Each business model requires a different architecture, marketing strategies, set of features, target audiences, and much more to establish its identity in the market. Similarly, in the eCommerce industry, B2B and B2C marketplace are often thrown together to distinguish. There is always a discussion on B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) marketplaces. In fact, when it comes to build a marketplace, it often creates confusion between B2B and B2C.
However, B2B and B2C business models share a lot of similarities and there is no such a golden rule to separate them from each other. In both business models, there is a customer who is buying something from a seller who is selling. Yet, what makes them different is purchase quantity, customer journey, product offerings, target audiences, pricing, features, and more. In addition, their market size is also a key distinction between B2B and B2C business models.
According to Precedence Research, the global B2B eCommerce market size is anticipated to reach around $60.62 trillion by 2034, accelerating at a CAGR of 18.04% from 2024 to 2034. Besides, the global B2C eCommerce market size is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 19.13% from 2025 to 2034 to reach around $37.72 trillion by 2034.
The above-estimated market size and growth rate have defined the potential of both business models. Entrepreneurs and business owners can efficiently harvest the rewards and capitalize on the eCommerce industry by building a B2B or B2C marketplace platform.
However, to build a B2B or B2C, you need to have more clarity on both business models. Your careful consideration of the blog will help you understand the key differences between B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-customer).
B2B is an acronym for Business to Business, as the name suggests, B2B transactions are initiated between two business entities. Sellers (businesses that sell products or services) and trade with buyers (other businesses that buy) in bulk or large volume. These business entities can be manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, or suppliers.
B2B eCommerce marketplaces are the ideal mediums that connect businesses with other businesses on an online platform. It streamlines and simplifies their communications and business transactions by offering several tools, features and functionalities. In B2B marketplaces, three key participants play roles; marketplace owners, businesses as sellers and businesses as buyers.
In short, B2B marketplaces are the mediums that help businesses achieve their business goals (buying and selling products) online in no time compared to offline businesses.
In this eCommerce era B2B trading is not as complex, time-consuming and mind-teasing as offline B2B trades. B2B Marketplaces like Amazon business, Alibaba eWorldtrade and more have transformed B2B businesses trading. These global marketplaces have opened up new opportunities to reach wider businesses with no hassle. Let’s explore popular B2B Marketplaces worldwide.
Amazon Business, launched in April 2015 is one of the most popular B2B marketplaces globally. One can simply register and start using the platform. With its extensive range of products, Amazon Business offers all the essential features and functionalities tailored to meet unique B2B business requirements.
With over 8.5 million annual active sellers and 279 million active buyers, Alibaba is one of the largest wholesale marketplaces worldwide. Often referred to as the Amazon of China, Alibaba is the top B2B marketplace in the Asian market and also a popular marketplace globally. Alibaba is known for keeping track of trends and interests and famous as a reliable platform for businesses.
eWorldTrade is another leading B2B marketplace in the world. It offers opportunities for businesses to reach new business entities by expanding their reach to the global market. With 900000 suppliers and 11 million products, eWorldTrade is the fastest-growing trading platform that provides innovative solutions to streamline business operations effortlessly.
AliExpress, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group is another popular B2B eCommerce platform that empowers global businesses by connecting them online. This marketplace operates in more than 230 different countries and regions around the world. AliExpress offers a wide array of products and services catering to global businesses.
Global Sources is also one of the renowned marketplaces with more than 50 years of market presence. This global marketplace connects businesses with other businesses allowing them to trade on a feature-rich online platform. Global Sources is known for offering quality-driven trade one of its USPs that sets the platform apart from other marketplaces.
A B2C stands for Business-to-Customer where businesses deal directly with customers. In the B2C business model, sellers directly reach out to consumers to sell their products. There is no bound on purchase quantity like in the B2B business model. Here, buyers can place an order for a single product quantity.
