UNDERSTANDING

B2B MARKETPLACES
White Paper
2017 - 2018

U P P L E R 1
THE FOUNDER’S PERSPECTIVE

Grégoire CHAUVIN
Managing Director

Over the past years, the industry has THE DEMANDE FOR B2B
witnessed the resurgence of B2B MARKETPLACES IS
marketplaces. Even though new
REACHING MATURITY
actors are arguably gaining traction,
we have to remember lessons from
Through insight and execution, B2B
the past. Many were those too quick
marketplaces can help you digitize
to praise B2B marketplaces in the
efficiently your business ecosystem,
late 90’s… For the result we know.
by selling more and interacting
However caution must not come at
better.
the expense of hope.
I hope this booklet will help you
It is my belief that the demande for
understand the causes and vectors
B2B marketplaces is reaching
of this revolution to come.
maturity.
Enjoy your reading!
From a technical standpoint, I can
say for sure that the products are
Grégoire Chauvin
more efficient and scalable than
ever. On the demand side, we are
seeing growing interest across all
geographies and verticals.

2
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
6
Executive Summary

7 -- 8
A booming yet fragmented market

9 -- 18
A brief history of B2B marketplaces

10
Alibaba, the open door to the Chinese market
13
A variety of early starters
16
Shortcomings of early B2B marketplaces
17
At the turn of 2009, innovative players emerge
18
A market now fragmented by vertical and geographic location

19 --21
Key requirements and features of B2B marketplaces

20
Confidentiality , Pricing
21
Transactional features, product navigation and industry specific
features

4
22 -- 24
Go to market strategies
23
The connected approach
24
The SaaS based approach

25 -- 28
Technical notes
26
The 4 interfaces of the marketplace
28
All in One solution vs. Modular solutions

29
Final thoughts

30
About Uppler

5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Digital Revolution
The rise of digital tools has
revolutionized the way businesses
interact and operate. By fully
leveraging digital capabilities,
Amazon and rival Alibaba have
forever changed the online shopping
experience…
What those 2 giants could achieve in
a B2B setting has hardly been
replicated in a B2B context. This is
by no means a coincidence; B2B
trade plays by a strict set of rules,
making B2C oriented solution at best
inadequate.
B2B Specificities
B2B actors need flexibility when it
comes to displaying their product,
their price, and negotiating the terms
of payments.
They also require a robust system,
that keeps product data constantly
up to date and purchases secure.
Flexibility and robustness are all the
more crucial that the sums at stake
are sizeable. The average transaction
value in the B2B world is way higher
than in a B2C context.
Success comes a long way
Many are those who tried to address
those needs, few of them succeeded.
Historically speaking, B2B
marketplaces, as promising of a
sector as it might seem, were badly
hit by the dotcom bubble burst.
From the ashes of 1st gen
marketplaces, new ones emerged,
targeting specific niches (a niche
defined here by the combination of a
location and a vertical). Combined
with innovative go to market
strategies, those late starters achieved
what their predecessors could not:
address specific pain points while
maintaining healthy margins.
Competition is rife, players are
plentiful. In this context, one way of
achieving long term growth and
strategic advantage is by offering
innovative product and services. B2B
marketplaces are an incredible field
of experiment, from a technical
perspective at least.
This white paper will provide a
useful tool to those who wish to
navigate this complex yet fascinating
market.
6
A BOOMING YET
FRAGMENTED MARKET

U P P L E R
7
A booming yet fragmented market
The rise of B2B marketplaces is
more of a gradual phenomenon
than a boom.
First B2B marketplaces date back to
the 90’s, when Internet started to
revolutionize commerce as a whole.
We’ll study more in detail the
strengths and weaknesses of those
early players… as opposed to late
players (ie marketplaces born after
the Dotcom crash of 2001).
Their features as well as their
strategic positioning differs wildly
from their predecessors.
On the opposite page is a quick
chart to illustrate the evolution of
B2B platforms over the past decade.
2000
1st Generation
horizontal
Basic e-commerce features with few
adaptations (RFP, wholesale
pricing…)
Limited to low-cost because of lack
of verticality, customization &
privacy
2010
2nd Generation
vertical specific
B2B advanced features per vertical
for suppliers to improve data accuracy
& involvement
(order capture, catalog exports...)
Built with social features to improve
communication & confidentiality
8
A BRIEF HISTORY OF B2B
MARKETPLACE

