B2B buyers have stopped waiting for a sales rep to get a quote. Salesforce’s own research puts the number at 54% of B2B buyers who complete a purchase without any rep involvement, and 30% of B2B organizations already run agentic AI in production, with another 45% planning to go live within six months.54% of B2B buyers already handle purchasing without sales rep involvement, and 30% of B2B organizations have deployed agentic AI with another 45% planning to within six months That shift didn’t happen because platforms got prettier. It happened because the API layer underneath B2B commerce got rebuilt. Salesforce
If you last looked at Salesforce B2B Commerce APIs a couple of years ago, treat this as a refresh. The product has a new name, a new architecture, and a new job description.
What Are Salesforce B2B Commerce APIs, Really?
Salesforce B2B Commerce APIs are the programmatic layer that lets developers read and write catalog, pricing, cart, order, and account data without touching the Salesforce UI. In 2026, that layer sits inside Agentforce Commerce, the platform formerly marketed as Salesforce Commerce Cloud and it’s built from several distinct API families rather than one monolithic API:
- Connect REST API — the long-standing programmatic gateway into B2B Commerce, CMS content, Experience Cloud sites, and related Salesforce features, exposed through Apex as
ConnectApiclasses as well as REST endpoints.Connect REST API provides programmatic access to B2B Commerce, CMS managed content, Experience Cloud sites, files, notifications, topics, and more, and many of its resource actions are exposed as static methods on Apex classes in the ConnectApi namespace salesforcesalesforce - SCAPI (Salesforce Commerce API) — the modern REST standard Salesforce now recommends over the older Open Commerce API for any new project or major rebuild.Salesforce suggests using the B2C Commerce API (SCAPI) instead of the Open Commerce API (OCAPI) for all new projects or any major refactoring work salesforce
- Headless360 Reference Architecture and API Library — a pre-built blueprint, announced in July 2026, that gives development teams a working starting point for headless B2B storefronts in React, Vue, or any modern framework.The Headless360 Reference Architecture and API Library gives development teams a functional, pre-built application blueprint for orchestrating B2B journeys from catalog to checkout, letting teams build front ends in React, Vue, or other modern frameworks while Agentforce maintains a single unified data layer on the back end MarketScale
- Einstein/Agentforce recommendation and search APIs — connect resources that return product recommendations and, more recently, intent-based search results instead of plain keyword matches.The Commerce Einstein Recommendations Connect API resource returns Einstein product recommendations, and you can add one or more Einstein Recommendations components to any page in B2B Commerce stores Salesforce Developers
The practical effect: customization and third-party integration are no longer a single API conversation. They’re a question of which layer you’re touching, and why.
From B2B Commerce Cloud to Agentforce Commerce: A Timeline Worth Knowing
The rename explains a lot of the confusion developers run into when searching for current documentation.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | Salesforce announces the Agentforce Commerce name at Dreamforce, alongside support for the Agentic Commerce Protocol with Stripe |
| March 2026 | The Spring ’26 release formally renames Commerce Cloud to Agentforce Commerce |
| June 24, 2026 | Salesforce ships its largest commerce release in five years: Shopper, Buyer, and Merchant Agents; Storefront Next; headless B2B; Agentic Order Management; Modern POS on iOS |
| July 2026 | Buyer Agent suite reaches general availability; Connect REST API gets a unified reference; ChatGPT catalog integration goes live |
Salesforce announced support for the Agentic Commerce Protocol with Stripe in October 2025, formalized the Commerce Cloud to Agentforce Commerce rename in the Spring 2026 release, shipped its largest commerce release in five years on June 24, 2026, and reached general availability for ChatGPT catalog integration and Agentic Commerce Search in July 2026 Elogic Commerce
If a vendor or blog still refers to “B2B Commerce on Lightning” as a separate product, that content predates this consolidation. It still exists as an architecture concept, but Salesforce now documents it under the Agentforce Commerce umbrella.
