B2B Ecommerce

B2B ecommerce, or business to business ecommerce, or e-biz, refers to commercial transactions between business entities (e.g. distributors and retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers). Although early interests were in business to consumer (B2C) commerce or etailing, a 2000 study shows that money volume of B2B ecommerce beats B2C at a ratio of 10:1.

Based on how they operate, B2B ecommerce websites are categorized into two: vertical and horizontal. Vertical sites offer information (e.g. news, discussions) and cater to needs of a specific industry such as retail. Horizontal sites offer goods and services, and are not specific to any market. The role of B2B sites is to help vendors and merchants to private transactions. The following are the various types of B2B ecommerce websites.

Eprocurement sites are where a purchasing agent can shop for goods and services from buyers or sellers. Buyers or sellers may provide proposals or request bids.

Vortal or vertical portal sites focus on an industry or subject area (e.g. Economics, Politics). They may provide product listings and discussion threads.

Brokering sites play as liaison between merchants and vendors.

Infomediary (information and intermediary) sites gather and organize vast amount of information, and act as liaison between the party needing the information and the party supplying it. They may provide project tracking, information about a niche market, market forecast, and facilities to its members.