Rise of B2B ecommerce marketplace Ecommerce is worth around US $1 trillion and its growing fast, but still many online sellers are unaware of B2B ecommerce and its marketplace opportunities for small businesses. Benefits of B2c ecommerce platforms are well known and SME have been slow in controlling same level of automation and market penetration for B2B use. Here’s how B2B can be used to connect to new customers, better manage sales and drive growth for online sellers. Origin of B2B ecommerce marketplace Initially, B2B ecommerce marketplace had some unsteady journey over couple of years. Major players have now well established platforms for B2b interaction and there is no longer question over whether this is viable way to proceed. The internet giant Alibaba in China is catering into huge range of industries. In 2014 wholesale accounted for US $1 billion of Alibaba’s annual revenue. In US, Amazon probed the lucrative B2B wholesale market with its beta launch of Amazon supply 2012.After 2 years, its 17 categories carried more than 2.2 million products. The ecommerce platform is offering everything from tools and supplies to multipacks of drink. In 2015, Amazon supply was subsumed into Amazon Business, a platform that launched with millions of products already available after consulting with customers spanning from multibillion dollar corporations. Advantages of B2B ecommerce marketplace Using B2B ecommerce marketplace has so many advantages to online sellers. The most obvious benefit is it connects you to new customers and takes marketing effort out of your hands. It means you can focus more on fulfilling orders and spend less time on generating them. Your cost of sales can be significantly reduced, increasing your profit margin and allowing you to invest more in growth.
Great level of analytical data helps you analyze your spending patterns and stock, making it easier to manage your resources and forecast stock requirements and cash flow. Automation also assists in day to day running of your business, allowing you to improve efficiency of each aspect of your supply chain, decrease time between order and fulfillment and more accurate price.