The Buyer Agent Changes What an “API Call” Even Means
The biggest functional shift isn’t a new endpoint, it’s a new caller. Salesforce built a conversational Buyer Agent directly into B2B Commerce, reachable over WhatsApp and SMS, that finds products, checks order status, and completes purchases without a storefront visit or a rep on the line.Buyer Agent is an AI-powered conversational agent built natively into B2B Commerce on the Agentforce platform, acting as a 24/7 intelligent buying assistant available wherever the buyer is, helping customers find products, manage orders, and complete purchases entirely through natural conversation, and recommending products with rich visuals rather than plain text descriptions Salesforce
Siemens is one of the reference deployments: it used the same headless architecture and Headless360 approach to unify previously separate sales channels onto one platform, and has since rolled out Agentforce B2B Commerce across more than 25 countries.Siemens used a headless architecture powered by Agentforce Commerce and Headless360 to integrate previously disparate sales channels, consolidate siloed offerings onto one platform, and has launched Agentforce B2B Commerce in over 25 countries Salesforce
Alongside the Buyer Agent, Salesforce replaced keyword-based catalog search with an AI-driven, attribute-based engine that reads intent rather than requiring an exact SKU or product name, a meaningful change for manufacturers and distributors running large, technical catalogs where buyers rarely know the right search term.The suite introduces AI-Driven and Attribute-Based B2B Search, which moves past traditional keyword matching, understanding the intent behind a query and surfacing the most relevant results even across sprawling catalogs B2B buyers now move across an average of ten channels during a single purchase, according to McKinsey & Company research cited by Salesforce, which is the underlying reason this suite treats WhatsApp, SMS, storefronts, and mobile apps as one connected journey rather than separate builds.B2B buyers now use an average of ten channels across a single purchase, according to McKinsey and Company Demand Gen ReportMarketScale
Why This Matters More Than the Old “Customization” Pitch
The original case for B2B Commerce APIs was flexibility: customize the storefront, extend functionality, connect third-party systems. That’s still true, but the return on investment looks different in 2026 because the data backs it with numbers Salesforce itself now publishes:
- Buyer research has moved off your site before contact. 79% of commerce organizations report a rise in traffic driven by LLM-powered search, and 21% describe the increase as significant, meaning your product data now has to be structured well enough for an AI model to read it correctly, not just a human shopper.79% of commerce organizations report increased traffic from LLM-powered search, and 21% describe those increases as significant Salesforce
- Agentic AI adoption is no longer optional planning. With 30% of B2B organizations already live and 45% planning deployment within two quarters, most of the market will have some form of agentic AI running commerce workflows by early 2027.30% of B2B organizations have deployed agentic AI with another 45% planning to within six months Salesforce
- API architecture decides your integration timeline. Field data from ERP-to-commerce integration work shows that connectivity alone consumes 35–45% of budget on integrated builds, and skipping agent-readiness work adds two to four weeks of rework because teams end up shipping agents that quote the wrong price.ERP integration consumes 35-45% of budget on integrated builds, which is why it needs to be designed before the storefront, and agent enablement adds two to four weeks on top of a standard build in 2026, since teams that skip it ship agents that quote wrong prices Elogic Commerce
None of this is a reason to slow down. It’s a reason to sequence the work correctly, data quality and integration architecture first, agent and storefront experience second.
Real-World Use Cases: Configurators, ERP Sync, and Agentic Ordering
The manufacturer-with-a-complex-catalog example still holds up, it’s just built differently now. A manufacturer can combine the Connect REST API with Headless360 to build a custom product configurator that returns instant, contract-specific quotes, then let the Buyer Agent surface that same configurator over WhatsApp for repeat orders.
