B2B Platforms: Why Marketplaces Are Reshaping Sales

8 min Read Time

67 percent of B2B buyers prefer digital interaction channels over traditional field sales. Germany’s B2B online trade – driven by manufacturers and wholesalers – grew 7 percent in 2024, despite an economic slowdown. For SMEs, the question is no longer whether to adopt digital platforms – but how: Own online shop, marketplace, or both? This hands-on assessment identifies which platforms matter most, reveals what integration truly costs, and shows how companies can avoid the dependency trap.

The Key Takeaways

Why SMEs Must Prioritize Platforms Now

The numbers are clear: According to the McKinsey B2B Pulse Survey, 67 percent of industrial companies prefer digital interactions when purchasing. This doesn’t mean field sales are disappearing – McKinsey speaks of a “Rule of Thirds,” where one third each prefers personal, remote, and digital self-service channels. But the third that wants to buy digitally expects Amazon-like experiences: immediate availability display, transparent prices, one-click reordering.

German B2B online trade grew by 7 percent in 2024 according to IFH Cologne – while the overall economy stagnated. The institute forecasts 6.3 percent growth for 2025. The drivers are structural: younger buyers are moving into decision-making positions, ERP systems are becoming more API-capable, and the pandemic has made digital procurement processes the norm.

For SMEs, this creates a field of tension: Those who are not digitally reachable lose existing customers to platforms. Those who bind themselves too tightly to a platform give up margin and customer relationships. The solution lies in a hybrid strategy.

B2B online trade in Germany is growing by around 7 percent annually according to IFH Cologne and ECC. By 2027, volume is expected to exceed 500 billion euros. The drivers are not large corporations operating their own procurement portals, but SMEs, which are increasingly buying and selling via platforms. The hurdle is no longer technology, but the willingness to rethink sales.

Particularly relevant for SMEs: 73 percent of B2B buyers research online before contacting field sales (Forrester, 2025). Those not present on any platform lose customers who never inquired because they couldn’t find them online. The dark figure of missed orders is invisible to most sales managers.

The Relevant B2B Platforms in Germany

Mercateo/Unite: With 1.4 million business customers and over 700 suppliers, Unite (formerly Mercateo) is the largest German B2B marketplace. The model goes beyond classic e-commerce: Unite sees itself as a relationship platform that digitizes existing business relationships rather than forcing new ones. Relevant for SMEs because suppliers can store their own prices and conditions for existing customers.

Amazon Business: The elephant in the room. Amazon Business is growing strongly in Germany, but does not publish specific user numbers for the German market. The strengths: huge assortment, established logistics, purchase on invoice and quantity scales. The risks: price transparency squeezes margins, customer data belongs to Amazon, and platform dependency grows with every month.

Wucato: The Würth subsidiary positions itself with over 10 million articles in the catalog as an alternative for technical trade. The advantage over Amazon: stronger industry specialization and better integration into existing procurement processes.

“Wer liefert was” (Visable): Rather a visibility platform than a transaction marketplace. Relevant for manufacturers and suppliers who want to build visibility with buyers without selling directly on a transaction platform.

“The dynamics of B2B platforms are fundamentally changing sales structures. SMEs should use marketplaces as an additional channel, not as a replacement for their own customer relationships.”
Adapted from IFH Cologne, B2B Commerce Monitor 2024

The ERP Integration Trap: Where It Gets Difficult

Technical connection to B2B platforms sounds easier than it is. In practice, many SMEs fail at three hurdles:

Legacy ERP Systems: Many SME ERPs are not built for modern API connections. They are stable, but rigid. Real-time synchronization of stocks, prices, and order data between ERP and platform requires either middleware solutions or an ERP upgrade. Both cost five figures.

Data Alignment: Item numbers, price structures, and customer master data are rarely platform-compatible. SKU mappings, price rules, and discount scales must be manually translated. With thousands of articles, this is a project, not an afternoon task.

