How buyers and suppliers benefit from the B2B marketplace

The ever-growing business-to-business marketplaces, popularly known as B2B marketplaces, are changing the way business is done. These online marketplaces hold immense potential for both buyers and suppliers, thanks to their seamless transaction processes and global reach.

What is a B2B marketplace?

B2B marketplace is an Internet-based online platform where buyers and sellers can communicate and transact business. Buyers here are not consumers, they are businesses, and they can be anyone: wholesalers, retailers, and other merchants in a specific industry. These marketplaces act as vertical search engines. Vertical search engines contain information about a specific industry or industries. For example, a B2B marketplace for fabrics will contain information only on fabric manufacturers, while a B2B marketplace for beads will contain information only on bead manufacturers. There are certain larger marketplaces like indiamart.com that include manufacturers and suppliers from various industries. Therefore, a B2B marketplace means serious business and is different from B2C platforms that connect businesses with consumers.

Why a B2B marketplace?

A lot of research and surveys have been done on the search behavior of professional and business users. These studies say that when professionals use general-purpose search engines like Google and Yahoo, they don’t get specific information about their work-related queries. A keyword-based search can return various results in the form of scattered information contained in various websites, blogs, etc. not necessarily useful for commercial purposes.

In contrast, vertical searches on B2B marketplaces or B2B trade directories (B2B trade specific websites) provide the required business information that professionals need. If we take the previous example of a fabric market, we can relate to other professionals, for example, a ribbon wholesaler. It will be much easier for him to search for ribbon suppliers in a narrow B2B marketplace for fabrics. These specialized websites have at least two advantages over general search engines. First of all, they know exactly what the needs of their target community are and have complete knowledge about their requirements. Second, they can make hard assumptions based on their solid knowledge and make search activity fruitful through expert organization of product content.

B2B market and its potential

The B2B marketplace uses its potential for the benefit of buyers and sellers. It gives them instant access to a global audience.

Benefits for buyers:

• A B2B marketplace removes all geographic barriers and buyers gain access to a host of new suppliers.
• Access to simple and easy-to-use online transaction processing reduces transaction costs and saves time.
• Buyers can compare the products and services offered in a marketplace to make efficient purchasing decisions.
• Delivery tracking is also easier, apart from quality assurance by established B2B marketplaces that have their own brand equity.

Benefits for Providers:

• When a supplier does business locally, its market is limited. A B2B marketplace provides the opportunity to do business globally and explore new markets.
• Online sales processing minimizes the need for additional human and material resources, which significantly reduces overall costs.
• The listed products are combined with the e-catalog (supplier directory) and the seller’s web store, helping to convert a potential buyer into an actual buyer.
• In addition to product listings, B2B portals also include many other features such as discussion groups, the latest industry news, and other business-oriented information that companies can use to expand their businesses.

In fact, B2B marketplaces have proven to be comprehensive business solutions for both buyers and suppliers.