The Rise Of The B2B Marketplace: Our Investment In Material Bank

Material Bank enables interior designers and architects to perform complex searches and order samples from multiple suppliers from a single platform. They offer materials such as carpet, flooring, wall coverings, glass, paint, metals, woods, and other textiles.

Only recently has B2B commerce begun its digital transition. The gross merchandise volume of Amazon Business reached $10 billion in 2019, up from $1 billion in 2015, its first year. Still, that pales in comparison to Amazon’s B2C business, which generated over $300 billion of gross merchandise volume in 2019

In contrast, B2B transactions may involve price negotiations, special payment terms, a variety of payment methods, detailed product specifications, complicated SKU proliferation, consultation with a sales rep, unique shipping requirements, and the list goes on