A distributor's catalog has long been limited to the products it stocks, references and sells directly. But professional buyers now expect more: they want to cover a complete need from a single point of access, even when not every reference is offered directly by their distributor.
Marketplaces answer this shift by making it possible to broaden the offer without carrying the entire stock. The distributor can bring third-party sellers into its commercial environment and offer references that complement the ones it already sells.
But opening your platform to third-party sellers is not the same as adding a feature to an e-commerce site. The distributor's role changes progressively: it keeps selling its own products, and it also becomes the operator of an ecosystem of sellers.
This shift transforms six dimensions of its business: the catalog, the economic model, data, the sales force, governance and the partner portfolio.
The topic extends directly the choice between B2B marketplace, B2B e-commerce and e-procurement. Once the model is chosen, what remains is understanding what a B2B marketplace solution concretely implies for the company and its organization.
For a distributor, the catalog has historically been an extension of its physical organization: referenced brands, warehouses, regional stocks, supplier agreements and logistics capacity determine what it can offer its clients.
Opening to third-party sellers changes this logic.
The distributor can now list products it does not stock itself. The third-party seller keeps responsibility for its offer and its stock, while the distributor provides the commercial environment in which the buyer discovers, selects and orders these products.
For the buyer, the benefit is immediate: avoiding the multiplication of suppliers and interfaces to cover the same need.
A professional preparing a job site, restocking a workshop or building an industrial order may need references its usual distributor does not carry itself. If these are available from partner sellers on the same platform, the buyer finds them without leaving its purchasing environment.
That is one of the appeals of the marketplace model: broadening the assortment without having to buy, stock and finance every new reference.
The marketplace therefore does not replace the existing catalog. It extends it.
This is where a B2B marketplace solution comes in: it brings together, on a single platform, the distributor's products and those of third-party sellers, with different rules depending on the sellers, the clients or the categories.
The challenge is not simply to display more references. It is to keep the buying experience consistent while several companies contribute to the catalog.
For the distributor, the question becomes which references to sell directly, and which are better offered through a partner.
Opening to third-party sellers often raises a first question for sales leadership: what happens to the margin on products no longer sold directly?
That is the wrong way to frame the problem. A marketplace does not systematically replace a margin with a commission. It lets several economic models coexist within the same catalog.
The OECD identifies several mechanisms used by marketplaces:
- Commissions on sales
- Flat subscription fees charged to sellers
- Additional services and fees tied to transaction volume or value
The distributor can therefore build a model combining several revenue sources by category and by seller profile. This is one of the contributions of a B2B marketplace solution: opening revenue levers beyond product margin alone.
The transactional commission is often the first lever. It can be complemented by services for sellers: product featuring, visibility on the platform, additional services or specific features.
The point of the model is precisely not to limit the platform's economic value to the products the distributor owns itself.
Take a distributor of automotive spare parts.
It sells its own filters, brake pads and wear parts directly. In parallel, it decides to onboard a seller specialized in garage tools and equipment.
The third-party seller keeps its stock and ships its products. The distributor earns a commission on the sales made by this partner.
On the same platform, its own products keep generating direct margin.
The two economic models therefore coexist in the same commercial environment, with different constraints in terms of stock, tied-up capital and margin.
The temptation can be strong to open the entire catalog to third-party sellers in order to maximize the number of references quickly.
That is not necessarily relevant.
The products that carry the distributor's differentiation, its own brand or a significant share of its margin can stay in direct sales. Third-party sellers can instead round out the assortment on hard-to-stock references, niche products or categories where demand exists but does not justify a stock investment.
Opening a B2B marketplace then becomes a matter of category-by-category arbitration.
Broadening the catalog also changes the distributor's position on data.
In a traditional model, it mainly knows what happens on its own catalog: products viewed, sales made, available stock, client requests.
A B2B marketplace solution gives it a wider view. It can observe the searches performed by buyers, the categories that generate demand, the products offered by the various sellers, and the spaces where supply remains insufficient.
This position is strategic.
The European Commission highlights that platforms concentrate a significant amount of data on the companies operating on them, and that they determine the conditions under which this data can be accessed.
In a marketplace, the operator therefore sits at the center of information flows between sellers and buyers.
A Toulouse School of Economics study on information disclosure and competition on marketplaces also shows that access to information can directly influence the competitive conditions between sellers.
Data thus becomes both a commercial asset and a governance subject.
For the distributor, the main benefit is to identify trends it could not necessarily observe with its own catalog alone.
Which references are searched for but absent?
Which categories are growing?
Which products are often bought together?
Which sellers answer a demand that was not covered?
This view can feed listing decisions, supplier negotiations and assortment choices.
But it also demands clear rules on data use and sharing. The more central the distributor becomes in the ecosystem, the more important the governance of this information.
The B2B marketplace is sometimes presented as a threat to the sales force: if clients order directly on the platform, what is left for salespeople to do?
In practice, the change is mostly about the nature of their work.
