The B2B AI checklist: Applying AI to ecommerce in your organization

For many manufacturing and distribution (M&D) companies, using AI to boost ecommerce results still feels like a future-state aspiration. It sounds powerful in theory, but it’s not always clear how and when to deploy AI effectively.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the constant AI hype you’re not alone. At Optimizely, B2B leaders share these common questions with us daily:

• What does "doing AI" truly mean for B2B ecommerce?
• How can we build a realistic AI strategy for our unique business?
• What’s the best starting point for immediate impact?

That’s why we created this checklist. Designed to cut through the hype, this simple diagnostic tool empowers B2B commerce leaders to confidently pinpoint where to integrate AI into their workflows.

Delaying new investments can be tempting but the statistics for AI in B2B ecommerce are too compelling to overlook:

Deloitte Digital reports most leading B2B companies are moving strategically into AI to stay ahead of the competition. Approximately 73-79% of B2B companies plan to grow their investment in AI for ecommerce.

McKinsey’s latest B2B Pulse Survey notes a broader increase in B2B ecommerce budgets, much of it earmarked for digital and AI transformation. The consulting giant advises B2B companies to invest in advanced AI “like an attacker” if they want to stay ahead.

Manufacturers and distributors must invest heavily in AI now to stay competitive. Increasingly, the spend is shifting from basic prompt-based tools—toward AI agents that can further automate high-value tasks and act autonomously throughout the ecommerce system.

A major challenge leaders face is how different AI maturity looks for every organization. Some have robust data pipelines without intelligent search. Others have great ecommerce sites but still build quotes from scratch.

Across the board, manual processes still dominate too many ecommerce workflows. That’s costing real money and major opportunities.

Complete the checklist with these simple steps:

• Review each section carefully
• Check the boxes that describe your current ecommerce processes
• Analyze your results to identify where you need AI to enhance your workflows

Catalog and product data management

 Performing manual tasks to enter or update product data across platforms

 Managing separate catalogs for different customer segments or sites   

 Converting units of measure (UOM) manually for different buyers   

Order processing and fulfillment

 Re-keying orders from your ecommerce platform into ERP or OMS   

 Manually checking inventory availability before confirming orders   

 Creating shipping labels and documentation by hand   

 Tracking order status and delivery updates manually   

Website adoption

 Follow-up emails are still sent manually

 Sales calls and demos require manual scheduling

 Quotes and proposals must be built from scratch

 CRM/ERP activity logging is manual and time-consuming

Marketing campaigns

 Manually creating dashboards on customer behavior, campaign impact, and saleshistory

 Identifying trends or top-performing keywords without automation

Quickly finding the key data and analysis at the time it is required

Website and catalog experience:

 Showing the same catalog and content to all visitors   

 Zero AI-driven product recommendations based on past orders or browsing   

 No dynamic content tailored to industry, location, or account tier   

Pricing and promotions

 Static pricing that doesn’t reflect customer relationship or volume   

 Missing personalized discounts or loyalty-based offers   

 No smart bundling or cross-sell suggestions based on buyer behavior   

 Limited search doesn’t understand product attributes or customer intent   

Sales communication and content

 Use of generic email templates for all customers   

 Absence of follow-up customization based on order history or engagement   

 No tailored content (product guides, case studies) based on customer profile   

Order experience and fulfillment

 Same shipping options offered to all customers   

 Missing proactive updates or personalized tracking experiences   

No personalized payment options like credit card payments for customers with approved payment terms

Your completed checklist helps you pinpoint your organization's AI needs and the areas where applying AI will yield the most significant returns.

No matter where you need assistance, Optimizely Opal, the leading agent orchestration platform, can help you get started. The solutions listed below are a combination of agents that can be created by your commerce team using Opal and agents that the Optimizely team has created and you can access out-of-the-box.

AI can’t succeed in silos, and neither can your AI strategy. The results from this checklist can help your ecommerce team:

• Focus on quick wins
• Spot where agents can provide the most ROI
• Guide long-term investments

Getting started with AI doesn’t require a massive overhaul. In fact, trying to do it all at once is one of the fastest ways to stall out. Deploy this checklist to ground strategy discussions, uncover gaps, and build a roadmap aligned to your unique B2B needs.

Want to learn more? Delve into five cutting-edge AI innovations within Optimizely Commerce that are driving substantial success for B2B businesses, moving beyond simple implementations to unlock greater online adoption and revenue growth.