Build a Better B2B Marketplace to Connect Buyers & Sellers
What is a B2B Marketplace?
Unlike traditional B2B eCommerce, a B2B marketplace brings together multiple vendors and buyers into a single, common platform. If you are not familiar with what B2B marketplaces are, you need to look no further than businesses like eBay and Amazon. Both companies operate online marketplaces that have been so successful they have gone on to become household names.
Within a B2B online marketplace structure, there will usually be a marketplace operator. The operator not only sells their own products but will also encourage other sellers and suppliers to advertise and sell their products on the same online marketplace for a fee. The concept is not dissimilar to a physical market, with various businesses selling all kinds of products (wholesale or retail), but instead of deals taking place in a market square, they are done online through a website.
Buyers use marketplaces to fulfil a variety of purchasing needs. However, online transactions reduce purchases to single, straightforward processes that can provide digital records of previous purchases in a versatile framework. It is possible to carry out transactions at any time of day or night, year-round, and even when your office is closed. Best of all, everything is done on a computer or even ‘on the go’ using a mobile device.
For smaller sellers and suppliers, an online marketplace can create tremendous opportunities to sell to global audiences, capturing new customers that would otherwise be out of reach due to constraints such as geographic location or time differences.
Business Benefits of a Multi-Vendor B2B Marketplace
- ENRICH OFFERINGS
- IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
- DIVERSIFY REVENUE
Change the Way You Do Business
Enrich your offerings by facilitating transactions for products and services between third-party vendors and their customers. Add vendors, products, or services from regions that were previously out of reach to efficiently grow your marketplace, all without investing in additional inventory, marketing, manufacturing, or warehousing facilities.
Leverage the power of partnerships, open the door to new opportunities and create an online marketplace that your buyers will want to visit repeatedly and your sellers and suppliers will want to sell on.
Create Your Own Ecosystem
Create the most attractive marketplace possible by improving the customer experience and expanding your offerings. Become the first website your customers will want to visit and spend their money on. Transform your value chain by bringing buyers and sellers together in a 24/7 ecosystem structured to fully service their needs. Improve efficiency by automating your business management processes and integrating with those of the companies you interact with.
B2B e-marketplaces bring together global vendors, providers, and buyers, allowing them to engage in the exchange of products and services in a complete ecosystem that benefits all.
Enjoy New Revenue Streams
Rather than just making revenue when you make a sale, take advantage of an online B2B marketplace that generates revenue through services and subscriptions whenever your competitor makes a sale.
When you simplify the buying and selling process, you fling open the doors widely to greater financial rewards.
Are B2C and B2B Marketplaces the Same?
If you’re wondering whether B2B marketplaces are the same as B2C marketplaces, the short answer is ‘no’. Unfortunately, many B2B marketplaces are geared purely to the needs of B2B eCommerce, whereas B2C ones aren’t able to properly support the significantly more complex nature of B2B businesses. As such, the two really are not readily interchangeable. Business-focused marketplaces that can specifically support B2B sales also perform the following functions:
Bulk ordering capabilities
Purchase order acceptance
Unique prices with tiered or quantity discounts
Quote, RFP and negotiation workflows
Personalisation for prices, products and marketing
B2B-friendly payment types and terms
B2B eCommerce Marketplaces Create Value
eCommerce B2B marketplaces make life easier for everyone involved and can add considerable value for all. Through an online market website, customers can easily access a much wider variety of products and services from around the world. Sellers can sell their products and services to new customers in a broader global market that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible to them. And all businesses operating within the marketplace can create considerably more revenue through sellers enrolling and buyers making payments.
Marketing Leaders
Buying and selling are increasingly being done digitally, something that will undoubtedly continue for the foreseeable future. Access markets in a global marketplace that makes for one of the most significant disrupters to B2B eCommerce.
Directors of Digital
Transactions of every kind are transitioning online at an unprecedented pace, a trend that currently has no end in sight. Nurture your core competencies and become a director of digital through complementary payment, credit, and logistics services.
Why Choose OroCommerce for Your B2B Marketplace?
Multi Organisation Capabilities
With an OroCommerce platform, businesses can quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively scale up without limits to accommodate new vendors globally without affecting the performance of their marketplace.
Built for B2B
Simplify the complexities of B2B selling, configure and manage buyer, seller and supplier accounts, handle procurement processes and create a fully flexible platform capable of carrying out all B2B transactions in any type of market.
Powerful Pricing Engine
In order to give vendors the ability to offer a flexible quotation system, the OroCommerce platform allows for the creation of a powerful pricing engine that accommodates complex rules for prices.
