities, your platform already supports them. You're configuring functionality that exists rather than trying to retrofit capabilities onto a platform that wasn't designed for them.

The Action Plan for Retailers

If you're running B2C commerce and seeing customers who don't fit the individual-shopper model, evaluate these areas:

Audit your customer base. How many customers are actually buying for corporate programs, franchise operations, or multi-location businesses? How much revenue comes from repeat bulk orders? Which enterprise customers have requested features your platform doesn't support?

Identify friction points. Where are customers contacting support for things they should be able to self-service? What percentage of abandoned carts involve bulk orders or customers who need pricing they can't get through standard checkout?

Evaluate platform capabilities. Can your current platform support multi-user accounts, approval workflows, customer-specific pricing, and bulk ordering? If not, what would it take to add these capabilities?

Prioritize based on revenue impact. Which missing capabilities are costing you the most in lost revenue or support costs? Implement those first.

Plan for convergence. Don't think of B2B and B2C as separate strategies. Build a commerce operation that can serve customers regardless of whether they're individual consumers or enterprise buyers. The distinction matters less every year.

The Bottom Line

The future of commerce requires flexible platforms that support however customers want to buy.

Customers who learned to expect self-service portals, bulk ordering, and account management in their professional lives are bringing those expectations to their personal purchases. Customers who appreciate the convenience and control of B2C shopping experiences want the same simplicity when buying for their businesses.

Retailers who cling to the idea that B2C and B2B are fundamentally different markets are missing the point. Customers just want to buy what they need with the least friction possible. Sometimes that means buying one item for immediate delivery. Sometimes it means setting up recurring orders with approval workflows and flexible payment terms.

The platforms winning in 2026 support all of it without forcing customers into artificial categories. Commerce done properly serves customers whose needs are more sophisticated than "add to cart, check out, done."

If your platform can't support those needs, your customers will find one that can.