A B2C marketplace is a digital platform that connects buyers and sellers on a common platform. It allows buyers to access a wide range of products by offering the opportunity to order the most suited product at the best possible pricing. On the other hand, it lets the sellers access a wide customer base where they can showcase their products and offerings to get more sales.
In short, B2C transactions are not as complex as B2B, buyers simply place an order by initiating payment and get the order delivered according to the given delivery timeline.
The B2C marketplaces are ruling the eCommerce landscape. Especially, the adoption of smartphones and the rising desire for online shopping have empowered global marketplaces. These are the top 5 online B2C marketplaces that can inspire you to build your own B2C marketplace platform:
Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, Amazon is a leading B2C eCommerce marketplace platform. With more than 310 million active users worldwide, Amazon is one of the most accepted and largest marketplace platforms. It deals in almost all types of product categories such as electronics, fashion, pharma and healthcare, books, grocery, baby products, and much more. In addition, it also offers numerous services such as prime video, cloud computing, online music streaming, digital content like ebooks and audiobooks and more
With 133 million plus active buyers and 18 million plus active sellers, eBay is registered in the list of the most visited online shopping platforms. Founded in 1995 as an auction website, today eBay is one of the popular marketplaces with a market capitalization of more than $30 billion.
Walmart, Formerly known as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was founded in 1962 and today it is one of the world’s most popular and largest retail marketplaces. In 2024, the global net sales were nearly 643 billion according to Statista. Walmart offers a wide range of products at lower prices, one of its competitive advantages that helps it lead the industry.
Flipkart is another renowned B2C eCommerce platform that connects buyers and sellers. Also, Flipkart’s global program allows its sellers to sell products in over 200 countries through eBay. Flipkart Global is a partnership between Flipkart and eBay. This platform deals in diverse product categories including electronics, fashion, home decor, gadgets, pet care, and more.
Rakuten is Japan’s largest eCommerce marketplace that offers an extensive shopping experience to its customers by selling products from diverse categories. The marketplace operates in 30 countries and regions. Rakuten’s user-friendly website and same-day delivery offerings make it a preferable choice among customers.
Whether you are looking to launch your B2B marketplace platform or B2C, the end goal of B2B and B2C is to sell products and services to the buyers. However, there are significant differences that set both marketplace models apart. Let’s explore the key differences between B2B and B2C marketplaces:
A larger market size means greater opportunities to excel in business growth. Market size is the total number of potential customers to whom you can serve with your product or services. It determines the profitability and growth of your marketplace.
However, the segmentation of market size according to your business model is crucial, it helps you decide strategies and plan of action on how to reach out to customers and also makes you understand the areas where you need to expand. Let’s understand the market size of B2B and B2C separately.
According to Precedence Research, the global B2B eCommerce market size was $9.74 trillion in 2023, estimated at $11.54 trillion in 2024. It is also predicted that the B2B market size will reach around $60.62 at a CAGR of 18.04%.
According to Precedence Research, the global B2C eCommerce market size is calculated at $7.81 trillion in 2025 and is forecasted to reach around $37.72 trillion by 2034 at a CAGR of 19.13%.
Different business models have different target audiences. Deciding your target audience helps businesses determine their marketing strategies, product selections, marketing channels and business operations. In B2B and B2C business models target audiences are different. Let’s identify the target audience for B2B and B2C marketplaces:
Because B2B sellers sell products in bulk. On the other side, the end goal of B2B buyers is to get quality products at lower costs with good profit margins. The B2B business relies on building trust, long-term relationships, offering quality products and more.
The B2C sellers apply multiple tactics to create an emotional connection with their potential buyers. Ultimately, buyers also connect with such businesses considering a few factors such as price, convenience, discounts and more.
The pricing model in B2B and B2C business models is truly a crucial consideration. This consideration and a strategic pricing model help businesses convert leads into sales. Let’s understand the pricing model of B2B and B2C:
In addition, B2B marketplaces often hide their pricing from the page and enable an option “Request for Quote”. This marketplace feature makes pricing negotiable.
