Business-to-business marketplaces have existed for years. Some are private, for a specific supply chain. Other exchanges are public, for any business to participate. In this post, I’ll list 20 leading, public B2B exchanges, for business to buy and sell products.
20 Leading B2B Exchanges
Amazon Business is the B2B side of that company. It works just like the consumer side of Amazon but it requires buyers to set up a business account to start shopping. Suppliers can register and sell their products on Amazon Business for a $39.99 monthly fee. Existing sellers on the main Amazon site can use the Seller Central portal to enable selling on Amazon Business.
ThomasNet.com is focused on supplier discovery and product sourcing. The site mostly contains engineering and manufacturing products. It receives over 60,000 visitors daily. Any business can sign up to create a free supplier profile. This enables visitors to search for the supplier and associated products.
ThomasNet.com mostly contains engineering and manufacturing products. It receives over 60,000 visitors daily.
EC21 is a global B2B exchange that supports multiple product categories. The exchange has over 2 million suppliers, 7 million products, 3.5 million buyers, and 3.5 million monthly visitors. EC21 is headquartered in South Korea, which is also its largest market. The exchange allows suppliers to register for free and provides them with a home page that can list up to 15 products for sale.
Joor is a retail-focused B2B exchange. The site works with over 155,000 retailers and 1,500 leading brands worldwide. Joor is based in New York with offices in fashion hubs, such as Paris, Milan, Miami, and Los Angeles. Brands can complete an online application to start selling.
IndiaMart is India’s largest B2B exchange. The site has over 35 million buyers, 4 million suppliers, and 43 million products. Buyers from virtually every country use the site and generate over 20 million business inquiries monthly. Suppliers can sign up for free and create a small website to showcase their product offerings.
Alibaba is the world’s largest B2B exchange with roughly 100 million products across 40 different categories. The buyers for these products are located in over 190 countries. Suppliers can sign up for free and can list up to 50 products. To list more products, a supplier must purchase a membership.
Ofweek is another China-based B2B exchange. It is focused on the tech industry and has over 8 million members. Ofweek consists of 25 separate websites for product categories such Iot.ofweek.com for the internet of things and Medical.ofweek.com for medical devices. The site receives over 300 million annual visitors and has suppliers from over 70 countries. Suppliers can sign up for free, but the site also offers premium memberships to help products stand out.
TradeKey is an electronics-focused B2B exchange with operations worldwide. The site supports multiple languages — French, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and English — to benefit over 9 million members. Suppliers can sign up for free. TradeKey also offers a program called WomenInTrade to support businesses run by females.
TradeIndia is a B2B exchange that launched in 1996 and now has over 41 million registered users and 2,200 categories. The site receives roughly 20 million visits every month. Suppliers can sign up for free and list up to 50 products and 20 search keywords.
GlobalSources is also based in China. It has over 1.4 million international buyers from around the world. These buyers include leading retailers. GlobalSources offers free supplier signups, to list up to 100 products. Most suppliers are from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
DHgate is a China-based B2B exchange that also sells directly to consumers. The site has over 1.2 million international sellers offering over 33 million products. Ten million worldwide buyers shop the site, which supports English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish languages. Suppliers can sign up for free. DHgate integrates with Shopify sites to add DHgate products for sale.
Made-in-China is another large China-based B2B exchange that offers products in over 3,500 categories. The site supports 11 languages and has over a million suppliers, who can sign up for free.
FGMVendors is a B2B exchange that offers an online trade show where suppliers can showcase their products to over 20,000 daily buyers. Most of the buyers are retailers with physical stores and are looking for wholesale merchandise to sell. Suppliers pay $449.99 annually to list their products and sell on this exchange.
WholesaleCentral is a directory of suppliers. Buyers can search and click on supplier profiles and then buy directly from supplier websites. The site reviews each supplier to reduce fraud transactions. Suppliers can list on WholesaleCentral by paying $399 for six months.
Bizbilla is another India-based B2B exchange. It has hundreds of product categories. Suppliers can sign up for free. The exchange allows buyers to post their requirements, for suppliers to respond.
Zoodel enables B2B transactions in Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Iran, China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Oman, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The website supports English, Russian, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish languages. Suppliers can sign up for free and can then import their full product catalog.
eWorldTrade is a B2B exchange with over 500,000 registered members. It transacts products in hundreds of categories. The site is available in English and Chinese. Suppliers can sign up for free.
Kinnek is a B2B exchange that focuses on selling to small and medium-sized businesses. It reviews all supplier requests. Suppliers pay a flat monthly fee to be part of this exchange and receive buyer requests.
MakersRow is a B2B exchange where small businesses can identify manufacturers and suppliers that can meet their product-sourcing needs. The site has over 10,000 manufacturers and 100,000 brands that have produced over 2 million products. Suppliers can sign up for free for a basic account. All buyers must register and pay $35 per month for a basic account.
Etsy Wholesale is a B2B marketplace where buyers can select clothes and accessories offered by small businesses. The catch is that the wholesale prices should be at least 50 percent greater than the suggested retail price. Suppliers can sign up for free but Etsy charges 3.5 percent on every transaction.
Are you buying or selling on a B2B exchange? Please share your experiences in the comments, below.