Digital Commerce 360 notes that the digitalization of purchasing can free salespeople from part of the repetitive order-taking tasks, letting them focus more on service, retention and the development of accounts of all sizes.
Take a salesperson who spends several hours a week logging recurring restocking orders.
If these orders can be placed directly on the platform, that time disappears from their calendar.
But it must not disappear from the sales strategy.
It can be reinvested in strategic accounts, framework-contract negotiation, prospecting, advisory work or the development of new needs.
The platform handles part of the execution. The salesperson can concentrate more on the situations where their intervention brings real value.
The arrival of partners adds another dimension.
The distributor no longer manages only a client portfolio. It must also build and track a portfolio of sellers: identify relevant partners, negotiate their terms, monitor their performance and resolve any commercial issues.
The sales force can therefore evolve toward roles more focused on account development and partner management.
This evolution does not happen automatically, however. The skills needed to run a network of third-party sellers are not the same as those needed to sell your own catalog.
Training and a clear division of responsibilities are needed from the launch of the project.
Selling your own products and operating a marketplace do not carry the same level of responsibility.
In the first case, the distributor directly controls its catalog, its products and its commercial terms.
In the second, it must also define the rules that apply to several companies present on its platform.
The subjects go far beyond catalog management.
The issues identified across the Marketplace Risk ecosystem notably cover fraud, compliance, seller identity, taxation, terms of use, incident management and trust & safety topics.
A multi-vendor marketplace therefore requires an organization able to handle these questions over time.
The distributor becomes responsible for the framework in which sellers operate.
This responsibility is also framed by European regulation.
The Digital Services Act notably provides obligations concerning professional sellers present on marketplaces, with the collection and verification of certain information before they can offer their products to consumers in the European Union.
For an operator, this means that opening to third-party sellers cannot be treated as a purely commercial or technical project.
The contractual framework, control procedures, incident handling and the responsibilities of each party must be defined in parallel.
B2B adds its own commercial constraints.
A professional buyer may benefit from negotiated pricing, specific payment terms, a contractual service level or procurement rules specific to its organization.
The marketplace must therefore handle commercial relationships that are more complex than a single public price.
This is notably what brings certain B2B marketplace projects close to e-procurement questions: it is not just about making an offer available, but about structuring and framing professional purchasing.
Last change: the distributor no longer manages only a catalog. It also manages a portfolio of sellers.
The difference matters.
A multi-vendor marketplace does not create value simply because it counts more partners or more references. The quality and complementarity of the offer matter more than raw volume.
DGFiP data illustrates this concentration. Its analysis of sales made on platforms in France estimates the revenue generated by third-party sellers at 39 billion euros in 2022. It also indicates that the top 10% of sellers by revenue account for between 60% and 90% of transaction volumes, depending on the platform.
For an operator, this means sellers do not all contribute equally to the platform's performance.
The work consists of structuring a portfolio.
Some partners bring strategic categories. Others round out a range. Some generate significant volume while others play a more occasional role in catalog depth.
The distributor must be able to measure these contributions, set targets and decide where to focus its commercial efforts.
The goal is not to accumulate sellers. It is to build an offer broad, relevant and efficient enough to meet the needs of buyers.
Opening your platform to third-party sellers progressively transforms the distributor's role.
The catalog does not disappear. It becomes wider than the products held in-house.
The economic model no longer rests solely on product margin. It can include commissions and other revenue tied to platform activity.
Data no longer describes only the distributor's sales. It helps understand the full demand and supply present on the platform.
The sales force does not disappear. Part of its activity moves toward account development and partner management.
Governance widens. The company must now frame an ecosystem made up of several sellers.
Finally, the partner catalog itself becomes a commercial asset to manage.
It is this change of role that should guide the choice of a B2B marketplace solution. Technology is the foundation, but the project concerns the entire commercial organization.
If you want to assess this model concretely for your business, you can request a demo of the B2B platform.
Start with the categories your clients search for but you do not stock, or that you stock with difficulty because of low turnover or a very wide assortment.
The categories that carry your differentiation and your margin can stay in direct sales. Third-party sellers can complete the offer on niche references or products where stocking is not relevant.
The platform can absorb part of the recurring orders and free up time for salespeople. That time can go to developing strategic accounts, advisory work, negotiation and, where the model provides for it, managing partner sellers.
The role therefore evolves more than it disappears.
The Digital Services Act notably provides obligations regarding information on professional sellers present on marketplaces. Other obligations may add up depending on the sector, the products offered and the contractual relationships between the parties.
Legal governance must therefore be defined from the design of the model.
No. The OECD identifies several monetization mechanisms: commissions on sales, flat subscriptions, additional services and fees tied to transaction volume or value.
The economic model can therefore combine several revenue sources.
Define clear rules between your own catalog and the third-party offer: open categories, reserved products, listing conditions, featuring rules and any commercial priorities.
The subject is commercial and strategic before it is technical.
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