Buyers will place a $50,000 order online. Here is what they check first.

McKinsey's tenth global B2B Pulse Survey asked nearly 4,000 decision-makers in 13 countries how they buy. One answer stands out for anyone who runs a wholesale store: 73% now accept orders above $50,000 through digital self-service, up from 59% in 2022. Close to three in ten (29%) would go past $500,000.

Here are three objections a store owner might raise, with what the survey says.

"Big orders need a phone call"

This was true in 2022, when only 59% of buyers were comfortable. It is less true now. A buyer who is ready to place a $50,000 order online has already decided that the store is a legitimate place to do it.

That does not mean the buyer has no questions. It means the questions come while the buyer is on the page: is this the contract price, can forty cases ship by the 15th, does this fit the older model? Our post on why buyers still check with a rep shows the same pattern in Gartner's data. The order is placed online. The doubt is settled by a person.

"Personalization is a marketing job"

McKinsey compared companies growing their market share by more than 10% with everyone else. Twenty percent of the leaders use one-to-one personalization, against 5% of the others. Seventy-three percent of the leaders personalize at a very personal or one-to-one level, against 31% of laggards.

For a store, personalization is not only a subject line. It is a price that matches the buyer's contract, a reorder list that starts with last quarter's items, and an answer that reflects the account. Those are things a person on your team already knows, and they belong on the product page and in the cart.

"If buyers serve themselves, nobody is needed"

The survey also found that 58% of buyers trust AI-enabled tools for product discovery, about as much as they trust search engines and peers. A buyer may arrive at your store already holding a shortlist and a summary of your products, written by software that never saw your price list.

Self-service moves the first visit away from your team. It does not remove the moment when the buyer wants someone to confirm a figure. A short live conversation, started from the page the buyer is already reading, puts a person at that moment without asking the buyer to find a phone number.

What to check on your own store this week

Open your store as a buyer would and try to place a large order. Note every place you would have wanted to ask something.

Check four things. The price on the page should be the price this buyer pays. The page should show stock and a delivery date for the quantity, not just "in stock". There should be a visible way to reach someone on the product page and in the cart. And when someone answers, they should be able to see which account is asking.

McKinsey's numbers say buyers will try to do it alone. The list above is where they will stop to ask.