B2B or business to business dealings involve transactions in large volumes between businesses or organizations rather than the sale of good by businesses and consumers, and could include transactions across borders via import/export and global sourcing deals. Thus B2B or business to business transactions represent a complex foray of activities through import/export and global sourcing which bring together buyers and seller on a common platform of the digital world.

The B2B or business to business trade is quite complicated and if a customer generates a certain demand, there would be possibly hundreds of processes that would be generated before the final purchase is made. Thus any import/export or global sourcing activity would give rise to lot of movement in the demand supply chain of the B2B dealing.

One of the biggest advantages which B2B or business to business marketplaces have to offer to both the buyers and the sellers is to provide a universal platform for their interaction which in turn helps to reduce costs, enhance sales and so forth. Of course the same goals were being achieved by using traditional methods of brick and mortar businesses as well, but this approach gives an electronic format to the same operations of B2B or business to business deals and help firms to carry out their import/export activities and procuring global sourcing deals as well.

One main advantage of using such a digital platform for B2B or business to business deals, as mentioned in the previous paragraph is that companies looking for proper partners for carrying out their import/export and global sourcing activities have a tool to search for the right parties, at the right time without having to look out for the right place. This is so because in electronic transactions across the cyberspace, geographical distances do not pose that much of a challenge as with traditional methods of brick and mortar.

Furthermore these electronic markets in B2B or business to business transactions can be divided into two main categories which could be used for import/export and/or global sourcing activities. These two categories are transaction oriented and collaboration oriented marketplaces which have their own unique characteristics. The transaction oriented marketplace is characterized by catalogs, auctions and exchanges whilst the latter features various planning capabilities. Both these types of electronic markets have their own usefulness in carrying out B2B or business to business activities and developing through carrying out import/export activities or saving costs through global sourcing at appropriate geographical locations. Another feature worth mentioning in B2B or business to business transactions is that complex procedures are involved in import/export and global sourcing techniques thus making it a much more involved scenario rather than a mere one to one transaction between two businesses.