B2BecNews: 2019 US B2B E-commerce Report

Long before the advent of the commercial internet, businesses conducted business electronically to reduce costs and increase efficiency. But the internet has greatly accelerated the pace of online shopping, and 2018 marked another milestone in this transformation: a survey by B2BecNews showed that for the first time, electronic procurement by U.S. businesses exceeded traditional procurement methods.

B2BecNews divides B2B electronic transactions into three categories:

e-commerce websites and online marketplaces where businesses sell a variety of products;

e-procurement software that enables businesses to purchase or trade products through websites, electronic catalogs, industry websites and other online channels;

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) allows companies to exchange standard business documents over electronic networks.

According to B2BecNews analysis, these three electronic channels contributed $7.579 trillion to B2B transactions in 2018, accounting for 50.7% of total U.S. B2B sales ($14.951 trillion), up from 49.2% in 2017.

This means that 49.3% of B2B sales (US$7.372 trillion) are still conducted through traditional B2B channels, which brings huge market opportunities for B2B e-commerce.

Channel segmentation

According to analysis by B2BecNews, EDI still accounted for 64.1% of B2B electronic transactions in 2018.

E-procurement software accounts for 21.7% of B2B electronic transactions.

Sales to B2B e-commerce sites and online marketplaces grew 11.0% and accounted for 14.3% of corporate e-procurement dollars.

In the report, B2BecNews introduces the three main channels for B2B electronic transactions and provides estimates of sales and growth as well as key trends for each channel.

We took a deep dive into Amazon Business, including its popularity and number of sellers, to understand how it impacts other B2B channels.

In addition, B2BecNews also analyzes in the report how companies can invest in improving their B2B websites, overcome internal e-commerce barriers, and provides case studies to boost online sales.

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