B2B e-commerce is one business buying from another business online. The order goes through a website, a customer portal, a marketplace, or a direct link between the two companies' systems, instead of a phone call or a sales visit. A restaurant group reordering packaging from its supplier's portal is B2B e-commerce. So is a hospital buying gloves on Amazon Business.
What sets it apart from consumer e-commerce is the buyer. A business buyer often needs things a shopper does not: a company account, an agreed price, a manager's approval, or an invoice to pay later. This guide explains how B2B e-commerce works, where it is heading, and what form it could take in your business.
Who this guide is for
This guide is written for business owners and the e-commerce, sales and operations teams of companies that sell to other businesses, or want to. Three readers will get the most from it:
- Manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers that sell offline today. Your orders arrive by phone, email or through sales reps, and you want customers to order online. Start with how B2B e-commerce works and how to get started.
- Brands that already sell online to consumers and want business buyers too. For example, a food or beauty brand with its own online shop that now wants to sell in bulk to retailers, or to list on a B2B marketplace such as Alibaba.com or Amazon Business. Start with the B2B vs. B2C differences and marketplaces vs. your own site.
- Anyone new to the term. If you have been asked to look into B2B e-commerce and are starting from zero, read the guide in order. Each section explains its terms the first time they come up.
What this means for you: start with the sections named for your situation.
B2B e-commerce definition: What it includes
B2B e-commerce covers three common ways an order can reach the seller:
- Your own website or portal. The buyer logs in, sees their products and prices, and places the order.
- A marketplace. Many sellers list on one site, such as Amazon Business or Alibaba.com, and the buyer compares them there.
- System to system. The buyer's purchasing software and the seller's software exchange the order directly. The long-standing form is EDI (electronic data interchange), which passes orders and invoices between two companies' computers in a fixed format. A related method is punchout: the buyer opens the seller's catalog from inside their own purchasing system, fills a cart, and the cart's items are returned to that system (Oracle documentation).
You will also see "B2B commerce." That is the wider term: all selling between businesses, online or offline. B2B e-commerce is the online part. Some vendors also use "B2B Commerce" as a product name, which is a label and not a different idea.
What this means for you: when someone proposes a B2B e-commerce project, ask first which of these methods it covers.
B2B vs. B2C e-commerce: What changes in the buying experience
B2B e-commerce and B2C e-commerce use similar technology. The buying is different. These are typical differences, and your own customers may sit somewhere in between.
| B2C e-commerce | B2B e-commerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Who buys | One person, for themselves | A company, often several people with different roles |
| Price | Usually one public price | Often set per customer or by volume, and sometimes shown only after login |
| Order | Usually smaller | Often larger and repeated, with minimums or case quantities |
| Approval | None | A manager or purchasing team may need to approve it |
| Payment | Paid at checkout | Often an invoice paid later on agreed terms |
| Product details | Photos, a description, and reviews are often enough | Buyers may also need specifications, pack sizes, and availability before they can order |
So a good B2B e-commerce experience looks different from a good consumer one. The buyer wants to log in and see their own prices and products, repeat last month's order in a few clicks, and reach a person when the order is unusual. In McKinsey's 2024 survey of B2B decision makers, more than half said they would likely look elsewhere if moving between a supplier's channels was not smooth (McKinsey).
What to check: whether the way you sell online today can handle your customers' pricing, approval, and payment needs.
How B2B e-commerce works
Here is one order on a seller's own portal, from start to finish. It is an invented example, and many sellers do not use every step.
Example: a regional coffee chain buys paper cups from a packaging distributor.
- Account. The chain applies for a trade account. The distributor approves it and sets it up as a company, with its buyers and delivery addresses.
- Catalog and price. A buyer logs in and sees the products and prices agreed for their company. Cups are sold by the case, with a minimum order.
- Cart or quote. For a normal reorder, the buyer fills a cart. For something unusual, such as custom-printed cups, they ask for a quote first and the distributor replies with a price.
- Approval and purchase order. If the order is above the buyer's spending limit, their manager approves it. The buyer adds a purchase order (PO) number, which is their own company's reference for the purchase.
- Payment terms. The chain does not pay at checkout. It gets an invoice and an agreed time to pay. On "net 30" terms, that time is 30 days (Shopify Help Center).
- Fulfillment. The order passes into the distributor's ERP, the system that holds stock, prices, and invoices. The buyer sees a delivery date and tracking.
- Reorder. Next month the buyer repeats the same order from their order history.
With EDI, the order travels differently. The chain's purchasing system sends it straight to the distributor's system, with no visit to the portal.
Where it can break. One possible failure is a mismatch between the portal and the seller's internal records. If the portal shows a price or a stock level that the ERP does not agree with, someone has to correct the order by hand, and the buyer has a reason to go back to phoning their rep. Before launch, decide which system supplies prices, stock, and customer accounts, and how updates reach the portal.
What to do with this: go through the seven steps and mark the ones your customers need. That list is your set of requirements for any platform or agency you talk to.
