5 Key Insights from the 2025 State of Generative AI in B2B Manufacturing
Analysis of 1,100+ e-commerce and manufacturing websites reveals that B2B brands are spending more on AI than other sectors and seeing payoff
B2B retailers and manufacturers are winning with a “foundation-first” strategy to AI
Here’s what we discovered: B2B manufacturing stands alone in increasing AI investments AND seeing increased benefits from AI deployments.
“Manufacturers aren’t chasing trends. They’re investing in AI where it’s already delivering real value.”
— Michael Sinoway, CEO of Lucidworks
While most industries are scaling back their AI spending plans, B2B retailers and manufacturers are the only sector moving in the opposite direction. Manufacturers are doubling down, based on real results. It seems that investments in AI by B2B retailers are focused, practical, and rooted in AI.
Key findings that will shape your B2B AI strategy:
- Fewer Flashy Features: Despite not having as many flashy AI capabilities on their websites, 37% of B2B companies report significant benefits from generative AI, compared to 33% of B2C retailers.
- The Essentials Advantage: Generative AI success starts with getting the basics right, with the AI Benchmark report from Lucidworks finding essential capabilities like product availability in search results garnering 2X greater impact on conversions than advanced generative AI and agentic AI.
- Model Usage Imbalance: 49% of companies surveyed in the AI Benchmark Report from Lucidworks are using commercial AI models, which can increase costs per query, compared to 21% using open-source. Not every query deserves an expensive AI model.
- The B2B Performance Leaders:
- Software: Microsoft (71%), IQVIA (63%)
- Semiconductors: Silicon Labs (69%), NVIDIA (65%)
- Computer Equipment: Hewlett Packard (71%), Pure Storage (60%)
Our research methodology
1,100+ B2B & B2C websites
analyzed by agentic AI
10,000+ executives
surveyed over 3 years
24 AI capabilities
evaluated objectively
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