U P P L E R
9
A brief history of B2B marketplaces

A name that immediately comes to mind when thinking about B2B

marketplace (and rightfully so) is Alibaba.
In addition to being one the first movers on this market, Alibaba
really raised the bar in terms of speed and convenience for businesses
whatever their size, willing to trade in China and abroad.

The cornerstone of Alibaba’s Innovative value proposition

success
Alibaba has pioneered B2B
marketplaces. Launched in 1998 in
Guangzhou by Jack Ma (former
english teacher), Alibaba.com started
off by enabling Chinese SMBs and
wholesalers to find clients overseas.
After a few years, and several rounds
of equity funding, the B2B platform
became profitable in 2003, paving
the way for Alibaba’s diversification
in B2C (Tmall) and P2P (Taobao)
trade. And even though wholesale
currently accounts for 11% of
Alibaba’s total sales, it solely due to
the sheer size of the other
businesses.
In absolute value, the wholesale
business brought Alibaba $1 bn in
revenues for the fiscal year 2014
alone.
Let’s take a few steps back to
understand Alibaba’s value prop.
As China opened up to foreign trade
in 1979, a large untapped pool of
worker became available to
international companies. Before
long, China became a popular
offshoring destination for
manufacturing industries. But
China’s regulation was harsh on
those enterprises who wished to
trade with Chinese partners. under
the system of joint ventures,
companies were forced to establish
an hybrid company.
10
A brief history of B2B marketplaces
Of course that was possible to large
companies, who had sufficient funds
and expertise to develop such a long
lasting relationship.
But traditional oversea
manufacturers had to resort to the
services of import houses, since they
couldn’t afford starting production
facilities in China. On the other side,
SMBs and small entrepreneurs in
China, who were not large enough to
get noticed by international firms,
had limited access to international
markets. To those businesses,
Alibaba offered a simple, fast and
convenient way of finding
international buyers, effectively
bypassing all the legislative trouble
previously mentioned.
Like its rival Amazon, Alibaba chose
to monetize its B2B platform by
charging commissions on
transactions. Moreover, they offer
annual subscriptions for sellers
willing to fine tune their personal
shop (SEO, larger product listings).
However, the two heavyweights of
e-commerce differ fundamentally in
their approach to partnership.
Amazon launched the Fulfilled by
Amazon offer, aimed at leveraging
their state of the art logistic chain
for smaller businesses. Alibaba on
the contrary holds no warehouses,
and remains a pure platform
player, merely providing access to a
pool of buyers/sellers.
Growth and success factors
As the platform started growing,
new sellers, from outside China,
came onboard. That turned out to be
extremely beneficial for Alibaba,
since they were able to leverage at
the same time the plentiful supply
from Chinese merchants, but also
the demand for international
products on the Chinese market.
Alibaba has now become a key
partner for every B2B seller willing
to launch on the Middle Empire. It is
also taking full advantage of China’s
monetary policy of competitive
devaluation, that mechanically favour
Chinese exports. In addition to being
a successful international trade
enabler, Alibaba has managed to stay
in a dominant position on a
domestic scale. The main reason
being that Alibaba’s products are not
indexed by Baidu’s search engine,
making the marketplace one of the
most visited and searched website in
China. As a result it serves more
than 18 million buyers and sellers
worldwide, and counting!
In a nutshell, Alibaba’s success in the
B2B sphere is linked to two things.
Favorable demographics; by
targeting a huge untapped market on
both sides (supply and demand),
Alibaba was able to quickly
consolidate its position as a market
leader. Correlatively, they were able
to scale up so quickly thanks a
peculiar revenue and cost structure
(with very limited ownership of
assets). Alibaba’s success paved the
way for other B2B marketplaces,
operating in different markets, and
offering tailor-made features when
Alibaba sticked to its “mass market”
positioning.
11
“Following in the footsteps of
Alibaba, several marketplaces
came into existence…"