However, in B2C, the prices for products or services should be transparent and consistent and focused on competition, value and customer psychology.
B2B and B2C buyers have similarities, such as looking to buy products or services. On the other hand, their buying process is not the same. They have different considerations while making a purchase decision.
B2B buyers deal in large volume and higher value than B2C. Therefore, the decision evolves many areas to look out such as feature analysis, ROI, market demand, margins, impact on business and many more. In addition, multiple decision-makers also take time when deciding. It might take months or even years to finalize a B2B deal.
However, on online platforms, this process is now a bit faster. Businesses can easily analyze and evaluate products or services through various tools and make buying decisions faster.
In addition, if they find something relatively good based on their taste or preference, they immediately place an order without analyzing it. However, in B2B multiple considerations are required to make a profitable purchase decision and again due to higher volume transactions.
Marketplace features are another significant differentiator between B2B and B2C marketplaces. An eCommerce marketplace platform primarily connects three participants according to their roles and actions; Admin, Seller and Buyer.
Admin responsible for managing the platform as a marketplace owner, Seller of services or product provider who lists and sells products or services on the platform, and the end-user is the Buyer who leverages the benefit of the platform and makes purchases.
Apart from the different features, there are a lot of requirements that are similar for B2B and B2C eCommerce platforms such as both the business models need an eCommerce platform, product detail page, order management system, content management system, secure payment options, shipping and order fulfillment, digital marketing tools and more.
Let’s differentiate the B2B business model from B2C by exploring the essential marketplace features required for an enhanced user experience and making purchases:
1. Hide Pricing: The B2B product pricing may vary on many terms. Therefore, hide pricing helps businesses (sellers and Buyers) to discuss pricing agreeing on various business terms and transactions.
2. RFQ Module: Another significant feature of a B2B marketplace that enables businesses to interact on pricing in case of hidden pricing by requesting a quote.
(However, businesses should enable both the options, Buy Now and RFQ. Suppose, the buyer has a better deal but due to the buy now option only, he can not place an RFQ that may cause loss. Therefore, the RFQ module feature can be more advantageous with Hide Pricing and Buy Now.)
3. Minimum Order Quantity: It’s a necessary feature for a B2B marketplace. The minimum order quantity feature helps sellers restrict buyers from placing orders less than the set minimum number quantity.
4. Bulk Order Discount: This feature allows sellers to give discounts based on order quantities and order values. Discounts encourage buyers to place a maximum order quantity to get maximum discounts. On the other hand, it helps sellers to get orders in maximum quantity.
5. Flexible Pricing: Unlike the B2C marketplace, the flexible pricing option allows sellers to set flexible pricing based on order quantity and value. Flexible pricing allows sellers to plan pricing strategies by increasing or decreasing order quantity or value. Besides, this pricing strategy attracts buyers to place orders in the maximum quantity to get maximum margins.
6. Part Payment Option: This feature allows businesses to place orders by paying a partial amount of the total order value. It helps businesses maintain their cash flow and business transactions.
(B2B transactions are higher in value so the part payment option not only helps businesses initiate transactions in installments but gives them flexibility to pay the remaining amount online or offline according to their preferred payment methods.)
7. Direct Communication Channel: B2B business requires various discussions due to its complexity. Therefore, the direct communication channel option lets the buyers and sellers communicate and discuss their businesses or transactional requirements, payments, terms and conditions and more.
1. Intuitive User Interface: Shopping means something to buy but at the same time it’s creating a memorable experience. An intuitive user interface lets the buyers experience easy navigation, a visually appealing interface, ease of finding products, and much more. In short, an intuitive UX/UI minimizes friction and effort for its users on the platform.
2. Add to Cart: It is a virtual shopping cart that allows buyers to add products to the cart by clicking on the Add to Cart button. They can add multiple products to their cart and proceed to checkout later or can shop at the same time.
