Business to Business Marketing

Business-to-business (B2B) refers to a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when:

A business is sourcing materials for their production process, e.g. a food manufacturer purchasing salt
A business needs the services of another for operational reasons, e.g. a food manufacturer employing an accountancy firm to audit their finances
A business re-sells goods and services produced by others, e.g. a retailer buying the end product from the food manufacturer
Contrasting terms are business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-government (B2G). B2B branding is a term used in marketing.

The overall volume of B2B (Business-to-Business) transactions is much higher than the volume of B2C transactions.The primary reason for this is that in a typical supply chain there will be many B2B transactions involving sub components or raw materials, and only one B2C transaction, specifically sale of the finished product to the end customer. For example, an automobile manufacturer makes several B2B transactions such as buying tires, glass for windscreens, and rubber hoses for its vehicles. The final transaction, a finished vehicle sold to the consumer, is a single (B2C) transaction.