High-ticket buyers are more digital than people assume

The myth says that “serious” B2B buyers won’t buy online. Sorry to break it to you, but this myth is aging badly.

In fact, one of the most outdated ideas in B2B is that online buying is only for small, simple orders.

That’s getting harder to defend, because the stats say otherwise.

McKinsey data cited in 2025 coverage shows B2B buyers are increasingly comfortable making large purchases online.

Coveo notes that 39% were willing to spend more than $500,000 online in 2024, 20% were willing to spend $1 million or more, and 11% were willing to spend $5 million or more.

Hokodo also cites McKinsey data showing 73% of buyers are comfortable spending $50,000 in a fully self-serve environment, with 20% comfortable spending $1 million that way.

So the issue isn’t that B2B buyers refuse digital. It’s that many suppliers still offer weak digital buying environments.

If the portal can’t reflect real pricing, permissions, product data, or stock logic, of course, large deals won’t happen there.

So, how’s your B2B functioning? Still calls and emails?