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Here's a start on
B2B:
B2B (business-to-business; e-biz)
On the Internet, B2B (business-to-business), also known
as e-biz, is the exchange of products,
services, or information between businesses rather than between
businesses and consumers. Although early interest centered on the growth of
retailing on the Internet (sometimes called e-tailing), forecasts are that B2B
revenue will far exceed business-to-consumers (B2C) revenue in the near future.
According to studies published in early 2000, the money volume of B2B exceeds
that of e-tailing by 10 to 1. Over the next five years, B2B is expected to have
a compound annual growth of 41%. The Gartner Group estimates B2B revenue
worldwide to be $7.29 trillion dollars by 2004. In early 2000, the volume of
investment in B2B by venture capitalists was reported to be accelerating sharply
although profitable B2B sites were not yet easy to find.
B2B Web sites can be sorted into:
- Company Web sites, since the target audience for
many company Web sites is other companies and their employees. Company sites
can be thought of as round-the-clock mini-trade exhibits. Sometimes a company
Web site serves as the entrance to an exclusive extranet available only to customers or
registered site users. Some company Web sites sell directly from the site,
effectively e-tailing to other businesses.
- Product supply and procurement exchanges, where a
company purchasing agent can shop for supplies from vendors, request
proposals, and, in some cases, bid to make a purchase at a desired price.
Sometimes referred to as e-procurement sites, some serve a range
of industries and others focus on a niche market.
- Specialized or vertical industry portals which
provide a "subWeb" of information, product listings, discussion groups, and
other features. These vertical portal sites have a broader purpose
than the procurement sites (although they may also support buying and
selling).
- Brokering sites that act as an intermediary
between someone wanting a product or service and potential providers.
Equipment leasing is an example.
- Information sites (sometimes known as infomediaries), which provide
information about a particular industry for its companies and their employees.
These include specialized search sites and trade and industry standards
organization sites.
Many B2B sites may seem to
fall into more than one of these groups. Models for B2B sites are still
evolving.
Another type of B2B enterprise is software for building B2B
Web sites, including site building tools and templates, databases, and methodologies as well as
transaction software.
B2B is e-commerce between businesses. An earlier
and much more limited kind of online B2B prior to the Internet was Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI).
Selected Links
NetMarketMakers.com is a leading portal to B2B news.
VerticalNet is an example
of a
community of vertical portals in one site.
The search sites of
TechTarget.com are infomediaries in specific industries or product lines.
SearchStorage.com is one of the sites.
AccessLease.com is
an
intermediary for equipment leasing.
ChemConnect is an example of a
one-industry B2B exchange.
MetalSite.com is a similar B2B site
for the steel industry.
OnChina.com is a B2B portal for
businesses in the Asian area.
The term B2B came up in a
discussion this morning and the question was asked of how it related to
EDI. While I haven't seen the expression discussed or defined in depth I
knew it meant Business 2 Business, whereas EDI is generally speaking computer to
computer or application to application delivery of business documents without
human intervention. I wold like to see a real definition of the B2B and
how it relates to EDI and where I might find more discussions on its
application. Thank you in advance.
Ray Schell, EDI Coordinator
TAMKO Roofing
Products, Inc.
(417) 624-6644
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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