eBay launches eBay Business Supply

The new portal combines eBay.com’s Business & Industrial section, Wholesale Deals and its e-procurement system offered with SAP Ariba.

The categories range from Manufacturing & Metalworking, Electrical & Test Equipment and Heavy Equipment to Office Supplies, Restaurant & Catering, and Healthcare, Lab & Life Science.
EBay’s rebranding of its B2B business comes at a time when Forrester Research Inc. projects that B2B e-commerce sales will surpass USD 1.13 trillion in annual sales by 2020.

More than that, EBay Business Supply also includes Wholesale Direct, a section catering to retailers and other companies that want to buy at wholesale for reselling purposes; and Commercial Direct, which serves as an asset management and procurement service for corporations, which can purchase merchandise and supplies, manage inventory levels, and sell their products as a “whitelisted” supplier approved by eBay.

The new portal also provides direct access to SAP Ariba Spot Buy, a service eBay offers through SAP Ariba, a procurement services unit of business software company SAP SE. Ariba Spot Buy is designed to let corporations manage how their employees make purchases, or spot buys, of products not covered by their procurement contracts with their usual suppliers. Buyers using the service purchase products under catalog prices approved by their employers from suppliers vetted by eBay as reliable sources. Buyers can compare those approved catalog prices with offerings from other eBay sellers, then decide with their superiors if they want to opt for a new supplier at a lower price.

In addition, EBay Business Supply also offers financing services through Express Tech-Financing, which lets buyers on eBay apply for credit from multiple lenders to complete purchases from suppliers on the eBay B2B portal.