B2B Marketplaces

EXECUTIVE REPORT + B2B marketplaces
cover new ground

+ Amazon Business and
NeweggBusiness dive
into government work
strategic intelligence for business-to-business professionals
+ Fresh produce finds a
B2BeCommerceWorld.com APRIL 2017 fresh online market
OPENING NEW B2B online
WINDOWS
marketplaces are
evolving with new
offerings, including
data analytics and
payment services,
as they and their
participating buyers
TO BUSINESS and sellers expand

into new markets.
Sponsored by: NeweggBusiness and Amazon Business

CONTENTS strategic intelligence for business-to-business professionals
APRIL 2017
EDITORIAL
Editor in Chief: Don Davis
don@verticalwebmedia.com
COVER FEATURE Editor: Paul Demery
paul@verticalwebmedia.com
B2B marketplaces like BuildDirect cover new ground . . . . . . 3 Senior Editor: Bill Briggs
billb@verticalwebmedia.com
Online marketplaces are becoming more sophisticated in the products Art Director: Jason Smith
and services they offer their buyers and sellers.
ADVERTISING
B2BecNews Advertising Manager:
Oliver Love
PROFILES oliver@verticalwebmedia.com
312-572-6251
Amazon Business and NeweggBusiness

EXECUTIVE TEAM
dive into government work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Publisher: Jack Love
jack@verticalwebmedia.com
A restaurant supplier adds a CEO/President: Molly Love Rogers
B2B marketplace to the menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 molly@verticalwebmedia.com
Executive Editor: Kurt T. Peters
kurt@verticalwebmedia.com
A new e-marketplace brings farm produce to buyers . . . . . . 25 Vice President, Sales & Product Development:
Tom Duggan
Canon launches an e-marketplace tduggan@verticalwebmedia.com | 312-572-6250
Vice President of Research: Mark Brohan
for dealers and their customers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 mark@verticalwebmedia.com
Director of Marketing: Erin Dowd
erin@verticalwebmedia.com
KEY DATA Web Production Editor: Farnia Ghavami

farnia@verticalwebmedia.com
A look at dozens of B2B marketplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 B2BeCommerceWorld.com
Vertical Web Media

Publisher of B2BecNews,
B2BeCommerceWorld.com and
Internet Retailer
April 2017 edition
B2BecNews, a twice-weekly newsletter with

several executive reports each year, is published
by Vertical Web Media LLC, 125 S. Wacker Drive,
Suite 1900, Chicago, IL 60606
For advertising information, call 312-572-6251.
B2BeCommerceWorld.com
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Copyright 2017 Vertical Web Media LLC.

All Rights Reserved.
B2B MARKETPLACES
COVER NEW GROUND
Online marketplaces are becoming more sophisticated in the products and services
they offer their buyers and sellers. These portals are expanding internationally
and aiming to attract new buyers and sellers by adding such features as payments
processing through links with outside providers, reaching international markets,
courting government purchasers, and compiling and analyzing data.
BY BILL BRIGGS AND PAUL DEMERY
For most companies, selling online takes the

mystery out of how and when customers buy,
at least in direct transactions. But for the
many businesses that rely on marketplaces to
build brand exposure and sales, there can be
a knowledge void if the marketplace doesnt
provide data on sales volume across multiple
products and categories.
In many marketplaces, its a black boxa seller just gets an
order and ships it out, says Erin Magee, vice president of sales
for Classic Accessories, a manufacturer of protective coverings
for such things as outdoor patio furniture and grills and
recreational vehicles.
But since late 2015, as it started selling and later expanded its
offerings of coverings through the BuildDirect.com marketplace
to consumers as well as businesses, Classic Accessories has
compiled data on customer demand that helped it to better plan
its production and the product assortments it distributes to
hundreds of wholesalers and retailers, Magee adds. As a result,
the manufacturers total sales for 2016 grew at a double-digit
rate over 2015.
We get strong sales forecasting data, can see whos viewing

products from where, whats working and whats not working
in product displays, says vice president of business development
Sponsored by: NeweggBusiness
and Amazon Business 3
Copyright 2017 Vertical Web Media LLC. All rights reserved.
B2B Marketplaces: Opening
strategic intelligence for business-to-business professionals new windows to business
APRIL 2017
Shuyler Mowe. Then were able to launch outside of BuildDirect

products across various collections that appeal to other
distribution channels.
New marketplaces like BuildDirect.com and its use of big data to

help sellers signal a new stage in the progression of business-to-
business marketplaces. Todays marketplaces offer access to global
markets and provide new services to sellers and buyers that only
fully came into being in the past few years.
Apart from BuildDirect, Classic Accessories traditionally

distributed its products to channels ranging from mom-and-pop
retailers to large garden centers, catalogers and wholesale clubs.
It also designed products and planned assortments according to The BuildDirect
its forecasted demand from those channels. marketplace
Now, with more sales directly to end-customers through the lets us get more
BuildDirect portalwhich also sells a wide range of furnishings SKUs on the site
and equipment for home and officeClassic Accessories can
work with its own data on consumer demand as well as on how
to test products.
its coverings can be cross-sold in new product combinations. Aditi Sood, sales manager,
Classic Accessories
BuildDirect provides demand information through web analytics
and customer surveys that have led Classic Accessories to expand
offerings in such areas as car covers in the garage products
category and coverings in various sizes to protect stacked patio
furniture as well as individual pieces.
Aditi Sood, sales manager at Classic Accessories, says the