12
A brief history of B2B marketplaces

Following in the footsteps of Alibaba, several marketplaces

came into existence. Some of them building on an already
solid network of both sellers and buyers, some of them
starting from scratch

A variety of early players If we were to further divide first

ThomasNet is the best example of
the first kind, they leveraged their
extensive knowledge of american
manufacturing suppliers. Indeed the
firm dates back to the early 20th
century, at a time when its core
business was publishing a registry of
all american manufacturers.
generation B2B marketplaces, we
could differentiate between
generalist B2B marketplaces, vertical
marketplaces (industry specific) and
service marketplaces.
Generalist B2B marketplaces

Others tried to surf on the potential
of newly opened markets, like EC21
in South Korea, or India Mart and
Trade India for the eponymous
market...Most of them managed to
make it to today, some others didn’t.
And the spectacular failure of PEP
market and Commerce One are here
to remind us that B2B marketplaces
are a very competitive playing field.
However diverse they may seem, first
generation B2B marketplaces
followed a rather simple pattern;
they focused on a specific geography
and/or on a specific product.
Their product assortment and their
customer base is really broad. You
can find pretty much everything you
want, and since the onboarding
process is not tightly monitored, you
don’t need to be a pro to join the
marketplace.
The lack of confidentiality and
industry specific features explains
why price is a key differentiation
element on those platforms.
Proven leaders are:
• China: Alibaba - 18M buyers

Indeed, the B2B universe has more • USA: ThomasNet - 1.8M buyers
constraints embedded; sales cycles • India: TradeIndia - 1.6M buyers
are longer, quantities are larger,
expectations are higher. This makes • South-Korea: EC21 - 1M buyers
it difficult for a single player to
emerge as dominant, unlike in B2C
marketplaces where the duopoly
Alibaba Amazon crushes down
competition. In the B2B world, there
is room for various actors.

13
A brief history of B2B marketplaces
Vertical Marketplaces
These marketplaces are more recent.
They have been created later (after
2010) because their level of
complexity is much higher than in
generalist marketplaces. Indeed they
adapt to the specificities of each
sector, and enforce a stricter
onboarding process. Companies
willing to join need registration and
approval from the operator before
accessing products and prices. Most
of the time, suppliers can adapt their
price and product categories to each
client browsing their shop.
• Emerging leaders are:
• Fashion / USA: Joor - 100k
buyers
• Sourcing / USA: Makers Row -
100k buyers
• Craft / USA: Etsy, wholesale
section - 20k buyers
• Beauty / USA : Salon Centric
• Spirits/ USA: SevenFifty
• Industrial supplies: Systemax
Service Marketplaces
Services B2B marketplaces are most
of the time global and public. The
buying process is very different from
physical goods marketplaces. Most
of the time you do not choose a
supplier or an offer, but send a
request for quotation through the
system, and receive offers from all
the service providers. Hence buyers
generally can not browse seller
profiles.
• Freelances / World : Upwork
• Micro Services / World : Fiverr
• Music / World : AudioNetwork
• Outsourcing / USA; Blur
14
“…B2B marketplaces suffered
badly after the burst of the
Tech bubble in 2001 ."

15
A brief history of B2B marketplaces

Once hailed as a tremendous opportunity for investors and

businesses alike, B2B marketplaces suffered badly after the
burst of the tech bubble in 2001. On the US market alone,
there were more than 2500 B2B marketplaces. Only 200 of
them made it through the 2001 crash. Notable casualties
include Pep Market and Commerce One, two major players,
seemingly on their way to an IPO... How did it happen?

Shortcomings of early B2B buyers to appraise the “quality”

marketplaces component of their orders.

