B2B businesses have been in the market for the last two decades, but recently their popularity is increased significantly. According to a study, B2B e-commerce business sales will reach 1.77 trillion US dollars in 2022, a 12 percent increase compared to 2021.
B2B marketplace’s importance cannot be neglected, and its business model enhances the networking between business-to-business sales. The future of this marketplace is promising for potential manufacturers, suppliers, and wholesalers.
If you don’t know what are b2b marketplaces and the benefits of selling on B2B marketplace, read this guide to know the emerging world of the B2B marketplace.
What Are B2B Marketplaces?
B2B marketplace is a platform that brings B2B sellers and buyers on a single platform to conduct business online. In the B2B marketplace, the sellers are manufacturers, wholesalers, brands, and suppliers, and the customers are other organizations or companies ordering products in bulk.
The target audience of B2B sellers is different businesses who want bulk products at cost-effective prices. If you are running a small or medium-sized business, you will need the services of B2B sellers at some point.
Benefits of Selling on B2B Marketplaces
If you are a small wholesaler or manufacturer struggling to promote your business, then the B2B marketplace encompasses multiple benefits to scale your business.
Below are some potential benefits of selling on B2B marketplaces.
Expanding Audience Reach
There are multiple challenges that you can face when you try to expand internationally through trade. Language barriers between the states can create hurdles for you to let buyers understand the worth of your product in their language.
To tackle this issue, you have to hire an agent who can explain the value of your products to buyers. Moreover, you may need to contact numerous trade agents and logistics companies to initiate the sales process. All of these measures are costly and time-consuming. But in B2B online marketplace, these issues are easy to cover.
Leading B2B marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba have thousands of buyers across different countries. These marketplaces allow you to reach international buyers and facilitate your trade process.
According to a recent study, the number of active annual consumers on Alibaba reached 131 billion. Among these consumers, 1 billion were from China, and the remaining 310 million were from overseas. This shows the remarkable reach of these platforms across the globe.
Entrance into the B2B marketplace provides you an exceptional opportunity to reach worldwide customers without becoming an international trade expert.
Creating Your Online Presence
Creating an online brand is among the greatest challenges small business owners face. Businesses having excessive financial resources have developed their e-commerce stores, but small businesses find it hard to do so due to their limited budget.
Developing an online e-commerce store needs time and money. Firstly, you must choose the right platform for your business and spend money on content addition and managing the site. You must master Search Engine Optimization so buyers can reach your website. It’s a long-term process that requires time and patience.
B2B marketplaces save your time and money. These marketplaces have already developed the groundwork for you, as most B2B marketplaces are already SEO optimized. It leads to better visibility of your products. You have to create an account and add your products and start selling. This process will take a limited time frame.
Be a part of B2B growing marketplace and enhance your brand presence by reaching numerous buyers globally.
Reducing Operational Costs
Nearly half of your business budget is spent on marketing and promotional strategies for your business. You have to print product catalogs and start promoting on both traditional (newspapers, billboards) and electronic media (online marketing, running advertisements on Google ads, Facebook, etc.).
After becoming a B2B marketplace member, you have to create online product catalogs to promote your products. You don’t have to print them and invest in traditional marketing practices for brand promotion. Utilize the saved budget in traveling worldwide for business perspectives and displaying your products in renowned B2B events.
Most B2B marketplaces charge a specific fee for operating in their marketplace. Moreover, some of them also charge you for every transaction you place. However, these costs are affordable, and you can recover that money quickly after establishing your business within that marketplace.
Test Your Innovative and New Products
Innovation should be the main focal point of your business strategy. Even If your product is innovative and gets extraordinary attention on B2B marketplaces, your competitors can still outperform you after a specific period. Therefore, continuous innovation of your online supplier marketplace is essential.
B2B marketplace is an ideal platform for launching your new products. For ideal promotion, you can offer your customers free samples to test new ideas. You can also demand their reviews to get a clear picture of your product standing.
Surpassing Your Competitors
After knowing about what are b2b marketplaces, the next question that surrounds the mind of business owners is that “How much will I get return on the investment?”
The good thing is that there is no risk involved, and the returns can be huge. You are just charged a membership fee or service fee for every transaction. By paying this small amount of money, you get access to a vast number of customers globally.
If your competitors are traditional sellers, entering the B2B marketplace allows you to access new markets and get ahead of the competition.
Easy Access to Foreign Markets
As a business owner, your dream is to expand your business and become multinational. Well! It’s not easy if you do it on your own as it requires excessive financial resources and strong networking.
B2B marketplaces have enabled small sellers to sell their products internationally in their marketplaces as no other platform has ever done. You can display your products in their marketplaces and get access to foreign consumers purchasing your products.
Bottom Line
It’s evident that B2B marketplaces have gained tremendous popularity across the globe in the past few years. B2B marketplace is a lucrative option for small and medium manufacturers, suppliers, or wholesalers.
These marketplaces save time and money and give you an ample opportunity to display your products in front of a massive audience. Are you convinced now to enter the B2B marketplace? If yes, it’s an ample opportunity to take advantage of the growing online shopping trend.
FAQs
Which is the best B2B marketplace?
The best B2B marketplaces around the globe include:
- Amazon
- Alibaba
- Shopify
- Big Commerce
What is an example of a B2B marketplace?
A few prominent examples of B2B marketplace include Alibaba and Amazon. These marketplaces are designed to facilitate the needs of different businesses.
