All in, B2B ecommerce sites and apps grew to $1.94 trillion in 2022, a 19% increase from $1.63 trillion in 2021. More important, B2B ecommerce grew faster than total B2B sales and accounted for 13% of all manufacturing and distribution sales. In comparison, Digital Commerce 360 estimates e-procurement sales grew 18% year over year and, for the first time, topped $1 trillion, while B2B marketplaces grew 100% and recorded sales of $112 billion, based on data and analysis from the 2023 B2B Ecommerce Market Report.

E-procurement or supplier exchange is the process of requisitioning, ordering and purchasing goods and services online. It is a business-to-business process, according to Tech Target. E-procurement utilizes a supplier’s closed system and is only available to registered users. E-procurement facilitates interactions between preferred suppliers and customers through bids, purchase orders and invoices.

Amazon Business, which Digital Commerce 360 projects generates one in every three transactions on B2B marketplaces, in April surveyed 440 business buyers for its 2022 State of Business Procurement Report. Today, 91% of business buyers prefer purchasing online, the report says. And 47% of procurement managers also expect to manage a bigger procurement budget this year, it says.

“As procurement becomes more strategic in nature, optimizing and automating workflows grows increasingly important,” the report says. “Traditional, manual processes and legacy technology may have worked in the past, but if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s the importance of reacting to and evolving with the times.”