How Does a B2B Marketplace Work?

As direct-to-consumer companies realize the importance of diversifying their distribution, more and more fashion brands are looking to enter the wholesale channel with the help of a B2B marketplace. Capital One Shopping research reveals the worldwide B2B e-commerce market is worth an estimated $30.42 trillion in 2024, with projections indicating it will grow to $66.89 trillion in 2029. Given the channel’s continued rapid expansion, there’s never been a better time to embrace this way of doing business if you haven’t already.

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Fashion brands and retailers alike that are serious about driving exponential business growth should consider a B2B marketplace essential, but navigating the many options out there can feel challenging.

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We’ve broken down everything you need to know about fashion wholesale platforms in this guide, starting with the most important question:

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What Is a B2B Marketplace?

A B2B marketplace is an online platform where businesses sell their products or services to other businesses, who then use these to further their business or sell to consumers.

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From a fashion perspective, this usually entails brands connecting on a marketplace with buyers and providing them with wholesale clothing and accessories to stock in their retail locations. The online platform usually facilitates interactions, purchases and payments between both parties, and operations can be monitored and managed digitally using various tech tools. 

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What Are B2B Marketplaces Good For?

Fashion brands often prefer using a B2B marketplace as it makes working with buyers much more efficient and creating customized pricing options easier and more secure. A platform that allows you to set different MOQs for each style, color, or even order value, gives a brand more control and flexibility over its wholesale operations. It also makes it easier for brands to manage complex orders, particularly when dealing with international retailers or multiple product lines.

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Fashion retailers may choose to use a B2B marketplace as these platforms make discovering new brands to stock much simpler. Rather than having to attend several trade shows a year at various locations around the world, the traditional process of finding new brands in person can be completely digitized with an online platform. Buyers and brands can interact from the comfort of their own offices, saving time as well as money on travel expenses.  

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Who Can Benefit From B2B Marketplaces?

Both small and large fashion businesses can benefit from B2B marketplaces. Many smaller brands and retailers find that an online platform can help to improve their visibility and expose them to new markets, democratizing the wholesale industry. These marketplaces also make it much easier for them to deal with collecting payments than if they were to try and navigate this challenge on their own.

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Large department stores and global brands also often prefer to use a B2B marketplace as their technological capabilities are well suited to handle scale. Marketplaces can make high-volume orders easy to facilitate and their payment processes help to ensure that high-value transactions are secure. 

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Who Would a B2B Marketplace Not Be Suitable For?

Any fashion brands or retailers that are not open to the idea of digitizing their processes would not be suitable for working with a B2B marketplace. However, while in-person meetings are an option again now that the pandemic is behind us, it is still advisable to digitize your wholesale process.

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In JOOR’s spring market survey, we found that 97% of brands are holding at least some of their appointments virtually. If you choose to keep things completely in-person you risk falling behind the industry and being unable to keep up with your competitors. Many fashion companies join a B2B marketplace to create ease for their business partners, as having as many of their brand partners as possible using a single network or software is extremely appealing.

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What Kinds of B2B Wholesale Marketplaces Are There?

There are many online wholesale platforms available to businesses today. Some cater to a specific niche like Fleek which specializes in preloved fashion products, while others are focused on one particular segment of the market like Order Champ which has the aim to solely connect small brands with indie retailers. 

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Most of the B2B fashion marketplaces available focus on transactional buying and selling. Platforms like NuOrder, AmazonBusiness, Faire, and Alibaba offer products across a wide range of categories, so there is no niche or curation in the users on the platform.

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These marketplaces facilitate product-level transactions and lack the complex relationship-building capabilities that are essential to growing a thriving wholesale fashion business. Many of these marketplaces also charge high commission fees on orders, creating a barrier for smaller-sized companies and making it much harder to get repeat business. 

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The best kinds of B2B marketplaces are ones like JOOR which focus on creating strong network connections. Alongside facilitating orders, the platform prioritizes fostering relationships between discerning brands and curated global retailers who are vetted and ready to do business. Remember the key to steady and ongoing wholesale growth is to create and nurture long-lasting partnerships.

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How Does a Fashion Business Choose A B2B Marketplace?

There are four key areas to consider when choosing which platform is best suited to your fashion company:

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Examine The Network 

It’s important to choose a B2B fashion marketplace that exposes you to the kind of brands and retailers you want to do business with. Examine the network of a marketplace and make sure it aligns with your competitive set, demographic and geographical needs.

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Consider if these are the kinds of companies you’d want (and are able) to do business with. The sweet spot is an online wholesale platform that offers growth potential as well as a steady stream of repeat orders, so you’ll want to look for as geographically diverse a network as possible with a wide range of high quality retailers and brands.

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Investigate Integrations 

For ease, you’ll want to choose a B2B fashion marketplace that connects to as much of the software your business already uses as possible. Look for a platform that offers integrations to tools like Zedonk, Shopify and Netsuite so you can automate your wholesale process and ensure seamless data connection between your B2B platform and ERPs, POS systems, and PLMs.

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Be sure to review the data support and customer service availability of any platform you choose, these integrations can sometimes be tricky to implement and it’s advisable to have expert assistance on hand if possible. 

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Consider Customizability

There will be strong competitors in the B2B fashion space, even when you are using a marketplace to help you, but the best ones will offer you as many tools as possible to help you stand out from the crowd and showcase your point of difference.

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Look for platforms that allow you to highlight your business’s unique value proposition and creativity, through tools like virtual showrooms and digital linesheet software that will bring more eyes to your offering, as well as participation in online events that can garner attention inside and out of the network.

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Explore Payments Processes

To be able to scale your fashion business globally, you’ll need to choose a B2B marketplace that allows cross-border transactions across multiple currencies. Brands should look for a platform that allows them to securely collect payments from retailers to improve cash flow and minimize risk.

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Retailers should choose a platform that accepts all major payment methods, including credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, and net terms. Both brands and retailers should look at the invoicing system of any platform they want to work with and make sure the processes are streamlined and straightforward to use to ensure no time is wasted.

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What’s The Best B2B Fashion Marketplace?

JOOR is the premier B2B marketplace for the fashion industry. JOOR hosts over 14,000 brands and over 650,000 buyers across 150 countries and has facilitated over $100 billion in wholesale transactions since its inception. Its vast network and high transaction volume provide it with a unique vantage point from which to analyze industry trends and furnish valuable business-driving insights to its community.

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Ultimately, the results speak for themselves. 94% of brands on JOOR generate more sales from new clients acquired on JOOR each year than the cost of their JOOR membership. 36% of new connections on JOOR result in a new order within the first year, with new clients placing on average more than 5 orders in the first 12 months—making it ideal for those looking to grow their business and foster long-lasting relationships. Case studies from businesses including Belstaff, Arms of Eve and Evolve prove that this is a B2B marketplace that works for both fashion brands and retailers alike.

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Some of JOOR’s most notable features include:

• Digital linesheets with e-commerce-style shoppability 
• Virtual showrooms that can be customized with video and 360° imagery
• Innovative order management software 
• Over 100 custom pre-built APIs
• 24/7 customer service equipped to support all languages
• JOOR Passport digital trade shows
• Embedded checkout solution JOOR Pay

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Request a demo today to try all these features and many more for yourself.

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