Contrary to global trend, especially in countries like US and China where B2B e-commerce is valued at $1.7 trillion and is merely double the size of B2C, B2B e-commerce is still a budding sector in India. E-commerce is an upcoming trend in countries in India. Whereas, it has already grown in developed countries. E-commerce in B2B is an upcoming trend.According to data collected by HT, B2B e-commerce companies raised about $93 million in last six months, while companies selling directly to customers raised $410 million. The gap looks huge but considering that 2 years ago, B2B e-commerce companies were not funded at all, their growth looks promising.
Among the numerous companies that are eyeing the enterprise e-commerce space and have got investor backing include Tolesco by IndiaMart, IndustryBuying, OfBusiness, Industry kart and Moglix.
IndiaMart, which help manufacturers, suppliers and exporters connect over its platform, has invested 100 crore in Tolesco , a direct competition of Industry buying. According to its director Dinesh Agarwal, growth is such that they can go for an IPO. He added that globally B2B e-commerce is big, but there is no single large player as each company is trying to solve one pain area. This leaves a window of oppurtunities open to budding entrepreneurs in a sector still awaiting unicorns.
As CEO and founder of Industry Buying, Swati Gupta, said “B2B e-commerce has just started in India. Globally 10% of all commercial transactions happen over the internet. In India it is just 1%.
PS: B2B stands for business to business. Any transaction that takes place between two business comes under this. For eg:- If Acer purchases microprocessor from intel that would be known as B2B dealing. This is different from B2C(business to consumer) in which dealings are done between a business and a consumer. If Acer sells that laptop to us that dealing would be B2C. However, if it sells that to business that would be known as B2B.