One could definitely lay the blame
on market conditions; overfunded
and burning their cash at insane
rates, those marketplaces were
doomed to fail. But a curious reader
might take a closer look at the
intrinsic reasons of this bloodbath.
Most marketplaces at the time relied
on the reverse auction model, i.e. a
buyer sends out a public request for
proposal, and sellers bid on this
contract. The lowest bidder gets to
sale its product. This triggered a
war on price between suppliers that
turned out to be disastrous for their
margins, and detrimental in terms of
quality of service for buyers.
Competing on price is not the right
approach in a B2B market, where
purchase decisions are made in a
holistic way. Buyers factor price, as
well as quality (product and servicing
capabilities…). Since few of the first
generations marketplaces integrated
effective review systems or social
capabilities, it became difficult for
Another problem that arose was the
neutrality problem, several
marketplaces were operated by a
company… that also featured as a
buyer or a seller on the marketplace.
It is difficult in that situation to
onboard new suppliers/buyers on
the platform for basic neutrality
reasons. In fact, who would want to
join a marketplace owned by a
competitor that charges you a
commission every time you use it?
To wrap it up, a large number of
B2B marketplaces failed in the
aftermaths of the dotcom bubble for
three main reasons.
The first obvious one being macro;
investments were withdrawn from
those firms, hence dooming those
cash hungry businesses to failure.

16
A brief history of B2B marketplaces
… a large number of B2B marketplaces failed for
three main reasons
The second reason lies in the feature
of the products, that did not offer
enough warranties to buyer as to the
quality of the product they bought.
Lack of social integration
condemned those marketplaces to
price competition.
The third problem, correlative to this
one, was a problem of trust. Trust
between buyers and sellers, but trust
between marketplace actors and
marketplace operators in some cases.
Those shortcomings will be fixed, to
a certain extent, by the second
generation of B2B marketplaces.
Emergence of innovative
players
After the burst of the dotcom
bubble, the B2B marketplace
landscape suffered a period of
sluggish growth, further exacerbated
by the 2008 crisis. As global trade
levels plunged, so did B2B
exchanges, hence negatively
impacting other stakeholders in the
ecosystem. Alibaba, however,
managed to stay afloat thanks to a
very diversified customer base and
solid market shares on the Chinese
market.
Yet, at the turn of year 2009, 3 new,
innovative players emerged, in the
fashion industry mostly. In 2009 was
created le New Black, followed by
Joor the year after and NuOrder in
2011. A new gold rush had started,
and fashion was the name of the
game.
Fashion is indeed an interesting use
case for B2B marketplaces. Business
is basically evenly spread throughout
the year with very specific windows
for product showcase and product
launch. Winter and Spring Summer
plus additional “ad hoc” collections
featuring famous designers).
Collections are rolled out
progressively throughout various
distribution channels, not to
overload the supply chain and to
sustain the interest of buyers. The
end of the season is usually followed
by sales, where brands have the
opportunity to empty their stocks at
a fairly competitive price. Note
however that the more upscale the
brand is, the less likely it is to empty
its stock during sales. Luxury and
some premium brands would rather
burn their stock than lowering the
prices, hereby harming brand equity.
In addition to this seasonality and
very packed schedule, the emergence
of fast fashion puts additional
pressure on the brands. Retailers
demand shorter product replacement
cycles to match the desires of
consumers. This trend, pioneered by
large fashion players (H&M,
Inditex), using proprietary
procurement softwares, puts
pressure on brands’ supply chain by
requiring ever shorter time to
market.
17
A brief history of B2B marketplaces
Those trends contribute to shaping an ecosystem where speed,
diversity and geographic reach are key drivers of profits
Correlatively to the rise of fast
fashion, a global taste has emerged,
helped by the increase in purchasing
power in developing countries, that
makes for a more sophisticated and
educated customer base. This
represents a huge opportunity for
brands , provided they have the
adequate tools and partners to help
them down the road to
internationalization.
Those trends contribute to shaping
an ecosystem where speed, diversity
and geographic reach are key drivers
of profits. The online marketplace
system is well suited to
accommodate those needs.
Core customers of those solutions
include independent premium
brands, not large enough to operate
their own distribution channels as
well as large conglomerates, willing
to streamline their internal sales
process. It all comes down to our
previously drawn distinction between
independently owned marketplaces
and consortia marketplace.
However, if we take a closer look
at those marketplaces, slight
differences appear. in terms of sheer
size notably, with Joor and NuOrder
being really dominating the market.
In terms of features as well, Joor has
developed an app that allows
retailers to manage comprehensively
their purchases, whether they order
to Joor enabled sellers or not.
A market now fragmented by
vertical and geographic location
The rise of those fashion
marketplaces marked the resurgence
of B2B marketplaces. Several new
platforms arose in the aftermath of
the 2008 crisis. Those marketplaces
did not repeat the mistakes of the
past. They went after a specific
market, on a specific location. Being
very focused is both a requirement
and an advantage for B2B
marketplaces. It allows them to
match specifically their customers
needs. Even though there are
common features you find across
every decent marketplace in the
industry, expectations vary wildly
depending on business types and
location. Were it not for the word
trade, food trade would have nothing
to do with metal trade, even more so
in a B2B context.
The list of those marketplaces is
long, but major players include
• Sourcing / USA: Makers Row -
100k buyers
• Craft / USA: Etsy, wholesale
section - 20k buyers
• Furniture / USA: Obiz by
Overstock
• Beauty / USA : Salon Centric
• Spirits/ USA: SevenFifty
• Industrial supplies: Systemax
• Groceries/France: Rungis
Marketplace
18
KEY REQUIREMENTS
& FEATURES

