Glencoco provides the tools, software and interface for companies to list campaigns on its marketplace. It also allows business development consultants to source sales-qualified meetings. They can then submit those meetings to companies on a flexible, gig-remote basis.

This includes embedding elements of sales productivity tools into the platform, such as a phone dialer, calendar scheduling and sales training modules. The intent is to then enable outbound freelance prospectors with campaigns uploaded by enterprise companies on the platform.

What Glecoco’s B2B marketplace for sales resources includes

Glencoco has focused on developing infrastructure in its B2B marketplace. Sales-related resources will be accompanied by these features. Examples include same-day payments for qualified meetings, call analytics and recordings for quality assurance and training, and scheduling, the company says.

The funding round was led by Felicis and Crossbeam. Participants included Liquid 2 Ventures, Browder Capital, SOMA Capital and Gold House Ventures.

“Their platform is a game-changer in the world of sales and marketing,” says Felicis general partner Niki Pezeshki. “By providing a marketplace connecting outbound callers with innovative companies looking to scale, Glencoco is empowering businesses to grow their pipelines and revenue streams.”

Glencoco’s business plan

For revenue, Glencoco takes a 30% take rate of every qualified meeting that is passed through the platform, the company says. Glencoco says it currently has 40 B2B customers and over 7,000 sign-ups for individual salespeople.

“I also saw how challenging staffing these teams can be for both small companies due to lack of budget or resources to provide infrastructure and large companies,” says Glencoco CEO Ingwon Chae. “The average tenure of said hires is 6-9 months, which means that if you have a team of 100 outbound sales reps, in about a year’s time, they’ll all be gone.”

Submit a nomination

Nominate a game-changer in manufacturing, distributing or retailing for the Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards from Digital Commerce 360 and the B2B Ecommerce Association.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post Glencoco’s B2B marketplace for sales development opens for business appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

And thought leaders, change agents and market leaders need to be recognized for their industry achievements.

That is the prime reason Digital Commerce 360 is partnering with the B2B eCommerce Association to announce the inaugural Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards.

B2B eCommerce Industry Awards

This new awards initiative aims to celebrate the achievements in B2B ecommerce and digital transformation excellence. It recognizes the efforts of manufacturers, distributors, B2B retailers and marketplaces changing the way organizations of all sizes will do business now and in the future.

The nomination process is now open for any organization to submit nominees they believe are taking the lead and driving the future of B2B digital commerce and transformation.

The categories include:

• Enterprise B2B ecommerce Manufacturer of the Year
• Enterprise B2B ecommerce Distributor of the Year
• Mid-Market B2B ecommerce Manufacturer of the Year
• Mid-Market B2B ecommerce Distributor of the Year
• B2B eCommerce Growth Award
• Best Newcomer Award
• B2B Marketplace of the Year
• B2B Retailer of the Year
• B2B Mobile Commerce Experience of the Year
• B2B Change Agent of the Year

The winners will be announced and recognized via Digital Commerce 360 webinar on June 12 at 1 pm CST.

The awards will be judged by an agnostic panel of B2B ecommerce professionals from various sectors within the industry, ensuring a fair and comprehensive evaluation of all entries, says B2B eCommerce Association director Brett Sinclair.

The judges include:

• Joe Albrecht
• Isaiah Bollinger
• Mark Brohan
• Joe Cicman
• Marta Dalton
• Paul do Forno
• Val DuVernet
• Chris Gee
• Jason Greenwood​
• Arno Ham
• Steven Javor
• Justin King
• Brooke Logan
• Lori McDonald
• Dean McElwee
• Tom McFadyen
• Lance Owide
• Brett Sinclair
• Helena Strahl​
• Mascha Tamarinof
• Marc Teulières
• Michael Vax​

“We are inviting entries from across regions, offering a platform for businesses to showcase their advancements and successes in the realm of B2B ecommerce,” Sinclair says. “This event marks a significant milestone in acknowledging the unique challenges and innovations within the B2B landscape.”

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post Nominations for the Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards are now open appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

But those investments led to a 388% drop in earnings before taxes and amortization costs to a net EBITA loss of $433 million for the Alibaba International Digital Commerce group, Alibaba said. They also contributed to Alibaba Group’s 77% drop in Q3 net income to $1.51 billion.

