A B2B Vertical Marketplace serves a specific niche industry by meeting the needs of the digitally-driven workforce and the desire to remove friction in the supply chain for customers.
The digital landscape for the B2B industry is evolving rapidly. 90% of buyer sourcing and research is conducted online. While manufacturers struggle with digitally transforming their brands on their corporate websites, the next generation of digitally-driven buyers have entered the workforce and demand a curated sourcing and buying experience.
Within each segment of the industrial supply industry, there are unique buyer requirements and specific processes for buyers and sellers to transact business. These needs cannot be met by horizontal marketplaces with a wide breadth of product categories that confine all transactions to a linear purchasing model such as Amazon Business.
A vertical marketplace is not solely designed to bring buyers and sellers together, they are design to eliminate the friction of a variety of workflows for both buyers and sellers in order to transact business faster and more efficiently.
For Manufacturers, a vertical marketplace that serves their industry can be a vital resource as a secondary digital channel to remain relevant and well positioned to serve their customers and distributors without the fear of channel conflict.
Why Buyers Want B2B Vertical Marketplaces
Manufacturers need to consider the antiquated process their customers have endured over the years and ask themselves "What would our customers like to change?"
The answer is pretty obvious. Buyers visit and average of (12) twelve websites to source a single product. They conduct research to educate themselves, attempt to compare brands by visiting various manufacturer's websites, identify available stock and pricing from distributor's websites, submit numerous RFQs via email, websites, fax and phone.
Unlike B2C that serves consumers that shop for pleasure, this is a job for thousands and a bill of goods could cover hundreds of items in a number of categories.
If that isn't frustrating enough, distributors respond by requesting more information and ultimately Quote responses are received in various formats that need to be reconfigured to identify availability, MOQ's, lead times and price conditions.
A manufacturer's customers and prospects demand change and they're in control of what the new process of procurement will be. Buyers and Distributors require a need for speed and the technology to save countless hours of wasted time is upon us.
Manufacturers need to add new digital channels to not only grow business, but to preserve the revenues they have. A vertical marketplace that specializes in a manufacturer's product categories, designed to improves workflow efficiencies for their customers and distributors, is the next logical digital channel.
Most importantly, manufacturers need to be where their customers and prospects are and should not expect their customers and prospects to work any harder to discover their brands.
Bay Supply Helps Strengthen Authorized Distribution Networks Without Channel Conflict
Bay Supply is a B2B Vertical Marketplace that serves the needs of the supply chain for the Fastening Products Industry. The Platform was designed to streamline access to manufacturer brands for buyers by directing product inquiries and RFQs to their distribution network by territory.
Manufacturer product catalogs are syndicated throughout a manufacturer's distribution network to establish a consistent branding strategy and buyer experience.
Distributors are placed directly in front of buyers to transact business and the Automated workflows for product inquiries, communications, RFQs, order processing and fulfillment remove all of the friction points of the old and antiquated processes of the past.