Industry News & Updates
Announcements, market moves and industry updates from across B2B eCommerce Association global network.
Practitioner of the Week: Zac Gray
As GM of eCommerce & Digital at Motion Asia Pacific, Zac Gray is connecting digital with customers, branches and sales teams and building the leaders who will carry it forward.
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Erica Baird: An Engineer's Path to Executive Leadership at Cummins
A results-driven engineer-turned-executive who has led billion-dollar businesses at Caterpillar and Cummins, Erica Baird joins B2B eCommerce World's Women in B2B eCommerce Dinner to share how she claimed her power, built a network, and forged a path to leadership.
Ingram Micro Wants to Become the Operating System for B2B Technology Distribution
Ingram Micro has placed Xvantage at the centre of its long-term growth strategy, signalling that digital platforms are becoming part of the operating model for global distribution rather than simply another customer channel.
BigCommerce Moves Agentic Commerce Into Authenticated B2B Buying
BigCommerce’s latest MCP update gives AI agents controlled access to shopping lists, approvals and quotes. The real test is whether those agents can act within the buyer’s organizational permissions.
Siemens and Salesforce Connect Engineering Truth to Industrial Sales and Service
The partnership will bring Teamcenter product and service data into Agentforce workflows, helping sellers, technicians and customers identify valid parts and upgrades without sending every question back to engineering.
Watsco to Acquire The Granite Group and Add 82 Northeast Locations
Watsco has agreed to acquire The Granite Group, adding 82 locations, roughly 11,000 customers and about $500 million in annual sales across the Northeastern United States.
AI Buying Agents Need a Trusted Product Data Layer: Search Vendors Want to Own It
Search platforms like Algolia, Coveo and Hawksearch are positioning themselves as the retrieval layer connecting AI buying agents to live B2B product, pricing, inventory and merchandising data.
ADI Global Begins Its Independent Technology Race
ADI Global Distribution is now independent after separating from Resideo, with plans to consolidate eight ERP systems into three while scaling its One ADI eCommerce programme.
Akeneo Survey Exposes the Data Burden Behind AI Commerce
Akeneo research finds 95% of IT leaders believe their organisations are ready for AI-driven commerce, yet 44% of US respondents say data preparation consumes more than half of AI project effort.
What Independence Could Mean for Motion’s Digital Strategy
Genuine Parts Company has named the leadership team that will take Motion into life as an independent public company. The separation could give the industrial distributor greater control over its technology priorities. Independence also brings significant integration and platform decisions.
B2B Pulse: B2B eCommerce Industry Updates
AI commerce is moving beyond the shopping assistant as companies build the product data, purchasing authority, search, payment, and operational infrastructure needed to trust an agent with an actual B2B order.
Stacy Hanks joins Jason Greenwood as co-MC of B2B eCommerce World Americas 2026
B2B eCommerce Leader of the Year Stacy Hanks will bring a strong practitioner perspective to the stage as co-MC of B2B eCommerce World Americas 2026.
From Equipment Supplier to Infrastructure Partner: What SLB's Kelvion Deal Means for Industrial Digital Strategy
SLB's proposed $4.1 billion acquisition of Kelvion shows how digital capabilities can support a broader change in what an industrial company sells and how deeply it participates in the customer's operation.
Optimas Launches Acquisition-Led Expansion Across Industrial Distribution
The UK-based distributor is targeting specialist businesses across Europe and Asia-Pacific, with digital integration likely to play an important role in turning acquisitions into customer value.
Grainger’s $210 Million Bet Takes Inventory Management Deeper Into Customer Operations
Grainger’s acquisition of Adroit Worldwide Media’s technology assets is not the beginning of embedded inventory management. It is a major investment in making an established distribution model more automated, data-rich and scalable.
B2B eCommerce Industry Awards Americas 2026 Moves to the Historic Indiana Roof Ballroom
The Awards Gala will take over one of Indianapolis’ most distinctive venues on November 3, 2026, following B2B eCommerce World Americas.
Lemvigh-Müller Uses AI Agents to Automate 100,000 Supplier Order Confirmations
The Danish wholesaler is using AI to process the emails and PDFs that sit outside its EDI network, showing how distributors can automate established workflows without replacing their core ERP systems.
B2B NEXT AI Returns in 2027 with an Expanded Global Leadership Summit
B2B NEXT AI is returning March 1–2, 2027 at Mountain Shadows Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, bringing together 200 senior leaders for two days focused on practical AI strategy, investment, adoption and execution inside complex B2B organisations.
The B2B eCommerce Industry Awards 2026 for the Americas are now live
Nominations are open across 17 categories recognising the manufacturers, distributors, technology partners and people delivering measurable progress in B2B digital commerce.
Celine Clay Named Community Contributor of the Year at the 2026 B2B eCommerce Industry Awards
Lactalis digital leader Celine Clay has been recognised as the 2026 Community Contributor of the Year for Asia-Pacific, acknowledging her long-standing contribution to the B2B eCommerce Association and the wider B2B digital commerce community.
Ask 3M turns technical expertise into a digital customer experience
3M is addressing the challenge of complex product selection with Ask 3M, a new AI-powered digital assistant that gives industrial customers self-service access to technical and application knowledge.
B2B NEXT AI Launches as the Global AI Leadership Community for Manufacturing and Distribution
The B2B eCommerce Association and Northeastern University's Roux Institute mark a new era for AI practitioners in B2B commerce
Dan Gray Named B2B eCommerce Leader of the Year at 2025 APAC Industry Awards
The B2B eCommerce Association recognizes Dan Gray, Head of Product & Technology at SafetyCulture Marketplace, as the 2025 B2B eCommerce Leader of the Year at the Asia Pacific Industry Awards.
Motion Wins for Customer Adoption at APAC Industry Awards 2025
Motion Asia Pacific has been awarded Best Customer Adoption Strategy at the 2025 B2B eCommerce Industry Awards Asia Pacific, recognising its people-led approach to digital adoption.