B2B: Vertical markets

Business to business or B2B, e-business models take a variety of forms. B2B marketplaces can be classified as vertical or horizontal. Vertical markets are industry specific.

A vertical market is a specific industry in which similar products or services are developed and sold using similar methods. They are well suited to sell direct goods that are incorporated into the final product or offered for resale items that tend to be industry specific.

E-commerce solutions in this category most frequently address the inefficiencies within a given industry, and hundreds of vertical market makers have already emerged in highly scattered, highly populated industries.

Examples of broad vertical markets include insurance, real estate, banking, heavy manufacturing and transportation.
B2B: Vertical markets

E-commerce: Business to Business or B2B

Business to business e-commerce or B2B business model is based on selling to business customers electronically.

This category involves both electronic business marketplace and direct market links between businesses. For example, many companies offer secure Internet or extranet E-commerce catalog websites for their business customers and suppliers.

All B2B firms do not look alike. One form of B2B strategy emphasizes sales transactions. By using online capabilities, a B2B from can achieve greater efficiency in its selling and buying.

B2B covers any purchase made by one company form another – be it just office supply from local vendor or a major component or raw material outsourced from across the globe.

It can include functions that provide the exchange of information, facilitate business transaction and completely integrate the shared business processes for a company. 

For this reason, this type of B2B e-commerce is also called e-marketplaces or B2B exchanges.

These are the places where corporate buyers and seller in an industry virtually meet to communicate, negotiate and transact online.
E-commerce: Business to Business or B2B