Different Types of eCommerce
Business-to-Business



As the name suggests, B2B is the term used for eCommerce in a pure business environment. It covers the many ways that eCommerce can be used to support one business trading with another.

B2B eCommerce is being driven from two sides. At the pragmatic level are businesses looking to use technology to develop improved ways of working and relationships with trading partners up and down the supply chain. At the other end of the spectrum are the eCommerce product and service providers who are developing new ideas and concepts and hoping that some will "fly".

Much of the attention given to B2B relates to emerging embryonic developments such as eMarketplaces and eExchanges, but most of the actual use of eCommerce is at a lower level in the eCommerce implementation cycle.

Typically in the B2B environment, eCommerce can be used in the following processes:

• procurement;

• order fulfilment;

• managing trading-partner relationships.

For many Welsh SMEs B2B eCommerce is synonymous with the vision of integrated supply chains. This might be the ultimate objective, but, in the short term, B2B eCommerce could be used as a significant enabler in their move towards greater trading partner collaboration.

eCommerce technologies have allowed even the smallest businesses to improve the processes for interfacing with customers. They are now able to develop services for individual clients rather than provide a standard service. Pentwyn Splicers based in Pontypool manufacture pneumatic splicers for the UK and world textile market. They evaluated all aspects of their business process to determine where the greatest return could be obtained. Using the Web to sell more products was an initial consideration, but it was in the provision of customer service and support to their overseas distributors that the greatest benefits have been achieved.

An alternative way of thinking of B2B eCommerce is to think of it as being used to:

• Attract, develop, retain, and cultivate relationships with customers;

• Streamline the supply chain, manufacturing, and procurement processes, and automate corporate processes to deliver the right products and services to customers quickly and cost-effectively;

• Capture, analyse, and share, information about customers and company operations, in order to make better decisions.