U P P L E R
19
Key requirements and features

A B2B marketplace is a basically 2-sided platform

connecting sellers to professional buyers. They fall in two
major categories:
open/generalist marketplaces (Alibaba, EC21 etc.)
and vertical/curated marketplace (Joor,
Bonagora…). They serve different types of customer, hence
differ from B2C marketplaces (Amazon, Ebay, Jet etc.) on
4 main points.

Confidentiality
Confidentiality is one of the main
rifting points between B2B
marketplaces and their B2C
counterparts. Sellers must be able to
protect sensitive information about
their products. Their appearance
(fashion industry), their tech specs
(electronics) to avoid copycat, and
of course their price. It is also useful
from a brand equity perspective.
Sellers should be able to select
buyers depending on their
positioning. A premium fashion
brand might try to avoid being
distributed by a discount retailer.
From that perspective, filling
exhaustive profiles, and having them
duly checked by an operator, is the
key to building trust between both
sides of the marketplace.
Pricing
Pricing is another key topic for B2B
actors. It is indeed a sensitive
information in the B2B world. Or
better yet, a critical set of
information. When we talk about
price in a B2B context, we might
refer to a wholesale price of
course… but also of the
manufacturer’s suggested retail price
(MSRP), an information that is most
useful to buyers.
In a B2B context, price is also
dynamic. Bulk pricing is a standard
requirement for this kind of
transaction. Seller should therefore
be able to select the threshold above
which certain discounts apply, and
the amount of discounts (percentage
of order value, or absolute amount).
Of course, price should also
depends on the various options you
add for your product (material…).
If we were to push even further in
terms of personalization on the
pricing aspect, we could offer tiered
pricing by customer segments. Those
segments could be created based on
their transaction history (volume or
number of transactions).

