3 benefits of B2B marketplaces

Today, B2B marketplaces are changing the game for forward-thinking B2B businesses. This approach to e-commerce allows a B2B business to become a marketplace sponsor and digitally connect buyers and suppliers to streamline the supply chain. 

It’s important to recognize that there are three roles in a B2B marketplace; the sponsor or seller, the buyer, and the supplier. A B2B marketplace is an ecosystem and it runs the best when it’s in balance and benefiting each role. 

Here are the three benefits of B2B marketplaces:

Benefits for the sponsor or seller:

Role definition: Businesses who connect buyers with suppliers. These businesses are the “owner” of the marketplace and have an aggregated group of buyers they want to connect to a select group of suppliers. 

Benefits: Sponsors capture process benefits by offloading the task of product information management to suppliers and automating workflows and approval processes required for orders to be submitted and fulfilled. Additionally, by capturing their aggregate demand in a digital marketplace, Sponsors can negotiate better pricing. From there, a Sponsor captures margin by marking up supplier prices or by receiving supplier rebates when products are sold.

Benefits for the buyers:

Role definition: Businesses that buy goods and services.

Benefits: From a Buyer’s perspective, these businesses get a single integrated experience with access to many (if not all) supplier products that they need in one place. Additionally, a B2B marketplace allows workflows to be automated. There is no need to cut multiple POs or re-enter orders into an ERP. There is no need to place orders across multiple systems, spreadsheets, or phone calls. 

Benefits for the suppliers:

Role definition: Businesses that supply or sell goods and services.

Benefits: From a Supplier’s standpoint, a B2B marketplace allows them to standardize how they bring their products to market. B2B marketplace technology allows a supplier to easily plug their entire product catalog into the marketplace, update and manage product data, and have access to aggregate demand all in one place. And by managing a single interface to many disparate buyers, the marketplace allows suppliers to also maintain a single integration point for orders, easing the burden of automating order flow and dramatically reducing order processing costs. 

Together, the three roles of a B2B marketplace work together to create benefits for one another. 

B2B marketplaces are changing how B2B businesses generate revenue, cut costs, connect supply chains, and more. For more information on B2B marketplaces, download Sitecore’s free B2B Marketplace Introduction guide.