Page 143 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

4.8 B2B in Web 2.0 and Social Networking 123

Table 4.2 Potential gains and risks in B2B exchanges
For buyers For sellers
Potential gains One-stop shopping, huge New sales channel
Search and comparison shopping No physical store is needed
Volume discounts Reduced ordering errors
24/7 ordering from any location Sell 24/7
Make one order from several suppliers Community participation
Huge, detailed information Reach new customers spending only little cost
Access to new suppliers Promote the business via the exchange
Status review and easy reordering An outlet for surplus inventory
Community participation Can go global more easily
Fast delivery Efficient inventory management
Less maverick buying Better partner relationship management
Better partner relationship management Loss of direct CRM and PRM
Potential risks Unknown vendors; may not be reliable More price wars
Loss of customer service quality (inability to Competition for value-added services
compare all services) Must pay transaction fees; possible loss of
customers to competitors

4. List the potential advantages, gains, limitations, and risks a powerful resource for e-businesses to leverage online
of exchanges to buyers. discussions and interactions in order to maximize innova-
5. List the major advantages and limitations to sellers. tion and responsiveness. It is therefore beneficial to study
6. List the major ownership types in B2B exchanges. the tools, methods, and best practices of building and man-
7. Define consortium trading exchanges. aging B2B e-communities. Although the technological
support of B2B e-communities is basically the same as for
any other online community, the nature of the community
4.8 B2B IN WEB 2.0 AND SOCIAL itself and the information provided by the community are
NETWORKING different. For a list of B2B communities, see DiMauro
(2014).
Although a large number of companies conduct social net- B2B e-communities are mostly communities of transac-
working activities that target individual consumers (B2C), tions and, as such, members’ major interests are trading and
there also is increasing activity in the B2B arena. However, business-related information gathering. Many of the com-
the potential in B2B is large, and new applications are added munities are associated with vertical exchanges; therefore,
daily. The opportunities of B2B social networking depends their needs may be specific. Communities also support
on the companies’ goals and the perceived benefits and risks partner-to- partner collaboration and networking. For exam-
involved (for more information see adage.com/article/btob/ ple, see partners.salesforce.com for partnership software.
social-media-increasingly-important-b-b-market- However, it is common to find generic services such as clas-
ers/291033). sified ads, job vacancies, announcements, industry news,
and so on. For B2B social communities, see Brooks et al.
(2013). Communities promote collaboration. The newest
E-Communities in B2B variation of these communities is the business-oriented or
professional social network such as linkedin.com, pre-
B2B applications may involve many participants: buyers and sented in Chapter 8.
sellers, service providers, industry associations, and others.
In such cases, the B2B market maker needs to provide com-
munity services, such as chat rooms, bulletin boards, and The Opportunities of Social Commerce in B2B
possibly personalized Web pages.
E-communities connect employees, partners, custom- Companies that use B2B social networking may experience
ers, and any combination of the three. E-communities offer the following advantages: