Week 4 EOC: Business to Business

“But here’s a fact that would startle most consumers. Did you know that GE’s consumer products contribute less than one-third of the company’s total $183 billion in annual sales? To the surprise of many, most of GE’s business comes not from final consumers but from commercial and industrial customers across a wide range of industries." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, pg.158) As that quote reads above, Business to business is so much more important to companies than us consumers would even know. I just now learned that GE sold more than appliances that I can use in my house. It is not even half of their revenue and that’s all everyone thought they sold. The definition is “Business-to-business, or B2B, describes a transaction, product or service, or business strategy as targeted to a business rather than the consumer. A business-to-business sale means a sale to another business, even of a product normally sold to consumers.” (http://www.investorglossary.com/business-to-business.htm)  Many online companies have specific business pages that are only applicable if you are a business and buying in bulk. For example, Staples, which is an office supply company has a website called stapleslink.com. This was created to so that companies that needed to buy items in bulk would be able to save money and also get the sizes they need. So many industries thrive off of b2b sales. Fashion, which is my major, is a huge b2b industry because many designers purchase their fabric from other companies. “The fashion world’s digital focus is expanding beyond the confines of the style-conscious shopper to the B2B category, via a handful of Web sites catering to the forces driving the retail industry.” (http://www.wwd.com/media-news/digital/b2b-fashion-sites-on-the-rise-6083188?full=true)