Which Are the Top 5 B2B Marketplaces in the World?

B2B companies give businesses the opportunity to carry out trade transactions at the global level. This means that manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers and exporters are among the groups who make best out of b2b portals on the internet. By eliminating the need of intermediaries and by reducing the cost of trading, these companies have gained huge popularity in the recent time.

Countries like the USA, China, Korea and India have a number of B2B portals to promote global transactions between their respective country and the rest of the world. Some of these companies have become reputed and trustable enough to extend their reach to the international level.

Alibaba is among the top B2B companies and is better described as an International wholesale directory. Based in China, this B2B company’s online portal ranked at 93rd position in 2010. Thousands of suppliers across the world choose this B2B company to sell millions of quality products to interested business buyers. It provides good opportunities to build business brands and get educated on promotion business products. The portal also operates a forum where new suppliers can get useful advice.

Made-in-China is another popular B2B company with global reach, as the portal of the company is operated in English, Chinese and Taiwanese. Launched in 1998, it has a great contribution for promoting Chinese products to the markets worldwide. With efficient search criterions, the website is equally useful for the Chinese suppliers and global suppliers.

IndiaMart.com is one of the popular B2B companies from India that brings the Indian manufacturers and suppliers to the international front. The demand for Indian goods is growing at a fats pace and this b2b portal is of great help in taking these goods from different categories to the world. Business buyers from more than 220 countries have the opportunity to use this trade portal and search for quality products from India.

EC21 is one of the B2B companies that are making it to the list of top business directories existing online. This Korean company helps small and medium enterprises to get recognized in the markets across different countries. The portal of the company runs in English, Chinese and Korean languages that further extend its status as an international business directory.

TradeIndia has secured its position among top B2B companies by bridging the gap between manufacturers, exporters, importers, suppliers and other business groups from Indian and other countries.

The list for other top-performing B2B portals and companies is long and growing. This represents the era where business and trade transactions are getting truly remarkable.

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Wholesale Versus Retail Trade: An Insight

Business- the activity, is divided in a number of branches and wholesale and retail trade make an integral part of this division. Both are indeed hard core business activities to generate businesses and trade leads, but with a stark distinction. Lets understand this difference between wholesale and retail trade in a simplified form:

The Concept

Wholesale – The concept of wholesale trade is B2B driven. In other words wholesale trade is all about economic activities revolving around business to business. The ultimate consumer is nowhere in the picture here.

Retail – Retail trade on the other hand is a B2C driven activity. Consumer plays a vital role in retail trade as the business transactions are done directly with the final consumers.

Capital Investment

Wholesale – Setting up of a wholesale business calls for considerable amount of capital. Since it is a larger scaled business, the investment invariably increases to a hefty amount.

Retail – Retail trade can be started with a minimal amount of investment as compared to the wholesale trade. It is relatively a smaller form of business.

Target Audience

Wholesale – Wholesale trade targets businessmen, traders and retailers for its business. Here the products or services are rendered to the people involved in the concerned business who in turn sell it further to the final consumers or middle men.

Retail – Retailers target the final consumer unlike wholesale traders. The products and services are first sourced from the wholesalers and then are directly sold to the ultimate consumers.

Quantity Supplied

Wholesale – Wholesale trade deals in bulk quantities as the products are supplied to the merchants and traders who further make it available to the ultimate consumers.

Retail – Since retail trade deals with the final consumers, the quantity of products supplied in this case is as much as the consumer wants. The products supplied generally totals to real small quantities.

Profit Margins

Wholesale – Profit margins per product in wholesale trade are relatively lesser but as the trading is done in bulk quantities, the actual profit to the wholesaler shoots up.

Retail – The products retailed generally carry a higher profit margin but since the actual quantity or number of products sold are less, overall profit rendered to the retailer is low.

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How Globalization and E-marketplaces Help Each Other

Globalization is the concept that allows free flow of tradable entities among different world economies. The post World War II era favored the growth of globalization and world trade. The Uruguay Round from 1986 to1994 led to the creation of World Trade Organization to make international trade smoother.

The world of internet too was introduced in 1990s and it acted as the breeding ground for e-businesses. Therefore, globalization progressed in the era when internet and e-commerce were mere thoughts. As the concept of e-commerce grew, it led to the formation of e-marketplaces. Today, there are global e-marketplaces in the form of b2c and b2b spaces and they are contributing towards the success of globalization.

Globalization and e-marketplaces have a common aim of extending the reach of businesses beyond the geographical boundaries. The concept existed in the ancient times, when trade routes like the famous Silk Route led to successful trading between countries. However, there were many issues that are resolved by the online marketplaces in today’s world.

Localization of Information – With the help of e-marketplaces, globalization offers localized information to the consumers located in different parts of the world. The business buyers are informed about the products offered by business sellers in the language the former understands. Information doesn’t pass through the hands of middlemen and there is direct dealing between the buyers and the sellers.

Improved Time to Market – Earlier, the concept of globalization suffered from the issue of large time consumption. Today, the business sellers take no time to let their products and services reach the target markets. This has been made possible due to the collaboration of globalization with e-marketplaces.

Brand Building – Globalization further adds to the competition that a business faces in its local market. Now, the businesses have to compete with their international rivals. So, those who are bale to make good use of e-marketplaces and online marketing tools are able to build goodwill for their brands.

If globalization introduced the idea of trading among countries, the e-marketplaces helped the idea of international trade to flourish. And today, the two concepts co-exist and successfully support each other.

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