Manufacturing e-commerce - statistics & facts
Online shopping has revolutionized retail in the past decades. But the digital sales wave is also taking over the business-to-business (B2B) segment. Manufacturers supply other manufacturing firms with raw materials, production supplies, finished products, and services. Due to the large variety of traded goods, this sub-branch of B2B e-commerce encompasses both generalist marketplaces and vendors specialized in a specific product sector or vertical.
Big manufacturing groups often integrate and automate the purchase process in their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. To achieve that in an efficient way, large organizations use online procurement platforms, i.e. software dedicated to purchase transactions and strategic storage of suppliers’ and buyers’ data. In 2024, one in three procurement professionals in the manufacturing sector intended to invest in the full digitalization of procure-to-pay processes by 2027.
E-commerce and e-procurement
E-commerce providers benefit from the investments manufacturers allocated to innovate and digitalize their entire supply chain, including sale channels. In Europe, a bit over 20 percent of Dutch and Spanish manufacturers sell products and services on their websites. Outside of the EU, estimates for the Indian market predicted a seven-fold increase in manufacturing gross merchandise value by 2027. In Japan, the overall B2B online sales of manufacturers exceed the wholesale counterpart.Big manufacturing groups often integrate and automate the purchase process in their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. To achieve that in an efficient way, large organizations use online procurement platforms, i.e. software dedicated to purchase transactions and strategic storage of suppliers’ and buyers’ data. In 2024, one in three procurement professionals in the manufacturing sector intended to invest in the full digitalization of procure-to-pay processes by 2027.