3. Easy Checkout: It streamlines the online shopping process by minimizing the number of steps. A buyer can place an order by providing minimum information. This quick and simple checkout process reduces cart abandonment rates contributing to increased conversion rates. Using this feature, a buyer can place an order in just one click. The guest checkout option also enables buyers to place orders without creating an account.
4. Multiple Payment Gateways: Multiple payment gateways enable businesses to accept payments through multiple payment options such as debit cards, credit cards, wallets and more. Multiple payment options help marketplaces improve their customer experience and allow them to expand their reach without being worried about payment reliability and currency. In addition, multiple payment gateways give an option to the customers to pay using their preferred and trusted payment gateways.
5. Order Tracking: An order tracking feature is another necessary feature of a B2C marketplace that allows customers to track and know their order status anytime. It leads to higher customer satisfaction, confidence, loyalty and enhanced overall shopping experience. In addition, customers are less likely to contact customer care to know their order status which indirectly saves time and resources.
6. Reviews and Ratings: Reviews and ratings are the feedback of the customers. It provides insights into a product or service by real customers who have experienced it. Positive reviews work as referrals and recommendations. It helps build buyers’ trust in the brand. In addition, it also lets the buyers make informed decisions when making a purchase.
Payment terms are a kind of agreement in which a seller and buyers agree to pay money in exchange for products or services. Buyers either pay the entire amount when placing an order, make a partial payment or even choose the post-payment option which means payment after delivery. Unlike B2B, where transactions are flexible and multiple, B2C payments are standardized and often one-time. Let’s explore payment terms in B2B and B2C business models:
However, there are several terms on which both parties agreed to make payments in installments or within a given period of time. Milestone payments are quite popular on B2B marketplaces where buyers release payments in installments based on specific deliverables or order fulfillment stages.
In the US, Afterpay, Klarna, Affirm, Sezzle and Zip Co. are some popular buy now, pay later (BNPL) options that allow customers to pay in installments.
Customer support is an essential offering for businesses everywhere and every time. Whether you deal offline or online or offer products or services, customer service is paramount. It helps retain customers, increase sales and establish brand loyalty and reputation. However, in B2B and B2C, different customer approaches are required. Let’s make it more transparent for you.
Multiple, long and dozens of steps to reach out to support often frustrate customers. Unlike B2B, B2C inquiries and concerns are simpler, so businesses should focus on providing efficient and satisfactory resolution within shorter interaction times.
Understanding the differences between B2B and B2C can help you comprehend your marketplace requirements and plan strategies to achieve your business goals. Let’s recall and make the differences more visible through the table below:
Comparison | B2B | B2C |
Customer | E-Manufacturers, Distributors, Wholesalers and Suppliers | Individual ( The End User) |
Product Type | Raw Material, Intermediate or Final Products | Final Products |
Product Quantity | Large | Single or Small |
Transactional Value | Higher | Lower |
Relationship Horizon | Long-term | Short-term |
Sales Cycle | Longer | Shorter |
Purchase Decision | Multiple Stakeholders | Individual Customer |
Focuses On | Logics, Features, Profit Margins and more | Emotions, Desires, Wants, Brands |
Pricing | Negotiable and Should Align with the Company Budget | Non-negotiable and Dependent on Personal Affordability |
Customization | Tailored to Requirements | Limited or no Customization |
Payment Flexibility | Credit Lines, Milestone Payments, Installments | One-time, Buy-now Pay Later, EMIs |
Demands | Industrial Trends, Business Demands | Fashion Trends, Seasonal Change, Personal Preference |
Customer Support | Dedicated and Focused on Building Long-term Relationships | Apathetic and Focused on Real-time Resolutions |
If you are an entrepreneur or a business owner who wants to launch an online multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace, Yo!Kart can be your most reliable solution. This readymade solution allows you to launch your platform quickly.
Yo!Kart has empowered thousands of businesses by helping them register their successful online business presence. Whether you want to launch a B2B or B2C marketplace platform or a single-vendor store, Yo!Kart lets you launch and grow your platform effortlessly.