BuildDirect marketplace is also designed to let sellers quickly
upload their own product data and images. Classic Accessories so
far has loaded about 500 products. That lets us get more SKUs on
the site to test products, she says.
BuildDirect specializes in selling large quantities of building

materials and finished products per online order for home
improvement projects. Now its opening up its e-commerce site,
BuildDirect.com, to other sellers as a way to expand its selection. Classic Accessories has made more
sales directly to the end-consumer
The company, which has been selling directly to home improvement since loading its products to the
BuildDirect portal.
contractors and homeowners since 1999, in 2016 launched Home
Marketplace as an e-marketplace where buyers can purchase from a
number of manufacturers and distributors of products ranging from
roofing and flooring materials to furniture and granite countertops.
APRIL 2017
Joseph Thompson, BuildDirects

head of marketing and growth,
says his company is continuing
to build out ways for sellers to
use marketplace data to improve
how they sell and ship products,
including bulk orders from
overseas suppliers. A seller portal
performance dashboard, for
example, shows sellers how well
their products are performing
according to multiple metrics
related to buyer demand. If a seller
logs into the portal, they can see
on the dashboard how customers The six tear-drop icons on the map show
are engaging with their products BuildDirects main distribution locations;
the blue icons show where a particular
in recent days or the same day, he seller has most of its inventory; the pink,
says. BuildDirect also uses predictive analytics to project on the yellow and red colors show that sellers
dashboard demand for a sellers products. customer demand, with red the strongest.
The metrics at right relate to the sellers
volume of product views, carted products,
In addition, BuildDirects new Gateway shipping network completed orders and forecasted demand.
encompassing more than 2,500 ground carriers and five ocean
freight servicesprovides data on the lowest-cost and fastest
means of shipping via these carriers bulk orders averaging
1,500 pounds. The service can handle shipments to individual
homeowners as well as to building contractors and multiple
locations of corporate operations. BuildDirect is making
the Gateway shipping and data services available to other
marketplaces as well as to the participants on its own portal.
BuildDirect is but one example of a business taking advantage of

B2B marketplaces opportunities. Following are a few examples of
A seller can see
the expanding importance of these portals:
on a dashboard
how customers
are engaging with
DIRECT SALES OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANUFACTURERS
their products.
B2B manufacturers have taken only minimal steps in direct Joseph Thompson, head
e-commerce because of concerns over lack of experience of marketing and growth,
with e-commerce, costs associated with building the required BuildDirect
technology and potentially alienating their distributors, or
channel conflict, according to a new report titled Manufacturers
Reap Benefits From Selling Direct. The report, compiled
by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by marketplace
SPONSORED SPOTLIGHT
Growing sales with Neweggs B2B marketplace
A
s shown by the increase in the number of FLEXIBLE PROMOTION OPPORTUNITIES
business-to-business marketplaces in recent
years, demand today is growing for products B2B marketplaces also provide co-marketing services to
sold on them. And the range of products extends suppliers. Within NeweggBusiness.com there are three
beyond general business and industrial products to programs for clients:
include equipment and supplies designed for such A seller can list their own product in the portal on
market segments as government agencies, healthcare NeweggBusiness.com and use their own marketing and
organizations, educational institutions, and value-added promotional resources to develop, for example, a simple
resellers of computers and other technology products. promo code for free shipping or special discounts on
B2B e-commerce marketplaces typically allow buyers particular products;
to search among a wide assortment of products from NeweggBusiness can publicize a sellers products
many suppliers. Many B2B marketplaces also allow through email and other weekly promotions;
the seller to design and manage their own promotions, NeweggBusiness will feature a sellers products on
helping them to better reach a global audience. its homepage.
Neweggs own history in offering both retail and B2B A flexible sales platform is core to what B2B sellers
e-commerce illustrates the increased demand for an want in e-commerce marketplaces, but they also look for
expanding range of products on B2B marketplaces. that crucial integration with back-end software for such
Newegg launched NeweggBusiness.com in 2009 to operations as meeting transaction security and regula-
address the demands of customers on its retail site, tory requirements. For example, NeweggBusiness.com
Newegg.com, for such B2B services as the ability to buy is licensed by the U.S. General Services Administration,
in bulk and at contracted pricing, says Sophia Tsao, vice which means it has met all compliance requirements
president and head of marketplace for NeweggBusiness. for selling products to federal government agencies.
NeweggBusiness started out by selling its full catalog NeweggBusiness meets the GSAs requirement that it
of products, but focusing on Neweggs two largest provide government agencies an automatic 1% discount
categoriesI.T. hardware and consumer electronics. on electrical products.
In 2014, NeweggBusiness launched its marketplace, Finally, adding human interaction is important to both
providing a wider range of business products and buyers and sellers, especially in a web-centric world.
services sourced from third-party sellers as well as NeweggBusiness, for example, has a large team of
from NeweggBusiness itself. customer service professionals trained to help online
As a result, Tsao says, the range of items offered on buyers select products and address any post-sale
NeweggBusiness.com has expanded into such catego- support needs. This team also works with sellers to
ries as automotive, industrial tools and office supplies, address any concerns they have regarding the platform
in addition to a wider selection within Neweggs core or promotional programs. We are proud of our human
categories of I.T. hardware, computers and electronics. touch, Tsao says. It has paid off: Neweggs B2B market-
NeweggBusiness now offers some 4.5 million place has seen tremendous growth since its inception.
products, she says. Their double digit year-over-year growth is a microcosm
of what looks to be a promising industry moving forward.
HYBRID BUSINESS PLATFORM
An important characteristic of Neweggs B2B
e-commerce marketplace is their hybrid business
model1P and 3P channels. Sellers can either have
Sponsored by:
the marketplace manage the sellers product sales
(1P model) or allow the sellers to manage it them-
selves while listing on the marketplace (3P model). By
leveraging a combination of both, sellers can promote
NeweggBusiness
the right product assortment in the channels that make
most sense for their business.
APRIL 2017
technology vendor Mirakl and
53%
SAP Hybris, a B2B e-commerce of B2B companies say they are
technology company, evaluates selling on unidentified third-party
B2B manufacturers adoption of marketplaces or through channel
hosted online marketplaces and partners, but relying on resellers interferes with the
the associated benefits. businesss control of the customer experience and
reaping valuable customer data and insights.
Of 125 e-commerce and
marketing executives surveyed
from medium and large B2B and
B2B-to-consumer manufacturers
in the U.S., United Kingdom,
France and Germany, many have
taken only half-steps toward
enabling e-commerce for end customers. The study showed 53%
of companies say they are selling on unidentified third-party
marketplaces or through channel partners, but that relying on
resellers interferes with the businesss control of the customer
experience and reaping valuable customer data and insights.
Yet manufacturers that sell on marketplaces say they are more
confident in their abilities to execute critical functions through
direct marketplaces.
CAPITAL IS FINDING MARKETPLACES

