While AI-driven software sectors focused on knowledge work face growth pressure, B2B SaaS platforms supporting physical goods and operations are posting robust double-digit growth. Shopify, Toast, and Samsara have each reported revenue increases above 20% by leveraging pricing tied to transactions, locations, or assets rather than user seats.
- Shopify revenue grew 34%, processing over $115 billion GMV at 68% payments penetration.
- Toast added 9,500 new restaurant locations with 23% revenue and 25% ARR growth.
- Samsara hit 30% ARR growth driven by connected vehicle and equipment usage expansion.
Market signal
Leading B2B SaaS companies supporting physical product markets are demonstrating meaningful outperformance compared to median software growth rates and CRM-focused vendors. Shopify, Toast, and Samsara have each accelerated their revenue and recurring ARR by more than 20%, contrasting with broader software categories growing in the single digits. This indicates strong underlying demand for SaaS platforms that enable digital operations across shipping, restaurants, and transportation sectors.
The growth drivers are closely linked to pricing models that reward volume or asset-based usage rather than pure seat licensing. For example, Shopify charges a percentage of gross merchandise volume (GMV), and Toast charges per location plus payment processing. Samsara’s model is tied to connected assets like trucks or equipment. These pricing approaches let vendors capture gains from productivity improvements without being capped by organizational headcount limits faced by knowledge work software vendors.
Operator impact
Operators selling SaaS solutions to physical goods ecosystems should reconsider seat-centric pricing models that can hinder growth when customers keep staff numbers flat despite increased throughput. Instead, focusing on pricing tied to transactions, locations, assets, or processed volumes can unlock sustainable revenue growth aligned with customer operational scale and productivity improvements.
The current market environment, with AI technologies compressing growth in software classes centered on knowledge workers, reinforces this positioning advantage for physical market SaaS providers. Operators can expect more predictable and accelerated adoption when their platforms improve core physical product flows such as meal service, freight movement, or goods fulfillment, areas largely resilient to AI-induced efficiency reductions.
What to watch next
Monitor how SaaS companies continue to innovate their unit economics by expanding penetration of usage-based pricing tied tightly to customer throughput. For instance, Shopify’s rising payments penetration to 68% of GMV signals increasing monetization leverage beyond platform adoption alone. Similarly, Samsara’s rapid growth with high-value enterprise customers suggests scaling opportunities in connected vehicle ecosystems.
Additionally, keep an eye on adjacent markets where physical and digital operations intersect, such as field service management and logistics, which could see growing SaaS adoption leveraging similar metrics. Watching how AI impacts pricing and workload for hybrid models that combine physical assets with knowledge work will also be critical to assessing future growth trajectories for operator tech.