The growth of B2B marketplaces has been one of the growing trends in B2B commerce during the past 18 months. Many B2B organizations have realized how powerful a marketplace can be for accelerating their business processes, expanding ecosystems, and tapping into fresh revenue streams.
But it goes further than that. Customer data generated through marketplaces can be quite useful. When it comes to how a brand presents itself in a market and differentiates itself from competitors, the mere existence of a marketplace can be a potent marketing weapon.
What’s the ideal strategy for creating an international B2B marketplace given this potential? How can B2b companies maximize their return on investment?
The Expansion Of The B2B Marketplace
Markets have existed for a long time. There are plenty of B2C marketplaces operating, from Amazon to Etsy, whether they are run by established retailers or created solely as a forum for third-party vendors.
B2B markets are unquestionably expanding, despite being slow to catch on to their rival. An extremely crucial trend for any B2B organization has been the acceleration of online long-tail items when combined with the expansion of specialist markets.
By 2023, at least 70% of corporate marketplaces will have been created, according to Gartner; this means that B2B companies have a significant window of opportunity to make use of marketplaces in 2022.
Point Nine Capital estimates that there will be more than 300 B2B marketplaces in Europe by 2020, up significantly from just 20 in 2010. But in reality, there probably are a lot more. B2B markets are mostly targeted at specialist industries, which implies that few people outside of that industry are familiar with them.
Guidance To Follow
How does one get to the point where their B2B online marketplace and associated shop network sell every second in their nation? Here are some suggestions.
Observe Industry Best Practices
Any market must adhere to standard norms before B2B marketers can begin to work. This entails selecting vendors and sellers who are ready to work with you to develop a marketplace framework.
Thus, developing an alluring technical offer to keep this generation on board, and controlling the ratio of suppliers to sellers appropriately. A market will crash if there are too many sellers and not enough buyers, or the other way around.
Create The Brand
This is where B2B marketers may be quite helpful in developing a compelling (and marketable) USP for a market. There is a chance to rule a market, whether it trades under the name of the parent brand or as something else.
It is almost meaningless for other vendors or buyers to try developing a D2C product service given how well-established it is in Germany at this moment.
For instance, the Chinese B2B platform owns and controls a big share of the B2B market, and other B2B merchants that develop a potent USP for their company marketplace can probably assist it in becoming the leading participant in that nation.
Encourage The Vendors
A B2B marketplace’s suppliers of goods also have a significant impact on its marketing. The majority of B2B industries are organized like the tire market. However, a small number of users and typically only a few dozen vendors.
Therefore, the majority of B2B corporate marketplaces will be successful if they are well-designed with a win-win proposition for suppliers and sellers. Make sure the vendors are always supportive of your goals and prepared to assist with any marketing activities.
Obtain The Data
In the majority of marketing strategies, data is a valuable resource. B2B markets are also no different. Large amounts of data, including customer names, contact information, purchasing patterns, preferences, and more, will be generated when a marketplace is created.
This will also produce data on the products by incorporating marketplace features like product comparisons.
Marketing to businesses should make sure they have control over this. The establishment of direct customer access is necessary for continued marketing success in a given market.
One of the most crucial in a company is the link between marketing and commerce. No organization can succeed without a successful commerce function, and marketing has a big part to play in commerce. As businesses use B2B marketplaces to promote commerce, this statement has even more weight.
Existing Customer Communications Into Segments
During the acquisition phase, businesses invest a lot of time and effort in developing unique communication plans. However, there are important changes to keep clients who have already purchased from you and even sell them more things.
There is a reason why 61% of businesses are boosting their support spending, particularly for all of their communication platforms.