Consequences of Alibaba investing in AliExpress Choice

For AIDC, the “losses increased primarily because of the increase in investment in AliExpress Choice” and other expenses, chief financial officer Toby Xu said on the earnings call.

Still, AliExpress Choice provided more products and prices to customers on the AliExpress.com international retail site because of these investments. Meanwhile, it was also a primary contributor to AIDCG’s revenue Q3 revenue gain, AIDC CEO Jian Fang said.

“AliExpresss achieved year-over-year growth of 60%,” he said. “This was mainly driven by the new AliExpress Choice model that we launched in early 2023.”

Executives added that Alibaba will continue investing in its supply chain operations to support the Choice program.

“By offering entrusted cross-border logistics, marketing and other services, we lower the barrier for merchants to engage in cross-border business, bringing more certainty to their operations and more diverse assortment to the platform,” Fang said.

Alibaba’s Visable acquisition

Fang added that in Europe, Alibaba’s B2B unit, Alibaba.com, completed its acquisition of the European B2B digital trade platform, Visable. Thanks to that deal, Fang said Alibaba is “further expanding its supplier base in the region and further advancing Alibaba.com’s global expansion and dual brand strategy.”

“There is huge potential for AIDC to increase user penetration in the majority of overseas markets, building on our current resources and footprint,” Fang said. “We will increase our investment in select regional markets where we see opportunities and value to achieve opportunities for high certainty and healthy growth.”

Alibaba’s international retail commerce sites include Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol and Daraz.

Alibaba Group conducts its international wholesale sales through its Alibaba.com B2B ecommerce site.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post How Alibaba is investing to grow international commerce appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Alibaba owns the world’s two largest online marketplaces by gross merchandise value (GMV), Taobao and Tmall. Taobao ranks No. 1 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest such marketplaces by GMV. Tmall ranks No. 2. Both operate in China.

Eddie Wu, CEO, Alibaba Group

Alibaba revenue in fiscal Q3

The lion’s share of revenue was in Alibaba’s China retail ecommerce operations Taobao and Tmall, which grew combined revenue 1% to $17.43 billion. At Alibaba’s China B2B ecommerce site, 1688.com, revenue increased 23% to $747 million. Sellers on 1688 include include such U.S. manufacturers as Avnet, 3M and Stanley Black & Decker.

But Alibaba’s sharpest ecommerce revenue growth came in its International Digital Commerce Group, where retail commerce revenue surged 56% to $3.28  billion and wholesale climbed 8% to $740 million, for consolidated international growth of 44% to $4.02 billion.

Alibaba’s international retail commerce sites include Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol and Daraz. The company conducts its international wholesale sales through its Alibaba.com B2B ecommerce site.

The IDCG is headed by its CEO, Fan Jiang. The IDCG ‘s chairman is J. Michael Evans, a former vice chairman of investment bankers Goldman Sachs who joined Alibaba Group last year as president.

Alibaba also reported an 86% revenue increase in its Cloud Intelligence Group and a 24% increase to $4.01 billion in its Cainiao Smart Logistics Network.

Investing to drive Alibaba’s growth

CEO Eddie Wu said Alibaba intends to drive stronger growth across its operations.

“Our top priority is to reignite the growth of our core businesses, ecommerce and cloud computing,” he said today in a statement about its fiscal third quarter. “We will step up investment to improve users’ core experiences to drive growth in Taobao and Tmall Group and strengthen market leadership in the coming year. We will also focus our resources on developing public cloud products and sustaining the strong growth momentum in international commerce business.”

Alibaba said Q3 net income fell 77% to $1.51 billion. It attributed the decline to “impairment of intangible assets of Sun Art and impairment of goodwill of Youku.”

Alibaba earnings

For the nine months ended Dec. 31, Alibaba reported:

• Taobao and Tmall Group China retail commerce revenue increased 5% to $45.94 billion.
• China wholesale commerce revenue increased 13% to $2.19 billion.
• Cloud Intelligence Group revenue increased 3% to $11.38 billion.
• International retail commerce revenue grew 62% to $8.36 billion
• Alibaba international B2B ecommerce revenue increased 6% to $2.22 billion.

