Abstract:
Web-enabled business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce enhances inter-organizational coordination and results in transaction cost savings and competitive sourcing opportunities for the buyer organization. However, there are more than a dozen Business to Business (B2B) websites running online business in Bangladesh by selling requested items and providing to different locations in home and or aboard. But no study has been done to identify features of B2B websites, explain characteristics of B2B websites in Bangladesh. Additionally, there is no such framework to represent B2B eCommerce in Bangladesh. This study examined important features of B2B websites and interviewed the buyers and manufacturer/seller to assess how much benefit distributes among whole seller to buyer.
The general objective of this study is to provide with an overview of business to business (B2B) web portal in Bangladesh and develop a framework of B2B eCommerce. The objectives and the nature of the study lead to utilize descriptive research method that employs qualitative and quantitative techniques. For this study, data were collected from three B2B websites, manufacturer/ whole seller and retailers (buyer/client) of one of the three websites. The results revealed twelve important features (for example registration, product information, interaction facility etc) of the B2B websites that increased user friendliness of the websites.
The data received from buyer and seller suggested that there are three categories of buyers (high, medium, and low) on the basis of purchase order. The buyers found that online buying of products through a website has several advantages such as it saves time and money, make the business easy and hassle free, and can be organized with fewer number of staff while the seller sees that it is very easy and convenient to run business online than the traditional style as it does not require too much establishment cost, managing staff. It also saves time and money for doing business. On the basis of the research findings a framework of B2B eCommerce is developed in Bangladesh context. Further research should emphasize on the large number of data and websites for better understanding of the B2B characteristics in Bangladesh.
