Distinguish sell-side e-marketplaces from buy-side e-marketplaces.

Sell-side B2B EC is the online direct sale by one seller (a manufacturer or an intermediary) to many buyers. The major technology used is electronic catalogs, which allow for efficient customization, configuration, and purchase by customers. What’s new in this model is the arrival of forward auctions which are becoming more and more popular. As for buy-side marketplaces, we can say that more and more companies are moving toward e-procurement to expedite purchasing, save on item and administrative costs, and gain better control over the purchasing process. Major procurement methods are reverse auctions (bidding system); buying from storefronts and from catalogs; negotiation; buying from an intermediary that aggregates sellers’ catalogs; internal marketplaces and group purchasing; desktop purchasing; buying in industrial malls; and bartering. E-procurement offers the opportunity to achieve real cost and time savings. Since the buy-side marketplace buyers engage in reverse auctions, they can lower their costs, both product costs and the time and cost of the tendering process. Governments and huge organizations do a lot of e-procurement.