Last Updated on February 27, 2024 by Nasir Hanif
Since trade shows were canceled and in-person encounters were not encouraged during the Covid epidemic, handling manual transactions and acquiring fresh inventory has become difficult.
Online B2B transactions between organizations are more convenient than ever, even as B2B buyers look for venues to aid in discovering and purchasing new products.
At least 70% of enterprise markets will support B2B transactions by 2023, predicts Gartner. Similar to this, iBe, a Pan-European financial services advisory organization, forecasted that by 2024, revenues in the global B2B sector might total $3.6 trillion.
For businesses prepared to take the risk, it will develop a new business model and ecosystem. This article will examine how to develop a B2B marketplace platform, various B2B marketplace kinds, and their common characteristics if you’re interested in creating a customized B2B marketplace.
An overview of the B2B market
Multiple wholesalers can offer their goods and services to clients who own businesses through online B2B marketplaces. B2B marketplaces have a lot of advantages.
- Owners of marketplaces can use the platform to determine whether there is a demand for a B2B product or service, learn more about their target audience, put a monetization plan in place, and differentiate themselves from rivals.
- For wholesalers, it aids in developing their online presence, boosting sales, gaining access to new customers, streamlining and accelerating the digital purchasing process, increasing visibility into the market’s pricing structures, and implementing better marketing analytics.
- Consumers, can choose the best wholesalers with affordable price offers, gain a wonderful shopping experience, and satisfy their needs with a limitless selection of products.
- For chief purchasing officers (CPOs), it allows them to delegate the tactical, repetitive work that characterizes procurement and boosts operational efficiency. The CPOs can improve their management while focusing on more strategic tasks.
Typical B2B marketplace types
Based on the type of business (products/services supplied) or the business style, we can distinguish between several B2B marketplaces. We can divide the B2B market into the two categories below based on the goods and services offered:
Vertical B2B marketplaces
These include those for the textile, automotive, chemical, etc. industries, specializing in a particular industry or selling goods to specialized wholesalers.
Horizontal B2B marketplaces
They link companies offering a wide range of goods and services and operating in different market areas (from household items to industry-grade products).
B2B product marketplaces
They link various enterprises to provide goods including packaging, furniture, and office supplies.
B2B service marketplace
By providing them with the necessary services, such as talent hiring, beauty services, content production, event management, food catering, etc., B2B service marketplaces assist businesses in resolving their problems.
Hybrid marketplaces
These are intricate networks that include B2B and additional business models for goods, services, B2C, and C2C components. In addition to selling directly to retail customers, it assists in serving other enterprises.
Common characteristics of a B2B marketplace
You can customize a set of features in the effective online international B2B marketplace software to match your needs. The major categories of B2B marketplace features are shown below.
Platform management
You can set up the platform, control the user experience, and manage all operations using a simple and user-friendly admin panel. A vendor dashboard can be used to manage tasks including gathering user data, controlling all third-party integrations, and getting access to all performance information.
Product/catalog
Wholesalers can use a product listing to upload product catalogs that include all necessary product details, such as a description, a list of features, a price, the number of units available, the minimum order size, and so forth.
Inventory and logistics
Wholesalers may track product inventories automatically and add more stock to their inventory by using real-time inventory management. You and wholesalers can create, set up, and manage a list of delivery providers using shipment management.
Invoice and report system
Wholesalers may rapidly verify information about active, pending, and canceled orders and access order details to evaluate statistics, report total revenues, and forecast sales by incorporating a real-time report capability. Automated invoice processing is another function that aids in processing product invoices quickly and retrieving relevant data.
Database backups
Database backups keep track of market data regularly. As a result, if data is lost as a result of a technological malfunction or human error, it can be recovered rapidly.
Another option for keeping track of any adjustments made to your marketplace is a data log. It denotes that platform administrators may view who made changes and when they were made.
Top B2B portals
The top 10 B2B websites in the world that operate as intermediary or horizontal marketplaces include:
- Amazon
- Alibaba
- EC21
- Rakuten
- Made-in-China
- eBay
- AliExpress
- Global sources
- Thetradebuzz
- ECplaza
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