b2B, b2b e-commerce, b2b sales, b2b system, wholesale

Developments in digitization also affected the B2B segment. The market naturally changes and only those companies that are willing to adapt can continue to grow and profit. As Charles Darwin once said:

"They are not the strongest creatures that survive, nor are they the most intelligent. They are the ones that can adapt to change."

The article was revised and updated in May 2026.

Dinosaurs could not adapt to the rapidly changing environment, but mammals could. What will your company become?

What is B2B e-commerce?

Everyone knows the classic e-shop. In the case of B2B, it is a trade between two business partners. However, there are some differences. In a classic e-shop, you can buy as a consumer without registration, but in the case of B2B, registration is often required to find out the price or list of available goods.

B2B is also expected to have a higher technical standard than classic e-shops. The average B2B business is more complex and its transformation into an online form is more demanding. B2B e-commerce e.g. must be able to monitor the account status of each client, enable purchases on credit or issue advance invoices. At the same time, it must meet the same requirements as for B2C, such as web loading speed, clear UI and pleasant UX.

Similar to B2C, a large B2B e-commerce should be able to use it big data for displaying different prices to different customers, and related special events and promos for shoppers.

As part of a smooth trade, the system should allow repeated orders with the same templates and have alternative products in case of unavailability. And that's not to mention complaints. While complaining about a product is frustrating for ordinary consumers, a B2B buyer may have an order of goods worth tens of thousands of euros, which is necessary for production and cannot afford to wait for a complaint.

So the question is: is it worth investing a lot of money and time in B2B e-commerce because of this initial difficulty?

Just go ahead, the numbers speak for themselves

The biggest change in the B2B segment over the past few years has been the growth of B2B
e-commerce. Online shopping is no longer the exclusive domain of B2C sellers. Almost 30% of B2B customers made half of their purchases online in 2016, while this number is expected to double this year. Companies are already getting used to shopping online and expect their suppliers to enable them as quickly as possible.

How big is the B2B e-commerce market? Here are some interesting statistics:

By 2020, it will reach B2B e-commerce sales in the amount 6.7 trillion dollars and will create 27% of all B2B sales. In addition, the B2B market will be twice as large as B2C.

60% of B2B companies in the USA claims that their customers buy more through multiple sales channels and are long-term loyal.

75% of shoppers claim that shopping through a B2B e-shop is more convenient for them than shopping in person.

Conversion is u B2B e-commerce at the level of 7.4%, which is at least 2x more than the B2C average
e-shops.

Success story in the world and among neighbors

The best example for B2B e-commerce is Amazon, the largest B2C e-shop. Amazon creates business relationships with companies of all sizes, whether they are small businesses or large corporations. Anyone can become a business partner, just create a personal account, which can be activated to a business account after sales increase. Companies that do business on Amazon benefit from increased sales, while Amazon itself has revenue from a share of sales.

As for our region, a good example can be the Czech Vivantis, an e-shop focused on women's fashion that has been operating since 2001. It is the B2B platform that is the fastest growing category of this company.

Trends in B2B e-commerce

Here are a few trends currently prevailing in B2B e-commerce.

Fast implementation and integration

Nowadays, a B2B e-commerce platform can be integrated in a few weeks (4-8), which is faster than compared to a few months in the past. This time includes the integration of other internal systems such as An ERP (enterprise resource planning) or sales solution that allows the customer to see past purchases and payments, as well as access data on the amount of stock of a particular product.

Mobile first

Mobile e-commerce has been the area in which B2B has so far lagged behind B2C the most. However, wholesalers are motivated by the desire to provide the most efficient and convenient way of shopping for their customers. Advantages of mobile shopping are clear, people spend more time on mobile and it allows them to shop even on the go while traveling.

Greater focus on global markets

In addition to focusing on existing customers, companies try to acquire as many new customers as possible. For this reason, they list their products in local currencies, provide the option of preferred payment methods and take advantage of local regulations such as taxes or customs duties. A good example is Alibaba, which makes it possible to establish contact with business partners from different countries, while several Slovak startups also used it.

Summary

The above numbers speak for themselves, B2B e-commerce should definitely not be underestimated. Among our neighbors in the Czech Republic, we can find companies that already B2B e-commerce benefit the segment. If you are thinking of transferring your business to the online sphere, you can use our system Sellio and start profiting as well.

Our system includes:

bulk purchases
price groups
accumulation of purchases by one company and subsequent allocation to price groups
creation of price offers
complaint form
customer zone
card payments
repeated purchases
connection to your own information system and other external systems such as CRM or warehouse system
many other functions