B2B commerce
B2B commerce is trade between businesses. Digital workflows need to connect the company, ordering person and applicable terms correctly.
Accounting for the buying business in the sales process
B2B commerce means business-to-business trade: the sale of goods or services between businesses. A business can buy for its own operations or for resale. Sales can take place through a portal, through personal sales contact or through other channels. Large order quantities and individually agreed terms are possible features, but neither is required. What matters is the commercial relationship between the businesses.
A fictional cleaning business orders supplies for its teams from a merchant. In the intended portal, the order belongs to the company account; authorised contacts can order for their assigned work locations. Company-specific prices should appear only in the appropriate account. When a contact changes, the business remains the customer. Planning would therefore need to represent businesses, people, permissions and delivery locations separately and connect them correctly at ordering. A business-looking email address alone would not reliably establish that connection.
Sources
Related terms
- E-commerceE-commerce describes trade through digital ordering channels. Payment and delivery need not take place online as well.
- B2C commerceB2C commerce is a business selling to individual consumers. The term describes the buyer relationship, not a particular shop technology.
- Delivery capabilityDelivery capability describes whether a specific request can be fulfilled. A stock value alone does not fully answer questions of quantity, destination and time.
- Order historyOrder history shows previous orders within an agreed account scope. Old prices, current availability and current processing remain separate information.
- Dealer portalA dealer portal gives affiliated dealers digital access to agreed information and workflows. Its scope and company assignment need to be clear.
- Billing addressThe billing address is a separate address in an order or invoicing process. It must not be accidentally swapped with the delivery address.
Articles on this topic
E-Commerce with ASES
Online shops, marketplaces and B2B portals