How to Set Your Business Up for Success in 2026
2026 won’t reward the busiest businesses; it will reward the best prepared.
Reflect before you rebuild
With 2026 around the corner, now is the moment to pause. Not just to review last year’s numbers, but to decide where you genuinely want to be in three years. Too many businesses want to drift forward as quickly as possible, fixing today’s problems without shaping tomorrow’s direction. How many manual workarounds, late nights, and system compromises did it take to keep orders flowing, pricing accurate, and suppliers aligned?
The businesses that pull ahead don’t sleepwalk into the new year with bigger targets; they move forward with clear intent, meaningful goals, and stronger foundations.
One connected system
Most businesses don’t struggle because of a lack of ambition; they struggle because their systems were never designed to scale together. Finance sits in one tool, ecommerce in another, pricing in spreadsheets, and supplier data in someone’s inbox.
Every disconnect introduces friction. Businesses that are adequately preparing for 2026 are simplifying their setup into a single, connected system that becomes the single source of truth, giving leadership clarity, teams confidence, and customers consistency.
A B2B eCommerce experience customers love
Your customers already expect speed, visibility, and control when placing orders. They don’t care how complex your internal systems are; they want the right price, the right product, and the right availability every time.
Learnings have shown a critical difference between having an eCommerce website and running a true B2B commerce platform.
An eCommerce site takes orders, while a B2B commerce platform provides customers with a self-service portal that becomes their daily workspace, regardless of how individual transactions are made.
Customers are enabled to:
- view personalised pricing and product ranges
- reorder instantly from order history
- check availability and delivery status in real time
- download invoices and statements
- raise queries without chasing sales teams
All from a single connected portal, whether orders originate online, via email, or through a sales rep.
This isn’t about replacing relationships. It’s about protecting them, freeing teams from admin so they can focus on growth, while customers get the control and clarity they now expect as standard.
Always-on catalogue & supplier management
Product data changes constantly: prices, availability, pack sizes, lead times. When that information is trapped in spreadsheets or managed through reminders, accuracy becomes a matter of luck. We repeatedly see businesses investing in modern-looking digital tools, yet still relying on inboxes, spreadsheets, and manual fixes behind the scenes. On the surface, everything appears connected, but day to day, teams are stitching systems together to keep the business moving.
Investing in an always-on catalogue and supplier management tool can be costly but essential in ensuring product data stays clean, centralised, and reliable without constant firefighting behind the scenes.
Full visibility on cost of goods
Margins don’t disappear overnight; they leak quietly through outdated cost files, missed supplier increases, and manual pricing updates. Without complete visibility, even a strong sales performance can hide weak profitability.
Having a reliable, industry-leading cost-of-goods foundation gives businesses the power to price with confidence, understand actual performance, and stop surprises appearing at month-end.
Pricing clarity that protects margin
As product ranges grow and suppliers multiply, pricing complexity explodes. Many businesses find themselves trapped between wanting control and needing speed. The businesses winning in 2026 are building pricing and margin management systems that allow them to adapt quickly, respond to supplier changes, protect margins, and empower sales teams without creating internal bottlenecks.
Build resilience through partnership and community
Finally, the strongest businesses don’t operate in isolation. They build genuine partnerships with suppliers, technology partners, and peers. Community is becoming a strategic advantage, a place to share insight, anticipate market shifts, and strengthen the ecosystem around your business. In a volatile market, connection creates resilience.
Start now, not next year
The question isn’t what you want to fix in the next quarter, it’s who you want to be in three years. The businesses that will lead in 2026 are already making decisions today that their future selves will thank them for.
We offer a 30-minute readiness conversation to help leadership teams reflect on their current setup, identify friction, and define what needs to change next year.
👉 Book your free readiness call and start building your 2026 foundation today.
