Manufacturers, distributors urged to embrace B2B e-commerce

B2B e-commerce which provides platforms for goods to be conveyed from manufacturers’ and distributors’ warehouses to the target retailers, has become an integral part of digital marketing in today’s world and a veritable vehicle through which some product manufacturers can make in-road into other regions of the country, analysts have made known.

One of the major B2B e-commerce players in Nigeria,Adewale Opaleye, the CEO of Alerzo Limited, said the market holds enormous potential, but the problems need to be addressed with technology to fully open up the sector. As a market aggregator with manufacturers and distributors as partners, the services of Alerzo have far reaching impact and benefits for all stakeholders in the value chain. Their intervention is making the market more effective and robust.

The implication of this on the market according to analysts is that, with the technical facilities of the likes of Alerzo, and other e-commerce market players, FMCG products have safer, faster and more effective routes to informal retailers who are the primary market targets. Suffice to say that global manufacturers such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Reckitt Benckiser, Dangote, Dufil, PZ Cussons and others are able to reach a wider market through digital technology.

The activities of B2B e-commerce companies are complementary, and highly needed in a market that had been hugely underserved for decades. This holds true as both manufacturers and distributors can take advantage of the opportunities B2B e-commerce companies provide.

With both digital and physical routes now open in the informal retail market, this sector of the Nigerian economy is surely one to look out for, as Nigeria strides towards achieving the digital economy projections of 2030, analysts said further.