Why Most B2B E-commerce Sites Underperform (and What Distributors Get Wrong)

Most distributors don’t need convincing that their website could be doing more. The frustration usually isn’t a lack of ambition; it’s that the platform looks fine on the surface, yet sales growth feels stubbornly slow. Leads don’t convert as expected, customers still phone or email for basics, and internal teams quietly work around the system rather than trusting it.

What’s going wrong isn’t usually one big failure. It’s a collection of small, compounding issues that quietly drag performance down.

The problem isn’t traffic, it’s friction

A common assumption is that underperformance is a marketing problem. Not enough traffic, not enough campaigns, not enough spend. In reality, many B2B sites already attract the right visitors. The issue is what happens once they arrive.

Trade buyers don’t browse for inspiration. They arrive with intent, often under time pressure, and they want answers fast. When search results are vague, filters don’t work properly, or product pages lack key technical details, confidence erodes quickly. Buyers don’t complain; they just leave and revert to calling a competitor who makes it easier.

From a leadership perspective, this is expensive. You’re paying to acquire demand, only to lose it because the platform introduces friction at the worst possible moment.

Poor product data is the silent killer

If there’s one issue that consistently undermines B2B e-commerce performance, it’s product data. Incomplete specifications, inconsistent naming, outdated pricing, and miscategorised items don’t just frustrate customers, they damage trust.

Distributors feel this pain more than most because catalogues are large, complex and constantly changing. When data is scattered across spreadsheets, ERP systems and supplier feeds, errors creep in unnoticed. Over time, the site becomes harder to maintain, harder to search and harder to scale.

For buyers, the impact is simple. If they can’t confidently compare products or verify compatibility, they won’t transact online. For marketing teams, this means campaigns underperform despite solid demand, because the destination can’t carry the weight.

B2B is not B2C, and pretending otherwise is costly

Another common mistake is treating B2B e-commerce like a variation of B2C. Templates designed for consumer journeys rarely support account pricing, negotiated terms, restricted catalogues or repeat ordering behaviours.

The result is a platform that looks modern but works against real buying processes. Sales teams compensate manually, customer service fills in gaps, and marketing struggles to demonstrate impact because conversions don’t reflect genuine buying intent.

This is where leaders often feel the disconnect. Investment has been made, yet operational pressure increases instead of easing. That’s a sign the platform wasn’t designed around how the business actually sells.

Underperformance hides in plain sight

The most dangerous thing about an underperforming B2B site is that it often appears “good enough”. Pages load, orders go through, and there’s no single failure to point at. Meanwhile, bounce rates climb, on-site search usage increases without conversions, and customer service queries stay stubbornly high.

These are all signals that buyers are struggling. They’re telling you the platform isn’t doing its job, just not in words.

For business leaders, this translates into missed revenue and rising operational cost. For marketing teams, it means being judged on outcomes they can’t fully control.

The smartest first step isn’t a rebuild

When something feels wrong, the instinct is often to jump straight to a redesign or platform migration. In many cases, that’s premature. Without understanding where friction actually sits, businesses risk spending heavily without fixing the root causes.

A structured, light-touch website audit is often the fastest way to surface hidden issues. It brings clarity around data quality, usability, performance and conversion flow, and helps prioritise fixes that deliver real impact.

If any of this feels familiar, that’s the point. The goal isn’t to criticise what’s been built, it’s to recognise where small, informed changes can unlock far more value from the demand you already have.