Enterprise software marketplaces have fundamentally changed how software gets bought and sold. What used to require months of vendor outreach, in-person meetings, and parallel e-mail negotiations can now start—and often end—inside a single platform.

The numbers reflect the shift. B2B e-commerce sales expanded 16% by 2024 to US$2.64 trillion, with direct digital channels and marketplaces seeing the strongest growth. Sellers on B2B technology marketplaces have been able to grow revenue by 10%–15%, with many closing deals worth over $1 million in ACV through these platforms. SAP Store is already part of this momentum, supporting more than 50,000 transactions, representing roughly 30%–35% of SAP sales volume, and giving partners access to more than 440,000 SAP customers across over 200 countries.

But here’s where the marketplace model runs into its limits: most enterprise deals aren’t straightforward enough for a standard checkout button.

Negotiated pricing. Custom contract terms. Procurement reviews. Regional tax requirements. Bank transfer requirements. Delayed start dates. Sixty-nine percent of B2B buyers would complete transactions of $500,000 or more without in-person interaction, but those same high-value deals involve complex approval workflows, payment terms, and stakeholder sign-offs that a flat “Buy Now” experience simply can’t handle. When a deal doesn’t fit the standard flow, it typically gets pushed outside the platform entirely—back into e-mail threads, separate negotiations, and disconnected systems that no one has full visibility into.