--- title: "The Journal — Weekly B2B eCommerce Field Notes | Human After All" description: "Weekly B2B eCommerce field notes from Rudy Abitbol on Substack. Sharper, faster takes from active engagements — Shopify Plus, Akeneo PIM, AI commerce, operations." url: "https://humanafterall.ca/insights/journal/" language: "en" updated: "Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:58:21 GMT" markdown_index: "https://humanafterall.ca/api/md/index.md" --- [The Library Evergreen](https://humanafterall.ca/insights/library/) [The Journal Substack](https://humanafterall.ca/insights/journal/) From the Journal LIVE # What we're thinking, _weekly._ Field notes from active B2B engagements, syndicated live from the Substack feed. Less polished than the Library, more current. Subscribe to get it in your inbox. Newsletter ## Get it in your _inbox._ Weekly. Free. 1,700+ B2B operators reading along. [Subscribe on Substack →](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/) 16 posts [View on Substack ↗](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/archive) [![My B2B eCommerce Maturity Model: 11 Levels, and How to Find Yours](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bYi2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc34c08f-bdf9-4244-ab2d-3ca4ec9c543b_4032x3024.jpeg) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jun 16, 2026 ### My B2B eCommerce Maturity Model: 11 Levels, and How to Find Yours Most distributors talk about B2B eCommerce like a light switch. You have it or you don’t. That framing is why so many transformation projects stall. B2B eCommerce isn’t a switch. It’s a climb, and the… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/my-b2b-ecommerce-maturity-model-11) [![The Hybrid Store: A Guide to Running B2B and B2C on One Admin](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XDzz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91c74c64-3cbc-4eb3-bb19-a6d99dfc36e7_1450x1022.jpeg) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jun 3, 2026 ### The Hybrid Store: A Guide to Running B2B and B2C on One Admin You probably have more B2B demand than you think. The accounts emailing for a “bulk price.” The distributor who wants Net 30 instead of a card. The retailer asking for a standing reorder. Most DTC tea… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/the-hybrid-store-a-guide-to-running) [![B2B Online Chicago 2026: Four Sessions That Should Move Your Q3 Roadmap](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!15z4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ab02128-66d8-4bfb-b30e-56c3aea80813_3024x2360.jpeg) SUBSTACK JOURNAL May 7, 2026 ### B2B Online Chicago 2026: Four Sessions That Should Move Your Q3 Roadmap Average time for a Schneider Electric employee to get a satisfactory output from their AI tools: 117 minutes. Average prompts to get there: 43. That number didn’t come from a pessimist. It came from t… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/b2b-online-chicago-2026-four-sessions) [![I ran a live GEO audit. Here’s what B2B distributors should actually look at.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iFz-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F294b3ab7-0819-4777-9237-b67d24812096_630x1149.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Apr 27, 2026 ### I ran a live GEO audit. Here’s what B2B distributors should actually look at. Every existing tool I tested was either a $400/month enterprise SEO platform with GEO features bolted on, or a free generic checker that scored your schema and called it a day. Useful work in both cas… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/i-ran-a-live-geo-audit-heres-what) [![GEO Is Not SEO With a New Name. ](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i3hQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fca3cd9fc-d78c-474a-86b2-b089aaaf666d_2816x1536.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Apr 9, 2026 ### GEO Is Not SEO With a New Name. Most B2B distributors I talk to are making three expensive mistakes with Generative Engine Optimization right now. And the agencies pitching them “GEO audits” are making it worse. When I started advis… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/geo-is-not-seo-with-a-new-name) [![Your B2B Catalog Is Invisible to AI. Here’s the Fix.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xTJB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3c48d83-37ce-4715-a5b2-4ba7c57c2ee1_2816x1536.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Mar 25, 2026 ### Your B2B Catalog Is Invisible to AI. Here’s the Fix. Not because your products are worse. Because your platform can’t talk to AI agents. This week two things happened on the same day that every B2B distributor needs to understand. And almost nobody is c… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/your-b2b-catalog-is-invisible-to) [![Death of the Order Taker](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GKQW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F346302e7-95ff-4ac5-a719-9e3215eb5836_1024x1536.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Mar 16, 2026 ### Death of the Order Taker I just got back from Chicago. Two days at Master B2B MindShare, hosting two roundtables on aligning sales teams with eCommerce. The room was split almost perfectly in half. Companies that had cracked … Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/the-order-taker-is-dead) [![Silicon Valley Finally Noticed Industrial Distribution. Now What?](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cRXu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6bd9191-8694-4184-a632-4d86fd7210ff_977x829.