B2B Marketplace – Reinventing Web to Maximize Sales & Customer Satisfaction
Business-to-business or B2B marketplaces refer to virtual or online marketplaces where numerous buyers meet numerous sellers in order to conduct transactions. <br>• In other words, B2B portals offer an e-market for e-business transactions. <br>• B2B market places differ from ecommerce sites (where a single vendor trades with numerous buyers) and information trade directories (where no actual transactions are conducted). <br>Some of the underlying advantages of B2B marketplaces include:<br>• Efficiencies from automation of transactions<br>• Economic advantage of new market intermediaries <br>• Strengthening of demand and supply channels via organized exchanges<br>• Vertical integration of companies <br>The upsurge in popularity of B2B portals is mainly because technology has taken over paper communication.<br>This has speeded up business processes and improved accuracy.<br>The overall effect is improvement in business efficiency and greater satisfaction to customers.<br>With numerous B2B portals available, how does one choose the best or the most appropriate?<br>Here are a few check points that will enable you to separate the good ones from the lot:<br>• It must frequently update data of companies listed. Any B2B portal that does this promptly will always offer the latest information on its web page.<br>• The portal is search engine optimized. This means when you enter the keyword its page rank is between 1 and 10.<br>• The portal is adequately certified by notifications such as VISA, payment gateways, etc. <br>• The portal must provide adequate statistical data about itself. In this regard, Esources is an excellent example.<br>• Feedback, either via word of mouth or through present members, must be good. You must also go through references, reviews, and certificates. Esources.co.uk review has been consistently positive.<br>• A good B2B portal has high class advertisers. <br>• Assess the range of topics covered in the portal. A large number of topics can point to a good knowledge base about its scope of activities. This will indicate the portal’s ability to provide updated and useful data to its members and visitors. <br>Here are some forward-thinking benefits companies reap through B2B portals:<br>• Leverage up-selling and cross-selling opportunities<br>o By reaching out to potential customers and by analyzing the information contained in the portal, suppliers can easily find out what products and services appeal to potential consumers. <br>o This will allow the sellers to make use of cross-selling or up-selling techniques to entice customers to purchase additional products. <br>• Offers customers multiple channels for campaigning <br>o Typically, vendors would like to be on several platforms to increase their exposure. <br>o For example, if a new product is launched, a company would like its announcement in newspapers, journals, blogs, on Facebook, and via email campaigns. <br>o Emails and social media are excellent platforms for delivering real time news and updates of a new product. <br>o Multichannel marketing also allows for connected branding. Personalized messages in each medium help immensely in reaching out to the broadest audience. <br>o B2B portals enable companies to distribute news or promotions across all online platforms. <br>Esources is a wonderful example of a great B2B website.<br>It is the largest wholesale market place in the United Kingdom, allowing businesses to reach out and transact with over 70,000 trade buyers. <br><br><br><br> <br>
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