While the rule-of-thirds trend has proven remarkably stable over time, interest in digital self- service is edging upward, while interest in remote human interactions continues to decrease. With AI becoming increasingly important to automating follow-ups and non-order-related interactions, we expect digital channels to grow in importance. Pro tip The implication for B2B organizations is clear: Sales strategies can no longer be designed around a single-buyer archetype. Companies must simultaneously support relationship-driven interactions, digital engagement, and seamless omnichannel orchestration. As noted above, meeting these kinds of expectations is no longer a differentiating factor—it is the new baseline for competing in B2B markets. Organizations that cannot meet them risk losing relevance with all three buyer groups. Those that can have cleared what is now the survival threshold for B2B sales and marketing. The new survival threshold: What it takes to compete The 2026 B2B Pulse Survey makes one point unmistakably clear: What once looked like digital leadership is now simply selling leadership. To compete effectively today, B2B organizations must engage customers seamlessly across in-person, remote, and digital channels—and treat e-commerce and omnichannel execution as core elements of the commercial engine. In other words, customer-centric commercial capabilities that for more than a decade differentiated leaders—namely, e-commerce and omnichannel—have morphed into what we term “the survival threshold.” Moreover, the rapid rise of gen AI into the top five channels for supplier discovery and evaluation (the others being supplier websites, in-person interaction, web search, and videoconferencing) underscores how quickly digital behaviors are evolving. Advanced tools are influencing supplier consideration earlier and raising expectations for speed, transparency, and expertise before a sales conversation even begins. Fragmentation—misaligned pricing, conflicting messages, incomplete customer histories—is increasingly visible to customers and increasingly costly to sellers. As new tools raise the bar earlier in the journey, companies that have underinvested in their go-to-market capabilities are increasingly exposed—disappointing customers on the very dimensions they continue to say matter most. At the same time, e-commerce has moved to the center of the revenue engine. Seventy-one percent of respondents report that their organizations offer e-commerce, and among those that do, roughly one-third of total revenue now flows through digital channels, making it the top revenue-generating channel. Buyers continue to demonstrate meaningful comfort with large digital transactions, even as year-over-year fluctuations reflect broader economic caution. That caution is evident in our survey results. Overall, respondents reported a five-percentage- point decline in willingness to spend $500,000 or more on new products online compared with 2024. Broken out by the buyer personas described above, our survey found that 61 percent of seekers, 29 percent of innovators, and 18 percent of adapters were willing to spend $500,000 or more online (down 8 percent, 8 percent, and 1 percent, respectively, compared with last year). That said, e-commerce remains indispensable: Even amid this caution, buyers remain more 7 The surprising economics of B2B growth: The new survival threshold—and what it takes to thrive