Tradeshift, a growing global B2B e-marketplace
received $75 million in a Series D round of venture
capital funding from new and prior investors in mid-
2016. Tradeshift has raised a total of $174 million in
venture capital, according to business information
firm Crunchbase. Tradeshift, which says it has more
than 800,000 users worldwide, including buyers and
sellers among the Fortune 1000, will use the new
funding to serve a wider range of global customers
and expand its services in such areas as supply
chain financing, procurement software and online
payments, the company says. The funding round was Buyers and sellers can exchange
backed by Data Collective, HSBC, American Express electronic purchase orders and
invoices through Tradeshift.
Ventures, Notion Capital and CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund.
Prior to the latest funding round, Tradeshift made a number

of improvements, the company says, including expanding the
range of products buyers on its plan can purchase under spend-
APRIL 2017
management programs; enabling buyers and sellers to exchange

electronic purchase orders and invoices, and gives them the option
to complete payments through such online payment systems as
PayPal and Intuit Payments; and a service buyers and sellers can
use to check the financial viability of new trading partners.
AMAZON BUSINESS IS HIRING

Amazon Business has already
made a mark on the world of B2B
e-commerce, reporting it surpassed
$1 billion in sales during its first full
year of operation. While its widely
recognized as a major force driving
other sellers to build and perfect B2B
e-commerce sites and marketplaces,
Amazon.com Inc. thinks its B2B
site still has a ways to go to reach
its potential. It is still very much
Day One for Amazon Business,
Amazon says. It is still focused, it Amazon Business surpassed
$1 billion in sales during its first
adds, on building solutions that enable B2B customers to find, full year of operation.
research, and buy products and services.
Those quoted comments were pulled not from a statement by

an Amazon executive, but from a job description listed recently
on Amazons own recruitment website for a senior program
manager for Amazon Business. Its one of dozens of job openings
at Amazon Business, according to a search for Amazon Business
on Amazons job site, Amazon.jobs. The company is on record with
plans to fill up to 100,000 new jobs in the U.S. by mid-2018, but a
spokeswoman says Amazon doesnt break out the total number It is still
of current openings at Amazon Business or how many of the new very much
positions will be dedicated to the B2B site. Day One
for Amazon
PAYMENT OPTIONS MULTIPLY Business.
Amazon Business is one of the B2B marketplaces offering
payments services, in this case for buyers. Its easy enough for a
procurement agent to buy a lot of stuff on e-commerce sites, but
often a lot harder to access, manage and analyze the payment
data associated with those transactions. Visa Inc. and Amazon
Business have teamed up to make life easier for those buyers.
APRIL 2017
They have agreed to provide businesses with purchasing accounts

on Amazon Business with access to data tied to purchases made
with Visa Commercial cards. The free service is designed to let
buyers access full line-item details of purchases made on Amazon
Business to reconcile
or audit their financial
records, regardless of
how many suppliers they
purchased from. Amazon
Business features products
sold by some 45,000
sellers in addition to
Amazon.com itself.
Tracking and reconciling

online purchases made
with commercial cards
can be a time-consuming
task, says Vicky Bindra,
global head of products
and solutions at Visa
Inc. Visas collaboration Tracking and
with Amazon Business and our bank partners will ultimately
help our commercial account holders in the U.S. spend less reconciling
time on reconciliation of their purchases and allow more card online purchases
management options.
made with
Visa and Amazon Business announced the new service in April, commercial cards
noting that it will initially be available for Visa Commercial can be a time-
cards issued by three banksBank of America Merrill Lynch,
Citibank and PNC Bank N.A.before being rolled out to other Visa consuming task.
card issuers. The service also provides for delivery of payment Vicky Bindra, global head of
transaction dataincluding item description and name of vendor, products and solutions, Visa Inc.
the invoice number, number of units purchased, order date and
shipping addressto a client companys financial management
application within its own enterprise resource planning system.
B2B payments require enhanced data for proper audit, reporting

and purchasing control, says Morgan Salmon, global commercial
cards B2B product head at Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions.
Jennifer Petty, head of Card and Comprehensive Payables for

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says her bank sees increasing
SPONSORED SPOTLIGHT
How companies grow on Amazon Business

W
hen Amazon Business launched in 2015, it took advantage of selling products on Amazon Business,
addressed the demand from Amazon.com knowing it could reach a large, diverse audience
customers who loved the online consumer cost-effectively and leverage Amazons online reputation.
experience and were looking for a similar shopping
experience at work, says Rob Green, director of sales. Amazon Business had a jumpstart on many B2B
He adds that, by offering online procurement features e-commerce sites as it already had a large base of business
designed for business buyerssuch as quantity customers on Amazon.com, a well-known brand with a
discounts and negotiated pricingAmazon Business battle-tested technology infrastructure. Amazon Business
opened up a B2B marketplace where business buyers goes beyond Amazon.com, however, by providing such fea-
can take advantage of the trusted, customer-centric tures as business pricing, quantity discounts and access to
approach of Amazon.com. data analytics tailored to both business buyers and sellers
Several businesses of different sizes and product to facilitate the corporate procurement process, Green
categories say Amazon Business increased their sales. says. Sellers are helping to expand the range of inventory
available on the site by adding products across a broad set
INCREASED VISIBILITY Cole-Parmer, a manufacturer of business-relevant categories on a daily basis, he adds.
and distributor of laboratory, fluid-handling and envi- Today Amazon Business offers over 10 million products
ronmental testing equipment, says the exposure of its with business pricing from some 45,000 sellers.
products to Amazon Businesss large customer base Amazon Business is also developing business-specific
is helping Cole-Parmers growth in sales. In addition, merchandising packages and marketing calendars. For
administrative tools on the site allow the company to example, throughout the year it will run campaigns such
pre-verify buyers as from reliable businesses. Cole- as Womens History Month and Veterans Day, featuring
Parmer also is able to set custom online pricing for credentialed sellers. A Back to Business campaign at
each of its online customers. the beginning of the year was designed to help business
customers stock up on important inventory when the
BROADER AUDIENCE Owens & Minor Inc., a distributor calendar turns over, Green says.
of healthcare products, has expanded its sales efforts Looking forward, Green says were excited about our
to include e-commerce marketplaces. The company global expansion, as we launched Amazon Business in
says it is able to reach a broader audience on Amazon Germany last December, the U.K. in April and are getting
Business, while also reaching more of its targeted base really positive responses from customers and sellers.
of buyers, many of whom, it found, were already using Were also excited about our customer acquisition efforts
the marketplace. in the Healthcare, Government and Education spaces,
all of which bring a tremendous breadth of opportunity
MARKETING, SHIPPING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE to sellers, based on the deep product baskets that
Women-owned small business Stand Steady, a designer, these types of customers are looking for on Amazon
manufacturer and distributor of standing desks and Business. Its still Day One for us, but were seeing
other ergonomic office furniture and supplies, says it encouraging signs that business customers of all sizes
benefits from having its products seen by more busi- are delighted by our efforts.
ness buyers on Amazon Business. Also, by selling on
the marketplace, Stand Steady eliminates warehouse
management and other operating costs as Amazon
processes and ships orders, runs advertisements, Sponsored by:
takes customer service calls and handles returns.
A VIRTUAL SALES TEAM Answering its need to sell prod-