Types of B2B e-commerce, with examples
These are the common setups. They overlap, and many companies run more than one. Three of the examples are illustrations, not real companies, to show the online order in each.
| Setup | Who sells to whom | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer direct | A maker sells to the businesses that use its products | Illustration: a valve maker lets plant engineers order spare parts from a portal instead of calling a rep. |
| Distributor | A company stocks many makers' products and sells them to business users | Grainger distributes maintenance and repair supplies. Grainger.com shows customers live prices and availability, customers' purchasing systems can connect directly to Grainger's, and sales reps manage the relationship (Grainger 10-K). |
| Wholesale | A brand sells in bulk to retailers, restaurants, or other resellers | Illustration: a cafe owner logs in to a bakery's trade site and places a standing weekly order at wholesale prices. |
| B2B2C (business to business to consumer) | A business sells through another business, which sells to the end consumer | Illustration: a shopper buys a mattress on a furniture retailer's site. The retailer's system passes the order to the mattress maker, which ships it. |
Table source: Grainger 10-K
What this means for you: work out who actually places the business order in your case. That person is your online buyer, and their needs shape your pricing, your catalog, and your marketing.
B2B e-commerce marketplaces vs. your own site
A B2B e-commerce marketplace is a site where many sellers list products and business buyers compare and order in one place. Amazon Business and Alibaba.com are two examples.
| Marketplace | Your own site or portal | |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | Buyers are already there, searching | You have to bring buyers to it |
| Control | The marketplace's rules decide how your offer is shown and what you learn about the buyer. Read them before you list. | You set the prices, terms, and content, and you hold the customer record |
| Cost | Fees on what you sell. Check the marketplace's current fee page. | Platform, setup, and upkeep. You need a quote. |
| Work to start | Product listings, and shipping to the marketplace's standards | A catalog, customer pricing, and a link to your internal systems |
A marketplace may suit you if you sell standard products that buyers already search for by name or specification, and you want new customers without building a site. Check first how it handles negotiated prices, if you have them.
Your own portal may suit you if you have existing accounts that reorder, customer-specific pricing, or a large catalog. It is a weak first step if you have no plan for bringing buyers to it.
You do not have to pick one. A seller can use a marketplace to be found and its own portal for the accounts it already has.
How to decide: start with where your next orders should come from, new buyers or existing accounts. Then check each route against your pricing, your customers' ordering requirements, and the cost.
What B2B e-commerce changes, and what it does not
What it can change. Buyers can order when your office is closed. Customers can check prices, stock, and order status without calling. When orders reach your internal system without anyone retyping them, there is less manual entry, and your sales reps can spend more time on the orders that need a conversation.
What it does not change. Do not assume online ordering removes the need for people. McKinsey's 2024 survey covered nearly 4,000 B2B decision makers in 13 countries. At any stage of buying, about a third wanted in-person contact, a third wanted remote contact, and a third wanted digital self-service (McKinsey). Among companies that offer e-commerce, it brought in more than a third of revenue, the most of any channel.
B2B e-commerce also will not fix prices or product data that are wrong today. It can show those errors to your buyers.
What to decide: which orders can go online as they are, such as routine reorders, and which still need a person.
How to get started with B2B e-commerce
B2B e-commerce is worth a look when customers reorder the same items, when your team retypes orders that arrive by phone or email, or when buyers call just to ask about price, stock, or delivery. Any of these is a reasonable place to start a pilot.
- Pick one customer group and one product range. Existing accounts that reorder the same items are a practical group to consider for a pilot.
- Name who maintains the price list and the stock numbers for that range, and decide which system the website will read them from.
- Choose the route: your own portal, a marketplace, or both. Check whether these customers already require orders through their own purchasing system.
- List the order steps you need from the walkthrough above, and ask each platform vendor to show those steps in a demo. Our B2B e-commerce platform comparison lists published prices, described B2B features, and details to confirm with vendors. If you need outside help with the build, see our list of B2B e-commerce development agencies.
- Run one real test order through to delivery and invoice before you invite customers.
- Move the first accounts over with their logins and prices already set up, and tell them what changes for them.
- Then go after new buyers. This is where search, paid media, and email come in, and it is the part we work on at SeedX. For New Yorker Bagels, for example, we ran social campaigns to attract wholesale partners (case study). See our B2B e-commerce marketing services.
- Measure two things for that first group: the share of their orders placed online, and how many of those orders needed a manual fix.
Who needs to be involved. A B2B e-commerce pilot has four responsibilities, and one person may cover several. Someone who knows the customer accounts helps choose the pilot group and confirms their agreed prices. Someone confirms where the stock and price data come from. Finance confirms billing and any credit terms. And someone helps buyers find and use the ordering method you chose. Decide who owns each one before the pilot starts.
What no guide can tell you. What a platform will cost you: that needs a quote. How hard it is to connect to your ERP: ask whoever runs that system. How many of your customers will order online: ask the customers in your first group, then watch what they actually do in the pilot.
Your first step: choose the one customer group and the one test order. Wider rollout can wait until that order arrives correctly.
Not sure which customers to move online first? Let's talk it through.
5 B2B e-commerce trends to consider in 2026
These five developments are worth considering when planning B2B e-commerce. The dates below identify the underlying research.
