Differences in Complexity between B2C and B2B E-commerce
P.J. Jakovljevic - November 6, 2004

Introduction

The concept behind a business-to-business (B2B) exchange or marketplace, which was to bring together (aggregate) multiple buyers and sellers via the Internet to save money, expand markets, improve supply chain efficiency, and whatnot to all involved parties, had seemed obviously straightforward and too good to be true. However, it has since turned out to be much more painful to achieve those grandiose promises, which far outweighed the number of benefits received. Namely, creating the technology to operate such a marketplace turned out to be far more difficult than originally envisioned; and suppliers remained hesitant if not resentful of competing for business on-line while watching their margins erode during the cutthroat bidding process...