What is Business-to-Business eCommerce? B2B eCommerce is the online purchasing and selling of goods and services between two or more businesses. Traditionally, eCommerce is seen as business-to-consumer, however, business-to-business eCommerce has seen a rapid growth of over 40% in the past 5 years. Because of this growth, there has been a recent rise in demand for businesses to transition their business to an online platform. Benefits of B2B eCommerce With today’s business world rapidly evolving into an online-based platform, there has been a very large shift toward doing business online as well. By moving your business to the web, there are a lot of benefits you can benefit from. With instantly available, comparable, and configurable products/services, eCommerce has revolutionized how we do business. With your business online, you are able to update your pricing, discounts, promotions, and deals within a module. These modules do more than just update information. You are able to analyze your website in order to study user behavior. Being able to access these analytics gives the business an edge when trying to tailor their product to the needs of the market. Consumers are able to create their own customized profiles. These profiles can be used to recommend products, save shopping carts, create a social community, collect product reviews, and more. One of the greatest benefits of moving your business to eCommerce is you can now benefit from applications such as DNN Evoq and Evoq Social, DNN Portals, and even Microsoft GP integration. All of these applications can greatly increase the utility and efficiency your eCommerce platform provides you. Disadvantages of B2B eCommerce The biggest disadvantage to doing business online is the lack of human touch. Without a sales representative greeting your customers, you have to find different ways to create a unique experience for each user. A way to do that is through product visualization, whether you use pictures or videos, it is essential for a business to make up for the lack of human interactions. Because the consumer is unable to physically test your product, offering a trial or digital demo can help ease that disadvantage. You'll also have to make use of a third-party B2B payment gateway since cash won't be an option. Another worry with eCommerce is security. With secure information located all throughout your web, you will need to make sure you have all your loopholes tied and your site is secured. Types of Business-to-Business eCommerce Websites Company: Thought of as a gateway, or a preview exhibit. Company websites serve as an entrance to an extranet set available to customers or registered users. Product Supply and Procurement Exchanges: A B2B procurement website where a purchasing agency may shop for supplies from a vendor, request quotes, and make bids on goods and services. Specialized or Vertical Industry Portals: Portals that provide information regarding product listings, discussion groups, and more. These portal sites have more utility than procurement sites. Brokering Sites: Brokering sites act as an intermediary between a consumer and a supplier. Information Sites: Websites that provide information about a product, service, or company. Business to Business eCommerce is a rapidly growing industry, see how you can improve your eCommerce here.