The B2B rivalry between eBay and Amazon may be heating up a bit, as eBay contends that it has logged $4 billion in B2B sales, dwarfing Amazon at $1 billion.
Yet, as B2B E-Commerce World noted on Tuesday (July 12), Amazon may be arguably the better known firm in the space, with a counterpunch by eBay coming by way of its impending launch of the Business Supply section of its site. That new platform will allow SMBs and larger companies to buy products across a dozen categories, ranging from manufacturing to life science.
The push to gain more recognition in B2B comes as Forrester Research reported that B2B eCommerce sales will be more than $1.1 trillion within the next four years. Amazon has said that its own B2B business sales have been growing at north of 20 percent, according to management.
Business Supply allows for the ability to tap into SAP Ariba Spot Buy, which lets companies take advantage of procurement services. Employees are able to make spot buys on items not typically offered by their existing suppliers. The idea is to compare prices with sellers and even shift relationships toward lower-priced vendors.
In a blog post that appeared on Tuesday, Pooja Piyaratna, divisional merchandise manager of business and industrial at eBay, stated: “As more and more businesses recognize the advantage of B2B eCommerce, we’re making some moves to bolster this category to anticipate and incentivize the market. Rebranding as eBay Business Supply is the latest step in signaling our commitment to driving this category for the benefit of our customers.”