In November 2023, Alibaba Group became the first Asian Internet technology company to join the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a group of over 200 businesses, to support WBCSD’s drive to make global value chains more sustainable.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. 

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post International commerce drives Alibaba’s biggest growth rate appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Yikun Shao, head of supply chain for North America, Alibaba.com

Businesses have been carefully watching the state of global supply chains as they have had to maneuver around obstacle after obstacle to ensure they meet the increasing demands of customers. In 2024, businesses will continue to feel the brunt of existing challenges, as well as meet new ones, and it will be critical to anticipate and find new ways to manage these issues while living up to customer expectations.

Of note, nearly four in ten (38%) small businesses think the global supply chain outlook will have a negative impact on their business, according to an Alibaba.com survey, so it will be important to watch for changes throughout the year and monitor for potential concerns.

One of the most pressing challenges the industry faces is a shift of issues from the supply to the demand side. On the supply side, more raw materials are available, and there are fewer transportation obstacles.

However, on the demand side, there has been rising inflation globally, and backlogged inventory, especially in the U.S. and E.U., has led to a decrease in demand, compounded by decreased demand for certain products. While the U.S. saw a return to pre-pandemic consumer holiday season spending in 2023, businesses may still want a more conservative approach and order products in smaller quantities, meaning that meeting shipping requirements may become more difficult. Demand is not able to meet the products that the supply side is able to provide.

On top of this, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing as supply chains are still readjusting from related interruptions. There is more stability, but recovery takes time, especially as new challenges arise.

Mounting Concerns Businesses Should Monitor

Businesses are also facing a number of additional issues that could spell trouble for them throughout the year that they should be watching carefully:

• Cyber attacks: Threats from bad actors continue to be a growing issue. Small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals, and the cost of cybercrimes to small businesses reached $2.4 billion in 2021.
• Labor and government shutdowns: 70% of small business owners say a government shutdown would negatively impact their business, and 93% say it would hurt their revenue. Additionally, labor strikes can also impact small businesses by disrupting vendors or shipping partners.
• Natural disaster events: With 2023 on track to be the hottest year on record and extreme weather events increasing, supply chains could be increasingly disrupted by natural disasters and unworkable conditions.
• Panama Canal disruptions: The drought in Panama, largely caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, has caused major delays and bottlenecks for those in the logistics industry. Scientists believe climate change may be prolonging dry spells and increasing temperatures in Panama. As such, the situation has become dire and expected to continue into at least mid-2024, as the number of ships allowed through the canal will decrease into February.
• The state of the U.S. economy: 47% of small business owners feel the economy will get worse in the next 12 months, and 58% said their business is being impacted by higher interest rates.

It will be crucial for businesses to monitor these and other issues and adapt as necessary by tapping into innovative industry tools and resources.

Digital Tools Address the Changing Supply Chain Landscape

As supply chain and logistics trends continue to evolve, digital tools can make it easier to manage operations to ensure on-time deliveries. There are a variety of tools on the market that can help businesses stay up-to-date on shipping and inventory processes. Companies can also invest in data analytics programs to assess patterns in inventory management and customer demands. There are even technology offerings that can help model and then execute on needs as supply chains come under greater stress. The goal in utilizing digital solutions like these is to predict trends, streamline processes and increase efficiency no matter the current supply chain landscape.

To make the biggest impact, specifically engineered intelligent tools, like Alibaba.com’s Smart Assistant, are also available, and they can provide better insight into the sourcing process. They can include features surrounding supplier transparency, direct communication with translation, shipment tracking, protections for wrong or delayed orders, and digital inventory awareness. These functions allow businesses to keep tabs on their orders and adjust to changes to time orders accordingly and, most of all, have peace of mind when sourcing their products.

However, employing digital tools is just one avenue businesses can take for upping their supply chain game.

Alternative Shipping and Warehousing Methods

Thinking outside the box when updating your shipping practices can also help to increase efficiencies, meet the growing demand for faster deliveries and stay resilient during supply chain setbacks.

There is a newer phenomenon in the form of crowdsourced delivery. This allows businesses to scale their shipment operations and work with other businesses to achieve timeliness and efficiency in deliveries. This communal form of shipping will continue to grow and become highly utilized in the coming years as technology becomes more widely adopted.

