Hubspots quiet move to becoming a B2B eCommerce platform

I do some Hubspot tinkering for the B2B eCommerce and Rixxo. It’s been my go-to CRM for many years. I’ve watched it change from a CRM to much more over the last 5 years. In October ’24, I called it on LinkedIn that it was already making this move and now I am sure they are going to make a dent.

HubSpot’s quiet entry into the B2B eCommerce conversation

HubSpot processed more than £800 million in gross merchandise value through Commerce Hub in its first year and then bought Cacheflow in October 2024 for advanced CPQ and subscription billing. Those two facts pushed the CRM from “nice add‑on” to a contender worth a place on your longlist.

The building blocks now live in every portal

Open any portal and you see Carts, Orders, Invoices, Subscriptions, Services, Markets (beta) and the original Quotes, Deals and Products. All sit on the same contact‑company graph, exposed through REST. Finance grabs invoices, sales raises carts, and customer service sees subscription status. The payments endpoints remain read‑only, yet they still give a single source of truth for cash collected.

The holes that matter to inventory‑heavy firms

HubSpot offers no native stock counts, no variant matrix and no buyer portal where customers can track orders. Every community thread on inventory redirects you to third‑party apps. A distributor running tens of thousands of SKUs still needs real‑time stock, price lists and EDI inside the ERP or a commerce suite like Adobe Commerce or BigCommerce.

Businesses that win with the current feature set

Firms that source on demand, sell capital equipment or run service contracts care more about quote accuracy, billing terms and renewal prompts than about rack‑location counts. For those teams, Commerce Hub already covers the flow from first quote to settled invoice. HubSpot’s own roadmap shows the Cacheflow objects merging into this flow over 2025, giving usage metering and multi‑currency subscriptions without leaving the CRM.

Why leaving inventory in the ERP often makes more sense

Most manufacturers and wholesalers already rely on the ERP to handle costed stock, work orders and fulfilment. Duplicating that logic in a second platform creates reconciliation pain. Treat HubSpot as the customer‑facing layer that turns quotes into cash, then feed confirmed orders back into the ERP for picking and shipping. The ERP stays master of inventory, HubSpot becomes the revenue cockpit.

A quick self‑test to gauge fit

• Your average order lines sit below fifty.
• Stock positions and pick‑faces live in the ERP and can stay there.
• Sales generates quotes inside the CRM today.
• Finance chases renewal invoices manually.

If those points describe your operation, Commerce Hub probably cuts admin hours with limited risk. If you run multiple warehouses, complex price books or customer‑specific catalogues, keep HubSpot in the mix for CRM and marketing yet choose an eCommerce suite built for heavy inventory.

Signals to track over the next year

• Write‑level APIs for Payments and Subscriptions
• A buyer portal that lets customers raise their own carts
• Markets graduating from beta, hinting at multi‑storefront support
• Any roadmap note on stock or variant handling

Progress on those fronts will decide whether HubSpot stays “CRM‑centric revenue layer” or grows into a full commerce suite.

Hubspot has made my list

HubSpot now deserves a place on my B2B eCommerce list. It serves quote‑led, service‑heavy businesses right now and saves them from toggling between CRM, CPQ, billing and payments. Inventory‑driven wholesalers can still turn to specialist platforms while leaning on HubSpot for customer data and revenue insight. The choice hinges on where your pain sits today.