Streamlined Negotiations Capabilities
As well as a powerful pricing engine, your business can also take advantage of automated Bid to Quote to Order and Request for Proposal processes. These powerful features help automate tedious processes that are inherently labour intensive and prone to human error. The result is a faster sales cycle, which will in turn significantly improve efficiency and allow you to offer the best service possible upstream and downstream.
Multiple Payment Options
Allow for a variety of flexible payment options to open the door to more types of customers, including support for credit, debit and finance. Even collecting payment from abroad becomes fast, pain-free and automated.
Easy Integration
Seamlessly integrate with several business systems with readily available APIs and allow for two-way instantaneous data synchronisation in real-time between your online B2B marketplace solution, ERP, CRM, WMS, or 3PL. The automation these integrations bring can save your company considerable time and money, let alone reducing headaches caused by manual errors.
Flexible and Customisable
No two B2B marketplaces are the same, and many are too rigid in their structure. This is why the platform offered by OroCommerce is fully flexible and customisable. The platform allows your company to quickly build and efficiently manage its eCommerce marketplace. What’s more, our software is fully open-source, providing unlimited scope for customisation to match your exact requirements.
Why Choose OroCommerce for Your B2B Marketplace?
Multi Organisation Capabilities
Multi Organisation Capabilities
With an OroCommerce platform, businesses can quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively scale up without limits to accommodate new vendors globally without affecting the performance of their marketplace.
Built for B2B
Built for B2B
Simplify the complexities of B2B selling, configure and manage buyer, seller and supplier accounts, handle procurement processes and create a fully flexible platform capable of carrying out all B2B transactions in any type of market.
Powerful Pricing Engine
Powerful Pricing Engine
In order to give vendors the ability to offer a flexible quotation system, the OroCommerce platform allows for the creation of a powerful pricing engine that accommodates complex rules for prices.
Streamlined Negotiations Capabilities
Streamlined Negotiations Capabilities
As well as a powerful pricing engine, your business can also take advantage of automated Bid to Quote to Order and Request for Proposal processes. These powerful features help automate tedious processes that are inherently labour intensive and prone to human error. The result is a faster sales cycle, which will in turn significantly improve efficiency and allow you to offer the best service possible upstream and downstream.
Multiple Payment Options
Multiple Payment Options
Allow for a variety of flexible payment options to open the door to more types of customers, including support for credit, debit and finance. Even collecting payment from abroad becomes fast, pain-free and automated.
Easy Integration
Easy Integration
Seamlessly integrate with several business systems with readily available APIs and allow for two-way instantaneous data synchronisation in real-time between your online B2B marketplace solution, ERP, CRM, WMS, or 3PL. The automation these integrations bring can save your company considerable time and money, let alone reducing headaches caused by manual errors.
Flexible and Customisable
Flexible and Customisable
No two B2B marketplaces are the same, and many are too rigid in their structure. This is why the platform offered by OroCommerce is fully flexible and customisable. The platform allows your company to quickly build and efficiently manage its eCommerce marketplace. What’s more, our software is fully open-source, providing unlimited scope for customisation to match your exact requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions about B2B Marketplaces
What is a B2B wholesale marketplace?
A B2B wholesale marketplace is an eCommerce platform where wholesale suppliers and vendors come together to sell their products. Sometimes referred to as a B2B eCommerce marketplace, it enables sellers to reach more customers and simplify the sales process.
How do you set up a B2B marketplace?
There are a few things that go into creating a thriving B2B marketplace. You’ll need to find your niche, define a monetisation model, and finally, identify who your ideal users are to attract and engage with them.
Once you have these fundamentals in place, it’s time to build your B2B marketplace platform. While you can develop your platform from scratch, a faster and cheaper way is to use B2B marketplace software. Make sure that your B2B marketplace management system is customisable and flexible enough to support you every step of the way.
What are the monetisation models of B2B marketplaces?
There are four key monetisation models for B2B marketplaces:
- A subscription fee, which includes monthly or yearly payments for a certain set of features
- A transaction fee is the most popular type of revenue channel out there. Most of the marketplaces charge a commission from the transactions on their platform.
- A listing fee describes a fee for making your product or service available on the marketplace.
- Featured ads mean selling ads targeted at your users, which provides another successful way to monetise.
Why use B2B marketplaces?
Any business looking to scale up, expand its customer base and connect with other companies should consider joining a B2B marketplace. B2B marketplaces offer a massive opportunity for increasing sales and forging new business partnerships and collaborations – so it can provide a boost to your business.