With a new growth formula, NeweggBusiness is a rising star at computer and electronics merchant Newegg Inc.

NeweggBusiness.com launched in 2010, nine years after its retail sister site Newegg.com. Newegg.com has grown steadily over the years, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.18% over the last five years to nearly $3 billion in 2015 sales, according to Internet Retailer’s Top500Guide.com. But NeweggBusiness, which sells to government agencies and educational institutions as well as businesses, has been showing the sharpest growth of late.

Although Newegg is privately held and doesn’t publicize its financial figures, a company spokeswoman indicated to B2BecNews last week that NeweggBusiness.com’s 2015 sales were 17.5% of Newegg.com’s total sales of $2.94 billion as estimated on the Top500Guide.com, and that the business-to-business site’s sales were up 17.0% in 2015 over 2014. That puts NeweggBusiness.com’s sales at $514 million last year, up from $439.32 million.

NeweggBusiness is taking several steps to attract more customers and increase sales, says Jim O’Dowd, vice president of NeweggBusiness. They include:

• Expanding its number of registered marketplace sellers to about 3000—all of which are by invitation only. Sellers must meet such Newegg customer service requirements as shipping orders within five days, providing a 30-day guarantee with full refund and free return shipping, and providing consistent access to customer service agents throughout business hours.
• Expanding its number of product categories beyond its core areas of computers and electronics to such areas as automotive products offered to motor vehicle repair shops, retailers and corporate fleets. “When we have new categories, we acquire more customers,” O’Dowd says. NeweggBusiness is also expanding its traditional product categories, such as by adding industrial components to computer hardware products.
• Expanding its shipping options, including a “manufacturer to business” or M2B service launched last fall that provides direct shipping from manufacturers to end-customers. In addition, in 2014 the Newegg extended the availability of its Shipped By Newegg fulfillment service to cover orders placed on NeweggBusiness as well as on Newegg.com. Through Shipped By Newegg, or SBN, Newegg will hold inventory for its marketplace sellers at its more than 10 distribution centers across North America, and ship to destinations across the United States and eight other countries, including several in Europe, Australia and Singapore.

NeweggBusiness also operates a customer service strategy designed to help B2B customers find the right products, O’Dowd says. While retail site Newegg.com focuses its customer service reps on helping customers after they’ve completed purchases, the B2B site’s reps operate “more in a pre-sales support role, putting customers in touch with experts” skilled in particular industries, he adds.

Newegg’s B2B unit reports having more than 230,000 business accounts among buyers, and representing a growth of 31% in the number of accounts and 11% in the number of buyers in 2015 over 2014. It customer categories also include healthcare providers, information technology systems integrators, value-added resellers and a general range of small businesses.

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