ucts without a physical sales team was key to the decision
by G7 Power, which produces LED light bulbs, to sell on
a B2B e-commerce site. As a small start-up, the firm
Sell on Amazon Business
The B2B Marketplace on Amazon
Reach more. Sell more. Amazon Business is growing its

network of business buyers, including:
Over 400,000 registered Business Pricing tools Prole and Credential features
business accounts to grow your sales to tell your businesss story
See how Amazon can grow your business.
Start selling
APRIL 2017
demand for the service as businesses rely more on web

shopping portals like Amazon Business to make more of their
purchases. As organizations buying patterns move toward
online marketplaces, access to this critical data will help with
reconciliation and audit, she says.
Other providers of B2B payment

services are breaking new ground.
Basware Corp., for instance, is
growing the number of suppliers and
buyers on its Basware Network as it
expands its services for companies
to exchange purchase orders and
invoices and process payments. Over
the past few years, Basware has
launched services including Basware
Paydesigned to let mid-sized
companies process B2B payments
through the MasterCard network.
A program for buyers, Basware
Discount, allows them to set up early
Purchase orders and invoices can
payments to suppliers in return for a be exchanged on the Basware
discount on invoices. Network, which also provides
related analytics.
In the past year, the number of suppliers participating on the
Basware Network increased about 16%, says Mikael Mangs,
vice president of Network & Financing Services. The Basware
Network has more than 1 million connected buyers and
suppliers. Its volume of transactions have increased in double-
digit percentages over the past three years, with 2016s volume
reaching more than 100 million transactions with a gross
value of close to $550 billion, he says.
BRIGHTER LIGHTS SHINE ON BIDSLATE.COM

For some marketplaces, the ability to manage online payments
between buyers and sellers can make a huge difference in their
ability to succeed. Take BidSlate, an international marketplace
launched in October 2016 for buyers and sellers of the distribution
rights of feature films and other forms of media content.
In its first six months of operation, BidSlate has offered hundreds

of buyers (also known as distributors) about 150 films, including
APRIL 2017
the dramas Apocalypse Child and Americana and comedies

Fighting Belle and the Spanish-language Piter Pan. Other
genres include adventure, horror, thriller, sci-fi, western, LGBTQ
and documentary. BidSlate already serves hundreds of buyer-
distributors from nearly all parts of the world, and hopes to
expand its marketplace activity to include thousands of content
titles and thousands of buyer-distributors, co-founder and CEO
Roland Rojas says.
One key to its growth, he says, is simplifying the complicated

method of how buyers pay for distribution rights they acquire
from filmmakers. Buyers typically either pay a flat fee up front
on receipt of content, a minimum up-front payment followed
by revenue sharing as buyers re-sell the content, or just share Were a
revenue. Traditionally, such payments have been made offline marketplace.
with paper checks, requiring extensive paperwork and bill-
collecting, Rojas says. Its complicated, he says.
We dont want
to touch the
When planning BidSlates launch, Rojas and his film industry
partner decided to start with an electronic payment escrow
funds going
system that would not only cut out the paper checks, but instill between buyers
more confidence among internationally dispersed buyers and and sellers.
sellers who may not know each other. Regardless of the payment
Roland Rojas, CEO,
schedule, funds from the buyer-distributors on the marketplace BidSlate.com
are held in escrow by Payoneer, BidSlates payment services
provider, and released to sellers once the buyers receive the
content under their agreed-upon terms. Under the revenue-
sharing model, Payoneer receives the funds from the buyer-
distributors end-customers, then disperses it to the buyer-
distributor and filmmaker according to their revenue-sharing
terms. BidSlate retains 20% of each transaction as its own fee.
Rojas says BidSlate is taking other steps to help its marketplace

grow among both buyers and filmmakers. Its e-commerce
platform at BidSlate.com, which it built in-house, for
example, was designed with a site search tool that lets buyers
look for content by genre or other criteria that meets their
programming interests.
But he says he cant imagine having to directly get involved in

managing payment transactions. Were a marketplace, he says.
We dont want to touch the funds going between buyers and
sellers. We only want to touch what belongs to us.
APRIL 2017
Rojas says it took about two months for his internal I.T. team and
Payoneer to set up the escrow service on BidSlate.com. Buyers
on BidSlate, he says, take about five minutes to fill out an online
form to begin using the escrow service.
Payoneer, which charges no fees to integrate its technology into

marketplaces, charges its clients a percentage of transaction value
starting at 1.5% for transactions valued at under $5,000, according
to Payoneer CEO Scott Galit. The rate goes down as transaction
value rises. For a marketplace generating sales of more than
$1 million, the rate is 0.35%.
B2B MARKETPLACES GOING MORE GLOBAL

B2B marketplaces are also looking to grow their global reach.
For example, Newegg Inc., a retailer of technology products, is
helping third-party sellers sell more to its consumer and business
customers in the United States and abroad.
After launching as a web-only retailer of computers and other Payoneer provides escrow services
electronics products in 2001, Newegg grew quickly to $1 billion in to buyers and sellers of feature
sales by 2004 and $2 billion by 2008. films and other forms of media
content on BidSlate.com.
Now its striving to go well beyond $3 billion, a threshold it inched

past in 2014 with combined retail and business-to-business sales.
Part of its strategy now is to build more international sales, as it
helps sellers throughout the world sell to more than 32 million
customers across the United States, Europe and Asia.
Newegg sells to businesses on NeweggBusiness.com, and to

consumers on Newegg.com. Its taking several steps to bring
more sellers and product categories to each, including such new
categories as automotive products that it sells to repair shops and
company fleets on NeweggBusiness.com.
In the meantime, Newegg is also working with sellers worldwide

to build up their sales to North American customers on Repair shops and company fleets
NeweggBusiness.com and the retail site Newegg.com. can purchase automotive products
on NeweggBusiness.com.
Newegg works with overseas sellers to help them test sales in the
U.S. and other markets, helping them with marketing campaigns
that can gauge demand for a new product before committing to
sell large quantities through Neweggs retail or B2B sites. It also
APRIL 2017
offers logistics services

through its Shipped by
Newegg program, through
which Newegg will hold
inventory for third-
party sellers, ship orders
to end-customers, and
handle customer service
and returns.
In addition to the
United States,
Newegg.com currently
ships to customers in
Singapore, the United
Kingdom, Ireland,
Netherlands, Poland, India, Australia and New Zealand. The
company looks to expand its reach in such regions such as Asia
Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
AMAZON BUSINESS BUILDS IN EUROPE

Amazon Business went a step further in its global expansion in
April, adding a British B2B marketplace to its European territory
targeting an online B2B market estimated by the U.K.s Office for
National Statistics at more than $120 billion.
The site, at Amazon.co.uk/business, features more than

100 million products ranging from office and janitorial supplies to
electric motors and metal-cutting drills for companies of all sizes,
says Bill Burkland, head of Amazon Business UK.
Amazon hasnt released figures on the numbers of buyers and 1.8 billion
sellers on the U.K. site, though it notes on the site that U.K.-based Expected 2016 export sales for
businesses already selling on Amazon marketplaces were U.K.-based businesses already
selling on Amazon marketplaces,
expected to achieve export sales of more than 1.8 billion pounds
in 2016, up 29% from 1.4 billion pounds the prior year. 1.8 billion
pounds is equivalent to $2.24 billion.
up 29%
from the prior year.
Amazon operates 11 e-commerce marketplaces worldwide,
including Amazon.co.uk, where it and thousands of other
companies sell to consumers as well as to businesses. Its
Amazon Business portals now operate as extensions of
APRIL 2017
Amazon marketplaces in the U.S. and Germany as well as in

the U.K. The Amazon Business portals differ from the broader
Amazon marketplaces in the features, including pricing and
business account services, they offer specifically for business
buyers and sellers.
On the new U.K. site, for instance, Amazon Business provides

features designed for U.K. businesses including VAT-exclusive
pricing, which shows buyers the price of goods without the
inclusion of value-added tax. In the U.K. and other European
countries, its common to apply a VAT that manufacturers,
distributors and retailers each collect and submit to their local
taxing jurisdictions after the final sale to an end-user. Amazon
Business also offers VAT invoicing, which displays records of the
tax that businesses use when filing tax returns, and exclusive
pricing that sellers can offer to business customers, including
discounts for volume purchases.
The Amazon Business U.K. site, like other Amazon sites, also
provides sellers the option to use Fulfillment by Amazon to
fulfill orders through Amazons
own network of distribution
centers, including 12 in the U.K. Amazon Business combines more
out of more than 100 worldwide.
And it allows buyers to use
than one hundred million business
the Amazon Prime service products with a new set of unique
for 2-day shipping. business featuresfrom reporting
Whether you are a sole trader,
and analytics to spending limits and
a buyer in a mid-size company purchasing workflow approvals.
or a chief procurement officer Bill Burkland, head of Amazon Business UK
in a large multinational
organization, Amazon Business
has the products and capabilities to serve your needs, Burkland
says. Amazon Business combines more than one hundred million
business products with a new set of unique business features
from reporting and analytics to spending limits and purchasing
workflow approvals.
The launch of the newest Amazon Business site has stirred

various responses from businesses in the U.K. We are very
excited about Amazon Business, which will simplify sales for us
and allow us to make our offers more attractive to institutional
APRIL 2017
buyers through business-specific pricing, Dariusz Dubis, a

director at Microdream Ltd., a firm certified by Microsoft Corp. to Amazon Business
refurbish computer products, says in an online testimonial. will allow us to
make our offers
Others are more wary of Amazons presence. In preparation for
Amazon Business expected arrival, SPOT Group, a wholesaler of more attractive
business supplies under the Spicers brand, has been upgrading to institutional
its own distribution center network and delivery services over buyers through
the past two years to be more competitive, CEO Jeff Whiteway
said late last year.
business-specific
pricing.
The U.K. Amazon Business site is the second in Europe and Dariusz Dubis, director,
follows the December launch of Amazons B2B portal in Germany, Microdream Ltd.
at Amazon.de/business. More than 50,000 business customers
and 10,000 sellers now use the Germany-based Amazon Business
portal, Amazon says. Building on this success, we are now
offering Amazons selection, convenience and value to businesses
in the U.K., it says on the new U.K. Amazon Business portal.
Amazon Business has unmatched resources to back up its plans,

but B2B marketplaces of all sizes are proving that buyers and
sellers are open to new ways of doing business.

DIVING INTO GOVERNMENT
WORKAND TARGETING
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
Marketplaces Amazon Business and NeweggBusiness found a
new way to serve the country earlier this year by contracting
with government agencies and educational institutions.
BY PAUL DEMERY
Buyers at tens of thousands of public agencies

and nonprofit organizations can now procure a
wide range of products on Amazon Business
including items ranging from books and art supplies
to scientific equipment and animal supplies
under a contract announced in February by U.S.
Communities, a buying cooperative for more than
55,000 public-sector agencies.
For Amazon Business, the deal could reach a value of more than
$5 billion over a little more than a decade.
The contract is for Amazon Business to provide an online

marketplace for the purchase of products and services under
procurement terms providing participating agencies with such
benefits as discounted pricing for combined order volumes, and
low administrative costs resulting from the use of state-of-the-
art order management and delivery systems. U.S. Communities
member agency Prince William County (Virginia) Public Schools,
acting as the lead agency, awarded Amazon Business the contract in
January 2017 after issuing a request for proposals in September 2016
and considering eight other proposals in addition to Amazons.
The contract was set for an initial five-year term that began on
Jan. 19, with options to renew it for three two-year periods, for
a total of up to 11 years. The bid document estimates spending
by participating agencies of $500 million per year under the
contract, or Master Agreement, with Amazon Business; if that
APRIL 2017
spending volume occurred over the

course of 11 years, it would result in a
cumulative volume of $5.5 billion.
Amazon Business delivers the buying

experience our end-users want, and
we are thrilled to provide the contract
vehicle for this extensive nationwide
online marketplace, Anthony Crosby,
administrative coordinator of
purchasing for Prince William County
Public Schools, said in a statement.
Prentis Wilson, vice president of

USCommunities.org displays many
Amazon Business, added: Amazon of the suppliers it makes available
Business is committed for the long term to serve education and to buyers at public agencies.
government organizations, and is honored to partner with Prince
William County Public Schools and U.S. Communities to offer a
contract solution for the public sector.
The contract, which U.S. Communities ensured was solicited

and awarded under public procurement rules and regulations,
extends to all of the cooperatives member agencies. It covers 10
product categories: office supplies; classroom, school, art supplies
and materials; home kitchen, food and grocery; books; musical
instruments; audio visual and electronics; higher education
scientific equipment and lab supplies; clothing; animal supplies
equipment and food; and miscellaneous.
Amazon Business is one of many companies contracted by U.S.

Communities agencies to provide its members with products and
services. The buying cooperative lists on its website dozens of sellers
under four specific categoriesincluding The Home Depot Pro and
electrical products distributor Graybar under the Facilities category;
furniture suppliers Virco, Haworth and Herman Miller under the
Office & School category; office machines suppliers Ricoh and
Savin under the Technology category; and Advance Auto Parts and
analytics software provider Experian under the Specialty category.
But Amazon Business is the only contracted company listed as an

online marketplace, and its the only company that appears under
each of the four categories. Indeed, the estimated $500 million in
annual spending under the Amazon Business contract is nearly a
APRIL 2017
quarter of the over $2 billion in products and services that U.S.

Communities participating agencies already procure annually,
according to figures on the cooperatives website.
The U.S. Communities website includes a marketplace section,

linked from a Shop button on the sites navigation bar, where
authorized buyers can use a single shopping cart to purchase
products from any number of the contracted suppliers.
U.S. Communities charges its member agencies no fees and

requires no minimum order volumes. The cooperative has been
running webinars to instruct member agencies how to take
advantage of the Amazon Business contract. The contract lets
buyers register for tax-exempt purchasing, free two-day shipping
Amazon
on eligible orders valued at $49 or more, and use punchout Business is
software that enables buyers to link directly to Amazon Business
from procurement software systems including SciQuest, Skyward,
committed
ESM and Coupa, the cooperative says. for the long
term to serve
Amazon Business has taken several steps to grow its sales
to schools, government agencies and other public sector education and
organizations. It includes a product section on its site for government
educators, and provides teachers with a free digital content
service, Amazon Inspire. Last September, around the time the
organizations.
Prince William County Public Schools issued its request for Prentis Wilson, vice president,
Amazon Business
proposals, Amazon Business hired Anne Rung, the former head of
the U.S. Office of Federal Procurement Policy, as its global head of
public sector sales. And its plans to expand its workforce recently
included a job posting for a head of government markets.
NEWEGGBUSINESS SETS UP SHOP WITH THE GSA

Launched in 2009 as the business-to-business arm of electronics
retailer Newegg, NeweggBusiness surged to nearly $600 million
in sales in 2016. Now its in a position to grow in a new market
the federal governmentthrough a recent contract with the U.S.
General Services Administration, making it an authorized vendor
to federal agencies of a broad range I.T. products.
As a holder of a GSA Schedule Contract, NeweggBusiness is now

a preferred source for government buyers, Newegg Inc. CEO
Danny Lee says. This milestone positions the company to earn
government contracts and tap new public sector revenue streams.
APRIL 2017
NeweggBusiness, No. 115 in the

B2B E-Commerce 300, already has
experience in selling to government
agencies at the state and municipal
levels. With its GSA contract, which
covers a general range of I.T. products,
systems and services, NeweggBusiness
can now sell things ranging from
telephones and video teleconferencing
equipment to computers and computer
networking equipment to any person
authorized to procure products for a
federal government agency.
NeweggBusiness promotes its
The GSA eLibrarys website, where the GSA contract.
agency records contract details, lists the NeweggBusiness contract
as pertaining to general purpose commercial information
technology equipment, software and services under I.T. Schedule
70. The GSA refers to I.T. Schedule 70 as the largest, most
widely used acquisition vehicle in the federal government. The
NeweggBusiness contract is listed as running until Nov. 28, 2021.
Jim ODowd, vice president of NeweggBusiness, declines to identify

the products the company is immediately making available under
the GSA contract, but says the retailer plans to expand its offerings
to suit federal government agency demand. We have started with
a limited assortment and will expand it opportunistically, he says.
We do not expect to make any major inventory investments at
the onset but may do so as opportunities arise. Our website will
recognize GSA buyers and as a result will support the needs of GSA. We will expand
He adds that NeweggBusiness sees the GSA contract as a
our public
significant opportunity to build on its traditional sales to state and sector sales,
local government agencies. We will expand our public sector sales,
marketing and support teams to attack this important market
marketing and
segment, he says. support teams.
Jim ODowd, vice president,
NeweggBusiness provides more details on its website about the NeweggBusiness
GSA contract and how government procurement officers can
contact the retailer and get contract pricing.
NeweggBusiness is a wholly owned subsidiary of Newegg North

America Inc.
A RESTAURANT SUPPLIER
ADDS A B2B MARKETPLACE
TO THE MENU BY BILL BRIGGS
American Energy Restaurant Equipment is a growing

business with a new retail showroom for business
customers, but has no e-commerce capability and relies
on a limiting array of marketing methodsmainly printed
flyers and emailto promote its wares. Automation is about
to come to the rescue, says Kathleen Wilkie, vice president
and in-house counsel.
American Energys customers are mostly individual restaurants

and local chains, and include delis, white tablecloth eateries, day
care centers, schools and caterers, Wilkie says. The company
expanded in 2016 and opened a retail depot for walk-in
customers and a showroom to display big-ticket items such as
ovens and dishwashers that can cost $4,000-$6,000, as well as
smaller items. Smaller productssmallwaresrange in price
from $4 to $40 and include spatulas, knives and aprons, she says.
The supplier expected to be selling products online at

CleanDishes.com in early 2017, pending rollout of services
from ePurchasing Network, a procurement network vendor.
The e-commerce hub will enable customers to get product
information from a variety of manufacturers on equipment and
related items, place and track orders, and eliminate potential
errors associated with manual ordering, Wilkie says.
American Energy will use the ePurchasing Network platform to

stock its new retail depot and to manage repeat orders of smaller
supplies, as well as to provide an e-commerce portal. We look
for the platform to help us move those products and provide a
reorder mechanism for our customers, Wilkie says.
The network will address several challenges inherent in

selling commercial restaurant equipment, she says. First, the
e-commerce site will make it easy for customers to shop when its
convenient for them. Restaurant owners and managers typically
work long days, from early morning shopping for fresh food to
APRIL 2017
days ending at midnight, Wilkie says. We can provide a way for

them to shop when they can, and run promotions as well.
The website also helps free up salespeople to concentrate on

equipment. We see it as a supplement of our sales team that
makes reorders easy without the rep being right there, Wilkie
says. American Energy also expects the platform to lower
transaction costs on those smaller items.
EPurchasing Network launched its e-commerce platform in

December, targeting the commercial restaurant equipment industry,
which CEO George Spears says is mature and lagging in adopting
e-commerce technology. The vendor provides B2B marketplaces for
commercial equipment manufacturers and dealers in a cloud-based,
platform-as-a-service format, which provides clients with APIs to
connect their web portals with e-commerce tools. The e-commerce
tools are designed to streamline equipment sales, order management
and marketing for commercial food service firms, Spears says. The
vendor plans to target other industries soon, he says, including
aerospace, medical products distribution and construction.
The network is designed to offer manufacturers access to new

dealers and to automate the purchase order process, thus
eliminating redundant order entry and potential errors along the
way, Spears says. The vendor offers manufacturers an e-catalog
service, which can automatically update product pricing and
descriptions based on feeds from the manufacturer. Manufacturer
sales reps can access that product information on mobile devices,
giving them up-to-date product information wherever they are.
Other product data accessible on the platform includes images,

spec sheets and warranty information, Spears says.
The vendor charges manufacturers a monthly membership

fee. Dealers pay for initial set-up and transaction fees based on
number of SKUs and the dollar volume of sales going through the
platform, Spears says. He declined to disclose specific fees.
EPurchasing Network dealer clients in the restaurant equipment

field together have relationships with 30 manufacturers, Spears
says. Rollout typically will take 30 to 60 days, depending on
whether the manufacturers have data on hand and ready to
upload or if the vendor manages the data preparation.
A NEW E-MARKETPLACE
BRINGS FARM PRODUCE
TO BUYERS BY TIM BRUSVEEN
Duncan Family Farms raises organic fruits and

vegetables on four farms with a total of 9,000 acres in Arizona
and California. Now for the first time its selling on the web to
retailers and other bulk buyers.
Late in 2016 Duncan became a supplier on Aggrigator.com,

Aggrigator Inc.s new internet portal that connects growers with
grocers, restaurants and institutional kitchens. The Aggrigator
marketplace technology and business model enable us to access
markets and expand our supply chain footprint to keep pace with
growth, says Duncan Family Farms president Will Feliz. He adds
that Duncan will sell on the web marketplace its products that are
packaged in bulk cartons.
Feliz says that Duncan Family Farms was attracted to Aggrigators

mission of making the fresh-produce market more available
to both buyers and sellers of all sizes. In addition to serving
as a portal where buyers and sellers can meet and process
purchases, Aggrigator also provides a network of financial
and transportation services firms to help its clients complete
their transactions.
Duncan Family Farms is making the move to e-commerce at a

time when U.S. demand for organic food is growing at a double-
digit annual rate, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce,
which says organic products now account for 4% of U.S. food sales.
In addition to serving as a portal
U.S. organic food sales grew 11% to $43.3 billion in 2015, says the where buyers and sellers can
Organic Trade Association. meet and process purchases,
Aggrigator also provides a network
of financial and transportation
We said, What if we could build a technology that would services firms to help its clients
aggregate demand from small buyers and suppliers who dont complete their transactions.
have easy access to big markets? We make that easier, says
Gerard Rego, co-founder of Aggrigator. The marketplace was
conceived by Rego and his team in January 2014 as a portal for
farmers and food buyers to find one another. Duncan Family
APRIL 2017
Farms is among the initial sellers on the site, which Rego says was
expected to go fully live in early 2017.
Once buyers register on Aggribuy.Aggrigator.com, the

marketplace shows them available items based on their product
preferences. Orders on Aggrigator to date range from $300 to
$11,000, he notes.
Aggrigator collects a percentage of the value of transactions

processed on the marketplace. Rego declined to specify the
amount the marketplaces charges. All orders between buyers
and sellers can be placed online and payments are processed
through PayPal.

CANON LAUNCHES AN
E-MARKETPLACE FOR
DEALERS AND THEIR
CUSTOMERS BY BILL BRIGGS
Canon U.S.A. Inc. has a new online marketplace

that consolidates its imaging technology and services offerings
on one landing page accessible by authorized dealers.
Canon says the portal, dubbed the Canon Business Services

Platform, will help dealers enhance customer relationships by
making it simple to order subscription-based Canon document
and information management productssuch as software,
services and imaging equipmentand to access support
information about products and services.
The marketplace launched in August 2016 and is part of what