Beyond crowdsourced delivery, the localization of supply chains is also helping keep things closer to home, reduce logistics costs and cut order fulfillment time for small businesses. Localization may take the form of strategically built warehousing networks to maintain inventory closer to major customer bases. Some businesses are also using third-party warehouses, but these can have numerous and complex restrictions, which are constantly evolving. With that in mind, regional warehousing could be a viable alternative.

The world of ecommerce logistics and supply chain is constantly changing, but digitization, localization and omni-channel distribution are the three areas of innovation that businesses should consider taking advantage of. New technologies are bringing more transparency to the process than ever before. While these trends are growing, it will be critical for businesses to stay vigilant and monitor for new innovations and supply chain developments in order to be ready to tackle future challenges and seize new opportunities to evolve and improve their supply chains.

About the author:

Yikun Shao is Head of Supply Chain for North America at international marketplace Alibaba.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post 2024 has mounting supply chain issues. Here are new ways to handle them. appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

“While working with brands and marketplaces over the past year, it became clear that the inefficiencies and costs of business payments were impacting their profit margins,” Balance CEO Bar Geron says. “Tackling this problem required going beyond the point of purchase. This is why our solutions now optimize across the transaction lifecycle, from order placement to payment settlement.”

Bay Fastening Systems, an industrial products distributor, is using Balance technology to help grow its digital marketplace, BaySupply.com, Michael Eichinger, Bay’s chief operating officer, says in a press release announcing the new Balance suite.

“We were able to grow our digital channel in ways we didn’t know were possible,” he says. He adds that the Balance suite offers “product flexibility and ability to work with our existing business processes.”

The Balance product suite includes:

• Digital Trade Credit – Includes AI-enhanced credit reviews for payment terms, with an integrated checkout application and invoice payments.
• B2B Payments – Supports a variety of payment methods, including payment cards and bank ACH transfers, for omnichannel and global transactions. Includes products such as buyer accounts payable tools, automated reconciliation and dashboard reporting.
• Marketplace OS – Provides online marketplaces with products that provide multiple payment and financing options for buyers and payouts to third-party vendors.

Balance’s new product suite follows other payments technology applications it launched last year. These other applications include international digital financing and payment services developed with Europe-based Hokodo Services Ltd. and a buyer portal and dunning management tool for managing receivables and collecting late payments.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post A new digital product suite spans the B2B transaction lifecycle appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

“We saw a few notable names from the 2023 list close their doors while others, like Indigo Ag, made big pivots and raised at a 94% discount compared to its prior $3.5B valuation,” the report says.

B2B marketplace investment that did happen in 2023

One marketplace that received funding is Faire, which connects independent retailers with emerging brands. Last September, Shopify Inc. invested an undisclosed sum in Faire as part of a partnership in which the marketplace would adopt Shopify technology for its clients. At the time, Faire, which was founded in 2017, was valued at $12.5 billion. Faire occupies the top spot in Applico rankings for B2B marketplaces.

At the time the deal was announced, Shopify’s director of product Aneeqa Khan, said the partnership would make it easy for Shopify merchants to find wholesale buyers and enable retailers to source from Faire’s network of brands.

The United States is Faire’s biggest market, while Europe is its fastest-growing market. Faire launched in 15 European countries in 2021. Faire, which focuses on independent businesses, says that its marketplace offers small retailers, many of which are looking to source less widely available products, a way to differentiate themselves online and offline.

Other trends in B2B markeplaces

Another trend to emerge is the continued convergence of software-as-a-service-based technology into B2B marketplaces platforms, according to Applico. For example, Acculynx, which ranks number two on Applico’s list of B2B marketplaces, started out as a provider of a SaaS-based business management app for roofing contractors. Acculynx evolved into a B2B marketplace “after building a dominant market position on the demand side,” and eventually “began charging a take rate to distributors,” according to the report. It is the first time Acculynx has appeared in Applico’s rankings,

Third-ranked GrubMarket Inc. is another marketplace embracing SaaS technology. GrubMarket initially began as a B2B marketplace and then added a SaaS product to lock in buyers and generate recurring revenue.

