79% of B2B firms are now selling direct to consumers but most moved channels before they had a strategy

New research shows 79% of B2B firms globally are now selling directly to consumers — a number that would have seemed ambitious for UK manufacturers just three years ago. The challenge is that most businesses made the channel shift before investing in the B2B ecommerce strategy, technology and organisational capability needed to sustain it. UK manufacturers moving to direct-to-consumer models consistently underestimate three things: the platform complexity of serving both trade and consumer channels simultaneously, the commercial tension between protecting distributor relationships and building DTC margin, and the internal capability gap between a team built for B2B and one that can operate effective DTC commerce. Moving channels is the easy part. Building a B2B ecommerce operation that actually serves both customer types well is where most UK manufacturers find the real work begins.