How to Have a Successful B2B Business Model

Specific Features for Buying Groups

For a buying group, there may be hard and soft stops with advanced logic, that you probably won’t see in an off-the-shelf marketplace platform.

An enterprise eMarketplace platform, like Clarity eCommerce Framework, will have these advanced logic features and others that a buying group will need.

Buying groups in particular have specific needs, so finding the right platform is especially important.

eAuction Workflows

For example, you may run auctions within your eMarketplace platform. This is useful for businesses looking to clear their inventory, because they can quickly sell items in the auctions.

eAuctions require a unique business workflow. Usually, for large ticket items, there’s a prequalification step, or series of steps, to verify that the buyer has the resources to complete the purchase.

The eAuction software also needs to be advanced notifications and interactions with the bidding process and the auction itself. This includes notifications for the end users, so they’re kept apprised when items they’re interested in come online for bid.

You also need to be able to complete the fulfillment, and have a well-governed interaction between the buyer and seller via the B2B eMarketplace platform.

Industry-Specific Adaptations

This is where a B2B business model differs from a B2C or C2C business model. A B2B marketplace typically has advanced and unique logic based on the industries and niches it’s serving.

Ideally, the B2B and enterprise eCommerce marketplace reflects and adapts to its particular industry.

This will be consistent throughout your business model and the entire system, including your accounting and inventory management, logistics, fulfillment, and data and analytics software.

In other words, the entire business should be looking at how you can serve your customer, which in this case is a B2B customer.

There will be advanced and specific needs that need to be automated, and the B2B marketplace platform needs to be very self-service oriented.

Automate Processes

When operating with B2B eMarketplaces, you want to think of it as an opportunity to take any manual processes and turn those into automated processes, wherever it’s logical and reasonable to do so.

Research Other B2B Marketplaces

A good way to get ideas and concepts for various things is by researching and reviewing other B2B marketplaces to see what works for them.

The fundamental situation, though, is that most B2B interactions tend to be more complicated than a B2C or a C2C interaction. Therefore, there will be more nuance and detail to how the workflow needs to go.

Plan Ahead with an Experienced Partner

One of the big things that you can do is map out and strategize how that business workflow is going to go upfront with a partner who has completed the process successfully.

A partner who’s done this successfully would have helped a business go from where they are in their top line revenue and delivering value within their marketplace system, to a much higher level. Or with a business starting from nothing having a brand new presence, they would’ve helped turn it into a successful operation.

It’s helpful to work with someone who’s done both of these things, growing an existing B2B marketplace as well as building a new B2B marketplace. This is because there’s a lot your partner will have learned by taking both of these approaches.

Consider UX Features from B2C and C2C

We also recommend researching what’s working in the B2C and C2C space.

Although there are differences between the B2B and C2C marketplaces and the B2B marketplace, there are many advantages and opportunities for arbitrage, by bringing ideas that are working in those marketplaces over to your B2B marketplace.

In particular, oftentimes the B2B marketplace eCommerce platforms focus on functionality. This may be at the expense of communicating effectively via intuitive user experience (UX).

An example of this would be a search—somebody might be doing a search and not realize they can use different search terms. They can use SKUs, possibly manufacturer-specific SKUs, synonyms, or use filters or other ways of searching.

If the user experience isn’t clear and it’s not messaged properly, or it’s not delineated on the site, the end user may not recognize that they can search in these different ways. They may not find the items they’re looking for, and they might leave the site.

In a similar fashion, it’s helpful to have recommendations and alternative options to choose from.

Many B2B websites won’t necessarily present these other options. These immersive options include related items, items that other customers have purchased, and items recommended based on their browsing history.

You’ll see these features in B2C marketplaces, and they make a lot of sense for B2B marketplaces too.

Consider keeping an open mind and identifying trends within B2C and C2C offerings that you can bring into your B2B marketplace.

It’s also helpful if you work with a partner who has worked with B2C and C2C marketplaces in addition to B2B.

They will be better adept at implementing these technologies and features as they’re coming into the B2C and C2C space, so your B2B marketplace can benefit from those best practices.