Introduction:

In earlier times, innovativeproducts, good salesmanship and technology were enough to close a businessdeal. Traditional marketing campaigns involve several, complex phases throughwhich the products reach the ultimate consumer. But today's world ofcut-throat competition and shorter product lifecycle has created an urgency tolook for quicker marketing options. Here comes the need for B2B process. B2Bprocess can be defined an exchange or market place that provide vast andcollaborative business opportunities to customers and suppliers for optimumutilization of the available resources, to generate internal efficiencies andachieve maximum benefits at minimum costs. It involvesbuilding lucrative, value-oriented relationships between businesses and themany individuals within them.

The Banyan Tree Culture:

The word 'banyan' in an Indianlanguage means, 'merchant'. In ancient times, a banyan tree was usually usedas a place of doing business. Cool shade of the banyan tree provided a pleasantplace for a village meeting or for merchants to show their wares. Eventually, 'banyan'turned to mean the tree itself. Banyan tree provided a network for the businesstransactions of the ancient merchants. B2B portals prove to be a 'Modern BanyanTree Network' for current businesses to showcase their products, and enhancetheir business activities. With global expansion and rollout of high speedinternet, online commerce has started to grow and evolve in many impressiveways. As new technologies become available and cultures start adopting them,e-commerce continues to show robust growth.

Percentage ofpeople who use Internet to get information

B2B Portals: Bubble or Boom?

Contradictory opinions existregarding the future of B2B process, whether it has a rosy future or; are theymere bubbles likely to burst in the span of time. A business intelligenceresearch report states that 63% of the companies surveyed stated that internetwill consume more of their marketing spend in building brands, enhance theirclient bases and to save on distribution and customer management costs. 96percent of the respondents also stated that online marketing was appropriatefor their business audience. By using websites as a primary means to displaytheir products and brochures, and take online orders, businesses were able toexpand their customer base and thereby reap additional profits.

Companies Approximate Budget for Online Expenses

Business came into existence since the time when man felt the need for barter system, and communication is very vital for the existence of any business. Communication has evolved through various positive phases starting from sending pigeons to convey messages till sending fax, email, and now the technology refined process of B2B portals. So till the time the need for business communication is present in this world, there is a promising future of these processes.

Online shopping Mania:

Web surfers have now become more comfortable with the concept of online shopping. A survey revealed that overall internet affected sales were $232 billion in 2002 and grew upto 573 billion by 2007. 65 percent of the online population had made a purchase online during 2007. The online retail spending is anticipated to be around $105 billion during 2007 which is 34 percent of all U.S. retail spending. This reveals that more than half of the Web population has embraced the concept of online shopping.

Growth of Internet Users World wide

Interface for International Trade:

B2B portals help companies worldwide; to locate businesses according to their specification and further help in finalizing the deal. They provide information about companies, products, and businesses of international traders who are looking for related businesses. For example: there is a company in China that is looking for exporting its garments, and yet another company far away in South Africa, looking for importing garments. B2B portals serve as a mediator between the buyer and the seller, and help them in striking a final deal. These portals have taken international marketing to a different level within a short span of time.

A businessman needs to posses simple economic knowledge to sell his products in the domestic market. But, at the same time, if he wants to expand his business in an international level, where proceeds are out of his knowledge, he has to spend time and money to acquire the right output. In a B2B portal, the companies' website becomes web shops for traders all across the globe. They help a trader to interact with businesses all over the globe by just sitting in one's office chamber. It helps to save time, money, effort, manpower, and mainly facilitates the user to work from anywhere and at anytime.

Conclusion:

Business decision makers are habitual users of internet for their work purposes. E-Commerce flavored with B2B can create inspiring results. Many decision makers anticipate that they will increase their investment in internet marketing in the future. Industry leaders contemplate that total B2B media spending will increase rapidly to 13% by 2010. Appropriate and timely use of B2B portals can reap huge benefits for businesses substantially resulting in enhanced profit, and in creating a positive effect in customer relations.

References:

1. http://www.articlesbase.com
2. http://en.wikipedia.org
3. http://www.jpservicez-searcharticles.com/
4. http://www.internetworldstats.com

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