Business-to-Consumer (B2C) commerce has largely moved online and many of the unicorns that have surfaced during the past decade are companies that identified the opportunity early, from Amazon to Klarna. There is substantially less noise about Business-to-Business (B2B) e.Commerce, although B2B commerce is at least twice as large as B2C and B2B e.Commerce is now growing faster than B2B e.Commerce.
B2B companies will benefit from digitalising their sales and some are looking at new business models, like moving from selling goods to selling subscriptions for their use. But I see it unlikely that they will be disrupted by digital-native new entrants, like what happened to many retailers. In my opinion, the real business opportunity is for the services providers and platforms that can facilitate B2B e.Commerce. Hence the analogy to the California gold rush of the 1850’s where the people who made most of the money back then were those who “sold shovels” to the prospectors.
To read the whole article on Medium, click here.
Comments