Featured in B2B by simon

Wholesalers, distributors, and other B2B suppliers have more options for finding customers and promoting their products online than they did ten years ago.

Startups, for example, are experimenting with all-encompassing marketplaces and sites for businesses to rate suppliers and subcontractors with whom they’ve done business.ContractorsCustomers.com, for example, markets itself as a kind of Yelp for businesses. The site launched in 2016 to allow small to medium sized contractors, manufacturers, distributors, professionals, and other companies to rate subcontractors they’ve worked with. As with Yelp, the site would allow potential businesses to read reviews of potential business partners before signing a contract.More to the point for B2B suppliers is Touch4Biz.com, which is positioning itself as a global marketplace for almost 30 industry categories including apparel, surgical instruments. and agriculture.

B2B Online Marketplaces Now the Fashion

These developments mark the continued shift in B2B commerce away from sales desks and telephone orders to ordering and shopping behavior akin to the consumer sector.A 2016 report from B2BEC News identified around 60 B2B online marketplaces around the world, ranging from the giant China-based generalist Alibaba, to eBay, to more specific marketplaces like Joor and NuOrder, two success stories in the Apparel sector.Analysts say B2C eCommerce is still light years ahead of B2B eCommerce, and a much simpler proposition, but the advantages of using online B2B marketplaces are apparent. The primary benefit may be access.B2B marketplaces give suppliers access to more customers than they could dream of contacting directly. The customers will come from across the globe, vetted buyers that are already motivated to purchase a product, specifically when selling through an online marketplace devoted to a specific industry.B2B marketplaces make it easier for wholesalers to prospect for potential customers and to complete the sales cycle without having to spend time on the phone.In short, as online marketplaces have added sales channels to B2C companies, the B2B online marketplace is poised to provide more sales opportunities as B2B eCommerce continues to mature.