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Even as they mature, B2B marketplaces are still the fastest-growing B2B digital sales channel and on course to top $350 billion this year.
When markets shift, they can change the course of entire industries and usher in significant bouts of disruptions, challenges and opportunities.
Such is the case with B2B marketplaces both in the U.S. and worldwide. Five years ago, there were 75 vertical market and industry-specific B2B marketplaces in the U.S. Today, that number has skyrocketed to 500 and is likely to reach 600 in the next several years, according to a Digital Commerce 360 projection.
B2B marketplaces were once just a minor sales channel, and that time was not that long ago. Having been around since the late 1990s and early 2000s, marketplaces in industries such as automotive parts, health care, and aerospace parts had yet to meet with success.
Only a few achieved significant industry penetrations, such as Boeing Global Services, which now works with 6,000 global suppliers and generates $2 billion in ecommerce sales.
But times change — and so has the B2B marketplace market. In 2024, B2B marketplaces once again are the fastest-growing digital sales channel in distribution and manufacturing with combined sales that will reach an estimated $351 billion, based on a Digital Commerce 360 projection. That’s up 35% from estimated sales of $260 billion in 2023, according to Digital Commerce 360.
As B2B marketplaces mature, however, the growth rate from previous years is slowing.
Still, digital B2B marketplaces will grow faster than total B2B ecommerce sales, which Digital Commerce 360 projects to grow at a relatively modest 17% to an estimated $2.43 trillion in 2024 from an estimated $2.08 trillion in 2023.
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2024 B2B Marketplace 750 Report
Analyzing the leading 750 U.S., European, and global B2B online marketplaces