A distributor connecting an ERP system for real-time inventory typically has three integration paths available in 2026:
- Middleware. MuleSoft is Salesforce’s native choice here, with SAP ICC-certified connectors for S/4HANA and ECC.MuleSoft is the native middleware choice, with SAP ICC-certified connectors for S/4HANA (SOAP and OData) and ECC (IDoc and BAPI over RFC), plus an Accelerator for SAP with pre-built APIs Elogic Commerce
- Pre-built connectors. Packaged connectors can cover a large share of standard SAP or Dynamics 365 integration needs out of the box, which compresses timelines when the underlying processes are already standard.Pre-built connectors cover roughly 80% of typical SAP integration needs out of the box with real-time virtualization, while other packaged connectors provide Dynamics 365 synchronization Elogic Commerce
- Custom API development. For unusual ERPs or heavy custom logic, direct development is still the right call, at the cost of long-term ownership.For unusual ERPs or heavy custom logic, direct API development remains valid, at the price of ownership and maintenance Elogic Commerce
Salesforce’s Omnichannel Inventory Connect REST APIs sit alongside this stack for organizations running B2B Commerce with Order Management, powering real-time allocation and fulfillment across channels.Salesforce Connect REST APIs are used by integrations between Omnichannel Inventory and Salesforce Platform apps such as Salesforce Order Management and B2B Commerce on Lightning Experience, powering distributed order management functionality salesforce
Building an Integration Strategy That Won’t Need Rework in a Year
Three practical lessons from teams that have already built on this stack:
Map data before you build. Field data shows product data remediation adds three to six weeks whenever a proper PIM doesn’t exist. Auditing catalog quality before committing to a launch date saves far more time than it costs.Product data remediation adds three to six weeks whenever no PIM exists, so it’s worth auditing data quality before committing to a launch date Elogic Commerce
Decide real-time versus batch per data type, not per project. Inventory and pricing generally need real-time sync; order history can run in batch. Treating every data type the same way is a common source of unnecessary API load.
Read the new Connect REST API reference before you build against it. Starting July 2026, Salesforce moved from separate resource, request, and response pages to a single unified OpenAPI-based reference covering Commerce, Agentforce, CMS, Experience Cloud, and related families — worth bookmarking if your team still has the old multi-page docs saved.Starting July 2026, Salesforce introduced a single, unified reference page for the core Connect REST API and other related API families, including Agentforce, Chatter, CMS, Commerce, Experience Cloud, and Personalization Salesforce Developers
If your organization already runs Salesforce CRM, the case for staying on Agentforce Commerce rather than a separate platform gets stronger here, since ERP, CRM, and commerce data share one model instead of three.
Frequently Asked Questions
The product is now marketed as Agentforce Commerce following the March 2026 rename, though “B2B Commerce” remains the correct term for the buyer-facing capability set and shows up throughout current Salesforce documentation and API resource names.
SCAPI is Salesforce’s current recommended REST standard for commerce-specific operations like cart, checkout, and catalog, replacing the older OCAPI. The Connect REST API is a broader gateway that also covers B2B Commerce alongside CMS, Experience Cloud, and Chatter functionality, often through the same underlying ConnectApi Apex classes.
Yes, and it’s now easier to start. The Headless360 Reference Architecture and API Library, released in July 2026, provides a working blueprint for headless builds in React, Vue, or other frameworks, rather than requiring a team to design that architecture from scratch.
No. It adds a conversational channel on top of the same catalog and order data your storefront already uses, aimed at repeat orders, order status checks, and quick reorders over WhatsApp or SMS rather than first-time browsing.
It depends on the ERP and how standard your processes are. MuleSoft with certified connectors handles the most common SAP and enterprise scenarios; packaged connectors work well for standard Dynamics 365 or SAP setups; custom API development is the right call for unusual systems or heavy custom logic.
Cloud Odyssey’s Take
A lot of “API-powered flexibility” content stopped at customization and integration examples that were true five years ago and stayed unchanged since. What we’re seeing on actual B2B implementations right now is different: the integration layer decides whether an agentic buying experience works or breaks, and that decision gets made months before anyone talks about chatbots or storefront design.
Our view is straightforward. If you’re building or replatforming a B2B storefront in 2026, treat Agentforce Commerce as a data and integration project first, and a storefront project second. Get your catalog, pricing, and ERP connectivity right through a proper MuleSoft integration strategy, and the Agentforce layer, Buyer Agent included, becomes a feature you turn on rather than a project you fear.
We’ve helped B2B and B2C teams navigate exactly this kind of transition, from headless commerce architecture to AI agent integration across the wider Salesforce platform. If you’re weighing whether your current B2B Commerce setup can support agentic buying, or you’re starting from scratch, talk to our team.