Canon U.S.A calls One Canon, its centralized strategy to unite
its business-to-business divisions and create a tighter bond with
its dealers. At a presentation to industry analysts last year, Leo
Bonetti, CEO of Flo-Tech, a Canon authorized dealer and service
provider, offered an example of how his organization worked with
Canon to meet the needs of its customers. Flo-Tech client RSM
International, an audit, tax and consulting firm formerly known
as McGladrey, wanted to upgrade its printers and the dealer and
Canon worked out a plan to do so, Canon says.
RSM now has nearly 500 Canon printers using Canons uniFlow
software across its offices in the United States, providing RSM
with improved workflow in a high-volume office environment, The Canon Business Services
Bonetti says. Platform will help dealers enhance
customer relationships by making it
simple to order subscription-based
UniFlow software provides print, copy and scan control of a Canon document and information
network of devices that can track device usage to control costs, management products.
add password-protected printing and implement web-based
print/copy job submission, Canon says. UniFlow and other
software is provided online through a software-as-a-service
format. In the SaaS model the vendor hosts the technology and
APRIL 2017
clients access it via a web browser, paying monthly subscription

fees instead of large, lump-sum licensing fees.
The online marketplace is available to Canons nearly 400

dealers across the United States, and theres no fee or
additional software required.
Canon says other features of the new platform include:
Centralized management. Dealers can centrally manage

their customers subscriptions, which can include tracking
subscriptions sold, adding and renewing subscriptions,
billing information, subscription expiration dates and
notifications, and the ability to activate, deactivate, and
transfer device licenses.
Flexible services. Licenses and maintenance and support can

be sold and added to an account on a monthly basis or on a
device basis.
Faster billing. Dealers can provide their customers simpler

online ordering and invoicing that includes automated
calculating of billing for licenses, monthly add-ons, and
maintenance and support.

A 2017 GUIDE TO
B2B E-MARKETPLACES
APPAREL CRAFTS AND LabNetwork.com
BambooRose.com PRODUCTS FROM MarketplaceB2B.com
INDEPENDENT Miriads.info
Fibre2Fashion.com ARTISANS
JoorAccess.com NeweggBusiness.com
AmericanMadeShow.com
NuOrder.com PanAsiaExchange.net
GoCoop.com
rx.Trxade.com
Ordre.com SouvNear.com
SAP Ariba (Ariba.com)
Poshmark.com wholesale.TheGrommet.com
SurplusRecord.com
RetailUniverse.com
ThomasNet.com
GENERAL BUSINESS, Toboc.com
BUSINESS SOFTWARE INDUSTRIAL,
AND SERVICES SCIENTIFIC Touch4Biz.com
PRODUCTS TradeBoss.com
99Designs.com
Amazon Business Tradebanq.com
Appexchange.salesforce.com (Amazon.com/business)
Tradeindia.com
BlurGroup.com Alibaba.com Tradekey.com
ContractorsCustomers.com AllActionTrade.com Tradescraper.com
DiscoverCloud.com BizBilla.com TradeZone.com
MojoMarketplace.com Bizzy.co.id (Indonesia) WayfairSupply.com
Renescrow.com Bulkhouse.in
VentureApp.com Cogobuy.com MOTOR VEHICLES/
eBay Business Supply HEAVY EQUIPMENT
CONSUMER (ebay.com/rpp/ AutoWurld.com
PRODUCTS ebay-business-supply) MotorTrade.arval.com
INCLUDING EXCESS EC21.com
MERCHANDISE RevolutionParts.com
FedBid.com TradeMachines.com
DHGate.com (government and
GencoMarketplace.com commercial)
Groupon Goods Liquidation GSAAdvantage.com
SPECIALTY
Auctions (GrouponGoods. (government and Bid.Aero
bstocksolutions.com) commercial) HarbourYard.com
Shotang.com IndiaMart.com IngredientsOnline.com
ViaTrading.com KatunMarketplace.com Yieldorganic.com
WeMarket.com Kinnek.com

B2B Marketplaces

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EXECUTIVE REPORT + B2B marketplaces

cover new ground

OPENING NEW B2B online

TO BUSINESS and sellers expand

Sponsored by: NeweggBusiness and Amazon Business

Amazon Business and NeweggBusiness

KEY DATA Web Production Editor: Farnia Ghavami

A look at dozens of B2B marketplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 B2BeCommerceWorld.com

Vertical Web Media

April 2017 edition

B2BecNews, a twice-weekly newsletter with

For advertising information, call 312-572-6251.

Copyright 2017 Vertical Web Media LLC.

BY BILL BRIGGS AND PAUL DEMERY

For most companies, selling online takes the

We get strong sales forecasting data, can see whos viewing

Shuyler Mowe. Then were able to launch outside of BuildDirect

New marketplaces like BuildDirect.com and its use of big data to

Apart from BuildDirect, Classic Accessories traditionally

Aditi Sood, sales manager at Classic Accessories, says the

BuildDirect specializes in selling large quantities of building

Joseph Thompson, BuildDirects

BuildDirect is but one example of a business taking advantage of

Growing sales with Neweggs B2B marketplace

technology vendor Mirakl and

CAPITAL IS FINDING MARKETPLACES

Prior to the latest funding round, Tradeshift made a number

management programs; enabling buyers and sellers to exchange

AMAZON BUSINESS IS HIRING

Those quoted comments were pulled not from a statement by

They have agreed to provide businesses with purchasing accounts

Tracking and reconciling

B2B payments require enhanced data for proper audit, reporting

Jennifer Petty, head of Card and Comprehensive Payables for

How companies grow on Amazon Business

takes customer service calls and handles returns.

A VIRTUAL SALES TEAM Answering its need to sell prod-

Reach more. Sell more. Amazon Business is growing its

See how Amazon can grow your business.

demand for the service as businesses rely more on web

Other providers of B2B payment

BRIGHTER LIGHTS SHINE ON BIDSLATE.COM

In its first six months of operation, BidSlate has offered hundreds

the dramas Apocalypse Child and Americana and comedies

One key to its growth, he says, is simplifying the complicated

Rojas says BidSlate is taking other steps to help its marketplace

But he says he cant imagine having to directly get involved in

Payoneer, which charges no fees to integrate its technology into

B2B MARKETPLACES GOING MORE GLOBAL

Now its striving to go well beyond $3 billion, a threshold it inched

Newegg sells to businesses on NeweggBusiness.com, and to

In the meantime, Newegg is also working with sellers worldwide

offers logistics services

AMAZON BUSINESS BUILDS IN EUROPE

The site, at Amazon.co.uk/business, features more than

Amazon marketplaces in the U.S. and Germany as well as in

On the new U.K. site, for instance, Amazon Business provides

The launch of the newest Amazon Business site has stirred

buyers through business-specific pricing, Dariusz Dubis, a

Amazon Business has unmatched resources to back up its plans,

Sponsored by: NeweggBusiness

Buyers at tens of thousands of public agencies

The contract is for Amazon Business to provide an online

spending volume occurred over the