Marketplace Model: The Future of B2B E-Commerce?

B2B e-commerce is undergoing a seismic shift, with the marketplace model emerging as a 🏁 clear winner. BCG data reveals that marketplace growth is outpacing traditional e-commerce by 7X.

But what's driving this explosive growth?

B2B buyers prefer the marketplace model, because 8 out of 10 of their most important needs are fulfilled better through marketplaces than traditional e-commerce sites (see the image). This drives much faster growth of marketplaces than traditional e-commerce, which is growing fast in itself.

This data comes from a newly published Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey on B2B e-commerce and marketplace habits.

While it covers traditional B2B marketplaces, it's easy to see how these insights apply to hyperscaler cloud marketplaces as well.

📈 B2B E-commerce Expansion

B2B e-commerce continues to expand rapidly, with global sales hitting $23.4 trillion in 2023 and a growth rate of 16%. Sales in North America and Europe reached $4.8 trillion.

The trend toward online sales shows no sign of slowing down, with over 50% of SMBs planning to increase their online procurement spending in the coming year.

What's more, the marketplace model is growing at a rate 7X faster than traditional e-commerce because it creates higher efficiencies for buyers, sellers, and marketplace operators.

🛒 Buyers Prefer Choice and Convenience

B2B buyers believe this model is superior, because marketplaces offer B2B buyers easier access to a wider range of quality products, better availability and visibility of inventory, good customer service, flexible delivery, and individual pricing.

BCG respondents highlight that

"the marketplace offers time savings for buyers by allowing them to compare a wide range of products, prices, delivery times, and service quality all in one place."

📊 Sellers Like Scale and Access

Why do sellers prefer marketplaces?

Sellers participate in marketplaces to expand customer reach, increase geographic coverage, and reduce the need for a large salesforce along with associated selling costs.

⚖️ Why Are B2B Companies Launching Marketplaces?

✔️️ Better Customer Proposition

Marketplaces act as a one-stop shop with an expanded range, so customers don’t need to look anywhere else.

✔️️ Operational Simplicity. Companies can focus on core products while fulfilling broad customer needs.

✔️️ Economic Benefits: Marketplaces provide additional revenue streams.

✔️️ Data insights into customer needs and behavior.

🎁 Marketplaces Rely on High-Quality Sellers

A marketplace is most successful when it becomes a buyer’s exclusive and trusted procurement option. Key to achieving this is having multiple high-quality sellers. As a result, continuous recruitment of sellers is critical.

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