Forrester has published its first-ever Forrester Wave specifically evaluating vendors that serve both B2B and B2C commerce use cases under a single framework. The report marks a significant moment in how analysts, buyers, and platform vendors are thinking about commerce technology – and its implications stretch well beyond ecommerce teams into CRM, RevOps, and go-to-market (GTM) strategy at large.
For years, B2B and B2C commerce platforms were evaluated in separate Waves, reflecting how differently the two buyer journeys were treated. The decision to combine them signals that Forrester sees the line between the two models blurring – and the data supports that view. Manufacturers, distributors, and even SaaS companies are increasingly selling to both business buyers and individual consumers through shared infrastructure.
Why a Combined Wave Matters for CRM and GTM Teams
The structural change in how Forrester evaluates commerce platforms reflects a real operational reality that many CRM and GTM professionals are already navigating. Companies that once maintained separate systems for B2B account management and B2C customer engagement are now consolidating around unified platforms that can handle both.
This convergence affects how teams define their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). When a single platform serves both business accounts and end consumers, segmentation logic, pricing rules, and customer data models all need to coexist in one environment. That creates both complexity and opportunity for teams managing CRM data and sales pipelines across multiple customer segments.
For organisations evaluating new platforms, the Wave provides a structured comparison of the most significant vendors currently active in this space. Forrester assessed each provider across current offering, strategy, and market presence – giving buyers a research-backed starting point rather than relying solely on vendor-led demonstrations.
What Vendors Are Competing in This Space
The combined evaluation means that vendors historically associated with enterprise B2B commerce – such as SAP, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Adobe Commerce – are now being assessed alongside platforms with stronger B2C pedigrees. This positions the Wave as a practical decision-making tool for companies running hybrid business models.
For startups and scale-ups in particular, the timing of this Wave aligns with a broader trend highlighted in recent coverage of marketing automation tools. Early-stage companies are increasingly reaching for platforms that can support both direct-to-consumer sales motions and account-based, multi-stakeholder B2B deals – without requiring separate tech stacks for each.
The implications for metrics like Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) are direct. A unified commerce platform, when connected to a CRM, allows revenue teams to see the full customer relationship – including both transactional and account-based activity – in a single view. That makes forecasting more accurate and retention strategies more targeted.
Marketing Automation’s Role in the Unified Commerce Picture
The Forrester Wave does not exist in isolation. Alongside growing interest in commerce platform consolidation, there is a parallel conversation happening about which marketing automation tools best support this kind of hybrid selling environment. For startups in particular, the choice of automation tooling is often the first real infrastructure decision that shapes how CRM and commerce data flows through the business.
Tools like HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, and Brevo each take different approaches to bridging B2B and B2C workflows. Some are built with ecommerce integrations as a core feature; others are designed primarily around account-based marketing and longer sales cycles. The Forrester Wave results, combined with a clear understanding of your automation stack, give GTM leaders a more complete picture when designing their tech architecture.
Key questions GTM and RevOps teams should be asking right now include:
- Does our current commerce platform support both B2B account hierarchies and B2C individual customer records?
- How does our CRM sync customer data between ecommerce transactions and sales-led pipeline activity?
- Are our marketing automation workflows capable of serving both segment types without duplicating infrastructure?
- What is the impact on Net Revenue Retention (NRR) when B2B accounts also have consumer-style purchasing behaviour?
- How do we attribute revenue accurately when customers move between self-serve and sales-assisted motions?
What CRM Professionals Should Do Next
The publication of this Wave is a useful prompt for any CRM or RevOps leader who has been deferring a commerce platform review. Even if a full platform migration is not on the roadmap, understanding where your current vendor sits in the competitive landscape – and what capabilities the leading platforms now offer – is valuable context for roadmap conversations and contract renewals.
For teams running a product-led growth (PLG) motion alongside a sales-led enterprise business, the convergence of B2B and B2C commerce evaluation criteria is particularly relevant. PLG models blur the line between consumer and business buyer in exactly the way the new Forrester framework acknowledges – and platforms that score well in this Wave are likely to be better equipped to support that hybrid motion.
If you are in the process of evaluating or shortlisting commerce and CRM tools, the CRM Tools Directory provides a structured comparison of leading platforms across key capability areas. For broader guidance on selecting and implementing CRM technology in a complex GTM environment, the CRM Guides section covers procurement, onboarding, and optimisation in practical detail.
The Forrester Wave results are publicly available via Forrester’s blog. For ongoing coverage of commerce platform developments and their impact on CRM and GTM strategy, stay up to date through the CRM News section.