Conversational B2B portals: how agentic AI is changing order management
09/11/2026
It is 11 pm. A restaurant owner has finished service and needs to place an order with their supplier. They need to retrieve the products purchased over the previous weeks, check quantities and review the promotions currently available.
In a traditional B2B portal, they can search for products by name or code, check their order history and add items to the basket. With a conversational interface, they can start with a simple request: “Recreate my order with everything I bought in September.”
The AI assistant retrieves the purchases made during that period, identifies the relevant products and quantities, takes current promotions into account and prepares the items to be added to the basket.
In Food & Beverage, distributors’ customers have needs that change depending on menus, seasonality and the orders they need to place. Even when they know their supplier’s catalogue well, finding the right products can still involve several steps.
Conversational B2B introduces a different way of interacting with the portal: the customer describes what they need, and the AI assistant interprets the request using the information available.
“I need to organise a seafood dinner for 40 people, with a budget of €100 per person. What would you suggest?”
Based on this request, the assistant can create a suggested menu including a starter, first course and main course, together with beverage products available in the catalogue. It can then recommend products and quantities for the customer to review and add to the basket.
In this scenario, the customer can submit a request that includes the occasion, number of guests and budget, leaving the system to identify suitable products.
The recommendation is based on the distributor’s offering and the assortment available to that specific customer.
Conversational features can also support customers after the initial product selection.
The assistant can flag an item that is only available to order and suggest an alternative, as well as recommend complementary products based on what is already in the basket.
Before the order is completed, the system can also identify products that the customer usually buys but that are missing from the current selection, giving them the option to add them.
For the sales rep, these features create opportunities for cross-selling and help make the wider product range more visible. For the customer, they can make placing an order easier, even outside the sales team’s working hours.
The assistant can also make it easier to contact customer service or send a request to the sales rep, maintaining the connection with the people who manage the customer relationship.
Relevant answers depend on the quality of the information available to the system.
Supporting these applications requires structured product data, consistent commercial terms and collaboration tools that connect head office, sales teams and customers.
The catalogue needs to contain enough information to identify and recommend products accurately. Commercial terms must reflect the rules agreed for each customer, with prices and promotions consistent with the relevant supply agreement.
Aton’s .one platform connects this information across different sales touchpoints and integrates with existing ERP and business systems.
This approach makes it possible to embed the conversational experience within existing sales processes, while allowing users to review recommendations and complete orders through the B2B portal.
Reordering is one of the most frequent interactions between a distributor and its customers. Being able to quickly retrieve previous purchases, receive relevant recommendations and check the applicable commercial terms can make the day-to-day buying experience easier.
Conversational AI also enables an interaction that is closer to the way customers naturally express their needs: from asking to repeat a previous order to organising a service for a specific number of people.
For sales teams, the next step is to understand which of these applications can fit into their existing sales processes and how they can be connected with the data and tools already in use.
Would you like to see how conversational B2B works?
A conversational B2B portal allows customers to search for products and prepare orders using natural-language requests. Thanks to agentic AI, the assistant interprets their needs, checks the catalogue and purchase history, and suggests products and quantities for review before the order is completed.
Agentic AI retrieves the customer’s previous purchases and prepares a suggested reorder based on their usual products and quantities. It can take current promotions into account, flag missing items and suggest alternatives, while allowing the customer to review and edit the basket before completing the purchase.
Conversational AI makes it easier to search for products and build orders, even outside normal business hours. Recommendations based on purchase history, available assortment and complementary products can support cross-selling, increase catalogue visibility and strengthen continuity in the relationship between distributor and customer.
Integration requires up-to-date data on products, customers, prices and commercial terms. Aton’s .one platform connects this information across different sales channels and existing business systems, enabling the AI assistant to generate recommendations that are consistent with each customer’s commercial rules.
The ROI can be measured using KPIs such as average reorder time, purchase frequency, average basket value and the use of cross-selling recommendations. It is also useful to monitor order completion rates and the reduction in manual requests to customer service.