20
Key requirements and features
Transactional features
Payment related features are also
really important in a B2B context.
This includes payment methods,
namely cash, cheque, credit card,
wire transfer… Of course those
payment methods should adapt to
the needs and requirements of both
actors, and should therefore be
potentially discussed and amended
dynamically on the platform.
Flexibility is a feature that B2B
actors hold dear, and that’s why it is
critical to allow purchase orders to
be edited until the very last moment.
Not only are we referring here to
payment methods, but also to
delivery method, shipping address
etc...
In addition to payment methods,
payment terms are also critical.
Tiered payments are frequent, and
the number of installments, and
eventually an interest should be open
for discussion. Whenever tiered
repayment is involved, the
marketplace operator should
integrate safety nets. Indeed most of
the merchandise sold will be shipped
before total repayment of the
purchase amount, and sellers need
protection from idiosyncratic risk.
Credit insurance is a good option
that all marketplace
providers/creators should consider.
Not to mention escrow payments or
factoring.
Product navigation and
display
In addition to the transaction linked
features previously mentioned, the
way products are displayed and
organized on a B2B marketplace
slightly differs from a traditional
B2C setup. In bulk orders, products
are often sold in indivisible packs;
sellers should therefore have the
opportunity to quickly select the
products and quantities to be
integrated. As previously mentioned,
the ability to have different product
options, with an independent price
each, can be crucial. This is
especially true for electronic
components (where product
assortment is large), or in the fashion
business, where the fabric/leather
type might influence the price of the
goods. In addition to this, the
platform should accept B2B specific
ways of purchase, like requests for
proposal (RFPs) and quotations.
Industry specific features
Those features are just some of the
broad requirements every B2B
marketplace ought to integrate. This
list is by no means exhaustive, and
each sector has its own specificities
and requirements. In the fashion
industry, showcasing products
without making them available to
purchase (even for accepted buyers)
is a useful feature to consider. Think
of fashion brands who want to
generate awareness for an upcoming
collection...
Another example would be food
trade, where sellers are legally bound
to display certain features of the
product (origin, conservation
methods), for the sake of traceability
and freshness. The same could be
said of other tightly regulated sectors
(consumer health…).
21
GO-TO-MARKET
STRATEGIES

U P P L E R
22
Go-to-market strategies

Following in the footsteps of Alibaba, several marketplaces

came into existence. Some of them building on an already
solid network of both sellers and buyers, some of them
starting from scratch

The aforementioned features are Eventually, it all comes down to

crucial to creating a trust making the life of your customers
environment, ie where products are easier (buyers and sellers alike), and
updated regularly and where delivery keeping them engaged. Those are
is ensured. In addition to those just a few examples of how, of all
features, B2B marketplaces are the features they might have,
meant to fit within a larger connectivity might be the most
ecosystem of softwares. More often crucial one to a B2B marketplace.
than not, B2B sellers will need the
marketplace to be integrated with There are several ways of creating
their CRM (customer relationship such an adaptable marketplace. We
management) and their PIM will draw a line between two
(product information management) different approaches; the connected
software. On the other end of the and the SaaS based approach.
spectrum, buyers might want to plug
their marketplace on their company’s
accounting software…
Communication between all those
different blocks is crucial to
maintaining accurate stock and
product information, but also to
avoiding unsuccessful transactions.

23
Go-to-market strategies
Connected approach
This approach implies that you go to
market directly with a fully
functional marketplace.
This marketplace needs updates and
redesigns to integrate new features
and integrations (with sellers and
buyers’ software suites). Connections
are done by flat file or API most of
the time and are performed on
demand by the suppliers themselves
and external integrators, or through
e-commerce feed solution such as
Lengow.
The following graph sums up the pros and cons of both approaches
Connected marketplace
• Quick time to market
• Connect with virtually every
software
• Requires work from the
suppliers to perform
integrations
• Less implication from suppliers
Saas-based approach
SaaS based marketplaces are slightly
different from both a technical and a
business perspective. It is a simple, 2
steps approach.
• Step 1; you put on the market a
software (of order management
for instance) specifically targeted
at either buy side or sell side of
the marketplace.
• Step 2: Once that first batch of
user is locked in, you have
ensured a critical mass on at least
on side of the marketplace, you
launch it full scale. The already
existing supply/demand base
serves as a honeypot to onboard
massively on the other side.
Saas-based marketplace
• Let you time to onboard the
critical mass of suppliers
+ +
• Lock the suppliers who use
your software
• Need to develop a sofware
- first with industry-specific -
features
24
TECHNICAL
REQUIREMENTS