Rounding out the Top 10 in Applico’s rankings are Joor (#4), another SaaS company that built an online B2B Marketplace, Farmer’s Business Network (#5), Leaflink (#6), Vetcove Inc. (#7), Partstrader (#8), Provi Inc. (#9), and Material Bank (#10).

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post Investor money for B2B marketplaces slows in 2023 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Markforged has launched the on-demand parts manufacturing platform Digital Source, which it describes as “an on-demand parts platform built to enable the licensing and 3D-printing of manufacturer-certified parts when and where they are needed, without the cost or hassle of physical inventory management.”

Jeremy Haight, principal engineer at Vestas Wind Systems A/S, a global company that manufactures, installs and services wind turbines for sustainable energy systems, says the Digital Source on-demand platform has enabled Vestas to quickly print spare parts when needed to maintain operations and minimize downtime.

For BMF GmbH, a manufacturer of sandblasting machines designed with 60 components that need to be replaced periodically, the 3D-printing service provides the option to print replacement parts at customer sites.

“The component can be printed on-site the moment a failure or wear is detected,” BMF CEO Ronny Bernstein says.

Markforged also says Digital Source allows companies to upload digital part designs they can then license to their customers, distributors and contract manufacturers.

“Once uploaded, Digital Source end-users will have the ability to license the right to print parts on-site or through a growing network of [3D-printing] service providers,” the company says.

“Parts can be digitized and printed at the time and point of need without the need to be manufactured in advance, shipped and stored until needed,” Vestas CEO Shai Terem says.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post A digital platform launches for distributed manufacturing appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

This explosive growth forecast in digital B2B commerce over the next six years is good news for suppliers. However, it also underscores some significant changes. These include the ways B2B buyers will purchase digitally and how suppliers sell and market their products, according to the report.

Most important B2B ecommerce trends

In breaking down the shifts that will drive growth for B2B ecommerce, Merkle highlighted the following four trends:

1. The growing ubiquity of machine-to-machine commerce
2. Significant growth in ecommerce marketplaces
3. Increased speed to market for new products
4. Greater traceability, or the ability to identify and track the entire chain of sourcing, production, and movement of any product at any stage

When it comes to machine-to-machine ecommerce, Merkle predicts that by 2030, about one-third of all B2B ecommerce — or $8 trillion — will be made through machine-to-machine interactions, with no human involvement. The change will be driven by the integration of new technologies. These may include the Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and smart devices being integrated into sellers’ operations.

As users become more comfortable with these technologies, businesses will begin to allow machines to make decisions and transact with increasing independence. Areas ripe for this shift include commodity-like activities such as restocking supplies for a medical office. Brands already use software apps that automatically identify when inventory is low. In many cases, they send messages to other apps, asking for stock to be replenished. Amazon.com, for example, has developed its own shelving units and warehouse control systems. These systems autonomously reorder items when supplies run low, according to Merkle.

While B2B sellers have been deploying increased ecommerce technology in recent years, all the potential efficiencies and data insights such technologies can bring cannot be unleashed without interoperability among systems, which allows data to flow more seamlessly.

Merkle forecasts the potential value that can be achieved through interoperability can exceed $10 trillion in 2030 and that B2B applications will make up more than 60% of that value.

Digital B2B marketplaces will also play a significant role in the B2B ecommerce landscape by 2030. B2B marketplaces are expected to account for $12 trillion in sales in 2030, Merkle says. That comes out to about 50% of all B2B sales. In comparison, less than 15% of global B2B purchases took place through B2B marketplaces in 2023. During the same period, about 60% of B2C ecommerce took place through marketplaces, according to the report.

3 B2B marketplace trends in ecommerce

In its analysis, Merkle also assessed trends that will be relevant for B2B marketplaces specifically. These included the following:

1. Direct B2B ecommerce, or digital experiences and commerce platforms owned and operated by manufacturers and/or distributors selling directly to B2B buyers
2. Industry marketplaces that emphasize specific categories
3. Mega marketplaces offering diverse arrays of B2B products and services

One advantage to selling on B2B marketplaces is that they provide “an obvious on ramp to sales,” according to the report. For example, Alibaba’s 1688 marketplace operates in 20 countries, including China. It has average order values of more than $5,000 and over 10 million business accounts.

