The Future of B2B Is Here: Inside the Agentic Commerce Alliance with Jason Nyhus

There are rare moments in your career when you can feel the tectonic plates of business shift. The kind of moments where you know, this isn’t just another buzzword or a technology wave to ride. It’s a fork in the road.

Jason Nyhus and the Shopware team believe we’re standing at one of those forks right now. And I have to say, I think they’re right.

They’ve launched what they’re calling the Agentic Commerce Alliance, a coalition aiming to shape the future of what B2B commerce will look like in the age of AI. The name alone had all my trigger words (in a good way): commerce, alliance, agentic. I knew we had to unpack this.

What Is Agentic Commerce?

At its core, agentic commerce is about building technology for the seller, not just the buyer. It’s commerce that’s designed to be intelligent, adaptable, and supportive of the humans still in the process. Think less automation-for-the-sake-of-automation and more about giving back capacity, 20%, 30%, even 40% more bandwidth, for sales teams to focus on what they do best: solving problems, building relationships, and growing revenue.

If digital transformation was about moving paper-based processes online, this new wave is about giving those systems intention, intelligence, and initiative.

In Jason’s words, this isn’t just another tool. This is “purpose-built” commerce. For B2B sellers, that phrase should stick.

Why Now? Why Shopware?

Jason and I dug into the “why” behind this alliance, and it became clear pretty quickly: this isn’t about launching a product. It’s about leading a movement. And in classic open-source fashion, Shopware is looking to rally an ecosystem to figure out what responsible, impactful, AI-infused commerce looks like before we get swept into it by accident.

There’s a deep philosophical angle here that resonated with me. You don’t get many of these moments—where the technology is ready, the market is fractured enough to listen, and the timing is right to lead. Think back to when mobile first exploded, or when social media reshaped marketing. This feels like one of those moments for B2B.

Jason also shared something I loved: one of Shopware’s co-founders, Stefan Hamann, decided to step out of the CEO seat to get his hands back on the keyboard and build this. That’s not common in our space. That’s belief.

What This Means for Distributors and Manufacturers

If you’re running a B2B team today, especially in distribution, you’ve felt the pressure. Margin compression. Talent gaps. Complexity that never gets less complex. Agentic commerce doesn’t erase that, but it offers a new kind of leverage.

It’s not about replacing your team. It’s about augmenting them with the kind of support that helps them sell more, serve better, and innovate faster.

But here’s the catch: this isn’t something you can sit back and wait on. As we’ve said again and again inside the B2B eCommerce Association, the company that kills you won’t look like you. These disruptive plays often come from outsiders, technologists, or builders who think differently. The good news? You don’t have to wait to be disrupted. You can join the alliance. You can be part of the conversation.

So What Now?

There’s still a lot to uncover. And I’ll be watching closely as this Alliance unfolds. But if you’re a digital leader inside a distributor or manufacturer, this is one of those things you can’t afford to ignore.

Join the discussion. Explore the tools. Challenge the assumptions. And maybe most importantly, ask your teams: What would we do with 40% more time to focus on customers?

Because that’s what’s at stake here.

Contact Jason | Shopware

Jason Nyhus

Shopware