B2B Marketplaces Launched with Yo!Kart B2B:
B2C Marketplaces Launched with Yo!Kart B2B:
Today, when the world is experiencing remarkable transformation in their shopping from offline to online, building an online marketplace using cutting-edge technology can lead to business growth and profitability in the future.
On the one side, where entrepreneurs and businesses are launching their marketplace platforms. On the other side, a few of them are confused between B2B and B2C business models.
You went through all the differences between B2B and B2C business models and marketplace requirements such as target audiences, market size, pricing, payment terms, sales cycle, customer support and marketplace features required. Now, you are more clear about the differences between B2B and B2C. These are two different business models that differently serve their customers. They apply various approaches in order to lead their industries.
However, the B2B business model is more complex than B2C, it requires extra effort and a dedicated marketplace platform that helps you launch, manage and grow your platform effortlessly. Whether you want to launch a B2C marketplace platform or a B2B marketplace platform, Yo!Kart can help you with a dedicated software solution.
Q1. What is the difference between B2B and B2C marketplace?
Ans. A primary difference between the B2B and B2C marketplace is that in the B2B marketplace, one business sells products or services to another business. On the other hand, in the B2C marketplace, a business directly sells products or services to an individual customer means the end-user.
Q2. What are the popular examples of B2B vs B2C marketplaces?
Ans. There are a number of popular marketplaces in B2B and B2B business models. Below are some examples:
Q3. Where to find the target customer/audience for my business?
Ans. In recent times, the dynamics of customer engagement have changed. It is becoming a challenge for businesses to find their audience. There are a number of marketing channels influencing their target audiences. Yet, most B2B marketers and companies rely on traditional engagement methods. On the other hand, engagement channels like social media have equally benefited the B2B and B2C business models.
Besides, if you are a business that wants to sell products or services, several B2B and B2C marketplaces are there where you can find potential customers for your business. Popular marketplaces are: Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Walmart, Etsy, eWorldTrade, Flipkart and so on.
Q4. What are the additional features required in B2B than B2C?
Ans. Due to B2B business complexity, there are several additional features required in the B2B marketplace platform than B2C such as hide pricing, RFQ module, bulk order discount, custom invoicing, minimum order quantity, and more.
Q5. Is building a B2B marketplace costlier than B2C?
Ans. Yes, B2B marketplace requirements are more complex than B2C. It requires additional features, functionalities, integrations and much more to create a fully operational B2B marketplace. Therefore, building a B2B marketplace is more expensive than B2C.
Q6. How much does it cost to build a B2B and B2C marketplace platform?
Ans. Building a B2B marketplace platform from scratch may cost you anywhere from $30000 to $200000. In addition, the cost may vary depending on your marketplace requirements.
Similarly, building a B2C marketplace platform may cost you up to $150000. However, again the final expenses depend on several factors such as features, functionalities, integrations and more.
However, if you are an entrepreneur or business owner who wants to launch an eCommerce platform in a cost-saving manner then you can launch your platform using a readymade marketplace solution, Yo!Kart.
With Yo!Kart, you can launch your B2C platform starting at $499. Also, to launch a B2B marketplace requires a nominal amount of $1499 which is far away from developing a platform from scratch.
Q7. Why is the role of B2B customer support more important than B2C?
Ans. Customer support is equally important for all types of businesses. No matter whether it is a B2B platform or B2C.
But Yes, the B2B business model is more complex and requires more clarity and special attention with each interaction. Therefore, customer support in B2B becomes more important compared to B2C.
In B2B transactions, customer support is an ongoing process that helps businesses with their inquiries and technical troubleshooting. Therefore, in B2B, a dedicated and expert account manager is assigned to ensure optimum satisfaction for B2B buyers.
On the other hand, in B2C, customer inquiries are limited to order return, exchange, delivery and sometimes related to order status. There is no need for dedicated support. However, B2C customers mostly approach customer services regarding their issues and look for immediate resolutions.