That kind of sales volume is grabbing the attention of investors. In 2022, the 10 largest privately held B2B marketplaces in the United States received more than $6 billion in private equity and venture capital investments, Merkle says. Venture capitalists’ interest in B2B marketplaces could prove to be a lingering trend. As that occurs, more small B2B suppliers could shift away from a strategy of building their own ecommerce sites. As they do, they may instead favor presences on marketplaces.

Some 66% of business executives across B2B categories plan to build a larger ecosystem of third-party sellers, service providers, and products, Merkle says. Aerospace manufacturer SE and Toyota Motor Corp., for example, have scaled global marketplaces for OEM parts and service across a large network of dealers, suppliers, and SKUs.

When it comes to how fast manufacturers can bring new products or services to market, Merkle expects artificial intelligence (AI) to play an increasingly larger role. By 2030, Merkle predicts that major changes in how brands design, test and deliver goods to market will accelerate speed to market by up to 300% across all industry categories, due to the influence of AI.

The role of AI

While AI itself is not new, its sibling, generative AI, is. Generative AI is artificial intelligence capable of producing text, images or other media. It commonly does so using models that learn the patterns and structure of their input training data. Those systems then output new data that has similar characteristics.

A key advantage of generative AI is that it enables brands to develop prototypes in hours. In many cases, the alternatives may take weeks or months. It can also aid the creation of personalized products on demand.

Generative AI also opens the door to creating digital twins. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a product or system. It may use simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help identify issues during digital product design, which ensures fast development time. Digital twins can improve a developer’s ability to spot potential problems during the development process by 80%. The global digital twin market is set to grow from $10 billion in 2022 to $110 billion by 2028, the report says.

Increasing focus on traceability

Finally, traceability will play a significant role in the development of B2B commerce by 2030. Traceability is the ability to track the information about a product from the procurement of raw materials to production. This occurs through the distribution channel, and finally to the end user.

Traceability will become important for manufacturers. That’s because without it, “reputational risk looms large for brands that cannot align their product sourcing and business practices to their customers’ values,” the report says.

With B2B buyers more aligned with the principles of traceability, and more likely to work for companies that reflect their views about traceability, it is more likely those buyers will demand to purchase “ethical goods” from their suppliers. In 2020, for example, there was a 24% increase in large-scale purchasers requesting environmental data from suppliers compared to 2019, according to the report.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post 4 trends that will reshape the B2B ecommerce landscape appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Flaviar says it facilitates a million orders annually through its network of retailers across the world. It signed a strategic agreement with Republic National in 2022.

Republic National, Flaviar plan to expand B2B ecommerce sales together

Republic National is a distributor of alcoholic beverages and related spirits. Flaviar owns spirits marketplaces Flaviar.com and Caskers.com. Under the arrangement, the two companies agreed to collaborate to expand B2B digital commerce in the wholesale beverage industry.

“Ecommerce penetration in beverage alcohol sales is still very low compared to other product categories, especially in the U.S., and we believe that the main reason is due to the lack of modern, consumer-friendly services in our space,” says Flaviar CEO Jugoslav Petkovic. “We’re firm in our commitment to support partners across all three tiers of the U.S. alcohol system, as well as internationally, to enable more of such services to launch and capitalize on this giant growth opportunity.”

The latest move in the collaboration is giving Republic National access to Flaviar’s latest acquisition: Wine-Searcher, a global database of alcoholic beverage product, price, and availability. Wine-Searcher’s database collects and indexes products, prices, locations, producers, and retailers into the drinks-related data available. The database has 18 million listings from more than 33,000 vendors across 126 countries.

Users search the Wine-Searcher database is 300 million times per year, and it has over five million monthly active users, Flaviar says.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. But Republic National, which reports about $12 billion in annual revenue, including about $1.3 million through ecommerce, will use Wine-Searcher for larger product inventory, marketing data and related services, the company says.

“Our collaboration with Flaviar aims to accelerate the pace of digital transformation within the industry,” says Republic National CEO Nicholas Mehall.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post A big spirits distributor and B2B marketplace expand their digital alliance appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.