U P P L E R
25
Technical requirements
… a marketplace functions thanks to interactions between
four basic layers
Let’s touch up a little bit on the
technical issues of the marketplace
creation.
First we need to understand how
marketplaces operate as programs.
A marketplace functions thanks to
interactions between four basic
layers:
• A front office, for buyers to
browse and shop the products
available
• A middle office for sellers to
upload and refresh their product
range. In addition to catalogue
adjustments, the middle office
includes several transaction linked
features (editing purchase
agreements, sales dashboards)
• A back office allows the operator
to monitor the transactional and
non transactional activity on the
marketplace, from early
onboarding validation to auto
send of customer newsletters
• A fourth layer includes several
bricks of software that, even
though non mandatory, are
embraced as standard in a B2B
environment. It could be product
information management (PIM)
software, or customer relationship
management (CRM) softwares, as
well as payment enablers…
Opposite is a simplified visualization
of a marketplace.
26
Technical requirements

Functional representation of a Marketplace

FRONT-OFFICE for Buyers

Product Check Out Support

Navigation Requests

Logistics

Payment
Services
MIDDLE-OFFICE for Sellers

Order & Delivery After Sales

Catalogue Sync
Processing Management

BACK-OFFICE for the Operator

Rules and Commissions & Last Resort

Moderation Subscriptions Support

Analytics Commercial Module

Animation Management

27
Technical requirements

All in One Solution crux of the problem is the front

The first approach to creating those
four bricks is what we could call the
unified approach, ie having a single
technology provider for all 3 core
layers of the marketplace, with
integration capabilities when it
comes to the additional bricks. This
is the solution we have embraced at
Uppler. We believe it gives
marketplace designers the solid
foundations they need in terms of
features and UX/UI, across all layers
of the marketplace.
Modular Solution
The other approach is more
modular. You connect an external
front office to a back and middle
office built using a proprietary
solution. This is the best approach to
creating a very tailored and carefully
crafted product, but unsurprisingly,
this solution comes at the expense
of price and time to market. The
office layer. Most available
technologies are suited for B2C
environments. To match the
requirements of B2B buyers (in
terms of navigation depth of
information...) those front office
technologies need time consuming
and expensive modifications, with
mixed results. Once more, it’s all
about trading off between
convenience and customization.
It is worth noting that those 2
approaches are not necessarily
mutually exclusive. Uppler for
instance can accommodate complex
requirements and modular
infrastructures through its open API,
that allows for easy integration.
Here is a quick visualization of the
two options

Integrated approach Modular approach

Back Middle Front Back Middle External

front
office office office office office office

Connectivity capabilities Connectivity capabilities

(PIM, CRM) (PIM, CRM)

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FINAL THOUGHTS

… the playing field, thanks to technical innovation is now

more open than ever, with large opportunities to be seized
across sectors and geographies

Once presented as an investor’s Meccah, The playing field, thanks to technical

B2B marketplaces suffered badly innovation, is now more open than ever,
throughout the post dotcom bubble era. with large opportunities to be seized
Overfunded, incorrectly built, the first across sectors and geographies. It will all
generation marketplaces couldn’t resist a come down eventually to identifying pain
market crash and the defiance of fund points, and putting your customer first.
purveyors.
This situation changed after 2006, when
new generation marketplaces emerged,
each targeted at specific verticals and
geographies. More robust from a technical
standpoint, and more mature in terms of
strategies, those marketplaces achieved
solid growth rates over the past years.
They managed to significantly improve
user experience while integrated a vast
array of features that meet the needs of
B2B consumers (privacy, pricing…)
As diverse as the use cases might be, the
strategic and technical challenges of B2B
marketplaces have been clearly identified.
From a strategic standpoint, how do I take
my product to the market?
From a technical standpoint, how do I
build my marketplace and make sure that
it provides the best user experience to my
clients?

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ABOUT UPPLER

• Uppler is a white label solution to create your

own B2B marketplace

• +3000 suppliers using Uppler B2B solutions

• Transactions processed over 100 countries

• 3 offices: New-York, Tel-Aviv and Paris

CONTACT

Grégoire CHAUVIN
Managing Director
gregoire.chauvin@uppler.com

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U P P L E R
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