(Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)
Businesses, large or small, today rely heavily on B2b e-commerce markets. While most people use Google and other search engines to search for products, companies did not have the same capabilities in the past. However, this is changing thanks to the growing number of B2B ecommerce marketplace platforms.
Some would consider Alibaba and Amazon to be the pioneers of the online B2B marketplace. Today, Alibaba and Amazon are the largest B2B marketplaces in Asia. SMEs have relied on these two B2B e-commerce sites to not only reach customers in the region but also around the world.
China dominates in e-commerce, especially in B2C businesses, which have grown tremendously as businesses have focused on better service to a large customer base over the past two decades.
According to the B2B ECommerce: The Challenges and Opportunities Caused by Digital Acceleration report, total sales on B2B e-commerce sites grew 10% to $ 1.39 trillion in 2020. Although B2B markets currently account for a share modest of all electronic sales, it appears that the B2B industry is moving towards a possible market-dominated distribution model.
Besides the dominance of Alibaba and Amazon, other B2B e-commerce sites have also emerged in the region to provide businesses with more choices. For example, in India, TradeIndia is the largest online B2B marketplace in the subcontinent with over 20 million monthly visits from SMEs and large corporations.
In South East Asia, Averest is Malaysia’s B2B e-commerce marketplace for all industries. Averest offers affordable low-end membership packages for SMBs. It also helps companies to exploit export potential on a low budget.
Meanwhile, Obbo.sg is Singapore’s largest B2B marketplace, hosting thousands of small business online fronts with products and services, giving them the connectivity tools to do business globally in just a few minutes. clicks.
Growing B2B Ecommerce Market in Vietnam
(Photo by Nguyen Hung / AFP)
Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Vietnamese businesses suffer from manual and inefficient processes, resulting in wasted time and higher costs for buyers and suppliers in the process. ‘purchase of goods. In addition, buyers cannot source products quickly due to the lack of visibility and price transparency.
To tackle this, EI Industrial is the first industry-focused B2B marketplace in Vietnam that aims to accelerate digital purchasing in the country. With eiindustrial.com, buyers can now easily source from multiple suppliers and identify the best deals available.
EI Industrial also recently received a US $ 670,000 seed funding round led by early stage venture capital firm Cocoon Capital with participation from BEENEXT. The platform currently serves more than 500 customers in Vietnam, including global companies such as Esquel Group, Heineken, Toshiba, Olam, Aqua, Oishi, Wahl and Central Group. He also works with more than 300 vendors to meet growing sourcing demands, including Schneider Electric, Bosch, Honeywell and 3M.
The funding is coming at the right time, as the Vietnamese B2B e-commerce market has the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia, reaching USD 13.2 billion in 2020, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43% d ‘by 2025. With the funding, EI Industrial plans to build a faster, more user-friendly platform and expand the sales, marketing and technology teams to drive rapid growth.
“Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world in recent years, and SMEs are the backbone of the economy. My co-founders and I created EI Industrial to fulfill our dream of developing Vietnam’s core industries through technology. EI Industrial now helps businesses and sellers improve both productivity and profit margins, â€said Anthony Ho Phi An, Founder and CEO of EI Industrial.
For Michael Blakey, Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital, the Vietnamese market expected such a solution and EI Industrial responds to a clear need. They were inspired by the team’s passion, determination and ability to create a platform that helps digitize Vietnamese businesses.
Since its launch in September 2020, eiindustrial.com has become one of the top 100 companies with the fastest growing internet traffic in Vietnam. With the growing demand for B2B e-commerce services, the industry will only get bigger in the years to come.
