What is a B2B marketplace?
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May 25th 2023 ecommerce
It’s no secret that B2B (business-to-business) transactions have largely migrated online. According to Gartner, by 2025, 80% of these business sales will be processed through digital channels.
But that’s just the start of a B2B ecommerce platform “uprising” of sorts; the virtual business ground is continuing to shift. How? An increasing number of B2B retailers are choosing to launch their own global B2B marketplaces. By 2023, Gartner expected that 15% of medium to enterprise-size businesses would be operating one of these.
In a traditional B2B sales business model, sales representatives, procurement officers, operations managers, and customer service representatives are all involved in making sales. The specific duties may vary with the size and structure of the B2B company, but generally, people play an outsized role in the workings of the B2B ecommerce market.
In the B2B ecommerce marketplace model, much of that transactional hand-holding is proving to be no longer needed, as the online ecosystem facilitates easy interaction and sidesteps the need for the traditional human intermediaries.
“B2C marketplace” is not exactly a widely used term, but B2C (business-to-consumer) marketplaces are a very familiar concept to most people, as B2C ecommerce storefronts are happily visited by millions of people worldwide.
Amazon is probably the best known B2C ecommerce platform, plus there are so many others, including eBay and Etsy.
A B2C marketplace differs from a B2B marketplace in several ways:
Thriving B2B marketplace examples include Alibaba, Amazon Business, ThomasNet, Shopify, eWorldTrade, and Global Sources.
Imagine a traditional multi-vendor marketplace such as a trade fair or expo. Everyone from entrepreneurs’ startups to small businesses to large enterprises sets up their stalls with marketing messaging and promotional signage. It’s an opportunity for connecting with potential buyers and turning them into new customers, and also — business reps hope — setting up long-term recurring sales.
A B2B online marketplace is a bit like that. Businesses can promote their products and services to their customer base, while their potential customers can browse the B2B product listings, connect with sellers, and negotiate deals. The difference is that what happens in this sales channel all happens online. Business buyers can search for items and browse sellers’ listings, filtering their search results based on criteria such as price and location.
B2B industry marketplace transactions vary with the platform, product, and service. Here are a few things business shoppers can do:
Like trade fairs, B2B marketplaces can offer your company and other sellers:
A B2B marketplace with poorly organized or displayed content will leave business people frustrated. Plus, if it’s not well indexed or accessible by efficient search functionality, business buyers may understandably go elsewhere.
Here are the things to avoid with your B2B marketplace platform:
Are you looking to launch a B2B business marketplace? The Algolia API can provide the search experience you and other B2B sellers need to do well in the B2B market, with:
Turn your B2B marketplace into a bustling, trusted phenomenon with a reputation for expertly meeting your business customers’ needs, attracting new business, and making more online sales in your industry. Contact us today.
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