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Feb 20, 2026 ### Silicon Valley Finally Noticed Industrial Distribution. Now What? A16z just put $1.1B behind an AI startup built for industrial distributors. That sentence alone would have been unthinkable two years ago. Industrial distribution was the last sector anyone in Silicon… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/silicon-valley-finally-noticed-industrial) [![I Gave an AI Agent My SSH Keys and Let It Code on a Live Site. ](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NBuF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F436db970-b6f0-45ac-b917-c8448a45e71a_640x498.webp) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Feb 2, 2026 ### I Gave an AI Agent My SSH Keys and Let It Code on a Live Site. I didn’t expect the future of eCommerce operations to come from open-source. But here we are. Meet OpenClaw OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent that runs 24/7 on your computer. You message it on Whats… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/i-gave-an-ai-agent-my-ssh-keys-and) [![The B2B Market Has a $2 Trillion Secret ](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k2d9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd6aef5a-03bb-4b39-8f41-e62165b0cd11_2816x1536.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 29, 2026 ### The B2B Market Has a $2 Trillion Secret $15 trillion in US B2B sales. Sounds massive. But here’s what the headlines don’t tell you. The Real Breakdown 75% of digital B2B is EDI. Computer-to-computer. Automated POs between systems set up yea… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/the-b2b-market-has-a-2-trillion-secret) [![No, Your eCommerce Isn't Cannibalizing Phone Sales](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gPAl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8325fc05-ac18-4136-961a-7ba4b3690fbb_2816x1536.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 27, 2026 ### No, Your eCommerce Isn't Cannibalizing Phone Sales The most common objection I hear from CFOs about B2B eCommerce investment: “You’re just moving orders from the phone to the website. That’s not growth. That’s a channel shift.” I used to struggle to a… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/no-your-ecommerce-isnt-cannibalizing) [![B2B Buyers Will Switch Suppliers for a Better Digital Experience. ](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qr6O!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5abb22be-c86b-4521-9c5f-ea70edd0dbad_2816x1536.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 26, 2026 ### B2B Buyers Will Switch Suppliers for a Better Digital Experience. 80% of B2B sales interactions now happen digitally. Not “expected to”—happening right now. And 73% of buyers straight-up prefer buying online over traditional methods. But here’s the stat that should … Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/b2b-buyers-will-switch-suppliers) [![Your AI Strategy Is Failing. Here’s the Fix No One Talks About.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LWJO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F86c3c4c5-fe30-43e7-8fdf-66a5b1247fc1_920x507.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 21, 2026 ### Your AI Strategy Is Failing. Here’s the Fix No One Talks About. Here’s what I keep seeing when I walk into B2B distributors: the AI conversation starts with excitement and ends with the same problem. “Wait, why do we have three different descriptions for the same … Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/your-ai-strategy-is-failing-heres) [![AI Doesn't Verify. It Retrieves.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LFl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9a0ad03c-f70e-4b60-9e9a-2ff7164b12dc_1100x600.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 15, 2026 ### AI Doesn't Verify. It Retrieves. Ahrefs invented a fake luxury paperweight company called Xarumei last month. They built the website in an hour. AI-generated product photos. Absurd prices—$8,251 for a paperweight. A brand name that r… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/ai-doesnt-verify-it-retrieves) [![1P vs 3P on Amazon: What B2B Teams Miss](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zSuB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9770fe4c-cc23-44bf-be08-563038a89a91_1280x720.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 12, 2026 ### 1P vs 3P on Amazon: What B2B Teams Miss With Amazon Business pushing toward tens of billions in B2B GMV, manufacturers and distributors now face a harder question: not if they should be on Amazon, but how . At B2B Online in Atlanta, we took… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/1p-vs-3p-on-amazon-what-b2b-teams) [![2026's Biggest AI Challenge Isn't What You Think](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XPTQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9fc5d7d-7ed2-4e53-9f21-d5274d4f1d4e_1280x720.png) SUBSTACK JOURNAL Jan 12, 2026 ### 2026's Biggest AI Challenge Isn't What You Think MIT dropped a stat last year that got everyone talking: 95% of generative AI pilots are failing. While everyone debated the number, a new survey of 200+ data and AI leaders uncovered something more us… Read post → on Substack](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/p/2026s-biggest-ai-challenge-isnt-what) [View full archive on Substack →](https://b2becommerce.substack.com/archive) [ Switch shelves ## Need an _evergreen_ reference? The Library carries guides, reports, and editorial articles built to outlive the news cycle. 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