Performance at Scale: Large product catalogs and high order volumes overload older systems. When the platform channel grows, the backend infrastructure must keep up. This often only becomes a problem when the channel is successful.

Technical complexity is often underestimated: price lists with customer-specific conditions, real-time availability checks, automated order creation in the ERP system, and synchronization of master data across multiple channels. Those who solve this manually do not scale. Those who automate need middleware like Lobster, Tradebyte, or Pimcore, which mediates between platform APIs and their own ERP. The investment is typically 15,000 to 80,000 euros for the initial integration, depending on the complexity of the ERP system and the number of connected platforms.

Data Sovereignty and Platform Dependency

94 percent of IT directors fear vendor lock-in according to a Parallels survey 2026. In the context of B2B platforms, this fear is justified. Those who completely shift their sales to a platform give up three things: customer data, pricing sovereignty, and brand perception.

Counter-strategies are known, but rarely implemented consistently: Multi-platform strategy instead of dependency on one channel. Own shop as an anchor for existing customers. Contractual clauses for data portability. And a clear rule: New customer acquisition on platforms, existing customer care in your own channel.

The European Digital Sovereignty Initiative and projects like GAIA-X are working to create frameworks for secure data exchange under European control. For SMEs, this is still music of the future – but the direction is right.

A concrete risk: Amazon Business controls the customer relationship. The manufacturer sees the end customer only as an anonymous order number. Those who sell exclusively via Amazon give up the most valuable resource in B2B: direct customer contact. The alternative: Use platforms as one of several channels, but retain your own webshop as the main channel for existing customers. Mercateo Unite and Wucato offer more transparency here, because they function as a network and not as a marketplace. Data sovereignty remains with the seller.

What Entry Really Costs

Costs depend on the level of ambition. A realistic classification for SMEs:

Marketplace Integration (15,000 to 40,000 euros): Listing on an established platform like Mercateo or Amazon Business. Including product data preparation, ERP interface, and process definition. Ongoing costs: Commission (5-15 percent) plus listing fees.

Own B2B Online Shop (40,000 to 120,000 euros): Shopware, SAP Commerce Cloud, or Spryker as a basis. Including ERP integration, customer-specific price logic, and purchase on invoice. Ongoing costs: Hosting, maintenance, content care.

Hybrid Model (60,000 to 180,000 euros): Own shop plus marketplace connections. Product Information Management (PIM) as a central data hub. The most complex setup, but the one with the lowest dependency.

ROI depends on the business model. Companies with standardized products and a high share of repeat orders typically reach break-even with their own shop after 12 to 18 months. For complex, explanatory products, it can take 24 months.

Five Steps to Get Started

1. Analyze customer segments. Which customers regularly order standard products? They benefit most from digital procurement. Which ones need advice? They stay with field sales.

2. Clean up product data. No platform works without clean master data. Article descriptions, images, units of measure, and price logic must be consistent and up to date.

3. Check ERP capability. Can the ERP system synchronize stocks and orders via API? If not: Evaluate middleware like Tradebyte or ChannelEngine as a bridge.

4. Start pilot project on one marketplace. Test Mercateo or Wucato with a limited assortment. Gather experience before the full investment flows.

5. Define hybrid strategy. Platforms for new customer acquisition, own channel for existing customers. Never bet everything on one card.

Conclusion

For SMEs, B2B platforms are no longer a future topic in 2026, but operational daily business. The market is growing despite economic weakness, buyers are becoming more digital, and platforms are becoming more powerful. At the same time, risks are real: ERP integration complexity, margin pressure through price transparency, and growing platform dependency. The answer is not an all-or-nothing decision, but a conscious hybrid strategy: Platforms as reach levers, own channels as relationship anchors.

The pragmatic entry: Select a platform that fits your industry, list ten to twenty products, test for three months, and then decide. The costs for a pilot project are under 5,000 euros. The risk is low, the learning potential high. Those who find in two years that 30 percent of new customers come via platforms will be glad they started today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Header Image Source: Pexels / Tima Miroshnichenko