Unlike B2C, players in a B2B market are purely other businesses that trade amongst themselves. Typically, a business can approach another one to sell its product and services directly. In most cases, you’ll find a group of businesses that uses a specific vendor’s products and services to fulfill the needs of their target audiences. Most importantly, all these operations happen online.
The B2B industry is thriving, thanks to the business improvements this model brings by connecting businesses of all sizes to globalization. The business-to-business market is technically dominated by players in the manufacturing industry who want finished parts, raw materials, marketing, or even consultation services to fulfill specific consumer requirements.
The importance of B2B in eCommerce includes:
Now that you understand what is B2B, here are the four types of markets in this model:
eCommerce in B2B also faces various challenges that are probably hindering the industry from experiencing optimal growth. They include:
The main difference between B2B and B2C is the target audience. While B2B deals with businesses, B2C eCommerce targets primary consumers with a finished product. In other words, B2B deals with business partners while B2C deals with end users.
Notable examples of B2B companies in eCommerce include:
The global market for B2B eCommerce reached $ 6,883.47 billion in 2021 and experts project it to grow at a compound annual rate of 19.7% between 2022 and 2030.
A typical B2B buyer journey is an ongoing process, where the business customers may require recurring technical support at different touchpoints while fulfilling a bigger request. On other hand, a B2C customer journey requires little to no support once the goods or services have been bought.