1. B2B e-commerce site sales are growing
EMARKETER estimates that US B2B e-commerce site sales of physical products reached $2.297 trillion in 2024, up 10.5% in a year, and forecasts $3.027 trillion by 2028 (EMARKETER). The 2024 figure was 12.0% of all US B2B product sales and 23.7% of what EMARKETER calls B2B electronic sales. So by value, most US B2B product sales in 2024 did not go through an e-commerce site.
Definitions and industry coverage differ. The US Census Bureau counts a sale as e-commerce when the order is placed, or the price and terms are negotiated, over the internet, an EDI network, email, or a similar system (US Census Bureau). On that basis, e-commerce was 67.8% of US manufacturers' shipments in 2019 (US Census Bureau, 2019 E-Stats). These figures measure different things in different years, so do not compare them directly. When you see a B2B e-commerce number, check what it counts.
What it means for you: check which ordering routes your customers still need, and which orders could move to your site.
2. Many business buyers prefer a rep-free experience
In a Gartner survey of 632 B2B buyers, run in August and September 2024 and published in June 2025, 61% said they prefer an overall rep-free buying experience (Gartner). In the same survey, 69% reported inconsistencies between what a supplier's website said and what its sellers told them.
What it means for you: our recommendation is to let buyers find prices, stock and order status on their own, and to make sure the website says the same thing your reps say. Keep people available for the orders that need them.
3. Buyers use more channels, not fewer
Self-service does not replace every other channel. In McKinsey's 2024 B2B Pulse Survey, buyers used an average of ten channels during their buying journey, up from five in 2016 (McKinsey). A buyer might research on your site, ask a rep a question, and place the order through their own purchasing system.
What it means for you: buyers should receive accurate, consistent information as they move between the channels you support.
4. AI moves into B2B e-commerce
Sellers are starting to put AI to work in sales. McKinsey's 2024 survey found that 19% of B2B sales organizations were already implementing generative AI (AI that writes text or answers questions) for buying and selling, and another 23% were developing or testing it (McKinsey). That survey covers sales in general. In B2B e-commerce specifically, possible tasks to evaluate include:
- Order entry. Reading a purchase order that arrives by email and turning it into a draft order for someone to check.
- Search. Helping buyers find the right part from a description, a part number, or a competitor's part number.
- Product content. Drafting product descriptions and specifications from your product data, for a person to review.
- Recommendations. Suggesting reorders or related products based on an account's order history.
For each task, check which inputs it needs, such as product data, prices or order history, and how its output will be reviewed. Test the tool against examples where you already know the correct answer.
What it means for you: pick one repetitive task, such as emailed orders, test it on your own examples, and compare the time and accuracy with your current process.
5. Buyers start their research with AI search
Forrester's State of Business Buying 2026 report, released in January 2026, found that buyers often begin with generative AI search tools. It also found that these answer engines often give incomplete or unreliable information, and that buyers then rely on colleagues and outside sources (Forrester).
What it means for you: state your products, specifications, pricing approach and terms clearly on your website. Clear, current information helps buyers verify what they have found elsewhere.
What to do with these trends: pick the one or two that match a problem your customers already have, such as rep-free reordering or emailed orders, and start there.
A short history of B2B e-commerce
B2B e-commerce is older than the web. Companies began investing in EDI in the 1960s, and the United Nations adopted an international EDI standard, EDIFACT, in 1987 (IGI Global). By 1990, most EDI users in the US were large manufacturers. The web then let buyers order through a browser, and business marketplaces followed: Alibaba.com in 1999 (Alibaba Group) and Amazon Business in 2015 (Amazon). Today, mainstream store platforms include B2B features too. Shopify, for example, lists B2B features on all of its plans (Shopify Help Center).
What this means for you: some of your customers may already order through systems they set up years ago. Find out how they buy before you ask them to switch.
Frequently asked questions
What is an example of B2B e-commerce?
A cafe that logs in to its packaging supplier's portal and reorders cups at its agreed price is one example. The types table above has four more, one for each common setup.
Is Amazon B2B or B2C?
Both. Amazon.com sells to consumers. Amazon Business is its marketplace for business customers. It launched in 2015 with multi-user accounts, approval workflows, and business-only pricing (Amazon).
Is Shopify a B2B or B2C platform?
Both. Shopify's B2B features, including company accounts, catalogs, and net payment terms, are built in on its Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus plans. Some of them, such as assigning a catalog directly to one company, need Shopify Plus (Shopify Help Center). That was the position in October 2026, so check the current plan page.
What are B2B, B2C, C2B, and C2C in e-commerce?
The letters say who sells to whom. B2B is business to business, B2C is business to consumer, C2B is consumer to business, and C2C is consumer to consumer, as on a resale site.
What is the best B2B e-commerce platform?
There is no single best B2B e-commerce platform. It depends on which order steps you need, which ERP you run, and how many price lists you keep. Write down your steps from the walkthrough above and ask each vendor to show them working in a demo. Our comparison of B2B e-commerce platforms lists published prices, described B2B features, and details to confirm with vendors.
